Collosal Disaster after Amd driver update failed (win10 rx590)

[CuteLeaf]

March 2019 desktop ran perfectly fine for years. Survived every windows 10 update and never blue screened. Baby just worked 100% of the time.

 

Until a month ago. I woke up one morning and AMD Adrenaline software couldn't open for the first time in my cute desktops short history. It gave me an error saying the current GPU driver isn't compatible with Adrenaline software and this was something I couldn't have. I use that software daily, it checks my temperatures, records gameplay/screenshots, controls the look of my monitor etc. It's important to me and I don't know why all of a sudden that morning it was acting like I installed a different, non-compatible driver for my RX590 Sapphire card, because I did not.

 

So maybe a stealth Windows update did this on its own? But I didn't witness it download or install any video card driver. Unless it did it 100% in the background without me visually being aware. But to my knowledge I've had auto-updates turned off since 2019. I've always manually checked for updates in Windows 10 - just as I occasionally manually check for updates within the AMD Adrenaline software

To fix that, 1 month ago I downloaded that one EZ tool from AMDs website which automatically searches and installs the "Best" driver for your graphics card. I selected the clean install option, remove old versions sure why not, and YES to keeping my personal custom settings for adrenaline, as I've spent a lot of time tweaking each game through there, my monitors settings, all the hotkeys for system monitoring, screenshots, recording. Yeah no interest in resetting all my settings here. It'd be like reconfiguring 20 add-ons in World of Warcraft

 

With that reinstalled my computer was playing nice again. Zero problems ever, speedy and responsive all month long.

Then last night. Play WoW till 3am, shut down the PC and go to sleep. Get up at 9am, turn her back on and huh - AMD Adrenaline will not open again and says yadda yadda unsupported Driver version. Like, what the literal pice of hanging poop I know for a fact I did not update or even attempt to check for an update for my graphics driver. Why is this happening to me? Is Windows doing some super secret shadow install of some newer mystical GPU driver it thinks I need (because the flawlessly working, adrenaline supported driver I do use is from mid-2022) during the time my computer is off and on again?

 

So it's still 9am at that point and believing I've got the whole day ahead of me. Let me redo that thing where I visit AMDs lonely website and reinstall that auto-driver finder tool so it'll fix my adrenaline software. It goes through all it's motions until it didn't. That thing I only ever read about back in 2006 happened to me. Mid-installation a failure happened and Windows gave me the blue screen sad face

Okay, Scawwy but it'll restart itself and I'll try again.

 

 - Sad face bsod

 

No, I'm hit with a non-stop "unable to access boot" sad face each and every time I turn the computer on

And that's as far as it gets. I think to myself well my SSD caaaan't be broken. I know this has something to do with the failed GPU driver install. But why is it preventing windows 10 from booting? Why can't I make it to the login screen? Why and how could a failed video card driver Tank my entire operating system?

 

Shut off computer. Flip the psu switch. Remove cmos battery. Take a shower hoping it'll magically fix itself when it suffocates in zero electricity

No difference, shiz acting bricked. So I go to the windows recovery menu with all it's cute finely laid out options. Nope no nada can't do it. You see, every selection there requires typing in the password to your Windows/User account. The same Windows account I've had since 2003. I have my most recent updated password written down in 7 places. This same password gets me logged on Xbox and in to check my outlook email. I don't use a local fake-nothing account for my Windows Desktop user, I use my REAL Microsoft account to log into Windows 10 and always have. And I know this password and checked over and over to type it in correctly, but the recovery menu tells me the password is wrong every single time.

So I Google this annoyance only to find out many men before me had this same issue. For some reason the password I have set does not match whatever password this recovery section is looking for. After wasting hours reading various help forums I realized no one was ever helped. There was no ancient knowledge to get this password working and if I could just get into the operating system again I could enable the secret ninja Administrator user built in. Only then will this recovery menu stop asking me for passwords

 

But I can't get in and I can't recover. So I use my dusty USB flash drive to make a win10 install thingy. It has to work. In March 2019 when I first got the computer this was how I installed windows in the first place, the USB stick. Worked flawlessly back then, but this time I flashed it with the latest and greatest Windows 10 media installation wizard thingy

Create this USB drive on another computer, took a little while because other computer is 12 year old, internet slow. But no errors and it was time to try it. Back on my Desktop that's suffering illness I went into it's Bios and selected the USB 3.0 Flash as my 1st boot. I was hoping I wouldn't have to do a clean install of windows so I tried all the recovery options first. Now I'm not the smartest or have even an average working memory to recite everything sorry, but they all told me some form of "I can't do that." I don't know why but this USB stick with a presumably full working version of Windows 10 couldn't be used to repair the startup, or repair anything on my SSDs version of Windows 10 back to a period where it worked fine (3am last night)

 

Restart once more and depressingly select the clean install option. I wanted the option that lets me keep my files but again it says it cannot do that with what I'm using. (USB drive) So clean install I guess. It takes me to that section with all the different partitions. Oooo I see one of these partitions is a recovery one, I wonder why that's not doing its job every time Windows tried repairing itself before? Maybe it would be of use if that password problem didn't get in the way earlier but will never know.

 

So here's where I'm extra stuck - The part where I want to throw the whole thing out and give up: "Windows cannot be installed to this disk. the selected disk has an MBR partition table. On EFI system, Windows can only be installed to GPT disks"

 

Yeah I don't know what a MBR EFI GPT or any of this engineer-tier shi- means. I didn't go to college I just use my computer to play video games and listen to music out my cheap Chinese speakers when I'm not wasting 7+ hours trying to repair it back to it's usual working perfectly self. Like whyyyyyy can't it be as easy as the FIRST time I installed windows 10 on this exact hardware and SSD? My gut tells me the correct play here is to delete the 400gb partition my OS is nestled inside and then MAYBE it'll allow me to create a new partition right there and clean install windows 10 from the USB stick I spent so much time creating? But I honestly do not know... and am scared deeply to try. Yes, I did try Googling the MBR EFI GPT thing but whatever I read I don't know how to apply it to what I'm trying to achieve here. I just want my working desktop computer back And then I'd like to know how to prevent this from ever occurring again please

[NumLock21]

What is your system specs, Are you running on an Intel CPU. yes, then remove your AMD GPU and try the onboard graphics. Can also try to do a system restore with your Win10 from your USB drive.

 

[CuteLeaf]

20 minutes ago, NumLock21 said:

What is your system specs, Are you running on an Intel CPU. yes, then remove your AMD GPU and try the onboard graphics. Can also try to do a system restore with your Win10 from your USB drive.

 

 

Hi, I appreciate the reply as it's been very stressful trying to figure this out sitting here alone

The desktop has

Ryzen 5 1600

Amd rx590 sapphire nitro

2x8gb g.skill @ 3200mhz

Asus rog B450-f

Samsung 860evo 500gb (with Windows 10 installed and my few games)

Corsair cx650m psu

 

I know my OP was really long. But the short is this desktop worked fine since 2019 and for months I was using "Amd Software: Adrenalin Edition" v22.5.1 released 4/28/2022 no problems. Until this morning after turning the PC on it would no longer open the software even though seemingly nothing was changed. Don't know how stuff like this happens with computer code, I feel it should always run exactly the same until something changes. But well It said my current graphics driver didn't support it so I went to on AMD's support website to download and install with - Auto-Detect and Install for Windows® 10/11

It did the usual monitor flashing on and off thing before unexpectedly blue screening, auto-restarting pc and saying it's unable to boot now. I keep watching YouTube videos on how to restore this with the USB installer but nothing is working. I might have to go to Target and buy some new SSD to fresh install Windows 10 on I don't know  I was going to suffer the fresh install losing all my photos and documents on my current drive but it hits me with the: "Windows cannot be installed to this disk. the selected disk has an MBR partition table. On EFI system, Windows can only be installed to GPT disks"

[NumLock21]

12 minutes ago, CuteLeaf said:

 

Spoiler

Hi, I appreciate the reply as it's been very stressful trying to figure this out sitting here alone

The desktop has

Ryzen 5 1600

Amd rx590 sapphire nitro

2x8gb g.skill @ 3200mhz

Asus rog B450-f

Samsung 860evo 500gb (with Windows 10 installed and my few games)

Corsair cx650m psu

 

I know my OP was really long. But the short is this desktop worked fine since 2019 and for months I was using "Amd Software: Adrenalin Edition" v22.5.1 released 4/28/2022 no problems. Until this morning after turning the PC on it would no longer open the software even though seemingly nothing was changed. Don't know how stuff like this happens with computer code, I feel it should always run exactly the same until something changes. But well It said my current graphics driver didn't support it so I went to on AMD's support website to download and install with - Auto-Detect and Install for Windows® 10/11

It did the usual monitor flashing on and off thing before unexpectedly blue screening, auto-restarting pc and saying it's unable to boot now. I keep watching YouTube videos on how to restore this with the USB installer but nothing is working. I might have to go to Target and buy some new SSD to fresh install Windows 10 on I don't know  I was going to suffer the fresh install losing all my photos and documents on my current drive but it hits me with the: "Windows cannot be installed to this disk. the selected disk has an MBR partition table. On EFI system, Windows can only be installed to GPT disks"

 

Your current installation was done with the legacy MBR where as your USB flash drive was created with the new one called EFI. Your Windows USB is suppose to have the options of booting up either MBR or EFI. Have important files, then buy a new drive and do install a clean Windows on that, so you can save what you have on your current drive.

Can also try system restore and go back to an earlier date.

[Cyberat]

To backup your important files, run a "Live OS" of any kind on a USB stick, gives you an OS to play with and copy files, do not hit install.

If your drive is <2TB and UEFI complains about installing MBR, go to Bios and switch Boot to Legacy & UEFI, or just Legacy, depending on choices.

[Cyberat]

As always, turn off Auto-Updates in all software, but especially for GPUs, latest is not the greatest nor are drivers to be replaced ad-hoc.

If you have a corrupt driver, then it's time to refresh or update. But do read model numbers carefully and do use DDU in Safe Mode to uninstall the old.

[CuteLeaf]

1 hour ago, NumLock21 said:

Your current installation was done with the legacy MBR where as your USB flash drive was created with the new one called EFI. Your Windows USB is suppose to have the options of booting up either MBR or EFI. Have important files, then buy a new drive and do install a clean Windows on that, so you can save what you have on your current drive.

Can also try system restore and go back to an earlier date.

 

55 minutes ago, Cyberat said:

To backup your important files, run a "Live OS" of any kind on a USB stick, gives you an OS to play with and copy files, do not hit install.

If your drive is <2TB and UEFI complains about installing MBR, go to Bios and switch Boot to Legacy & UEFI, or just Legacy, depending on choices.

 

I'm new to this forum but hopefully I tagged you both correctly. First thank you guys so much. Only thing keeping me from crying in anger and defeat was seeing a couple strangers cared enough to read my entire jumbled mess of a struggle and still took the time to reply with help. 

 

Until you replied I overlooked the whole choosing between MBR/EFI when changing it from my SSD to the usb stick. So it sounds like I would have been able to format the 400gb partition and clean install windows 10 there had I selected the right option. I'll have to remember that for the future... x.x But before even attempting that I selected the Repair options again after selecting the correct Boot option. I think it was the Repair Startup one that "fixed" it. It ran a check disk and some other stuff but made it sound like it failed to repair, only this time when the computer restarted it went straight into the Windows 10 login screen. No idea how or why it worked this time after making it appear like another repair failure but it worked!

 

So I noticed the fans on my rx590 weren't spinning. NZXT Cam software couldn't read the temperature or clock speeds. Sapphire Trixx software, which I keep on run at Startup for the custom rgb selection and fan curve but I do not touch the Overclock settings (otherwise the fans would auto turn off and on all day which I felt was bad for lifespan) showed as if my graphics card wasn't even plugged in. I was worried it actually broke even though I never push it hard

 

You told me to use DDU and in safe mode, but I've never used it before (even though it's always recommended) and I was afraid to restart the computer or touch safe mode. So instead of using AMD auto-driver finding tool I manually went through the list and installed version 22.11.2 from Nov.30th - So my old working driver was from April 2022 and any time I would check it for an Update it would say there wasn't one, but this 22.11.2 version from a few days ago was listed as the correct one for my rx590. The important thing is it installed without messing up and when the PC did it's restart it sent me to the Win10 login screen without a problem and my GPU is being recognized by monitoring software again and the fans are spinning once more 

 

Now I'm just paranoid of it happening again since I'll never know what caused my driver or the Adrenalin software to change in the first place. So the first thing I've done so far is manually create a Restore point. Now restore points didn't help me before because the Recovery menu would ask for my Microsoft account password but couldn't authenticate it. Just kept saying it was wrong every time. So 2nd thing I've done is enabled the "hidden" built in Admin user and confirmed it shows up as an option on the login screen. Hopefully if in the future I get that "unable to read boot"/restart loop again I'll be able to use that Admin user for the recovery options since there's no PW to enter

 

3rd step I'm backing up my documents and pictures that I were afraid would be lost forever today. I'm not sure what other preventative measures to take. Windows update shows it last installed something 11/21 so I no longer believe that was the culprit. Not sure if my graphics card or SSD are going bad, or if Windows 10 somehow got corrupt even though I don't do much outside play Warcraft on it and use Chrome. (rarely ever install stuff) But anyway, I'll start looking for a job and saving money in case either die on me soon  Any advice on things I should check, set up or do before assuming it's 100% fixed are welcomed. Again thank you, very happy you guys helped me get back inside the operating system. Only wish I understood more so it wouldn't take me 11hr of trial and error. Had I deleted that 400gb partition and unable to reinstall Windows 10 I don't even want to think about it 

[Cyberat]

You can always Run as Administrator the Command Prompt, then use SFC /SCANNOW if you suspect windows corruption.

2 Things to check for on drivers 1) That it's WHQL signed; 2) That it's NOT a BETA or some other "evaluation" or testing version.

(Though some argue that most are anyways.) Startup repair is always a go to, as it cannot harm anything.

As for having an old system, I have a 2014 system I built new in 2018 and play games on it still.

I've only had video card fans die on me once (Asus Strix RX-570). Replaced with OEM version that pushes more air, much cooler than stock.

Oddly enough my best compatible drivers were 18.6.1 but I can run 22.6.1 now.

To get to safe mode you press F8 after the post screen and before the windows logo or you missed it and need to restart (software).

Safe mode is the Same Windows, minus the drivers and startup apps.. There is no way to damage anything in the system by loading LESS.

[Cyberat]

Other than that, never overclock your system, especially if not a computer technician specialist. Hardly any good comes out of that.

[CuteLeaf]

27 minutes ago, Cyberat said:

You can always Run as Administrator the Command Prompt, then use SFC /SCANNOW if you suspect windows corruption.

2 Things to check for on drivers 1) That it's WHQL signed; 2) That it's NOT a BETA or some other "evaluation" or testing version.

(Though some argue that most are anyways.) Startup repair is always a go to, as it cannot harm anything.

As for having an old system, I have a 2014 system I built new in 2018 and play games on it still.

I've only had video card fans die on me once (Asus Strix RX-570). Replaced with OEM version that pushes more air, much cooler than stock.

Oddly enough my best compatible drivers were 18.6.1 but I can run 22.6.1 now.

To get to safe mode you press F8 after the post screen and before the windows logo or you missed it and need to restart (software).

Safe mode is the Same Windows, minus the drivers and startup apps.. There is no way to damage anything in the system by loading LESS.

The scan came back with "Windows Resource protection found corrupt files and successfully repaired them" - I then restarted the computer and so far it's working normally still. Just sucks because before today there was zero problem. No lag in games, no sluggishness or random error messages popping up, no Blue screens. It just ran like new and I was happy, but so far it seems normal again. Afraid to wake up tomorrow >w<

 

Other than that I used Samsung Magician to diagnostic scan the SSD. Shows it as all good. And last thing I did was take the USB drive I had and used the "create a recovery drive" tool on it. So it did delete that Windows 10 installer I had on it from earlier today, but I'm assuming this recovery drive thing could be more useful? or nah?

 

Thank you for the info about drivers and safe mode, I like having all this info here so if I struggle in the future I can step back to this Thread here and re-read everything. Sad to hear about your graphics card fans. I obsessively worry about stuff like that but I'm sure it'll inevitably happen to me. The cool thing is you're able to replace the fans yourself. I'm not that confident so if mine die it's stuck going without a graphics card until I can afford to buy an entire new one. Repairing I'm sure is much more involved and difficult than unplugging 2 fans and plugging in 2 new ones. I imagine the entire shell surrounding the GPU has got to go or something. Please god, don't give me any hardware failures until I can afford a new computer  My last computer wouldn't let me into windows until I removed the 750ti then it worked fine, so I'm guessing it died died. Only big loss I've experienced so far 

 

My older brother bought a Razer laptop and it came with some GAME BOOST software. So day one he clicks an Optimize button from the software, it said it would clean ram, end some running services, make adjustments to like 50 different OS settings for MAXIMUM performance and internet speed...and it immediately took a shit  Like I feel awful but he eventually got it running again after a night of F bombs. Really feeling out of it after all of today, but wanted to share that story since it made me laugh. Sorry for all the text but appreciate you being here. 

 

[Cyberat]

Yeah, funny story, but maintaining a good hard running system takes a Computer Expert to do so. Strive to better yourself and your knowledge & that is your greatest accomplishment. Humans are more than the sum of their PC(s), find happiness in other things. Less obsession and emotion over hardware. (I am also preaching to myself somewhat here.)

Create Restore points, those do help. Do not install freeware you do not know (and most will not be). Purchase something like Macrium, it is useful, it creates images of your drive you can then apply to another new drive, and have everything recovered as per the date you created the image. Also good for people who get a lot of virii, have a clean image to reinstall.

Meh, the fans were a stroke of luck, I found better fans that cool better, been running this GPU hard for almost 5 years now, everything got replaced easier than I thought, I also applied silver thermal paste to the GPU.