I Updated my Radeon Adrenaline Drivers and Now my PC is Borked at the desktop

[BadSweetums]

I assembled my dream PC.

ASROCK Gaming 4 WiFi AX
AMD Radeon 9 5900X
32 GB B. Skil pc3600 running at default settings
AMD Radeon 6900XT

Sabrent 2TB Rocket 4 Plus

Everything was working great for more than a month.

So, I opened the AMD Radeon Adrenalin control panel and checked for an update.. I set it to install after it downloaded.

This is where I become confused.

I am not certain that I completed the driver installation before I shutdown my PC for the night.

I have been trying to get up to desktop; but, the screen goes to raster after arriving at the welcome screen momentarily. Before I can enter my PIN.

And, the display has been in a low resolution mode for the entire boot up.

I found my thumb drive and went through my options.

No luck at all.

Windows says it can't install to any of the partitions that show in the choose where to install windows drop down.

I seem to be well and truly screwed.

Is anybody up to hand holding a hardware barbarian through recovering a great beast that has been unfairly injured by driver failure or owner negligence?

 

[Iron Woode]

try booting in safe mode and uninstall the driver.

Start your PC in safe mode in Windows 10 (microsoft.com)

 

[BadSweetums]

try booting in safe mode and uninstall the driver.

Start your PC in safe mode in Windows 10 (microsoft.com)

I think that I've been to that screen; but, I'll try again when I'm calmer and I have read around the issues some more.

I tried a remove updates link; but, it said it could not find what it needed.

It is really stressing me out that my PC can't get beyond the PE, pre-installation environment.

 

[Iron Woode]

I think that I've been to that screen; but, I'll try again when I'm calmer and I have read around the issues some more.

I tried a remove updates link; but, it said it could not find what it needed.

It is really stressing me out that my PC can't get beyond the PE, pre-installation environment.

never do PC work when you are wound up. Best to do it when calm and relaxed.

There is always the repair options like restore.

 

[Fanatical Meat]

Every time I’ve had an issue like OP described it is either the video card became loose for whatever reason or the driver installed something else that isn’t a driver like a screen capture “feature” and software to edit or a game optimization thing or a game recording or streaming thing. The software is usually half baked and auto installs without checking off some box that I didn’t read about.
I agree with the above try booting to safe mode, double check to make sure card is plugged in correctly and power is plugged in correctly. Delete driver and reinstall if needed but be certain you know exactly what is being installed.

 

[Leeea]

DDU is your friend.

also, open up your computer and reseat the GPU and your ram.

 

[BadSweetums]

Panic over. Now I'm just seriously annoyed because the current RADEON Adrenaline software is NOT compatible with my hardware

ASROCK RADEON RX 6900 XT Phantom Gaming OC Edition

ASROCK X570 Phantom Gaming 4 WiFi AX

G.Skill Trident Z RGB 32GB OC3600

Samsung G90 49 inch display

"Congratulations" are owed to AMD and their RADEON Adrenaline Software writers. Updating to Adrenaline 21.4.X disables the display as soon as Windows 10 Pro arrives at the desktop logon screen.

Adrenaline 21.3.X software works.

I find it hard to believe that a WHQL tested driver can fail so spectacularly; but, I re-installed Windows 10 more than five times on the same hardware on the same day because that was the only way I could remove the corrupt(?) drivers and regain use of my system.

AND, the whipped cream with a cherry on top is that Windows 10 has decided that it no longer wants to operate the RealTEK ALC1200 HD Audio Codec sound solution on my motherboard. I am giving up on "forcing" RealTEK to work. I'm replacing my onboard sound solution with a reliable USB sound dongle solution.

 

[BadSweetums]

This is an attempt to share how I was able to resolve the problem.

I found my installation thumb drive and got a toe hold on making windows work again. All those promises about fixing your Windows installation turned out to be marketing.

1. I could not save my previous installation because the corrupt Adrenalin drivers made it unavailable. One possible cure that I did not attempt was replacing my Radeon graphics card with a different card so that windows would not run the corrupt Radeon drivers.

2. Recognizing that the old restore points and backups were not accessible set me on to reinstalling Windows. Everything was sad but eventually I had a platform ready to install the "CURRENT" AMD RADEON ADRENALINE Software Suite.

3. Boom, boot to desktop logon. Crash to raster. I say raster as an old fogy who in a time long ago often saw TVs hissing and displaying a screen full of nothing. Lit, but meaningless with random flecks of color. In other words, absolute crap because no meaningful signal was being received. Raster AKA no signal static noise.

4. I decided that Adrenaline 21.4.1 was not helping. I searched for an alternative and eventually settled on 21.3.2. I eventually downloaded a good copy and was able to enjoy a working PC UNTIL I allowed Adrenaline to update to the current WHQL tested drivers. BOOM, raster.

So, I conclude that the current Adrenaline 21.4.X (I tried .1 and .2) are not compatible with my setup. I've used AMD's bug report app and I've opened a support ticket with ASROCK Support. Good luck.

 

[Micrornd]

I eventually downloaded a good copy

Eventually ??? AMDs website is reliable and fast.

So, I conclude that the current Adrenaline 21.4.X (I tried .1 and .2) are not compatible with my setup.

It could be where you are getting the drivers from. There are no Adrenaline 21.4.2 drivers released by AMD (yet)

 

[Fanatical Meat]

Eventually ??? AMDs website is reliable and fast.

It could be where you are getting the drivers from. There are no Adrenaline 21.4.2 drivers released by AMD (yet)

I had a similar problem a few years ago. Wasn’t the drivers well it sort of was.
The full driver suite had some game recording software I installed without knowing and that software slowed most of the games I played to a crawl.
Drove me nuts because everything was fine for a few days and my machine at the time was old. I kept thinking some sort of hardware failure. Ultimately it appeared the game recoding “optimization” software was screwing everything up.
This is one of my complaints about AMD cards, the bundled stuff you get with it isn’t always clear and worked out all that well. Yes nvidia wants to add additional BS but so far over two different nvidia cards I have had either the add on stuff doesn’t slow stuff down or is clearly stated what you are going to install.
I have had several AMD/ATI cards over the years. This isn’t saying I’d never buy an AMD card again, just a warning and hopefully I am smart enough to review what the full driver suite wants to install. I hate having to be cautious about things like this.

 

[BadSweetums]

Not to worry. I installed bad drivers from the AMD Adrenaline pages at least three times. Guru3D was good for one install but no repeats.

Fortunately at least one site was able to provide a good installation of 21.3.2.

That's what annoys me the most. AMD assured me that 21.4.1 is WHQL tested and recommended.

ASROCK implies their cards are built to be compliant with AMD's drivers. They don't even provide reference drivers.

So, I installed recommended software from the most reliable source after installing the recommended chipset drivers from the same (AMD) reliable source AND now I have to run untested beta drivers from an enthusiast website or forget about it.

 

[Shmee]

Have you tried a different display?

 

[Justinus]

Have you tried a different display?

Or a different GPU output. Or a different display input. Or a different cable.

There are many parts to a display pipeline that can cause issues. Software/hardware systems are so complex that hardware related issues can manifest in many ways.

Unless you hit the jackpot with the magic system configuration that catastrophically breaks the 21.4.1 driver, it's not the drivers fault.

 

[BadSweetums]

That would kinda defeat the purpose of all this striving.

Everything (except RealTEK HD audio) is working at this time with Adrenaline 21.3.2.

I've tested using a Roccat Juke USB audio solution. I think I'll buy another one to use until I decide on a better audio option.

I fail to understand why this happens. This is the second time Windows has decided that I need a better audio solution and it really upsets me.

Which band of greedy money grubbing thieves should I buy from next time???

 

[Justinus]

Sucks, man.

 

[BadSweetums]

The AMD Adrenalin induced failure appears to be resolved. Adrenalin 21.5.1 appears to work,

I simply Alt-R 'd to open the Adrenalin Control Panel. Opened the Home tab. Expanded the Software and Driver tab. Clicked the check for updates. Clicked Download and Install. AND, waited in dread for the system to successfully reboot.

Sweet success. The system demonstrated a smooth transition from 21.3.1 to 21.5.1.

BTW; I also created a RESTORE point prior to installing the Adrenalin update.

I might have been up and running with much less stress if I had taken this simple precaution before assuming the update would be trouble-free just because I was getting the most current WHQL certified driver from the most reliable source.

Thank you BOFH pretenders. Better luck next victim.