Question KrisFix Germany video on 6800 and 6900 cards dying while running Adrenaline 22.11.2

[Puffnstuff]

Hey guys I ran across his video tonight and was wondering if anybody has encountered this issue with the latest whql adrenaline driver? I have an AIB 6900 XT and run it but haven't seen anything weird apart from the normal stuff like the card randomly drops signal to my 2nd UW monitor. He's got over 50 cards as of his video and all died running the new driver irrespective of their individual use cases which were all different.

 

[VirtualLarry]

I have two mining rigs with AMD RX 5700 XT and RX 5700 cards, as well, and both of those rigs are "dead" within a day of each other, within a few days of updating the drivers to newest Adrenaline a few weeks ago. They had been mining for over a year straight.

More worry-some, I have some rigs with RX 6600 cards, that after a recent driver update, they crashed, now the GPUs don't show up in Windows, even after a cold- boot.

So yeah, I've lost a NUMBER of RDNA1/RDNA2 cards, after a fairly recent driver update, seemingly. I have suspected a recent driver update, but was waiting for confirmation.

Edit: MSI Afterburner may have been installed on those rigs as well, and probably not as up-to-date as the drivers.

Could (maybe) be some sort of "bad" interaction between recent drivers and AB, that's pure speculation.

I've had fan-speed-stuck-at-zero (with GPU temps cresting 84C) problems with various Adrenaline drivers and the Nicehash client software running in Windows (seems like long-standing bug? Had that problem back in the day with R7 250X cards too), keeping AB running seems to sort of fix it.

Edit: IT APPEARS THAT I AM WRONG IN MY MISTAKEN ASSUMPTION.

The driver version that I updated to, on my RX 5700 XT x4 rig, was 22.11.1, not 22.11.2.

Also, that rig appears to now be working, so whatever was causing it to not power-on at all, seems to be working now. (PSU issue?)

The 2x RX 6600 rig with Intel mobo/CPU, will power-on, but neither of the RX 6600 is detected in Windows from a cold boot, which is concerning. I am going to order a new PSU for that one, as well as my single RX 5700 rig.

Edit: However, there was a thread on /r/NiceHash about RX 6600 cards dying fairly recently. Let me see if I can find it.

 

[Puffnstuff]

Sorry to hear that brother. 22.11.2 was supposed to contain the fix for the monitor dropping issue but mine still drops out with it and MPO disabled on a clean install of W11 pro only not as bad when I was on all AMD hardware.

I also read in the comments section of that video that people were seeing die cracks on dead cards so IDK what's going on.

 

[biostud]

So it has not exactly been the best months for the Radeon team....

 

[alexruiz]

I'll pay attention.
I have several builds with that driver

 

[igor_kavinski]

Shouldn't it be the driver's job to protect the GPU from dangerous conditions, like running hot with the fan stopped? AMD should be held liable if their drivers are killing GPUs.

 

[VirtualLarry]

AMD should be held liable if their drivers are killing GPUs.

I agree.

 

[igor_kavinski]

More worry-some, I have some rigs with RX 6600 cards, that after a recent driver update, they crashed, now the GPUs don't show up in Windows, even after a cold- boot.

Have you tried the GPU in a different system? When my RX 580 disappeared after the insane full speed fan madness triggered by VR and Edge Chromium, I thought the GPU was dead. But then I tried my Geforce 1060 3GB in that system and it also wouldn't get detected. Both cards worked flawlessly when I pawned them off to a local shop. My Z77 mobo's PCIe lanes got fried. And I remember that I had turned on the option to use latest non-WHQL drivers in the Radeon control panel.

 

[IntelUser2000]

Shouldn't it be the driver's job to protect the GPU from dangerous conditions, like running hot with the fan stopped? AMD should be held liable if their drivers are killing GPUs.

True, the reality is you need multi-level protection so one failing doesn't cause the whole thing to fail.

Comments are saying he posted pictures of the crack on the GPU die, so it may even be a manufacturing problem that got accelerated by software issues.

KrixFix is an amazing GPU repairman. So if he's putting out videos like these, then it's not good, not good at all.

 

[coercitiv]

KrixFix is an amazing GPU repairman. So if he's putting out videos like these, then it's not good, not good at all.

His assumption that the driver could be the culprit is a bit forced, though understandable considering it is the only variable he could identify. Other than that, the massive intake of cards with the same defective behavior (relative to their repair shop usual volumes) is a clear sign that something is wrong.

Anyway, here's a close-up from their facebook account. The die is cracked in multiple areas:

Spoiler: N21 die shot

 

[dr1337]

I have two mining rigs with AMD RX 5700 XT and RX 5700 cards, as well, and both of those rigs are "dead" within a day of each other, within a few days of updating the drivers to newest Adrenaline a few weeks ago. They had been mining for over a year straight.

More worry-some, I have some rigs with RX 6600 cards, that after a recent driver update, they crashed, now the GPUs don't show up in Windows, even after a cold- boot.

So yeah, I've lost a NUMBER of RDNA1/RDNA2 cards, after a fairly recent driver update, seemingly. I have suspected a recent driver update, but was waiting for confirmation.

Edit: MSI Afterburner may have been installed on those rigs as well, and probably not as up-to-date as the drivers.

Could (maybe) be some sort of "bad" interaction between recent drivers and AB, that's pure speculation.

I've had fan-speed-stuck-at-zero (with GPU temps cresting 84C) problems with various Adrenaline drivers and the Nicehash client software running in Windows (seems like long-standing bug? Had that problem back in the day with R7 250X cards too), keeping AB running seems to sort of fix it.

Just curious, if you've had four GPUs die in the past month, why are you only now talking about it/not talking about it a lot more? I would assume that if this were a real issue there would be tons of people complaining. I certainly won't be happy if my 8 month old 6900xt dies and I probably wouldn't wait for a techtuber vid to be mad about it.

Honestly I'm really curious now what kind of failure rates GPUs actually see, if people are inconsistent on reporting issues. Remembering back, the 4090 melting connectors were only 50 units. But in terms of dead AMD gpus random claims from people online are already totaling 100+. However literally every one of these reports has come out seemingly *after* this youtube video.

So maybe driver updates are always killing GPUs and this is the one time we have finally heard people speak up about it?

 

[igor_kavinski]

Maybe people attributed the failures to just normal wear and tear. But when the first guy posted online about this happening after the new driver installation, the rest of them also remembered that this only happened after the driver installation and so everyone suddenly realized the same thing at the same time and that's why they are just now coming out. Previously, everyone must have been thinking it was bad luck or an isolated incident or maybe they pushed their GPU too hard or something like that. It's possible that these cards were being mined on and no one wants to admit it because then AMD would totally refuse to help them.

 

[VirtualLarry]

Yeah, all of the aforementioned cards of mine were in mining rigs, and honestly, I just haven't had the energy to pursue the issue. I didn't want to say anything pre-maturely and start rumors until I had a chance to dig out each of the cards and the mobos, and do some A/B component testing to find out first exactly *what* died, to cause the rig(s) not to turn on.

For example, the rig with the two RX 6600 cards, was in a rosewill case with a case PSU with a dual molex to 8-pin being used to power the second card. It's possible that the PSU just doesn't have enough gumption anymore to power up the two cards.

So, I HAVE NOT done proper "process of elimination" to determine cause of death of these components. They were in rigs that had been run hard for over a year, some nearly two. Failures can happen eventually.

I did find it weird though, that two of my rigs with RX 5700 cards were no-power-on anymore, and died within a day of each other, AFTER updating drivers, when they had been basically FINE for over a year. It did make me suspicious of the most recent drivers being card-killers, but I didn't want to start un-substantiated rumors.

Edit: That being said, there really hasn't been any examples that I know of within the mining realm mentioning RX 6600 cards dying en-mass, though I suppose that the number of rigs running Win10 and Nicehash at this point and still being run to be exceedingly small; most serious miners use HiveOS. It's quite possible that my dodgy old mining rig "shells" and worn-out and cheap PSUs aren't doing my cards many favors. I wouldn't be all that surprised if my card failures weren't due to either a Nicehash update (they control power limits and fans, in some cases), or just my dodgy builds.

Though, the fact that they all happened around that same time, and also, after I decided to go around and update the driver on all of those rigs, because the newer Nicehash version wanted newer video drivers, well, I don't know.

 

[biostud]

Yeah, all of the aforementioned cards of mine were in mining rigs, and honestly, I just haven't had the energy to pursue the issue. I didn't want to say anything pre-maturely and start rumors until I had a chance to dig out each of the cards and the mobos, and do some A/B component testing to find out first exactly *what* died, to cause the rig(s) not to turn on.

For example, the rig with the two RX 6600 cards, was in a rosewill case with a case PSU with a dual molex to 8-pin being used to power the second card. It's possible that the PSU just doesn't have enough gumption anymore to power up the two cards.

So, I HAVE NOT done proper "process of elimination" to determine cause of death of these components. They were in rigs that had been run hard for over a year, some nearly two. Failures can happen eventually.

I did find it weird though, that two of my rigs with RX 5700 cards were no-power-on anymore, and died within a day of each other, AFTER updating drivers, when they had been basically FINE for over a year. It did make me suspicious of the most recent drivers being card-killers, but I didn't want to start un-substantiated rumors.

Edit: That being said, there really hasn't been any examples that I know of within the mining realm mentioning RX 6600 cards dying en-mass, though I suppose that the number of rigs running Win10 and Nicehash at this point and still being run to be exceedingly small; most serious miners use HiveOS. It's quite possible that my dodgy old mining rig "shells" and worn-out and cheap PSUs aren't doing my cards many favors. I wouldn't be all that surprised if my card failures weren't due to either a Nicehash update (they control power limits and fans, in some cases), or just my dodgy builds.

Though, the fact that they all happened around that same time, and also, after I decided to go around and update the driver on all of those rigs, because the newer Nicehash version wanted newer video drivers, well, I don't know.

And if you're running a mining rig I guess you don't necessarily update your drivers often.

 

[VirtualLarry]

And if you're running a mining rig I guess you don't necessarily update your drivers often.

I only updated, because the newest version of Nicehash didn't seem to want to work properly with my older drivers. But you are correct sir, generally, you don't update your drivers regularly on a mining rig, you stick with what works.

 

[DAPUNISHER]

I have a 6800, 6600XT, 6600, and 6400 running 22.11.2 all rock solid. In fact, this driver even fixed the audio dropout issue I was experiencing when using my Onkyo A/V.

My presumption is these are all cards bought used, and lack the paperwork to file for an RMA. Odds and probability then points to them all being mining cards.

While I rely on Cunningham's Law to sort my hypothesis out, this is the perfect opportunity to iterate something I posted after buying a faulty RTX 3060 mining card. Don't do it. Don't buy used mining cards. It may work now, but weeks or months later that money you saved buying used, may turn out to be a high rental fee.

Also, while correlation does not equal causation, if I am going to make one as the repair dude did. Then I personally prefer to blame mining over AMD drivers. If the drivers somehow played a part in killing mining cards? Well, that would just be a terrible shame.

 

[biostud]

/Tinfoil hat on: Maybe these drivers are made to destroy mining cards so that they cannot flood the aftermarket sales.....

 

[igor_kavinski]

/Tinfoil hat on: Maybe these drivers are made to destroy mining cards so that they cannot flood the aftermarket sales.....

Maybe the GPUs have some internal counter that records the amount of time elapsed doing work and if the GPUs have been busy 24/7 and did the work of a gamer running 8 to 12 hours a day for five years or so, the driver says, Sorry Pardner but I gotta retire you. No hard feelings!

It could be some rogue driver developer on the Radeon team who hates miners!

The more I think about it, the more it makes sense. It is in AMD's best interests not to let mined cards get back in the hands of gamers because their failure will reflect badly on their GPUs and gamers will just think that Radeon cards are more prone to failures, regardless of what actually led to the failures.

 

[DAPUNISHER]

We are talking about the same AMD driver teams that are constantly trying to get things right? But now suddenly, they can write code to attack only cards that have been mining? Lulz. You guys are really spit balling some wild stuff today.

 

[Justinus]

I haven't seen an issue with my 6900XT or my 6750XT. Granted the 6900XT is on a custom waterblock, but boy have I put that card through the ringer with unlimited power via morepowertool, and even a few times increased vcore to 1.3-1.35V, got it to draw upwards of 800W once. I think if my die was going to crack, I'd have already managed to make it happen

 

[igor_kavinski]

I haven't seen an issue with my 6900XT or my 6750XT. Granted the 6900XT is on a custom waterblock, but boy have I put that card through the ringer with unlimited power via morepowertool, and even a few times increased vcore to 1.3-1.35V, got it to draw upwards of 800W once.

Did it do anything amazing in terms of performance? Did you set or break any world records?

 

[Justinus]

Did it do anything amazing in terms of performance? Did you set or break any world records?

It's basically impossible for a traditional 6900XT to do it because all hardware reporting shows a 6900XT "Ultimate" aka XTXH with higher clock limits and potentially faster RAM as the same card model. I did get some good Timespy runs, though.

I scored 23 951 in Time Spy

AMD Ryzen 9 5950X, AMD Radeon RX 6900 XT x 1, 32768 MB, 64-bit Windows 11}

www.3dmark.com

I scored 11 835 in Time Spy Extreme

AMD Ryzen 9 5950X, AMD Radeon RX 6900 XT x 1, 32768 MB, 64-bit Windows 11}

www.3dmark.com

I should make another round of max OC runs now that I have a 7950X, it would boost my overall scores quite a bit I think.

 

[Heartbreaker]

His assumption that the driver could be the culprit is a bit forced, though understandable considering it is the only variable he could identify. Other than that, the massive intake of cards with the same defective behavior (relative to their repair shop usual volumes) is a clear sign that something is wrong.

Anyway, here's a close-up from their facebook account. The die is cracked in multiple areas:

Spoiler: N21 die shot

View attachment 74391

Yikes. I was expecting to need to squint to see some micro-cracking!

This isn't the common failure mode is it? Or did he peel the surface away looking for cracks?

 

[mikeymikec]

Yikes, if I ever needed a reason to put off that 6700XT upgrade for a while...

nvidia are going to be laughing their asses off if this is a driver issue because this'll give the "AMD is let down by their drivers" talking point a lot more mileage.

Even if it's not a driver issue it doesn't bode well for AMD.

 

[igor_kavinski]

What if this whole thing is staged by Nvidia? They paid off a bunch of different users to send deliberately damaged cards to that repair guy, to generate negative press about AMD's quality. They want their 4080s to sell!