AMD Finally Admits Bug In Radeon Drivers Corrupting Windows

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Sajjad Hussain

As Tech4Gamers’ Founder and Editor-in-Chief, I bring over 13 years of PC Hardware Reviewing and 8+ years of IT Project Management experience. Certified in Google IT Support, my focus is on providing honest product reviews and analysis and fostering a strong gaming community with 130k+ members in PPG.

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AMD Adrenalin Edition 23.2.1 drivers released to support the next-Gen Radeon RX 7900 series graphics cards have a bug that caused problems in PCs and AYENO consoles which users have been reporting for over a month now; still, AMD never acknowledged that such a problem exists.

Now AMD admitted this is an extremely rare Radeon driver bug. AMD believes the problem may lie in updating the GPU drivers and other system updates.

AMD further concluded users should not use the Factory Reset option (which completely flushes the driver settings) while installing the AMD drivers. As this “feature” is considered the root of the problem. However, most users had no problem after using the Factory reset option. 

On the portable consoles, it limited access to the GPU’s VRAM memory to just 512 MB of capacity. On the other hand, PC crashes, error messages, and a change in the system boot drive were mentioned. This last error made it impossible to start the system automatically.

Specifically, it was indicated that these drivers could alter the BIOS settings to modify the boot options giving an ” inaccessible boot drive ” error. This has caused AMD to speak publicly about an issue to classify it as “extremely rare.“

How can I enter safe mode before booting in Windows 10? AFAIK You can do that in Windows 7.

INACCESSIBLE_BOOT_DEVICE pic.twitter.com/3u9oQ5f0Kc

— Tridashie (@Tridashie) November 25, 2019

Be careful when you install the latest Adrenalin 23.2.1. Backup your data!#AMD #Driver https://t.co/dOVZSth7OQ

— CapFrameX (@CapFrameX) February 15, 2023

The tweet above shows that users who have experienced the bug may need to reinstall their operating system it is because Windows can get corrupted. 

Foreign website PCWorld approached AMD, and they finally admitted the issue by saying it took them dozens of attempts to recreate the problem in their labs due to its extreme rarity;

“We have reproduced an issue that can occur in an extremely small number of instances if a PC update occurs during the installation of AMD Software: Adrenalin Edition, and we are actively investigating.

We recommend users ensure all system updates are applied or paused before installing the driver, and that the “Factory Reset” option is unchecked during the AMD driver installation process.

We are committed to resolve issues as quickly as possible and strongly encourage users to submit issues with AMD Software: Adrenalin Edition via the Bug Report Tool.”

This is the last resort in case you are not an advanced user and start doing software cleanups and BIOS tweaks. So a fresh operating system installation is a faster solution to reconfigure the boot drive and eliminate the driver and software problems.

Sajjad Hussain

[Editor-in-Chief]

Sajjad Hussain is the Founder and Editor-in-Chief of Tech4Gamers.com. Apart from the Tech and Gaming scene, Sajjad is a Seasonal banker who has delivered multi-million dollar projects as an IT Project Manager and works as a freelancer to provide professional services to corporate giants and emerging startups in the IT space.

Majored in Computer Science
13+ years of Experience as a PC Hardware Reviewer.
8+ years of Experience as an IT Project Manager in the Corporate Sector.
Certified in Google IT Support Specialization.
Admin of PPG, the largest local Community of gamers with 130k+ members.

Sajjad is a passionate and knowledgeable individual with many skills and experience in the tech industry and the gaming community. He is committed to providing honest, in-depth product reviews and analysis and building and maintaining a strong gaming community.