AMD recently released the Adrenalin 23.2.1 driver, which among other things offered improved performance in several games for the Radeon RX 6000 series. Then some users reported issues with blue screens and booting Windows after installing the new driver. Now AMD confirms the problem, as well as advises how it can be avoided.
AMD confirms that a small amount users affected by problems, announcing that the culprit in the drama is a combination of Windows Update running in the background and Factory Reset for the driver being checked during installation. In these conditions, the computer risks getting stuck in one boot loop with repeated blue screens pointing to INACCESSIBLE_BOOT_DEVICE.
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. – AMD
Brad Chacos from PCWorld is among those affected and talks in detail about his experiences. After a lot of tinkering, the problem was solved by forcing Windows to run automatic repair, but this was difficult to achieve in practice as the computer crashed and rebooted before getting that far. In the end, Windows was repaired by shutting down the computer several times before it crashed.
According to AMD, the problem is very rare and requires special conditions to occur, and the company is investigating the underlying cause. Pending a proper fix, Radeon owners can avoid headaches by not ticking factory reset when installing the new driver.
Do you usually use factory reset when installing graphics drivers?
