Windows 8.1 computer freezes after AMD Radeon R6 video card update

[JustinCharlier Veteran]

I have recently tried updating the driver of a video card of a Lenovo Z50-75, which is an AMD Radeon R6, as I have been noticing a few issues with the display. I did this through Device Manager, which successfully found an update. It finished updating, and i did a restart to finish the changes. But when it restarted, the computer froze and cannot be controlled. This will persist even when I do another restart (which is of course through an illegal shutdown). I have revived the PC, and it's back to its original state, but it seems that the display problems are still there. I'm being wary now about updating the driver as it may cause another hangup.

Does anyone know a possible reason/solution for this? I just wanted to fix the display problems that occasionally appear on the PC. thank you.

Edited September 6, 2015 by JustinCharlier

[Circaflex]

Download Display Driver Uninstaller and have it clean all of the AMD drivers. Then to reinstall, go to amd.com and download the driver or go to lenovo's website and download the driver.

[JustinCharlier Veteran]

Download Display Driver Uninstaller and have it clean all of the AMD drivers. Then to reinstall, go to amd.com and download the driver or go to lenovo's website and download the driver.

Hi! Thanks for the suggestion. What do you think can be the reason behind this problem, though? Also, to be honest, I'm quite scared of doing any further driver updates as there is a big possibility the system will just freeze again upon restart. I used both AMD and Lenovo's drivers on their websites, both failed. What could wiping all the AMD drivers do to help this?

I appreciate the response. Thanks

[Circaflex]

Cleaning up and items left behind from a previous driver will result in less conflict. If the drivers fail again, there will be a log of what happened which you could always copy and paste here to have someone take a look.

[JustinCharlier Veteran]

Cleaning up and items left behind from a previous driver will result in less conflict. If the drivers fail again, there will be a log of what happened which you could always copy and paste here to have someone take a look.

I will see about that. The driver installed is the one built in the system, though, which dates back to May 2014. I have also checked Event Viewer for logs about the display problems, and it displayed "amdkmdap has stopped responding and has successfully recovered." This is what probably is happening when the display blackouts and returns shortly.

Thanks!

[DevTech]

 

I will see about that. The driver installed is the one built in the system, though, which dates back to May 2014. I have also checked Event Viewer for logs about the display problems, and it displayed "amdkmdap has stopped responding and has successfully recovered." This is what probably is happening when the display blackouts and returns shortly.

Thanks!

 

Starting with Windows 8 and continuing into 10, I have noticed lots of video driver glitching and compatibility issues and it just takes time to sort them out.

There is a reasonable chance that if you just do the Windows 10 upgrade, it will all get nicely fixed automatically for you. I have seen that happen and it's a great time saver.

One tiny step that sometimes has a huge effect on the outcome is to first get the latest Intel chipset drivers from the Intel web site.

Also if you have Windows Update set to auto, it is important to do a manual update check periodically because lots of "optional" updates that accumulate if you don't do this are not very optional IMHO. There are a lot of system stability ones classified as optional!

I have never seen the AMD driver cleanup utiltiy fix anything in recent times since the driver updates do a good job of not getting confused unlike the old days.

If the latest AMD Mobility drivers caused a freeze and the other drivers like Intel chipset are updated, then you have to consider hardware as well. Laptops are horrible environments for video chips and unless it is a gaming unit almost never provide proper cooling. It is possible the new driver just uses the chip more aggressively so it is worth doing some stress tests but first use a can of compressed air to clean out the dust bunnies from the narrow cooling fins. Use a tiny screwdriver in the fan blades while you are doing this so you don't kill the fan bearings by spinning too fast.

 

 

[FunkyMike]

But when it restarted, the computer froze and cannot be controlled. This will persist even when I do another restart (which is of course through an illegal shutdown). 

What kind of display problems are you talking about? 

Where exactly does this freeze occur?

[DevTech]

 

What kind of display problems are you talking about? 

Where exactly does this freeze occur?

Well Justin might have more details but he has described the exact symptoms of one type of Video Driver crash. So in my mind the question becomes why would the latest AMD video driver crash like a newbie on modern hardware? That smells like conflicts with other drivers, other hardware, overheating, bad video RAM etc.

Justin - I noticed Lenovo has a BIOS update - did you apply that yet? It can have a large effect of it fixes a basic video bug, otherwise it's worth doing anyways...

 

[FunkyMike]

 

Well Justin might have more details but he has described the exact symptoms of one type of Video Driver crash. So in my mind the question becomes why would the latest AMD video driver crash like a newbie on modern hardware? That smells like conflicts with other drivers, other hardware, overheating, bad video RAM etc.

Justin - I noticed Lenovo has a BIOS update - did you apply that yet? It can have a large effect of it fixes a basic video bug, otherwise it's worth doing anyways...

 

Because AMD drivers for PXAA / PXAI devices have a bug that might cause a flickering/freeze on the login screen.

I want to find out if this might be affecting his laptop.

[DevTech]

 

Because AMD drivers for PXAA / PXAI devices have a bug that might cause a flickering/freeze on the login screen.

I want to find out if this might be affecting his laptop.

For our dear readers:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fast_approximate_anti-aliasing

A R6 Mobile using PXAA in the login screen? Doesn't that imply the login screen would be a 3D Texture? I love the idea but I thought Microsoft wanted to get all the 3D out of the Windows UI in order to save battery life for mobile. Hence all the rather ugly squares everywhere since squares use less battery than rounded corners!

 

[FunkyMike]

 

For our dear readers:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fast_approximate_anti-aliasing

A R6 Mobile using PXAA in the login screen? Doesn't that imply the login screen would be a 3D Texture? I love the idea but I thought Microsoft wanted to get all the 3D out of the Windows UI in order to save battery life for mobile. Hence all the rather ugly squares everywhere since squares use less battery than rounded corners!

 

Sorry I should have been clearer (late night). : )

PXAA = Switchable graphics AMD (iGPU) + AMD (dGPU)

There is a bug where the login screen does not get accelerated /displayed properly by the dGPU causing issues on some of these devices.

Of course this might be a totally different issue. So I am wondering about the actual symptoms.

Edited September 9, 2015 by FunkyMike

[JustinCharlier Veteran]

 

Well Justin might have more details but he has described the exact symptoms of one type of Video Driver crash. So in my mind the question becomes why would the latest AMD video driver crash like a newbie on modern hardware? That smells like conflicts with other drivers, other hardware, overheating, bad video RAM etc.

Justin - I noticed Lenovo has a BIOS update - did you apply that yet? It can have a large effect of it fixes a basic video bug, otherwise it's worth doing anyways...

 

Hi! Yes, I have checked that there is a BIOS update on the Lenovo Z50-75's support website. But I'm not sure how to exactly do that. And I've read on some sites that it's not as easy as updating software, and could be quite dangerous. And one more, how could that possibly solve the video card crash issue? Thanks!

[JustinCharlier Veteran]

 

Because AMD drivers for PXAA / PXAI devices have a bug that might cause a flickering/freeze on the login screen.

I want to find out if this might be affecting his laptop.

Fortunately, the system still responds on the login screen. But when it reaches the desktop, it stays okay for a few seconds, then boom-- it freezes solid. That's why I have used System Restore to revert the changes I made on the drivers.

[JustinCharlier Veteran]

 

Starting with Windows 8 and continuing into 10, I have noticed lots of video driver glitching and compatibility issues and it just takes time to sort them out.

There is a reasonable chance that if you just do the Windows 10 upgrade, it will all get nicely fixed automatically for you. I have seen that happen and it's a great time saver.

One tiny step that sometimes has a huge effect on the outcome is to first get the latest Intel chipset drivers from the Intel web site.

Also if you have Windows Update set to auto, it is important to do a manual update check periodically because lots of "optional" updates that accumulate if you don't do this are not very optional IMHO. There are a lot of system stability ones classified as optional!

I have never seen the AMD driver cleanup utiltiy fix anything in recent times since the driver updates do a good job of not getting confused unlike the old days.

If the latest AMD Mobility drivers caused a freeze and the other drivers like Intel chipset are updated, then you have to consider hardware as well. Laptops are horrible environments for video chips and unless it is a gaming unit almost never provide proper cooling. It is possible the new driver just uses the chip more aggressively so it is worth doing some stress tests but first use a can of compressed air to clean out the dust bunnies from the narrow cooling fins. Use a tiny screwdriver in the fan blades while you are doing this so you don't kill the fan bearings by spinning too fast.

 

 

What could possibly be a better solution? Update the BIOS, or try upgrading to Windows 10? I believe there also is a chance that problems will come my way during the upgrade, so there's that. And like I said on the previous post, how do you update the BIOS? I seriously don't want to wreck this system.

[DevTech]

 

Hi! Yes, I have checked that there is a BIOS update on the Lenovo Z50-75's support website. But I'm not sure how to exactly do that. And I've read on some sites that it's not as easy as updating software, and could be quite dangerous. And one more, how could that possibly solve the video card crash issue? Thanks!

There will be instructions usually with the download package. Usually these days you enter into the BIOS during boot and there will be a "Tools" menu usually and in that set of option will be update.

When you select it, it will scan for a USB drive and if it sees the unpacked BIOS it will do a checksum on it and offer to update. Takes about 30 seconds.

So copy the BIOS file to the root of a flash drive that is formatted FAT-16 or FAT-32

Make sure the battery is charged and plug in to the power outlet as well to be sure.

In the old days problems with flashing the BIOS were connected to computers that weren't stable enough not to crash during the flash, or loss of power, or operator error (changing mind during flash and turning off power) and sometimes people would download a BIOS meant for another computer and the checksum wasn't good enough to detect that.

As long as your laptop isn't overheating and about to die anyways, you won't have a problem.

===============================

As to the benefit? Often the BIOS comes with a text file showing update history but usually there are many more fixes in each update than they bother to list. So it comes down to the concept of whether it is possible for a BIOS update to have a chance of affecting the video card. And the answer is a big yes in terms of "possible" and a big "who knows" in terms of what is "probable"

The BIOS can incorporate updates to the micro-architecture of the CPU chip itself if a patch is issued by Intel and also other fundamental parts of the chipset such as PCI-e timing etc.

If you are still nervous one of the options in the update tool will be to make a backup of the current BIOS. So stuff a copy on the flash drive with a different name of course than the new one. If for some reason the flash goes wrong and it won't every modern computer has a micro-BIOS hidden inside that will look for a BIOS and flash when power is turned on. Sometimes this safety method needs a CD instead of flash drive. This will be documented by Lenovo.

But gosh, by going into this level of detail I tend to make people more nervous! Getting a manufacturer to issue a BIOS update is not easy and they only make it available if they think it is very significant. So I always update all computers with latest BIOS without thinking about it.

If you have a computer modern enough to have the BIOS update tool built into the BIOS itself then it just won't have an issue unless you kill power while updating and that's impossible with a laptop unless you remove the battery to update the BIOS and that would require extreme operator crazyness. Perhaps that would make a funny Youtube when it's time to dump the laptop in the garbage 10 years from now.

-------------------------------

Jared would have anwsered "Just do it" in one line.

 

 

 

[JustinCharlier Veteran]

 

There will be instructions usually with the download package. Usually these days you enter into the BIOS during boot and there will be a "Tools" menu usually and in that set of option will be update.

When you select it, it will scan for a USB drive and if it sees the unpacked BIOS it will do a checksum on it and offer to update. Takes about 30 seconds.

So copy the BIOS file to the root of a flash drive that is formatted FAT-16 or FAT-32

Make sure the battery is charged and plug in to the power outlet as well to be sure.

In the old days problems with flashing the BIOS were connected to computers that weren't stable enough not to crash during the flash, or loss of power, or operator error (changing mind during flash and turning off power) and sometimes people would download a BIOS meant for another computer and the checksum wasn't good enough to detect that.

As long as your laptop isn't overheating and about to die anyways, you won't have a problem.

===============================

As to the benefit? Often the BIOS comes with a text file showing update history but usually there are many more fixes in each update than they bother to list. So it comes down to the concept of whether it is possible for a BIOS update to have a chance of affecting the video card. And the answer is a big yes in terms of "possible" and a big "who knows" in terms of what is "probable"

The BIOS can incorporate updates to the micro-architecture of the CPU chip itself if a patch is issued by Intel and also other fundamental parts of the chipset such as PCI-e timing etc.

If you are still nervous one of the options in the update tool will be to make a backup of the current BIOS. So stuff a copy on the flash drive with a different name of course than the new one. If for some reason the flash goes wrong and it won't every modern computer has a micro-BIOS hidden inside that will look for a BIOS and flash when power is turned on. Sometimes this safety method needs a CD instead of flash drive. This will be documented by Lenovo.

But gosh, by going into this level of detail I tend to make people more nervous! Getting a manufacturer to issue a BIOS update is not easy and they only make it available if they think it is very significant. So I always update all computers with latest BIOS without thinking about it.

If you have a computer modern enough to have the BIOS update tool built into the BIOS itself then it just won't have an issue unless you kill power while updating and that's impossible with a laptop unless you remove the battery to update the BIOS and that would require extreme operator crazyness. Perhaps that would make a funny Youtube when it's time to dump the laptop in the garbage 10 years from now.

-------------------------------

Jared would have anwsered "Just do it" in one line.

 

 

 

I could experiment on this all by myself, but then it's my sister's laptop i'm trying to fix. And I'm just really worried, what if the same result happens when I update th bios? That the laptop could just brick itself and I have no way to access the system anymore? We're also planning to take it to the service center to have it fixed, it's currently still under warranty.

It's scary stuff. I'd do all the experimenting if I could, but then again, i'm scared of the results.

[FunkyMike]

Fortunately, the system still responds on the login screen. But when it reaches the desktop, it stays okay for a few seconds, then boom-- it freezes solid. That's why I have used System Restore to revert the changes I made on the drivers.

I do not mean to be an ass but you are very short on details.

Laptop specs, Driver version you have tried, evenviewer details.

I would suggest to set EnableULPS to 0 in the registry to see if it might be related to your PXAA and ULPS. .. but then again I do not have enough detail to go on.

[JustinCharlier Veteran]

 

I do not mean to be an ass but you are very short on details.

Laptop specs, Driver version you have tried, evenviewer details.

I would suggest to set EnableULPS to 0 in the registry to see if it might be related to your PXAA and ULPS. .. but then again I do not have enough detail to go on.

I'm sorry! Here are the specs:

Lenovo Z50 (AMD)Tech Specs

PROCESSOR	AMD Kaveri, 17/19W FX-7500, 19W; A10-7300, 19W; A8-7100, 19W; A6-7000B, 17W
OPERATING SYSTEM	Windows® 8.1
GRAPHICS	AMD R7-M260DX for FX AMD R6-M255DX for A10/A8 AMD R5-M230 for A6
MEMORY	Up to 16GB DDR3
WEBCAM	HD 720p camera (1M pixel)
STORAGE	Up to 1TB HDD or 1TB SSHD with 8GB NAND flash
AUDIO	Stereo speakers with Dolby® Home Theater®
BATTERY	Up to 4 hours
DISPLAY	Up to 15.6" FHD (1920 x 1080) 16:9 widescreen LCD HD/FHD
ODD	Integrated ODD
DIMENSIONS (W X D X H)	15.11" x 10.43" x 0.98" (384 mm x 265 mm x 25.0 mm)
WEIGHT	2.5 kg
BLUETOOTH®	Bluetooth® 4.0 (Optional) 802.11 a/c or 802.11 b/g/n WiFi 10 / 100 / 1000M LAN
PORTS	RJ45 1 x USB 3.0 2 x USB 2.0 Audio Combo Jack HDMI-out 2-in-1 (SD / MMC) card reader

 

 Z50-75 has an AMD A10 processor, and an Radeon R6 video card.

The current driver fot the video card stands at version 13. I've tried downloading version 14, which can be found on lenovo's support site, as well as version 15 on amd's website. Both failed. 

[DevTech]

 

I could experiment on this all by myself, but then it's my sister's laptop i'm trying to fix. And I'm just really worried, what if the same result happens when I update th bios? That the laptop could just brick itself and I have no way to access the system anymore? We're also planning to take it to the service center to have it fixed, it's currently still under warranty.

It's scary stuff. I'd do all the experimenting if I could, but then again, i'm scared of the results.

Wow. The exact opposite effect that I was hoping to acheive by taking the time to provide step by step detail.

A long time ago before lets say 2004, it used to be scary. Now it's not. I even made the silly suggestion that a person would have to remove the battery from their laptop in order to then cut the power to then possibly run into a BIOS flash issue.

If it is still under warranty, there is even less of an issue. Downloading the updated BIOS from the Lenovo support site is something you are suppossed to do as part of your maintenance. That's not "experimental"

 

[conna]

Lenovo's are picky beasts. I would use the drivers that are made specifically for that model. Go to your models support site and download the specific drivers for you sisters laptop.  If you have win8 you can try the Lenovo Win10 drivers without messing it up. Probably need to if you plan to upgrade to 10 later.

Sort out the stability before you mess with the bios. You don't want it freezing while you update the bios.  The Bios update should be pretty easy once you can see what is on your screen reliably. 

[DevTech]

 

Starting with Windows 8 and continuing into 10, I have noticed lots of video driver glitching and compatibility issues and it just takes time to sort them out.

There is a reasonable chance that if you just do the Windows 10 upgrade, it will all get nicely fixed automatically for you. I have seen that happen and it's a great time saver.

One tiny step that sometimes has a huge effect on the outcome is to first get the latest Intel chipset drivers from the Intel web site.

Also if you have Windows Update set to auto, it is important to do a manual update check periodically because lots of "optional" updates that accumulate if you don't do this are not very optional IMHO. There are a lot of system stability ones classified as optional!

I have never seen the AMD driver cleanup utiltiy fix anything in recent times since the driver updates do a good job of not getting confused unlike the old days.

If the latest AMD Mobility drivers caused a freeze and the other drivers like Intel chipset are updated, then you have to consider hardware as well. Laptops are horrible environments for video chips and unless it is a gaming unit almost never provide proper cooling. It is possible the new driver just uses the chip more aggressively so it is worth doing some stress tests but first use a can of compressed air to clean out the dust bunnies from the narrow cooling fins. Use a tiny screwdriver in the fan blades while you are doing this so you don't kill the fan bearings by spinning too fast.

 

 

1. So it's an AMD system and won't need Intel drivers. So, poke around the AMD website for any CPU and chipset drivers for A10.

2. You didn't reply on the step to download all "optional" Windows Update stuff by doing a manual check.

3. You didn't reply on the step to clean out dust via can of compressed air.

4. Also install a temperature monitor to make sure you are not overheating.

5. Next open a command window in admin mode and type:

sfc /scannow

and wait quite a while to let that finish

6. Now flash the BIOS

7. Finally, do the Windows 10 update. If the update won't go in for this reason or any other reason it will do a "Roll Back" and you won't see any difference. I have one stubborn computer that has rolled back about five times as I fix one issue with it after another. All other Windows 10 upgrades have gone super smooth and well worth it. Make sure you have about 20 gigs of free space on the boot drive before starting the update. If you turn off "hide system files" in explorer you will see you already have a 3 gig upgrade directory waiting for you, tapping its fingers on the table waiting...

 

[DevTech]

Lenovo's are picky beasts. I would use the drivers that are made specifically for that model. Go to your models support site and download the specific drivers for you sisters laptop.  If you have win8 you can try the Lenovo Win10 drivers without messing it up. Probably need to if you plan to upgrade to 10 later.

Sort out the stability before you mess with the bios. You don't want it freezing while you update the bios.  The Bios update should be pretty easy once you can see what is on your screen reliably. 

You have it backwards.

His system is ok with the old out of date driver and in any case the BIOS doesn't even use a Windows video driver to display information!

The BIOS update actually has a chance to fix his issue and it is way past time to try that out after he does a double check on his temperatures to make sure there isn't a hardware issue such as chip de-lamination etc.

 

 

[FunkyMike]

I'm sorry! Here are the specs:

 

 Z50-75 has an AMD A10 processor, and an Radeon R6 video card.

The current driver fot the video card stands at version 13. I've tried downloading version 14, which can be found on lenovo's support site, as well as version 15 on amd's website. Both failed. 

 

Thank you! Like DevTech mentioned you will need to update the BIOS.

This might be a longshot but I would suggest:

Installing the latest drivers from AMD (15.8 beta). If they freeze for you upon the login screen then install them without CCC (or remove CCC via Safe Mode). CCC is known to cause freezes on some devices.

I suspect that CCC kicks the laptop onto the dGPU upon start causing it to freeze. This could have many causes such as a broken dGPU. Since you mention that the original drivers are fine (with no proper confirmation of a working dGPU) then it could also be an issue with just the CCC. In either case it is worth trying out these steps.

Also check the EventViewer to see if it gives you more info.