AMD confirms that the new Radeon driver can harm Windows

AMD recently released Adrenalin 23.2.1 driver, which among other things provided improved performance in several games for the Radeon RX 6000 series. Then some users reported problems with blue screens and Windows booting after installing the new driver. Now AMD confirms the problem, and also advises how to avoid it.

AMD asserts that a small amount Users affected by the problems, announcing that the culprit in the drama was a combination of Windows Update running in the background and a factory reset of the driver being checked during installation. In these circumstances, the computer risks getting stuck in one boot loop With frequent blue screens indicating INACCESSIBLE_BOOT_DEVICE.

We’ve re-released an issue that can occur in a very small number of cases if a PC update occurs while installing AMD Software: Adrenalin Edition, and we’re actively investigating. We recommend users to ensure that all system updates are applied or paused before driver installation, and to uncheck the “Factory Reset” option during the AMD driver installation process. – AMD

PCWorld’s Brad Chakos is among those affected and goes into detail about his experiences. After a lot of tinkering, the problem was resolved by forcing Windows to run the automatic repair, but this was difficult to achieve in practice as the computer crashed and restarted before it got that far. In the end, Windows fixed it by shutting down the computer a few times before it crashed.

According to AMD, the problem is very rare and requires special circumstances to occur, and the company is investigating the underlying cause. While waiting for a proper fix, Radeon owners can avoid headaches by not flagging Factory Reset when installing the new driver.

Do you usually use a factory reset when installing graphics drivers?