AMD admits a very rare Radeon driver bug may corrupt Windows installations

Better not use “Factory Reset” Settings in Adrenalin Software

PCWorld has an article that covers a bug in the Radeon drivers that may ultimately break the installation of the operating system.

Users have been reporting on this issue for over a month now, but AMD never acknowledged that such a problem exists. Furthermore, the vast majority of users never had any trouble, even after using ‘Factory Reset’ option that completely flushes the driver settings. This ‘feature’ is considered the root of the problem.

Turns out, Brad Chacos, the editor and reviewer from PCWorld encountered this issue and immediately started working with AMD to resolve it. While the company admits that this is an extremely rare issue, they concluded that users should refrain from using Factory Reset option when installing AMD drivers:

“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.”

— AMD

It is equally important to avoid using this option when installing the drivers as well as not updating the system at the same time. Users often forget that new operating system installations usually begin with driver updates. They should first ensure that this process has been finished before installing new drivers.

The article notes that users who have experienced the bug may need to reinstall their operating system if their Windows installation has become corrupted. However, this is a last resort that should only be done if all other options have been exhausted. Although it may be very hard to start, Window’s built-in boot recovery module may resolve this problem, once it occurs. However, with fast booting operating systems, hitting the right button at the right time may not always be that easy.

The article concludes by reminding readers that while the bug is rare, it is important to stay up-to-date with the latest driver and operating system updates in order to minimize the risk of encountering it. The article also encourages users to report any bugs or issues they encounter with AMD Radeon graphics cards to AMD so that they can be addressed in future driver updates.

Source: PCWorld