Laptop issues after GPU driver update

[Meurock460]

Warning: Massive wall of text. Unfortunately you need to read it all to understand.

I did the upgrade from Windows 7 home premium to Windows 10 on the 29th July. When running windows 7 I was using a very old AMD driver version from 2011. The upgrade also updated my driver to version 15.7.1. No problems here.

- I then did the "reset this PC", which performed a complete clean install of Windows and then automatically reinstalled all drivers including 15.7.1

Since then:

- Laptop freezes, have to restart.
- It took nearly a minute for the laptop to come on and display anything after sleep mode.
- Applications could take minutes (some took over 10 minutes) to load and close
- AMD catalyst occasionally refusing to open
- When right clicking, the system slows to a crawl and takes nearly a minute to open one menu


I have now returned to Windows 7. Just before upgrading I made an image backup of my system, so it is exactly how it was before the upgrade, including the 2011 AMD driver.

updated to 15.7.1 (on Windows 7) and recieved these issues:

- It takes nearly 5 minutes to boot and get into the desktop
- "Windows explorer has stopped working", this keeps happening
- Freezes at logon screen. Even the "blue loading spinning thing" stops. Will eventually load but takes forever
- After sleep mode, screen comes on instantly, but has the logon screen issue mentioned above
- When right clicking, it crashes windows explorer
- AMD catalyst refuses to open
- Freezing, always have to restart the PC
- I have an Atom N270 based netbook that is now faster than this thing.

The issue also occurs on the 15.9 beta driver.

Does anyone know why this is happening? I'd rather not go back to a driver from 4 years ago.

Specs (Acer 5560G MS2319)
AMD A6 3420m
6GB memory (upgraded from 4gb over a year ago)
AMD HD 6520g and HD 7670m (in dual graphics/hybrid crossfire)
500gb Hitachi HDD

[rotNdude]

Go back to a driver from 4 years ago or just keep trying old drivers that may not be as old.

[Meurock460]

Are these older driver still available to download? Searching on AMD's website I only seem to find Linux drivers available to download. If I search specific versions it directs me to the release notes rather than a download page.

[rotNdude]

http://us.acer.com/ac/en/US/content/drivers

If AMD doesn't have them, then I don't know what to tell you.

[Meurock460]

Diposting pertama kali oleh rotNdude:

http://us.acer.com/ac/en/US/content/drivers

If AMD doesn't have them, then I don't know what to tell you.

Ah, completely forgot about the Acer site.

Their latest driver is from 2011, so i'll download that. Having an outdated driver is better than having a partially usable laptop.

I just find it odd, how a single driver can cause so many issues.

[˜lokkandload˜™]

Not all drivers are universal in nature, most of the time they are published to address a particular issue with a game, or be game ready for an upcoming title. If a game someone is playing runs fine, it makes no sense to upgrade to the latest driver just because....

[Meurock460]

Diposting pertama kali oleh ~Dirt Na$ty~™:

Not all drivers are universal in nature, most of the time they are published to address a particular issue with a game, or be game ready for an upcoming title. If a game someone is playing runs fine, it makes no sense to upgrade to the latest driver just because....

I see/ Main reason I updated was because they were so old and some games recommended an update. I have a few games that are newer than the 2011 driver. When I was running Windows 10 it was required I ran 15.7.1 also.

It's not an issue, but I don't think this system is going to run Windows 10 since it seems only driver 15.7.1 and above supports Windows 10.

EDIT: Out of interest, has anyone else had a similar problem with a "Dual Graphics" laptop or is it just a one off thing?

[Meurock460]

UPDATE:

Typing this from my desktop (which works fine with the 15.7.1 driver)

Installed the original 2011 driver from Acer website. Still having issues.

- Catalyst crashes and stops working whenever I open it.
- Opening anything related to the system properties just crashes windows explorer and causes it to stop working.
- Steam no longer opens. It loads and then closes immediately.

The graphics adapters seemed to have swapped themselves. The radeon hd 7670m is being recognised as the default adapter rather than the APU one.

It also seems that any application set to run from the APU graphics (the drivers control what graphics adapter is used) just crashes and stops working.

[Fearless_b0b0]

Hi i got the exact same problem as you.. Im using acer aspire 5560G dual ati radeon graphic 6650g + 7670m. Previously using catalyst 13.11 running smoothly. After upgraded to 15.7 it appears so much problem like what u have mentioned. Windows logon screen freezed for seconds and take ages to load into idle windows.. Making me so sad, installing like almost 10 different version of catalyst...

[Meurock460]

Diposting pertama kali oleh Fearless_b0b0:

Hi i got the exact same problem as you.. Im using acer aspire 5560G dual ati radeon graphic 6650g + 7670m. Previously using catalyst 13.11 running smoothly. After upgraded to 15.7 it appears so much problem like what u have mentioned. Windows logon screen freezed for seconds and take ages to load into idle windows.. Making me so sad, installing like almost 10 different version of catalyst...

For me I found the issue occured on both Windows 7 and Windows 10. Not sure if that matters with your issue.

Eventually I fixed it by going back to an older version of Catalyst from 2011. I am running:

Driver Packaging Version 8.901.3-111012a-127683C
Provider ATI Technologies Inc.
2D Driver Version 8.01.01.1199
2D Driver File Path /REGISTRY/MACHINE/SYSTEM/ControlSet001/Control/CLASS/{4D36E968-E325-11CE-BFC1-08002BE10318}/0000
Direct3D Version 7.14.10.0867
OpenGL Version 6.14.10.11159
AMD VISION Engine Control Center Version 2011.1012.1156.19535

This was the only version that worked with my laptop. Though I may try 13.11 out now since you had luck with that version.

I advise you to not install the supplied driver from Acer website. For me it swapped the two graphics adapters around and caused everything to crash.

Only thing I can suggest is going back to whatever driver was working for you. In your case that would be 13.11, system restore may help you there.

EDIT: If you have Windows 10, you may have to roll back to 7 or 8 (I did). I believe Windows 10 needs at least version 15.7 of catalyst.

[DJSm0k3yD_ZA]

Hi all i have good news i have found a way around this i also had the acer aspire AMD A6 APU with Radeon HD 6520G Windows 10 i gave it to my brother about a year ago but recently the display has got so sh1t so he brought it to me to try fix so after trying a couple versions of catalyst i found a few topics about it and found the 14.1 catalyst on the laptop luckily coz on the amd site the lowest version i found was the 15.7 i think it was somewhere around there so after i installed the 14.1 catalyst everything was back to normal even under display in dxdiag it was showing the graphics card instead of microsoft basic display adapter so i ran amd overdrive and everything working 100%.....if you would like the version of catalyst i used u can email me at [e-mail] or find me on steam ☺Smokey-D☺

[Meurock460]

Diposting pertama kali oleh ☺Smokey-D☺:

Hi all i have good news i have found a way around this i also had the acer aspire AMD A6 APU with Radeon HD 6520G Windows 10 i gave it to my brother about a year ago but recently the display has got so sh1t so he brought it to me to try fix so after trying a couple versions of catalyst i found a few topics about it and found the 14.1 catalyst on the laptop luckily coz on the amd site the lowest version i found was the 15.7 i think it was somewhere around there so after i installed the 14.1 catalyst everything was back to normal even under display in dxdiag it was showing the graphics card instead of microsoft basic display adapter so i ran amd overdrive and everything working 100%.....if you would like the version of catalyst i used u can email me at [e-mail] or find me on steam ☺Smokey-D☺

Thanks, though I solved the issue a while back. I just used W7 with an older driver version. Might have been 14.1 as well.

Doesn't matter too much anymore though, upgraded to a A8 (Carrizo) based Thinkpad last year. I don't really game on laptops, but the onboard R6 on the Thinkpad is slightly faster than the dedicated 7670m in the Acer.


Since all issues are resolved, I'd be grateful if a mod can lock this old thread.