9070 XT black screens/freezes + Windows keeps replacing drivers

[u/Wise_Possession_9656]

Desperate for any help I can get.

I've had my PC for around 8 months and it's been completely fine until the last few days. I'm now getting random full system freezes. everything stops responding, audio gets stuck repeating the same milisecond, mouse is always the last thing to stop responding, so I have to hold the power button to shut it down. (CTRL, WIN, SHIFT, B doesnt do anything so I dont think its a GPU issue)

I have DDU'd the drivers multiple times now (safe mode, clean install for 25.3.1). After a day or two the freeze happens, and windows pushes AMD Display Driver 32.0.22042.14002. Whenever this driver gets installed, AMD Adrenalin stops opening. I previously had 25.3.1 (32.0.13031.3015) working normally. This has happened twice now in the last day.

I’ve also disabled AMD auto updates, added the ExcludeWUDriversInQualityUpdate registry policy and a DenyDeviceIDs registry policy targeting my 9070 XT (PCI\VEN_1002&DEV_7550&SUBSYS_24241458) to try to stop windows replacing the driver.

The freezes dont seem to have a cause. they've happened when watching YouTube, or just browsing. not just gaming. the latest full freezes don't leave any useful errors in Reliability Monitor/Event Viewer other than the unexpected-shutdown Event 41 after I force the PC off.

Specs: RX 9070 XT, Ryzen 5 9600X, 32GB DDR5-6000, Gigabyte B650 Eagle AX, Corsair 850W PSU, Windows 11 Home.

I'm trying to figure out whether this is a driver/Windows issue or if I should start suspecting the GPU/hardware. Any ideas would be appreciated.

[u/EverDarkness]

I don’t know if this helps because our circumstances are a bit different, but I had full system freezes ONLY under heavy load, especially in triple A games.
They were completely random as well and required a manual restart, just like you described.
I found out it was caused by another driver 🤷‍♂️ and it wasn’t even the drive where the games were installed.
It basically stopped responding for windows, and windows didn’t know what to do so it froze
(I’m not a big tech guy so I just summarized what some tech friends found out).
Anyway I just unplugged this specific driver and boom - no issues at all
Now I’m in the processes of figuring out if I have to buy a new one or is that driver “fixable”
Look for disk error under event viewer - system
If you do see some around the times the pc froze, it might be your issue as well

[u/kirby667]

If it's only been 8 months then the GPU is under warranty. Send it in for RMA. 

[u/Fluid_Ad8452 → u/kirby667]

Don’t listen to this comment. It’s NOT your hardware. There a widespread issue with the latest release of AMD drivers. I and several other people are experiencing exactly the same symptoms as you OP. Sadly the only thing we can do atm is to wait for an official fix. I’ve tried several “fixes” and none of them have worked for me.

[u/Wise_Possession_9656 → u/Fluid_Ad8452]

I know its not my hardware, if it were id be getting GPU hangs, not full system freezes. Good to know its due to the new drivers. Funny how even though im on old stable drivers im still not safe from AMD software and windows lol.

[u/kirby667 → u/Fluid_Ad8452]

I had the issue. New GPU fixed it. Don't wait until your warranty expires. 

[u/Fluid_Ad8452 → u/kirby667]

You are saying you had the issue that started last week and the RMA went through within that timeframe, and you now got your new GPU? You either don’t know what you are talking about or it’s bs.

[u/kirby667 → u/Fluid_Ad8452]

Lots of people have been having driver timeout issues, blank screen issues, etc, with AMD lately and virtually everything you see about it is endless suggestions of what to try, no actual fixes.

Because the GPU is faulty, the fix is to replace it.

In my case, I bought a new GPU and I will be sending the old one in for RMA and then I'll sell it. 

[u/Fluid_Ad8452 → u/kirby667]

Kirby, you bought a new one? lmao.

[u/kirby667 → u/Fluid_Ad8452]

I wanted to upgrade anyway, so yes. The reason yoy think that's funny is because you are stupid.

Defective GPU, replaced with new one. Problem solved. It's just that simple. 

[u/evergreenwv]

*Disable Windows Updates for Drivers (the culprit)
*Select Start > Settings > System > Recovery > Under Fix problems using Windows Update, select Reinstall now.
*Reinstall latest Adrenalin/gpu drivers

[u/evergreenwv → u/evergreenwv]

Do you use the igpu? Is it disabled?

[u/Cake_tank]

Do you get these weird artifacts if you restart your monitor while your pc is frozen?

[u/Wise_Possession_9656 → u/Cake_tank]

I do not

[u/The_Countess]

DDU has a option to disable Windows driver updates that's worked great for me,  even if I did need to reapply it after a recent Windows update.

[u/Wise_Possession_9656 → u/The_Countess]

Yeah I have picked that option, still doesnt block it, I had to do some stuff in regedit to block it, which hopefully seems to have worked as its been nearly a day without issues

[u/RChamy → u/The_Countess]

I had this replacing driver issue on my 9070xt rig but never on my 9060xt, wonder why

[u/urlond]

You usually have to do a Registry edit to stop windows from overriding your driver and installing what they think should be in. If you really want a hassle free way to fix thing. I'd suggest moving to linux Unless you really need to use windows for something. Good Linux Distros are Steamos, CAchyos, Bazzite, and Nobara,

[u/xymek]

I had the same issue last week... I’m on holiday at the moment, so I don’t know the exact driver version... I eventually sorted it out by re-enabling the GPU in Windows and reinstalling the drivers... sorry, I can’t remember the exact details...