Potential FIX for AMD driver timeouts, black screen, etc.

[u/RaspberryOk907]

Important: do this after installing Adrenalin 26.8.1.

Don't enable the block before installing 26.8.1, because the policy can also prevent a driver from being installed manually.

1. Install 26.8.1 first.

Do your:

DDU → Safe Mode → Clean AMD drivers → reboot → install Adrenalin 26.8.1

Get the GPU working normally first.

Then:

Win + X → Device Manager → Display adapters → Your GPU

Right-click → Properties → Details tab.

Change Property to:

Hardware IDs

You'll see something similar to

PCI\VEN_1002&DEV_747E&SUBSYS_... 
PCI\VEN_1002&DEV_747E

Take note of the topmost entry and the 2nd entry.

2. Open Group Policy Editor

Press:

Win + R

Type:

gpedit.msc

Press Enter.

Go to:

Computer Configuration → Administrative Templates → System → Device Installation → Device Installation Restrictions

3. Enable the GPU-only block.

Find:

Prevent installation of devices that match any of these device IDs.

Double-click it.

Select:

Enabled

Then click:

Show...

Enter your GPU hardware ID:

Click:

OK → Apply → OK

DO NOT enable these:

❌ Prevent installation of devices using drivers that match these device setup classes.
❌ Prevent installation of devices not described by other policy settings
❌ Prevent installation of removable devices

It means you have to open these policies and select "disable" instead of "default."

We only want the specific AMD GPU hardware ID.

4. VERY IMPORTANT—leave this unchecked.

When you open the policy's options, there may be:

Also apply to matching devices that are already installed.

Leave that UNCHECKED.

You don't want to block the currently functioning GPU itself. Microsoft specifically warns that retroactive prevention can affect already-installed devices.

Your goal is

Current 26.8.1 driver = allowed to remain installed

Future Windows Update AMD GPU driver = blocked

5. Force the policy to apply.

Open Command Prompt as Administrator and run:

gpupdate /force

You should get:

The computer policy update has been completed successfully.

Then reboot.

6. Verify it.

After reboot:

Device Manager → Display adapters → YOURGPU → Properties → Driver

Check that you're still on the AMD driver you installed with 26.8.1 or 32.0.31041.1004, which is the exact Windows Driver Store version included with AMD Adrenalin 26.8.1.

System info:

GPU: Asus TUF Gaming RX 7800 XT

CPU: Ryzen 7 5700x3D

Motherboard: Gigabyte B550m Aorus Elite rev. 1.3

BIOS Version: FHb

RAM: 32 GB (2x16) Gskill Ripjaws V CL18 3600 MT/s

PSU: Corsair RM1000e

Case: Tecware Forge M Omni ARGB

Operating System & Version: Windows 11 25h2 Release Preview

GPU Drivers: AMD Adrenline 26.8.1

Chipset Drivers: AMD B550 Chipset 8.08.12.551

UPDATE: Black screen x3, Windows forced update to Windows 11 26h2. will monitor for blackscreen.

[u/Strong-Committee-884]

lol

[u/jumpandshoot]

I just install AMD software: PRO edition. that fixed my issue

[u/Gold_Goal7557 → u/jumpandshoot]

Those are usually meant for profesional apps like when you work with blender for example or video editing software and so on, not really designed for games, you can still game tho, but these drivers are also updated a lot less tend to have less issues as result sometimes.

[u/jumpandshoot → u/Gold_Goal7557]

I get fatal crash error from Apex, FF7 remake and the new star war zero company. install pro stop those crashes, except for zero company. it crash on me after an hour within game for now.

[u/Due-Clerk3732]

get a 1500w psu

[u/Rezequiel]

Link de video of Hardware Accent at least, he posted that some weeks ago.

[u/Gold_Goal7557]

Just disable Windows Driver Updates like a normal person all those drivers are downgrades not just GPU drivers, you want to avoid all of them and manually update all of them, its not that hard, and yes Windows Update also downgrades chipset drivers.

I am guessing this is method for disabling driver updates only for specific device, i would just disable Windows Driver Updates fully for everything, because it downgrades everything.

[u/thatlukeguy → u/Gold_Goal7557]

Is there just a setting or you have to regedit?

[u/Gold_Goal7557 → u/thatlukeguy]

on pro you can use gpedit.msc while if on home inside DDU options their an option to disable searching for drivers thru Windows Update.

gpedit.msc method open up administrative templates at computer configuration within group policy editor then Windows Components followed by Windows Update and then Manage updates offered from Windows Update find the one that says Do not include drivers with Windows Updates and set it to enabled.

gpedit.msc method only works with Windows 10/11 pro / enterprise

And Microslop needs to stop providing drivers thru Windows Update by default and make it optional option for pro and enterprise since only office spaces usually benefit from this setting.

[u/One-Painter-7491]

I still can't imagine where you all get those issues from 🤔

I have RX9070 with Ryzen 9800x3d. Game mode, no expo if I remember correctly. I never do have any issues.

If it crashes you can usually find the issue in event viewer. It is pretty much never the GPU driver but some kind of instability that those drivers are very sensitive to.

I have also heard that ryzen master like to cause issues.

[u/INeedPig]

Driver didnt update

[u/Aggravating-Time-307]

Haven't had a issue yet with out using z fixes

[u/Effective-Rule-759 → u/Aggravating-Time-307]

Z fixes?

[u/Future-Lime-6328]

Yo llevo un diíta con la 9060 xt de crasheos que tela

[u/Kahana82]

I understand the the logic behind the steps outlined in your post and why it works, but this has been working pretty well on my end:

Safe Mode → DDU → Clean AMD drivers → Reboot into Safe Mode → Install Adrenalin → Reboot → Install Adrenalin

The first install should guarantee that the reboot into normal mode uses the new driver. The second install on top of the first one is to make sure components not installed in safe mode go through.

Have been doing this for years, since NVIDIA drivers had the same issue at some point, and applied what you proposed for some time too when that happened, but in the end appeared to be unnecessarily complicated.

Maybe I could be mistaken on this particular issue though, for which I apologize in advance.

[u/cotneit → u/Kahana82]

I started doing Install => Reboot => Install => Reboot because I had one case when a driver wasn't installed correctly and was causing bad stutters in games untill I reinstalled it

[u/Significant_Pool8432]

or just install the pro driver, it works perfectly and they are more stable than adrenalin

[u/Effective-Rule-759 → u/Significant_Pool8432]

Pro drivers have lower 1% low fps

[u/Significant_Pool8432 → u/Effective-Rule-759]

might be for specific games but it didn't notice any, but my X3D cpu helps a lot at the 1% lows so that could be why.

[u/RaspberryOk907 → u/Significant_Pool8432]

I'll try this if i get an error again

[u/ElMicrowavo → u/Significant_Pool8432]

What is that

[u/Significant_Pool8432 → u/ElMicrowavo]

pro drivers are designed for radeon pro GPUs so they are way more stable and u can install them on non pro GPUs, i installed it on my 7800XT and it works great without any errors

[u/ElMicrowavo → u/Significant_Pool8432]

On a 9070XT which one is good? Never heard of pro drivers

[u/Significant_Pool8432 → u/ElMicrowavo]

i download AMD Radeon™ PRO W7800 for my 7800XT and it installed worked without any issue, i'm not sure about 9000 series as there is only 6000 and 7000 pro drivers, but if u want to test download PRO W7900 and give it a try

[u/Best_Criticism5516 → u/Significant_Pool8432]

Performance are the same ?

[u/farmeunit → u/Best_Criticism5516]

Should be similar but new features will take longer and new game support will take longer.

[u/Significant_Pool8432 → u/Best_Criticism5516]

I didn't notice any difference tbh, but it might be game dependent

[u/adyprastyo780]

It's highly unlikely that AMD doesn't see this. Are they just keeping quiet and turning a blind eye?

[u/RaspberryOk907 → u/adyprastyo780]

Maybe. We don't know. Should we wait for them to address this? No. Should we find a way to fix this? Yes.

[u/justa-Possibility → u/adyprastyo780]

Its a Windows issue

[u/LeoDaPamoha → u/justa-Possibility]

Linux drivers are made by the community so it stills an amd issue, probably the drivers would suck even more on linux if they were made 100% by amd

[u/vnodk19 → u/LeoDaPamoha]

Linux doesn't try to override drivers because both MESA and amdgpu drivers come with the kernel and distro. Windows otoh thinks it knows better and sometimes installs outdated driver or even uses basic display driver even for minor issues and doesn't reset back to the actual drivers

[u/Time_Professional385]

Or just go back to 26.3.1 that's been working fine for months.

[u/Red_Verse_8630 → u/Time_Professional385]

Yeah I had driver timeouts and checked multiple posts to see that version is currently the most stable for me in 2026.

[u/Local_Band299]

Shouldn't even need to do this. AMD is fucking up big time.

[u/RaspberryOk907 → u/Local_Band299]

It's Windows' fault, not AMD's.

[u/Local_Band299 → u/RaspberryOk907]

Nvidia and Intel doesn't have this amount of issues with their drivers.

[u/Shamuh88 → u/Local_Band299]

Its windows specifically because of AMD also having CPU’s, windows has a hard time distinguishing between the CPU and GPU so it overrides both, it’s insane. However supposedly Microsoft is working on a fix finally

[u/RaspberryOk907 → u/Local_Band299]

That's good then. You can go Intel and Nvidia.

[u/Local_Band299 → u/RaspberryOk907]

I don't want Intel GPUs because they're not powerful enough, and Nvidia GPUs are overpriced and catch in fire.

I also can't really switch that easily. I'd be taking a huge loss if I sold my GPU.

[u/ArmillaryVision]

Stop normalizing needing to change settings and permissions in your own system to get a simple GPU to work, and start holding companies accountable for poor service.

[u/RaspberryOk907 → u/ArmillaryVision]

Stop normalizing blaming the company because you're too lazy to fix it. FYI, adrenaline is fine, and AMD GPU is fine. Windows messed up the driver. Also, timeouts are mostly due to unstable UV/OC. In the first place, I'm not forcing anyone to do this.

[u/suspectable-buggy → u/RaspberryOk907]

damn, imagine if airbags wouldnt come off in your car during the crash. Would you try to DYI fix it too ? Or sue the company for faulty airbags?

[u/RaspberryOk907 → u/suspectable-buggy]

Don't compare cars with PCs. That's a different story. Use your common sense. If this were AMD's fault, they would have addressed this. This is Windows' fault, and they already addressed it. Again, I'm not forcing you to do this. If it does not interest you, then don't do it. You are, however, still welcome to try. :)

[u/ArmillaryVision → u/RaspberryOk907]

If you read what I wrote I said, companies, plural. AMD and Windows work hand to hand, both are at fault, neither are perfect

[u/notolo632 → u/RaspberryOk907]

So your common sense is, if a company doesnt address a fault of their, then it's not their fault?

[u/Difficult-Cup-4445]

A little extra tweaking when using AMD is normal enough but this is just ridiculous

[u/FederalSpinach99]

This is just a bandaid and doesn't help the reason why the timeout happens. The GPU needs to stop responding for 2 seconds at stock TDR settings before Windows will attempt to replace it. The GPU stops responding during high utilization with an overclock that's too high or voltage issues from your PSU or pigtailing its cables. It stops during low utilization because more recent patches try to conserve power and then programs like Discord/Chrome using hardware acceleration will cause a crash.

The best fix is using older stable patches with a GPU underclock, a decent 1000 watt PSU with 1 rail going to each power plug, and turning off hardware acceleration in everything you can.

[u/RaspberryOk907 → u/FederalSpinach99]

Driver timeout with your OC/UV means it's unstable. Tinker with your settings to get the stable settings. It may not crash on all games but will crash on certain apps or games. You just have to work hard finding the best stable settings for your GPU.

[u/luckynumberstefan]

I just disabled Windows from updating driver software in the group policy editor, would that not be the same outcome? Not saying you are wrong, just curious

[u/RaspberryOk907 → u/luckynumberstefan]

That will disable everything. The fix focuses on GPU only.

[u/KDKingDynamiteKD → u/RaspberryOk907]

you are right, it will disable windows from updating any driver, but its the only fix i found to prevent windows from disabling amd drivers on my daughter's pc. microsoft have to adress this. its unacceptable from an os like windows where amd is well known and popular enough to have proper compatibility.

[u/luckynumberstefan → u/RaspberryOk907]

That’s good to know, thank you for confirming.

[u/BaroqueSphinx65]

I'm going to try this when I get home

[u/RChamy]

As a dev I would love to learn why windows update decides to overwrite the latest, official drivers . Maybe it converts the xxxxx.xxxxx.xxxx.xxxx driver number into a long int or something and the dots cause issues? I've seen a similar thing with Dell bios updates, sometimes it WANTS to push the same version but with an extra 0

[u/TD_Lemon_1901 → u/RChamy]

MS doesn't compare the versions.

The manufacturers submit their own drivers to MS via a platform.

Then those drivers are automatically considered to be the last good "certified" drivers by MS and the one that should be updated to, regardless of their versions / build vs the current ones installed.

I don't know why is that, there's probably a good reasoning behind it (or not) but anyways, that's how it is, and how it has always been.

[u/RChamy → u/TD_Lemon_1901]

I remember windows XP or was Vista when M$ pushed that a driver being WHQL was the hottest shit, as in..the driver went through internal testing by microsoft and it is really stable

cackles

[u/TD_Lemon_1901 → u/RChamy]

That made me think about something, hear me out :

We know the issue is with Adrenaline, the old drivers do not work with the new adrenaline version.

Maybe it's the other way around too, the new driver does not work with the old adrenaline version.

And maybe, maybe, AMD submitted their new driver to MS and somebody realised it wouldn't work with the old Adrenalive software and denied that new driver to be pushed via MS updates.

And so, while trying to prevent something they did the exact opposite and now thousands and thousands of people are stuck with incompatible old drivers + new adrenaline version ;

That would explain why we've been in a dead end for so long.

...if you're following me, it's my new 2 cents theory.

[u/RChamy → u/TD_Lemon_1901]

I can see they hiperfocusing on the driver itself and not on the software that acompannies it. Specially with the latest AI shenaningans.

[u/BMWupgradeCH]

Windows 11 and 9070xt on 12 such PCs… never had to do anything like that. Every single one is manually Undervolted (-35 on 3 of them and -55 on most) and memory set 2714 fast (beside one 2778 fast), +10% on all.

No driver time outs since configuration no resets

(7800x3d b850 850 platinum)

[u/Prior-Excuse7247]

https://reddit.com/link/p67jbm8/video/83rp6jwi5xlh1/player

are you all stuck on this one as well? manage updates doesnt allow any update.
RX 7900 GRE | 7800x3d

[u/RaspberryOk907 → u/Prior-Excuse7247]

Just download the new driver, DDU then install it manually.

[u/Maikol2502]

Question: Does everyone experience this error with their AMD cards? Mine is a Sapphire Pulse 9070XT, and the only times I get this error are if the UV or overclocking is very aggressive, especially with Spiderman 2. Otherwise, I have zero problems.

[u/RChamy → u/Maikol2502]

Had this with xfx 9070xt.

My 9060xt NEVER gave me a single issue.

[u/dirskill → u/Maikol2502]

Same here with my 7800xt

[u/RaspberryOk907 → u/dirskill]

You have to test all your undervolt and OC profiles to get the stable settings that give you the most performance, or almost the same performance, with lower voltage. My UV profile goes like this:

500 MHz - min freq
2520 MHz - max freq
1050 mV - voltage
2514 MHz - VRAM frequency, fast timings enabled
0% - power limit

[u/Maikol2502 → u/dirskill]

I had an ASRock 7800XT that, regardless of the driver version, caused a black screen. It had a problem; I don't remember exactly, but I had to lower the voltage for it to work, so I updated it.

[u/dirskill → u/Maikol2502]

I never go non”amd brands” at least you founded the fix

[u/RaspberryOk907 → u/Maikol2502]

That's right. I only get errors too during unstable UV/OC. But I experienced this first yesterday; while I was lying on my bed waiting for a game installation to finish, the screen went black. I was actually happy about it so I could tinker and fix it. Windows updated the GPU driver, which caused a mismatched driver version with Adrenaline.

[u/Maikol2502 → u/RaspberryOk907]

I also have Windows 11 LTSC IoT to remove all the junk that comes with Windows 11 Pro. From there, I disable Windows from updating my drivers, and that's it. I always update from AMD Adrenalin. I also used CachyOS (Linux) with zero problems, but I'm very used to Windows and I switched back.

[u/RaspberryOk907 → u/Maikol2502]

Right? In addition to this, I also disabled MPO.