Armoury crate update broke Windows 11 - X670E-E Gaming Wifi

[FelixNicol]

Hi,

I have a 7950X on a X670E-E motherboard and two 16gb sticks of DDR5 6000. I clocked at default 4800 without XMP for the test. 

Latest update of the X670E-E Gaming Wifi drivers (windows drivers not bios) from Armoury Crate badly broke windows 11. I opened Armoury Crate because I sadly had to. It required some updates and reboots. I updated the motherboard divers (update named X670E-E Gaming Wifi), rebooted my PC as required then it went very bad. 

Chrome would show an empty black window. I could not browse system settings. Steam crashed at startup. Most applications would not open. Task manager would not display menus and icons would not load...

After about a minute, the PC would crash with a blue screen. 

Reboot did nothing, stock ram speed did nothing, flashing cmos did nothing. Attempts at a diagnostic or repair from windows ended into blue screens.

I used my recovery USB drive, booted in recovery mode, used my last recovery point and now everything is fine. If you have a system similar to mine, please don't update Armoury Crate without a good Windows recovery point or you may need a fresh windows reinstall.

[Jiaszzz_ROG · Accepted solution]

Hello @FelixNicol 

Thank you for reaching out to us. 
In normal circumstances, with all software correctly installed, we can confirm that using Armoury Crate should not result in such an issue.
Based on your description, it is possible that there may be a software compatibility conflict, such as the presence of previously installed lighting control software or other system control programs that interfere with Armoury Crate's functionality.
However, we may need to request Armoury Crate logs for further investigation to identify the root cause.
Given that you have already performed a system recovery, if the issue occurs again or if you are willing to assist in identifying the cause, we recommend recording the process. Please record a video and capture the log files after installing Armoury Crate to help us investigate the blue screen or other related abnormalities.

Thank you.

[FelixNicol]

Hi,

Thank you for the answer. I'm not sure I'll have time to do it. However, if I have some free time I'll try to reproduce the problem.

Thanks

Felix Nicol

[Jiaszzz_ROG]

Hello @FelixNicol 
Thank you for your prompt response.
For standard drivers such as chipset drivers, you can download the latest version available on the ROG STRIX X670E-E GAMING WIFI support site and run the AsusSetup.exe file to install or update.
Please refer to [To install drivers and utilities through the ASUS Support Site, please follow the steps below] if needed.

Thank you.

[Shantala]

I recently updated Armoury Crate on my ASUS ROG Maximus Z790 Hero motherboard, and immediately after the update, my Windows 11 Pro key was deactivated. I was unable to reactivate it, and the only solution was to use a new key to activate Windows again.

After uninstalling Armoury Crate, Windows 11 remained deactivated, and I was forced to get a new activation key. This experience has made me hesitant to risk using Armoury Crate again, despite the useful features it offers. I’ve decided I won’t install it in the future, and I will likely choose a different brand for my next motherboard.

Additionally, both my previous ASUS motherboard and the current one have an ongoing issue where every time I restart the PC, I have to unplug all USB devices. This happens because a specific USB port seems to cause the monitor to display no image.

At this point, I’ve had enough of ASUS motherboards and won’t be using them again in the future.