TUF A17 FA706IU Freezing Issues - Fixed

[Angstromm]

All,

Thought I'd post this as both a fix and warning about a driver issue that likely affects other AMD TUF machines.

I was getting random but fairly regular freezes that were not associated with any program/activity on my system. No associated Event Viewer logs. No noticeable upticks in CPU/Disk/Etc. usage. Freezes would last about 5 seconds, give or take. Games would freeze, scrolling websites froze. Typing in webforms, Word, emails, etc., would all freeze. Then back to normal. Rinse, repeat every few minutes.

Freezing was caused by the latest AMD drivers from the ASUS drivers site. I used the AMD driver delete utility and loaded the previous Graphics/Chipset combined drivers and freezing is gone.

Problem Driver:
AMD Graphics and HDMI Driver
Version V27.20.1020.2002
2020/08/27

Working Driver:
AMD Graphics, Chipset Driver
Version V26.20.14048.2
2020/05/27

Hope this helps…

[seba842005]

I have drivers from AMD site:
27.20.12027.1001

and i have no problems

[Angstromm]

seba842005 wrote:
I have drivers from AMD site:
27.20.12027.1001

and i have no problems

Thanks for the reply, seba. I tried running both the NVIDIA and AMD native drivers and ran into issues. I will like try again. I've had to reinstall
Windows several times due to a number of odd issues. I build gaming system and high-end desktop systems (been in the trade for over 30 years) and this has been on of the most troublesome laptops I've owned. Don't get me wrong; it's a a great machine and has, for the most part, run very well--have a pare of Samsung 970 PROs running in RAID-0 , 64GB RAM and planing a couple of other upgrades. Very happy, but it's been a lot of work.

[syyyap]

Angstromm wrote:
All,

Thought I'd post this as both a fix and warning about a driver issue that likely affects other AMD TUF machines.

I was getting random but fairly regular freezes that were not associated with any program/activity on my system. No associated Event Viewer logs. No noticeable upticks in CPU/Disk/Etc. usage. Freezes would last about 5 seconds, give or take. Games would freeze, scrolling websites froze. Typing in webforms, Word, emails, etc., would all freeze. Then back to normal. Rinse, repeat every few minutes.

Freezing was caused by the latest AMD drivers from the ASUS drivers site. I used the AMD driver delete utility and loaded the previous Graphics/Chipset combined drivers and freezing is gone.

Problem Driver:
AMD Graphics and HDMI Driver
Version V27.20.1020.2002
2020/08/27

Working Driver:
AMD Graphics, Chipset Driver
Version V26.20.14048.2
2020/05/27

Hope this helps…

yes, this helps. now, netflix also works in full screen mode, no more blank and flickering screen.

[syyyap]

the touchpad still become not responsive every few seconds, the second you need it most. have to stop touching it for 1 second to be able to continue using, then it freezes again and again every few seconds. it's really frustrating. tried switching between asus driver and windows driver by updating or uninstalling in device manager, didn't work.

can't really pin point when it will happen...feels random, noticed it freezes most within the first few seconds after loading a browser page.

[ivoivail]

Angstromm wrote:
All,

Thought I'd post this as both a fix and warning about a driver issue that likely affects other AMD TUF machines.

I was getting random but fairly regular freezes that were not associated with any program/activity on my system. No associated Event Viewer logs. No noticeable upticks in CPU/Disk/Etc. usage. Freezes would last about 5 seconds, give or take. Games would freeze, scrolling websites froze. Typing in webforms, Word, emails, etc., would all freeze. Then back to normal. Rinse, repeat every few minutes.

Freezing was caused by the latest AMD drivers from the ASUS drivers site. I used the AMD driver delete utility and loaded the previous Graphics/Chipset combined drivers and freezing is gone.

Problem Driver:
AMD Graphics and HDMI Driver
Version V27.20.1020.2002
2020/08/27

Working Driver:
AMD Graphics, Chipset Driver
Version V26.20.14048.2
2020/05/27

Hope this helps…

Hello,

Could you please provide a link to that driver:

AMD Graphics, Chipset Driver
Version V26.20.14048.2

Thank you!

[cl-Albert]

ivoivail wrote:
Hello,

Could you please provide a link to that driver:

AMD Graphics, Chipset Driver
Version V26.20.14048.2

Thank you!

You can change the region at the bottom of the page, but under the global page you can find it under the chipset drivers and just click on the 'show all' for that section to find it.

https://www.asus.com/Laptops/For-Gaming/TUF-Gaming/ASUS-TUF-Gaming-A17/HelpDesk_Download/

" Version V26.20.14048.2
2020/05/27 484.92 MBytes

AMD Graphics, Chipset Driver
Improve System Stability
"How to install AMD chipset driver SOP
Link: https://www.asus.com/US/support/FAQ/1039816""

[mykhydro]

My laptop still has the original Windows 10 installation that came from Asus. I don't think it suffered from this problem out of the box, and I think I caused this freezing/stuttering issue by updating graphics/audio drivers. I set up a dual-boot with Windows 11 (as an Insider tester) and I noticed Windows 11 didn't suffer from the issue. I believe it's because I used all native Windows 11 drivers from Microsoft.

I am now testing Radeon Adrenalin 21.12.1 Optional on Windows 10 and if I run into the issue I will roll back the audio driver AtihdWT6.sys

[syyyap]

mine always get BSOD while powering on from sleep/hibernation - error: dpc watchdog violation with power plugged in. now i have to unplug the power temporaray during wake to avoid BSOD...