My Radeon Drivers Are Bugged. All programs stuttering and can't reinstall drivers

Sep 15, 2018
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So this started since I reinstalled Windows about a week ago. I first noticed that all of my games, and video programs such as Netflix are stuttering and lagging. In an attempt to try and fix this, I used DDU to uninstall my Radeon drivers for my RX 480. However, after restarting I downloaded and started to install Radeon 18.10.2 (most recent driver.) The install seemed to be going fine but after the process was complete a message came up saying something a long the lines of "error, 18.10.2 was partially installed."

I've repeated this process multiple times using different drivers and different methods to uninstall the drivers. Non the less, this keeps happening. I have Netflix playing in windowed on my other monitor right now and my computer is stuttering as I type. About 30 mins ago I went into device manager and attempted to use the "update driver" option on my graphics card. After about 10 seconds my computer blue screened and restarted. Now I'm kinda in this weird state where it says I have drivers but Radeon settings won't open and everything is running poorly.

Also another thing which is kinda weird. Every time I launch my PC after completely uninstalling the drivers (at least I think I am) after about a minute of booting, Windows automatically installs Radeon 17.1.1. I don't know if this is contributing to the issue, I would rather do a clean install to 18.10.2 but I can't stop 17.1.1 from installing.

Things I've tried:
- Crap cleaner + registry cleaner
- sfc /scannow
- Using DDU in safe mode
- Uninstalling drivers from device manager then uninstalling
- Uninstalling drivers from the uninstall a program window

Specs:
i5 6600k OCed to 4.2
RX 480 8gb
Gigabyte z170x Gaming 3 mobo
500gb Samsung EVO
Corsair TX650M (brand new)
16gb ddr4 3000nhz


So yeah I don't really know what's going on and it's kinda annoying. Any help or advice would be appreciated.

Thanks, Sean
 
Sep 15, 2018
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Updated ^ CPU usage seems normal, like 10-20% on Netflix and anywhere from 60-100% in strenuous games. I know 100% CPU usage is bad but it rarely goes there so I don't think this is the cause of the issue. CPU temps are fine, highest I've ever seen it is 60 C. GPU temps obviously low while watching Netflix and anywhere from 70-85 in games. Drive usage looks normal, no spikes.
 

ishaankaushik

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Sep 7, 2017
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If you have group policy in windows set to disabled enable it.This will probably solve the issue.
 

Rexer

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I imagine you tried chkdsk in the cmd window, too. Sound like you still have some fragments of an earlier driver in the registry path. But you said you used DDU. Did you try installing 17.1.1 and then uninstalling it and then run DDU?
If you did that, I don't know what it could be. Memory and video timing is not in sync so the faster information is being inhibited by slower hardware or vise-versa. Updating visual C+ files in Programs and Featurers?
As for stuttering issues, try turning off FreeSync off in display controls and Vertical Sync (or v-sync) off in games. Did you reset or set to default all your games? Steam and internet games have a nasty habit of remembering (reprogramming) crashes and stuttering like a game setting back in. Be sure to reset or default your games to clear them out.
Hope this helps.
 
Sep 15, 2018
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Hi, thanks for the reply. I have tried running sfc/scannow and DISM, neither of these commands came up with anything. I will try chkdsk. As for the drivers I have installed and uninstalled different drivers about 10+ times. Sometimes the issue is less severe on some drivers but it is always there. Another thing I tried doing was messing around with my CPU clocks and voltages to see if I could see any difference. But yet again, nothing. I am suspicious of my CPU though as I've had bottle-necking issues in the past. Finally, yeah I've messed around with game settings a lot. The FPS improves and worsens when I higher and lower the settings as you would expect. But the stuttering seems to always be there in the background. Sometimes it doesn't happen very often, but its there. I don't think the games are to blame here though.

Thanks again.
 

Rexer

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Could be another program running in the background. Anti-Virus sometimes messes with games. Firewalls do too. Zone Alarm is the worse but sometimes AVG does. Or, there's a good chance you have malware of some type. If you've got a third party anti-virus/firewall like Kaspersky or Trend Micro, make sure Windows Defender and Windows firewall is off.
Are you getting a good upload and download speeds? That's assuming you're playing online games. Also, check to see if you're not sharing the internet cable with the neighbor. Sometimes a cable company will send a lazy cable guy out, hook the neighbor into your cable management box.
Hope this helps.
 
Sep 15, 2018
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Hi, it's probably worth noting that i'm having stuttering and strange performance issues in games as well. Games that I used to be able to run easy like Rainbow Six: Siege and Rocket League are suddenly giving me issues. The stuttering is no where near as often as when watching Netflix but they stutter now and they never used to. Also, Netflix does not stutter on Microsoft Edge, its perfectly smooth. But it does stutter on Chrome and in the Windows App. As for firewalls, I don't have one installed as I just reset windows because of this issue about a week ago. Only Windows Defender is active. I made sure nothing else was running in the background so that's not the cause of the issue.

My friend said he would let me use his GTX 970 so I can see if the GPU is causing the issue or not. I'm finding it very hard to pinpoint this issue to a certain component.

Finally. I'm on an Ethernet adapter and my Internet has been acting pretty funny recently, with ping spikes in games and random drops in download speed. But normaly I get about 30 up and 10 down. I would be very surprised if my internet connection was causing this issue, but it's possible. I don't really have a way to test on a better connection for now though.
 

Rexer

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Spikes and Drops are pretty normal except when you see the more that often. This may be the path to the server is compromised and can be corrected by getting off the internet and back on. Hmm. I don't know any way of testing it the connections either except switching the modem and router with a new or known good. Your speeds seem normal just your numbers are backwards (30 down and 10 up). No big deal. I think 25 and 7 are normal. DSL or highspeed? My download is 137. That's pretty high but the upload is 12. Screwy cable companies like to keep upload low because they don't like anyone using a server.

Is the Ethernet adopter a PCI-e card? Try reseating the card but you probably done that. Right now I'm picking at straws. Grab your bosses laptop and plug your Ethernet cable in. Load a free game on it. Lol. I haven't seen much in internet problems since the neighbor ran his motor home into the cable management box.
Lastly, my neighborhood had more crashes than usual watching cable a couple years ago. That was Netflix not having enough bandwidth. Maybe calling the cable company is good to assess what's going on in the neighborhood.
 
Sep 15, 2018
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So I just made a pretty big discovery. I don't think its to do with my connection. I disabled hardware acceleration on Google Chrome, this made it so my GPU was no longer assisting Chrome what so ever (I think) and the Netflix issue was still there. I did notice some high CPU usage at times into the 90s. Could this be a CPU issue? My CPU is second hand and I have been suspicious of it for a while, CPU intensive games always seem to run unusually poorly. I am assuming that the fact I can still see the issue with hardware acceleration turned off, eliminates my GPU from the equation.

Please tell me what you think of this. Thanks
 

Rexer

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Yeah. I don't think your GPU is the problem. At this point, I can only speculate updates are more suspect than hardware.
I had to go into the Steam folder to steamapps and change a memory speed setting but Game manufacturers, older games either don't have the setting or call it's something else. When the setting is too low or too high the warping is awful.
Example, this warp was, 'running and suddenly be 2 steps behind' 'side stepping to hide from my opponents line of fire and suddenly being back in the line of fire and killed. Warping was continuous every two or three seconds.
This is the setting change for Call of Duty WW2. C:> Program files (x86)> Steam> steamapps> common> Call of DutyWWII> players2> user_config_mp_cfg
The setting I changed [seta r_videoMemoryScale] from '.07' to '.08'. It varied with other players in the game who changed theirs from '1.0' to '.08'.
No clue why the setting are so far apart from player to player. They are sometimes the configurations of game updates -to rid or correct problems or settings.
Anyway, it's a video memory setting in the game. But for the life of me, I find every game manufacturer calling this setting something else or not where you'd think it should be. It's hair pulling. I've Goggled and search the game discussions what other gamers did or found and sometimes I was able to find a fixit. I still have to figure out where the setting is in World War 3, since it warps so badly.
The bad part I think is, when enough gamers have the same problem, game manufacturers issue an update/fix it for everyone with one setting. Thus, screwing us who don't need the update.
If I was a programmer I may have an easier time but sometimes even asking them, they can't answer me. I know this can't help much. Sorry.