Does HWiNFO64 conflict with Adrenalin 2020?

[PlayForFun82]

Hello, Creator of HWiNFO. I've been using this tool for a long time. It has been super helpful. But recently I found it can make AMD driver unstable. The driver is still kind of buggy so far and while I was using HWiNFO64 to monitor my system, the machine has more of a chance to freeze up. After some trouble shooting i managed to repeat the freeze problem and get a debug file. This time the system actually stopped responding at the blue screen with a spinning circle that says shutting down. Hopefully it helps.

Thanks!
Edward

 

[Martin]

I'm not aware of any conflict with GPU drivers, did this start to happen after some upgrade of the GPU drivers?
Are you perhaps using some other monitoring tool along with HWiNFO (including AMD RyzenMaster) ?

 

[PlayForFun82]

No, i don't use RyzenMaster. But I always use Radeon Settings the utility built in AMD driver. I always keep its panel opened. So they may conflict each other when trying to read the same sensors?

 

[Martin]

No, I don't think that would be the case.

 

[PlayForFun82]

OK I'm back. here's some more information. After reading some threads in this forum I turned off drive scan. EC support could be the next one if the problem persists. the crash symptom is first freeze up followed by a black screen. The machine then would start reading disks endlessly. Sometimes powers off itself for 1 second or 2 and starts again and ended up reading disks. I believe it's something graphic driver related. AMD driver is still problematic.
Should I submit another debug file if I can repeat the crash?

 

[Martin]

Yes, if please submit a new Debug File if the crash happens again.

 

[PlayForFun82]

Hi Martin, it crashed after a windows update (KB4549951). Last session my system had been working for almost 36 hours without problems. After installing Windows update this morning and rebooted, I started Folding@home, chrome, Radeon settings panel and HWiNFO. Then I right clicked on start menu and the screen just turned black and powered off for a short while before powering up again. After that the system stayed dead with a black screen. Because it happens so randomly i have no idea what could be the reason. No blue screen code but I believe it's the graphic driver. Please help me check the debug file. Maybe you can find a clue. Much appreciate!
Edward

PS: I don't think HWiNFO is the culprit. It seems that anything can trigger a bug in AMD driver and cause a crash since 2020 update. Overclocking, undervolting, duel screen, Chrome and Edge...the list goes on and on. During last 36 hours session I tried different versions of HWinfowith default settings, ran different games used folding@home, used chrome and edge and could not reproduce the crash. I'm so confused.

 

[PlayForFun82]

Crashed again when starting Samsung Magician a second time. System Stuck on "Scanning for drive information" screen. Strange enough it didn't happen the first time I start it. perhaps something to do with ssd temp. Anyway, the whole system froze up and had to reset. The debug file is too big even after been zipped. I try to reproduce the freeze.

PS: Frozen a 3rd time with Samsung magician. Now I wonder SSD is the problem. I took it out and saw it a bit bent.
PS.PS: Frozen yet another time. HWiFO Disabled drive scan. Not sure it's software conflicting each other or the drive is failing and cannot handle the request. I don't use that Samsung tool normally. But if I can fix the crash issue from software side I don't have to buy a new drive.

PS.PS.PS: It seems that Samsung magician UI uses GPU for some visual effects that caused crash when doing F@H. So nothing wrong with SSD or HWiNFO. F@H conflicts with other apps that use hardware acceleration is an known issue to AMD driver. So I reckon all random crashes since 2020 update are due to driver not handle multiple requests properly regardless what monitoring tool I am running. Still confused.

 

[Martin]

If you're running F@H GPU tasks then I believe the problem is indeed when anything else tries to use the GPU. I'm not quite familiar with F@H (I'm running various BOINC projects), but I never run any GPU tasks when the machine has other work. BOINC has several options to suspend (CPU/GPU) computing when the machine is in use, so I'd strongly recommend that you add such exclusion too.

 

[PlayForFun82]

Thanks a lot for the reply. So I'll run minimum tasks when using F@H. I do need HWiNFO running to keep an eye on system temp. Especially when 2 GPUs are folding. If there's nothing wrong you can find from debug files, I'LL just keep HWiFO opened and close everything else but disable drive scan and EC anyway just in case.

 

[Martin]

Looks like your issue might have been solved with a new Adrenalin driver update: https://www.amd.com/en/support/kb/release-notes/rn-rad-win-20-4-2

Radeon RX Vega series graphics products may experience a system hang or black screen when running Folding@Home while also running an application using hardware acceleration of video content.

 

[PlayForFun82]

Thanks Martin for the reminder! I went to the download page and saw Radeon VII is now re-classified under "2nd generation Vega" and doesn't use this driver. However that's not really a problem. Since a few days back I started using their enterprise driver and the experience has been great. Technically it's not optimized for gaming and *may* have issues running newer games but it doesn't make any trouble for me so nothing to complain about. I will probably stay on the pro side for some time before they can offer us mature WHQL gaming drivers. Thanks again for walking the extra mile trying to help me out. Stay safe and all the best!