System freeze updating drivers for AMD R9 390X (8GB VRAM) on HP Omen 870-055nd

[Mr_Roger]

My AMD driver updates worked initially but that stopped going beyond 18.12.1-Nov29.

During the install the system freezes, crashes and reboots when the new driver is loaded. Then a reboot loop occurs where during startup the freeze, crash and reboot repeats. Finally ending up in recovery mode reverting to the latest working driver.

I have seen various folks reporting the issue here without a proper resolution.

AMD Redeon R9 390X 

Cannot install AMD GPU Drivers past 2017. (Omen 870-003na) 

Since 2018, I have tried ever so often to load the latest drivers, but every time the same result.

Also Windows presented newer AMD drivers in Windows 10 update. This has caused the same crashes. The latest update to build 2400 of Windows 10 crashed my system again.

This made me investigate further and it appears that the root cause is in the firmware.

Some info on the GPU card original BIOS:

• Manufacturer ATI
  Model AMD Radeon R9 390 Series
  Device ID 1002-67B0
  Revision 81
  Subvendor HP (103C)
• Asic Family : Hawaii
  Flash Type : M25P10/c (128 KB)
  Product Name is : C67130 Grenada XT A0 GDDR5 8GB 128Mx32 300e/150m
  Bios Config File: C67132.104
  Bios P/N is : 113-C67132-104
  Bios Version : 015.049.000.009.006285
  Bios Date is : 11/18/15 20:57

As can be seen this is an HP custom firmware for the GPU.

Wanting to get more details I found the BIOS on  https://www.techpowerup.com/vgabios/195450/195450.

This is also where I found other vendor's firmwares for my GPU. Because there is no firmware update from HP, I decided to experiment and flash the BIOS from other vendors with matching card specs. I found XFX R9 390X 8 GB BIOS that allowed the drivers to be updated without a problem. So hence my conclusion that this is a HP firmware issue.

I eventually reverted to the original HP firmware as the fan speeds went up fast when putting load on the GPU.

I am not having high hopes that there will be a firmware update from HP for this card. Would be thankful though if I was proven wrong.

If any of you knows a solution to get the R9 390X running on latest AMD drivers, using the HP firmware let me know. Also happy to learn if any of you find a firmware that works.

[Mr_Roger · Accepted solution]

I managed to modify a later version of the XFX BIOS I had found working and updated fan and other settings to be equal to the original HP rom. I have flashed it and the GPU is working fine now. AMD drivers were updated to the latest version "Win10-Radeon-Software-Adrenalin-2020-Edition-20.5.1-June10", 27.20.1017.1011. 😊

A link to the modified ROM below. Use at own risk.

HP AMD Radeon R9 390X 113-C67132-104 - fixed 

Output from GPU-Z:

GPU-Z Output

Output from ATI ATIFlash / AMD VBFlash 2.93:

Adapter 0 (BN=01, DN=00, FN=00, PCIID=00001002, SSID=00006566)
Asic Family : Hawaii
Flash Type : M25P10/c (128 KB)
Product Name is : C67130 Grenada XT A0 GDDR5 8GB 128Mx32 300e/150m (HP)
Bios Config File: 390X8DF1.W85
Bios P/N is : 113-C67132-104
Bios Version : 015.049.000.010.006285
Bios Date is : 06/23/20 11:02
Image 1 -- Offset 0x0
=======================
ROM header contents:
Signature 0xAA55
PCIR offset 0x0244
PCI Data Structure
Signature PCIR
Vendor ID 0x1002
Device ID 0x67B0
PCI Revision 0x00
Image size 0x10000
Code revision 0x0F31
Indicator 0x00 (Not last image)
Code type 0x00 (PCAT Image)
Legacy BIOS File Name 390X8DF1.W85
Legacy BIOS Part Number 113-C67132-104
Legacy BIOS Build Number 322754
Legacy BIOS Change List 1161166
Binary BIOS_IDTF 0xD5A465C6
ByteCheckSum 0
Image 2 -- Offset 0x10000
=======================
ROM header contents:
Signature 0xAA55
PCIR offset 0x001C
PCI Data Structure
Signature PCIR
Vendor ID 0x1002
Device ID 0x67B0
PCI Revision 0x00
Image size 0xE400
Code revision 0x0000
Indicator 0x80 (last image)
Code type 0x03 (EFI Image)
EFI Signature 0x0EF1
Compression Type 0x0001 (compressed)
Machine type 0x8664 (X64)
Subsystem 0x000B (EFI boot service driver)
EFI image offset 0x0058 (abs: 0x10058)
Uefi Ids from EFI_PCI_EXPANSION_ROM_HEADER:
UefiSourceRevision GOP AMD REV: x.x.x.x.x
UefiSourceChangeList xxxx
UefiBiosBuildNumber xxxx

Dump Gop Driver Info:
Machine type code X64
The GOP Driver appears to be Authenticode signed.
Size Of Gop Image 96448 (94 KB)
GOP Driver Name: AMD GOP X64 Release Driver Rev.1.58.0.0.0.Feb 17 2015.15:41:41
GOP AMD_Build 156
GOP AMD_CL 1122881
GOP BIOS_IDTF 0xDEADBEEF
GOP Driver does not carry tables!