Envy x360 AMD laptop unusable after updating to BIOS F.19

[spiuser1]

Maybe I can help update some of you on the problem we are having.  It seems as though they are recommending that users with this problem request a drive sent by snailmail with a thumbdrive that has the media on it to put the ENVY back to stock settings.  This is a pain, but I guess the fix is not in the immediate future.  They should rush mail it if you give them hell.

I asked if not having the F.19 would be detrimental, to which they said it would not be.  After some research it would appear that the update wasn't really all that necessary if you didn't have problems with your BIOS (I didn't know any better and just took the recommendation at its face value in the help desk menu).  I would defer to any other authoritative comment on this matter as I am only going off of what an article said about it.

[Andrea55]

Hi,  just read a comment of an user that has solved this problem updating vga driver.

-Download latest adrenaline driver from Amd website

-Dont install the update but unzip it

-Intall the update via "Device manager" selecting "Vega 8" from the list.

Done, should work fine

[touyets]

Hi Andrea55,

Thanks for the tip. Unfortunately, I have a Ryzen 5 2500U taht isn't listed in the Adrenaline products download page. WOuld you happen to know which is the corresponding Model I could use for the download?

Also, to everybody else, I have now had my computer on for over 6 hours without a crash. I simply disabled the Harware Accelerator within the windows settings. ALso, disabled it within VLC player. VLC crashed 100% of the time within 3 seconds of starting a video when the hardware accelerator was on. Once I disabled it in VLC, the videos played great and VLC never crashed.

[Andrea55]

The desktop Apu that have Vega 8 is the Ryzen 3 2200G, anyway the driver downloaded is is all inclusive so its the same

[gridironking81]

Spiuser1,

Does the thumbdrive have the old BIOS on it? The F.16 or F.17? The F.19 has made my envy x360 completely useless as well (same symptoms as everyone else...random crashes, constant error messages, etc.). And how do I go about getting the thumbdrive? I just call HP and ask about it? Any specific deparment? Thanks in advance.

UPDATE: Ignore this posting. My new posting below has solved my problem. Seemed like HP/Windows is not giving the most up to date graphics driver with their updates.

[gridironking81 · Accepted solution]

Touyets,

Have no fear, I believe I have discovered the solution. Long post, but this doesn't take that long and I am ecstatic now that my Envy x360 is finally working again. I was having similar issues in that my computer would randomly crash when I tried doing too much and ALWAYS whenever I browsed the internet for than 15-20 secs. So here it is and I hope this helps! (I copied and pasted this from another thread I posted this in for a related issue).

Great news!!!! I believe I have discovered how to fix this issue! It took alot of research and I actually came upon the solution by happenstance. Just want to point out real quick that I believe this is the solution because before doing this I wasn't able to be on the internet but for 15 secs before it glitched out, froze up, and rebooted. Now, I've been surfing my butt off and haven't had an issue! 🙂 So I'll try to lay it out as simply as possible.

1) Type in "AMD Radeon Settings" in your windows search bar (lower left corner by start button) and select the app or press enter. Your Radeon Settings menu should open.

2) Click the tab in upper right that say "System". It will display basic information about your system. One of the boxes will be "Radeon Software Version". Mine said version 17.7 I believe (before updating). What's important here is if it says anything other than "18.12.2". If it doesn't say "18.12.2" then this seems to be the problem.

There seems to be a disconnect on HPs part on giving us the most up to date driver. They're giving us an outdated driver with the update which is apparently jacking everything up. Now on to how to get it updated. Just clicking "update driver" seems not to work. Here's how to get it updated (long instructions, sorry. Just want to lay it out Barney style so anybody can do it):

1) Go to AMD's website. Click "Drivers and Support". Go to the section on the page that says "or select product from the list" (don't auto detect or anything else). Select "Processors with graphics", then "AMD Ryzen Processors", then "AMD Ryzen 5 Desktop Processors with Radeon Vega Graphics" and lastly "AMD Ryzen 5 2400G". Now click submit (Yes, I realize my computer has 2500U and is not a desktop, but AMD doesn't have the option for 2500U and the the 2400G is the same driver anyways).

2) There will be a few options to download from the next page. Click "Download" on the one thats titled "Radeon Software"  with the Revision Number "Adrenalin 2019 Edition 18.12.2". File size is 327 MB.

3) Select "Run" when the pop up appears.

4) Then select "Install". It will end up telling you it was succesfully installed. You're NOT done yet. It hasn't really installed yet. Don't restart your computer yet either.

5) Type "Device Manager" in your windows search bar and press enter. Expand the "Display Adapters". Double click the "AMD Radeon(TM) Vega 8 Graphics". Select the "Driver" tab. Then select the "Update Driver" option.

6) Select the "Browse my computer for driver software".

7) At the bottom of the next window there is an option to "Let me pick form a list of available drivers on my computer". Click it.

😎 On the next window, towards the bottom right, select the option that says "Have Disk..."

9) Pop window appears. Click the "Browse" button.

10) It wants you to now locate the file. In the drop down menu at the top, navigate to your (C:) disk. Then double click the "AMD" folder. Now there should be only one folder, but if there is multiple, the name of the folder should have the "18.12.2" in it. Double click that one. Then double click "Packages". Double click "Drivers". Double click "Display". Double click the next folder (should be a folder with some random letters; I believe it starts with a W). For me, there were now 3 options to choose from. DONT select the one that is a folder. the two others have filenames that start with "C" and the other starts with a "U". Double click the one that starts with the "C". That window you were in now disappears.

11) Now click "Ok" in the window thats open (the one you originally clicked "Browse" in).

12) Now you're in the window where you originally clicked "Have Disk..." There is a Model scroll menu with a BUNCH of different options to select. Scroll through the list until you find the one that says "AMD Radeon(TM) Vega 8 Graphics" (mine was bout 3/4 of the way down the list). There will be two of them. I selected the bottom one (don't know if it makes a difference). Select it and then select "Next" at the bottom of the window.

It will now begin to officially install. Once complete, or maybe before it starts (can't remember) it'll give you some warning about the possibility of the driver not being compatible with your system or OS or whatever. Ignore it. Click "Ok" or "Next" or "Proceed" or whatever option gets you past that pop up. Another pop up appears once the install is complete that says you need to restart your computer for the change to take effect. Restart the computer.

After it starts back up, type in "AMD Radeon Settings" again in your windows search bar and press enter. Click "System", and verify the new 18.12.2 version is now installed. Now try browse the internet and do things on your computer again. Should work like a charm now! Haven't had it crash at all and I've been typing this for awhile.

I don't know why HP or windows is not showing this update in their updater tools considering this is causing all kinds of headaches for people. Maybe they'll figure it out. Let me know if this works for you please! I'm anxious to know if it works for others and not just myself! Good luck!

[Sara1H]

Thank you for this!! Followed all the steps and now my device is running like normal 🙂 ... 

For now, until there’s a new BIOS update I guess 

[touyets]

That is an amazing effort at a temporary workaround until teh BIOS is fully fixed. I've followed teh steps and laptop is quite stable now. Still want HP to fix their problem.

[Angry_Engineer]

Thanks for the instructions. I was reluctant to do this but can confirm that it helped. My machine required a full power down reset at the end of your instructions before the new driver worked. 

After that I was able to turn on acceleration within Chrome and, outside of an occasional green frame glitch while watching a YouTube video, the system has been much more stable.  Since installing it this morning I've had no hard lockups/reboots yet but I'd like to see a true fix issued by HP.

Also, for some reason, another thing that happened after the F.19 BIOS upgrade and subsequent pseudo-downgrade (and even this most recent workaround) is that I now have a narrow (~3mm) horizontal section at the top of my screen which is brighter than the rest of the screen below. I snapped a photo of the upper area and it looks like this...

Post F.19 Brightness Issue at Top of Screen?

Is anyone else having this issue?

[Huffer]

I will wait to hear the answer from others but in my humble opinion that is a hardware problem only fixable with a screen panel replacement. Make a warranty claim is my best advice.