Radeon graphics not compatible with Intel's?

[broeuxmeister]

I've been using a HP Intel i5 6200U w/128MB 520 graphics for 7 years and recently got a new HP AMD Ryzen 5 854OU w/Radeon 740M graphics 3.20GHz. I produce lots of PowerPoint, Publisher and Word graphics-rich documents for our family-run business. When I opened Word document created on the old pc and still in process I found colors very different, and all fonts of varied colors changed to black. Colors could not be applied to any of these fonts. So, I tried creating a new document from scratch on the new AMD pc, and it was the same--nothing but black fonts. The same for documents in PowerPoint and Publisher. I have now read that Radeon and Intel gracphics are incompatible. I don't know enough about it to know if there's anything I could do to work around this. I'm thinking it may be easier to exchange the AMD pc for an Intel one to be able to continue working with the numerous Microsoft templates I hve set up. Any tips will be appreciated.

[NonSequitur777]

@broeuxmeister,

Welcome to our HP Community forum!

That is a very interesting issue -thank you for explaining it so clearly. It sounds like you’ve run into an unusual compatibility or rendering glitch that may be related to graphics driver behavior, but not a true incompatibility between Intel and AMD hardware. Here are several things to try before considering a return or exchange of your new AMD-based HP PC/laptop:

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1. Update AMD Radeon Graphics Drivers:

Sometimes pre-installed AMD drivers are outdated or incomplete.

• Go to: https://www.amd.com/en/support/download/drivers.html.

• Download the Auto-Detect and Install tool to get the latest driver for the Radeon 740M.

• After installation, reboot your system and test your Microsoft Office apps again.

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2. Check Office Hardware Graphics Acceleration:

Sometimes Office apps (especially Word and Publisher) misbehave with certain graphics drivers when hardware acceleration is enabled.

Try turning off this setting:

1. Open Word, go to:

   • File > Options > Advanced

2. Scroll down to the Display section.

3. Check the box for “Disable hardware graphics acceleration.”

4. Click OK, then restart Word.

Repeat this for PowerPoint and Publisher.

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3. Ensure You’re Using the Latest Version of Office:

Older Office installations sometimes struggle with modern GPU rendering. Make sure Office is fully updated via:

• File > Account > Update Options > Update Now

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4. Font Color Problem – Try a Different Printer Driver:

This may sound strange, but Office sometimes relies on the default printer driver to render certain layout and color choices properly -even if you aren’t printing!

Try:

• Installing Microsoft Print to PDF or a generic printer driver (like HP Universal Print Driver).

• Set it as default, then relaunch Office.

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5. Export a Problematic Word Document as PDF (from Old PC), Then Open on New:

This test helps isolate whether the issue is rendering or actual content loss. If fonts and colors appear fine in the PDF, then the document contents are intact—just not rendering properly on the new PC.

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Final Thoughts:

Look, as far as I know, here is no fundamental incompatibility between Intel and AMD graphics when it comes to Microsoft Office. However, AMD Radeon graphics can sometimes behave differently than Intel HD/UHD graphics when it comes to legacy Office rendering -especially on documents with complex formatting.

If you try the above and still have no luck, exchanging for an Intel-based HP PC is reasonable if your workflow critically depends on consistent Office behavior.

But I’d strongly recommend giving the driver and Office settings a full run-through first -these types of glitches are surprisingly common on new systems but usually solvable without needing to return the hardware.

Let me know how it goes -happy to walk you through any of these steps!

Kind Regards,

NonSequitur777

[broeuxmeister]

Thanks for your really detailed assessment and guidance. I went to the AMD auto-detect site and d/l'ed win driver Adrenalin 25.6.1. but haven't installed it yet. I also browsed products > graphics > product family and didn't see anything that looks like my Ryzen drivers.

Browsing under products > family Ryzen > product line Ryzen 8000 series I found AMD Ryzen 5 8640U, the closest to my 8540U but, of course, not quite mine. 

I assume I can rely on the auto-detect to pick the right drivers? It really works? Adrenalin doesn't seem relative to my Ryzen version.

[NonSequitur777]

@broeuxmeister,

You are welcome -I have been able to rely on AMD's auto-detect to pick the right drivers, give it a try.

Given the rather unique nature of your issue, these steps are trial-and-error based.

Kind Regards,

NonSequitur777

[broeuxmeister]

Here's where things now stand. 

1. Installed the auto-detected AMD driver > reboot > no help

2. Disable hardware graphics accelertion: is no longer an option in any Office application. I know it used to be because I did it when I first started using the i5 pc 7+ years ago.

3. Office is fully updated.

5. [will return to 4] I saved the Word  doc I was working on in the old pc as a pdf and opened it on the new pc, and the font colors show as created. But, I can't edit it in my free version of Adobe pdf, and the paid version is quite expensive. But beyond that, I couldn't possibly create especially the Word and PowerPoint documents I use constantly because I can't even see what they will look like in the formating and colors I want before converting them to PDF. And it's not just the colors; other graphic elements are buggered up in the Office apps.

4. I downloaded the HP universal ptr driver and located autoupgrade64.exe but haven't installed it yet. I'm sort of wandering in the wilderness of some of this stuff and leery of creating more problems than I have. My wifi printer has been a little wonky and problematic when it comes to setup and configuration. I guess I could roll it back or do a system restore.

Any other suggestions I could try? Thanks so much for your help.

[NonSequitur777]

@broeuxmeister,

No, I have no other ideas to pursue.

To be honest, I would be strongly motivated to do as I mentioned earlier: "exchanging [your current PC] for an Intel-based HP PC is reasonable if your workflow critically depends on consistent Office behavior."

Kind Regards,

NonSequitur777