AMD Radeon(TM) Graphics - Windows has stopped this device because it has reported problems (Code 43)

[robertjordan]

**UPDATE**

Problem: In addition to the symptoms I had described before, all video playback on my device is unstable (even streaming video and locally saved videos stutter, jump, etc) and all audio is fuzzy and out of sync (also affecting video playback, as well as system sounds). Dx diagnosis tool also reports "There is a problem with AMD Radeon(TM) Graphics device. For more information, search for 'graphics device driver error code 43."

On top of the steps described below, I also attempted:

8. From safe mode: using DDU to do a full clean and re-installing multiple versions of the graphics drivers
9. From normal and safe mode: using system restore points (all failed with various messages about not being able to either read, delete or replace files): several attempts also resulted in blue screens referencing "msgpioclx.sys"

10. Running all the hardware diagnostics available in the HP Support Assistant (all passed)

11. Running system file check and repair (https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/using-system-file-checker-in-windows-10-365e0031-36b1-60...)
12. Performing a PC reset (keeping personal files) and re-installing Windows 10 from the local disk

None of these worked. What finally did seem to have an effect, in this specific order, was:

13. Pausing Windows updates

14. Disabling Windows automatic driver updates (https://www.laptopmag.com/uk/articles/disable-automatic-driver-downloads-on-windows-10)

15. Rolling back Windows 20H2 to version 2004 (I could not go back further unfortunately)

16. Downloading driver 27.20.11044.7 from the HP website (https://support.hp.com/gb-en/drivers/selfservice/swdetails/hp-envy-13-ay0000-x360-convertible-laptop...)

17. Deactivating my antivirus and disabling my internet connection

18. From safe mode: using the AMD Cleanup utility to clear all AMD drivers, apps and registry

19. From normal mode: doing a fresh install of the driver 27.20.11044.7 from my local disk

20. Reboot

21. Re-enabling antivirus and internet connection

This initially cleared up all the symptoms and my graphics card was working again until... After going into sleep mode my laptop abruptly rebooted itself (I suspect when it was disconnected from power during sleep mode) , which I discovered by reviewing the shutdown log (https://www.thewindowsclub.com/how-to-check-the-shutdown-and-startup-log-in-windows-10). After the dirty reboot all the symptoms had returned and I was back to code 43 for the graphics card. I connected to power, performed a clean shutdown / start-up, and the symptoms were gone again / graphic card was working. So the next time I did a clean shutdown of my laptop. However... when I started it up again just now the problems had returned. Looking at the shutdown log it appears that my laptop has rebooted itself during start-up this time... I'm not technically minded but now it seems like my laptop is suffering power management issues. Unfortunately I cannot confirm whether these started before the initial symptoms emerged, as I cannot see the system history prior to the PC reset.

All in all, this has been a deeply disappointing week. It feels like the combination of HP build, AMD processer and Windows 10 is volatile, and customer support has been deeply lacking from HP, AMD and Microsoft. What little advice I could get from all three amounted to a) update to latest version of our product, b) when that fails, it's not our fault, update to the latest version of the other guys' product. When this did not work but rather, I believe, made things worse, all either simply stopped responding or started giving me the run-around to speak to someone else...

Only option I can think of now is to take the laptop to a HP representative and hope they will honour the spirit of the warranty rather than try to wriggle out of it by claiming it's a 'software issue.'

***

Background: I have an HP ENVY x360 Laptop - 13-ay0008na with an AMD Ryzen 5 4500u processor with Radeon Graphics. The last BIOS update was in January 2021 and the last AMD Graphics driver update was in November 2020. The only thing I can think of that has changed in my laptop configuration lately is that yesterday I activated Windows Speech Recognition (which I have since deactivated).

Problem: Yesterday I noticed that I could not launch a game in steam (sound played but image wouldn't render) and I was experiencing continuous crashes in the Chrome browser. I checked the Device Manager and found that the AMD Radeon(TM) Graphics driver showed the following error: "Windows has stopped this device because it has reported problems (Code 43)". The Radeon control software would also not launch, with the error "No AMD graphics driver is installed, or the AMD driver is not functioning properly, Please install the AMD driver appropriate for your AMD hardware."

I have tried the following so far, in various combinations:

1. Restarting the laptop 

2. Rolling back the driver

3. Re-installing the driver

4. Installing the latest driver from the HP product support website

5. Installing the latest driver from the AMD support website

6. Updating to Windows 10 version 20H2 (from version 2004)

7. Using the AMD Cleanup utility to clear all AMD drivers, apps and registry before doing a fresh install of the drivers from steps (5), (4) and (3), each in turn

The result keeps coming back the same: the graphics driver fails to start with the error "Windows has stopped this device because it has reported problems (Code 43)." Has anyone else experienced this and have any ideas for overcoming it?

Thanks!

[robertjordan]

NB: I have also tried the combinations above after disabling antivirus and firewall.

[Echo_Lake]

@robertjordan

Thank you for posting on the HP Support Community.
 

Don't worry as I'll be glad to help, As we have limited support boundaries in the support community as of now.

I would request you to reach out to our HP Smart Friend Support and our Support Engineers should be able to sort this out. HP Smart Friend Support can be reached by clicking on the following link: www.hp.com/contacthp//​​​​​​​

Please feel free to contact us here anytime you need any further assistance. Please click “Accept as Solution” if you feel my post solved your issue, it will help others find the solution.

[robertjordan]

Thanks, however pointing me to a service that I would have to pay for with no guarantee of getting a solution does not really help. 

After many days of trying, I managed to contact support people from Windows, AMD and HP. None would address my specific problem but instead pointed me to vague generic solutions that I had already tried or that I could find by searching online, and then either closed the chat without an opportunity for follow-up, stopped responding, or told me to try another service. 

In addition to the steps I described above, I have now also:

1. Used the DDU tool in safe mode to do a full uninstall and clean of AMD packages, before attempting fresh installs of multiple versions of the drivers.

2. In normal and safe mode, made several attempts to return to a restore point, all of which failed with error messages indicating the inability to read, delete or replace files and/or blue screens with a message identifying “msgpioclx.sys” as having failed.

3. Performed a PC reset and Windows reinstallation from the local disk (keeping personal files).

After a week and many hours lost researching and performing these steps, the original issue still remains. I cannot play video or audio or do anything else mildly taxing on my laptop. What would be great is if someone from HP would actually provide some technical support rather than trying to pass me on to some other HP service.