AMD Graphics Drivers won't install properly

Question

Windows 8 x64

I have an MSI Frozr II AMD Radeon 7850 2GB. I bought it maybe about two weeks ago and upon installing it I've been having problems with the HDMi audio from it. I have another question open about that, but while trying various things to fix that issue, I uninstalled and reinstalled all the AMD Drivers and now they won't work properly. (Yes, they used to work properly for the most part)

Here is a picture of the issue:

As you can see, I have no control over the GPU at all in Catalyst Control Center. I've tried everything, I've tried version 13.4 and version 13.5beta2 (http://support.amd.com/us/gpudownload/windows/Pages/radeonaiw_vista64.aspx)

I've tried uninstalling and reinstalling using the Catalyst Install Manager. I've tried uninstalling using the Catalyst Uninstall Utility. I've tried uninstalling using Revo Uninstaller Pro. I've tried removing the graphics card, connecting to the onboard graphcis and uninstalling its drivers. I've tried doing it in Safe Mode. I've tried manually uninstalling the drivers using the Device Manager, I've tried everything, but every time I install CCC, it has no control over my graphics card.

There are currently no graphics drivers installed for the card at all, but it's still working fine in 1080p on my HDTV connected to the card via HDMi cable. Here's a picture to prove it:

Before:

After:

(Notice, there's no Display Adapters section now)

One thing that's noteworthy is there are no errors in the log when I'm installing the drivers, twice there was an error installing the HDMI Audio drivers, but other than that there are none. Another thing is that when I'm installing the drivers, the screen doesn't blink like it should when you're installing a graphics driver.

Does anyone have any idea how to solve this? The graphics card is useless to me like it is now.

Update: I also have no control over the GPU in AMD Overdrive

Solution

I solved the issue myself after a lot of testing.

As it turns out, the Setup.exe that AMD gives you doesn't always actually install the graphics driver. It installs the Install Manager, CCC, and the HDMI Audio driver, but not the graphics drivers. Below I'll lay out the steps for solving this:

• Open the device manager and select your Graphics Card in the Display Adapters group.

• Right click on it and select "Update Driver Software..."

• Select "Browse my computer for driver software"

• Select "Let me pick from a list of device drivers on my computer"

  • This will allow you to select the driver you want to use from a list of the compatible drivers.
  • Below is an example picture: Number 1 is the correct driver that should be installed by what you download from AMD. Number 2 is the driver that gets obtained from Windows Update.
    Number 3 is a generic driver that windows uses for compatibility with most graphics cards without the need for third party drivers.

• If the correct driver is there, just select it and hit "Next" and you should be done, if it's not there (it wasn't for me) then go to the next step.

• The drivers files should be on your computer already, extracted to a folder by the executable downloaded from AMD. AMD extracts them to C:\AMD\Support by default. Look there and see if you see a folder with a name like 13-4_vista_win7_win8_64_dd_ccc_whql. If it's not there, just run the executable for the drivers downloaded from AMD again, the first step that executable does is extract the files into the directory I listed above.

• Once you make sure the driver files are on your computer go back to the screen where you selected "Let me pick from a list of device drivers on my computer" before. Once you're at that screen, select "Browse...". Then just browse to the location your drivers are in and select the folder with a name like 13-4_vista_win7_win8_64_dd_ccc_whql then hit OK. Then hit Next.

• That will manually install the drivers that CCC didn't install by itself. Now all you have to do is restart your computer and everything should be fixed. In the event that it's not just go back to that step that allowed you to select the driver you want to use and select the correct one.

I'm not sure why the setup doesn't automatically install the drivers but using this guide you can install them manually and then all the tools, including CCC will work properly.

Comments

[Josh Campbell]

I have experienced this a few times in the past. Give me a few seconds to think about it.

[Mark Kramer]

Any news? I could really use it, I just submitted a report to AMD, I really need this fixed.

[Mark Kramer]

I fixed it. I'll wait to see if anyone posts the right answer, if not, I'll post it.

[Josh Campbell]

Just go ahead and post it. Nothing wrong with solving your own issue. I've been reading up on it, but having decided to leave Windows 8 alone, I'm afraid I'm in the dark.

[Mark Kramer]

It's not really a Windows 8 specific issue. I'm not sure if it would've still happened on Windows 7, but I don't see how it would've happened differently especially since Windows 7 and 8 essentially use the same drivers. So far my experience with Windows 8 is just that it's a faster and far more versatile version of Windows 7.

[Mark Kramer]

Alright, I did it. I better get at least one upvote for that. >.>

[Josh Campbell]

You need to mark it as solved : )

[Mark Kramer]

I can't until the question has been open for two days.

[Harv]

Legend, thank you. Have run the CCC setup so many times and it does not install the driver at all on Windows 8 64 bit. Manual work around as specified here works, thanks.