I have always liked AMD. Their Ryzen processors and Radeon graphics cards are used in many gaming computers, consoles, and cloud servers. They are known for great performance. Whether you play games, stream videos, or create content, AMD products are fast and reliable.
But no matter how good the hardware is, problems can still happen. One issue that really frustrated me was the “AMD software detected that a driver timeout has occurred on your system” error.
At first, I thought it was a small problem, but then it kept happening. My screen would turn black, my game would crash, and sometimes even my browser would stop working. Some days it happened once or twice, other days it kept coming back again and again.
I searched online and found that many other AMD users had the same issue. Even people with expensive Radeon RX 7900 XTX graphics cards faced this problem, just like those using the RX 7600. It did not matter if the computer was high-end or budget-friendly. This error could happen anytime.
I wanted to understand why this was happening and how to fix it. If you are also facing this issue, do not worry. I have found some useful solutions, and I will share them with you.
What is AMD Driver Timeout?
An AMD driver timeout happens when your AMD graphics card driver stops responding and doesn’t come back to life within a set time. As a result, your screen may freeze, go black, or even crash with an error message saying “AMD Driver Timeout Detected.”
This usually happens when there are problems with your drivers, your PC gets too hot, or if you’re pushing your GPU too hard (like with overclocking). Sometimes, a Windows update or other apps running in the background can cause conflicts. It’s just the driver not keeping up with everything going on.
6 Easiest Ways to Fix “AMD software detected that a driver timeout has occurred on your system” Error
Solution 1: Underclock the GPU by 5 to 10 Percent and Increase the Voltage by +5
One simple way to fix the driver timeout error is to underclock your GPU by 5 to 10 percent and slightly increase the voltage by +5. This helps because sometimes the GPU runs at speeds that are too high for stable performance, leading to crashes and black screens.
- Right-click on your desktop and select AMD Software: Adrenalin Edition.
- Click on the Performance tab, then select Tuning.
- If it is not enabled, turn on Manual GPU Tuning and accept any warnings.
- Find the GPU Clock Speed and lower it by 5 to 10 percent. For example, if it is 2500 MHz, reduce it to 2375 MHz (5 percent) or 2250 MHz (10 percent).
- Look for Voltage Control and increase it slightly by +5 mV.
- Click Apply and restart your PC to check if the problem is fixed.
Solution 2: Turn Off Instant Replay and Reset the Shader Cache
Another way to fix the driver timeout error is by turning off Instant Replay and resetting the shader cache. Instant Replay continuously records gameplay in the background, which can put an extra load on the GPU. The shader cache stores game graphics data, and sometimes old or corrupted files can cause crashes.
Turn Off Instant Replay
- Open AMD Adrenalin Software by right-clicking on the desktop and selecting AMD Software: Adrenalin Edition.
- Go to the Settings (gear icon) in the top right corner.
- Click on the Record & Stream tab.
- Click on Instant Replay and turn it off.
Reset the Shader Cache
- In AMD Adrenalin, go to the Settings menu.
- Click on the Graphics tab.
- Scroll down to find Reset Shader Cache and click Perform Reset.
- Restart your PC to take effect the changes.
Solution 3: Clean Install GPU Drivers
If your GPU is causing issues, a clean installation removes old or corrupted drivers and ensures a fresh setup.
Uninstall Old Drivers
- Open Device Manager (Win + R → type devmgmt.msc).
- Right-click GPU → Uninstall device (Check Delete driver software).
- Restart PC.
Use DDU (Optional, Recommended)
- Boot into Safe Mode.
- Run Display Driver Uninstaller (DDU) → Clean and Restart.
Install Latest Drivers
- Download drivers from your GPU brand, NVIDIA, AMD, and Intel.
- Choose Clean Installation during setup.
- Restart PC.
Solution 4: Uninstall Overclocking Software
If you’re using MSI Afterburner or any other overclocking software, uninstall it before proceeding with the driver cleanup steps. This ensures that no conflicting settings are carried over during the process.
Download Required Tools and Drivers
Download the following:
- AMD Cleanup Utility
- Chipset Driver
- GPU Driver
Disable your internet connection to prevent Windows from automatically installing drivers during the process.
Run AMD Cleanup Utility
- Run the AMD Cleanup Utility to remove any old or corrupted driver files.
- Once the cleanup is complete, restart your computer.
Uninstall Chipset Driver
After the restart, manually uninstall the Chipset Driver from your system, as the cleanup tool does not handle this. You can do this through Device Manager by expanding the System Devices section and uninstalling the chipset driver.
Install Chipset Driver First
Once the chipset driver is uninstalled, install the chipset driver first. This will make sure that your system is running on the correct chipset version before installing the GPU driver.
Install GPU Driver
After installing the chipset driver, proceed to install the GPU driver (AMD or other) that you previously downloaded. During installation, choose the Custom Installation option and select Clean Installation to remove any old settings or profiles.
Optimize Windows Gaming Settings
- Open Settings in Windows and go to Gaming.
- Under Game Bar, Captures, and Game Mode, open each section and turn off all sliders inside to prevent any conflicts with your games.
Disable In-game Overlay in AMD Software
- Open AMD Software (Adrenalin Edition).
- Go to Settings → Preferences.
- Turn off the slider for In-game Overlay to prevent unnecessary background processes.
Disable ULPS in the Registry Editor
- Type regedit in the Start menu and open Registry Editor by clicking on it.
- Navigate to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Class\{4D36E968-E325-11CE-BFC1-08002BE10318}\0000.
- Locate the entries ENABLEULPS and ENABLEULPS_NA.
- If you find them, set their value to 0. This disables ULPS (Ultra Low Power State) for your GPU, which can sometimes cause performance issues.
Restart Your PC
After completing all the above steps, restart your computer to finalize the changes and apply the new settings.
Solution 5: Disable AMD Crash Defenders and External Utility Services
One of our visitors recently shared a quick fix that worked wonders for them, and it has helped many others with similar issues. If you’re dealing with GPU crashes or performance drops, try the following steps:
- Right-click on the Taskbar and open Task Manager by clicking on it.
- Go to the Services tab in Task Manager, where you’ll find a list of all the running services on your system.
- Scroll through the list and right-click on AMD Crash Defenders and select Stop.
- Then, do the same for AMD External Utility, right-clicking it and choosing Stop as well.
- After doing this, your system should return to normal, and the issues caused by these services will be resolved.
This method worked for our visitor, and many others who tried it saw immediate improvements with their GPU performance and stability. Give it a shot, and hopefully, it’ll work for you too!
Solution 6: Prevent Windows from Replacing AMD Drivers & Perform a Clean Install
One common issue with AMD GPU drivers is Windows automatically replacing them, which can cause instability. A visitor shared a method that worked for them, and it has helped many others as well.
- First, to prevent Windows from replacing your AMD drivers, open the Local Group Policy Editor by pressing Win + R, typing gpedit.msc, and hitting the Enter button.
- Navigate to Computer Configuration → Administrative Templates → Windows Components → Windows Update.
- Find and double-click on Do not include drivers with Windows Updates, select Enabled, and click OK to apply the change.
- Next, download Display Driver Uninstaller (DDU) from this link.
- Then, boot your system into Safe Mode by pressing Win + R, typing msconfig, and hitting Enter.
- In the Boot tab, check Safe boot, select Minimal, and click OK. Restart your PC, and it will boot into Safe Mode.
- Now, run DDU to remove all traces of your current GPU drivers.
- After that, restart your PC normally and boot back into Windows. Now, download and install the AMD Adrenalin drivers of your choice from the official AMD website.
- Once installed, you should not experience any issues with Windows interfering with your GPU drivers.
