FW16 AMD Radeon RX 7700s GPU no longer detecting - I will never buy another AMD graphics card

Community Support
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Framework laptop 16, Ryzen™ 7 7840HS - Radeon™ RX 7700S - 180W, Windows 11

I am losing my mind, at my wits’ end. I was not a tech-literate person, but I am now, after 10 hours of plundering the internet and trying to troubleshoot this issue.

What happened:

I was playing The Outlast Trials, and at one point, my screen crashed and went black. I was on a Discord call and was still able to have a conversation, but my screen would not turn back on, so I had to hold the power button to shut it down. I believe this was the last time my 7700s GPU was registering. My laptop was kinda hot, but nothing out of the ordinary, and I have a laptop cooling pad.

When checking the device manager, my 7700s GPU showed up as hidden under display adapters with an error 45.

Side Note: I was having a previous issue where any time I turned on the energy saver and turned it off, I don’t think it was registering my 7700s GPU properly. At the time, I didn’t check my device manager, but despite my power mode being balanced or even high performance, any time I opened a game, it would be stuck at 30 fps or less, and I could hear that my fans weren’t turning on. I had to restart my laptop; shutting down did not fix it - I specifically had to restart it. I suspect something else was soft-locking some sort of eco mode.

What have I done to fix this:

  • Made sure the energy saver was not on.
  • Made sure my laptop was plugged in.
  • Made sure performance mode was not set to power efficiency.
  • Restarted.
  • Shut down and restarted.
  • Uninstalled the hidden, grayed-out 7700s GPU in the device manager. Every step forward, I would scan for hardware changes and check for hidden devices in the device manager.
  • Removed the graphics module expansion bay, removed the graphics module fans (cleaned them - a little dusty, but nothing imperative), and reinstalled both.
  • Set performance mode to high performing and reset.
  • Set performance mode back to balanced.
  • Checked windows for updates and additional updates.
  • Updated the bios specifically from Frameworks.
  • Updated my keyboard and macropad for the newest BIOS update.
  • Checked for a new driver update, updated anyway.
  • Downloaded Display Driver Uninstaller (DDU), booted my laptop into safe mode, uninstalled my graphics drivers, reinstalled the framework drivers, and then the AMD software: adrenaline edition. Originally, I did this connected to the internet; later on, I did this again when I was not connected to the internet.
  • Installed the previous version of BIOS, drivers, and AMD software - following DDU steps.
  • Reinstalled the current version of BIOS, drivers, and AMD software - following DDU steps.
  • Went into the BIOS, disconnected my battery, unplugged my laptop, waited a few minutes, plugged my laptop back in.
  • Set BIOS to default settings.
  • Set the BIOS back to my previous settings.
  • Went into the terminal and did “SFC /scannow” to repair corrupted Windows system files. Reported back as nothing being corrupted.
  • Removed the graphics module expansion bay, started up my laptop without it, waited a little bit, shut down, and reinstalled it.
  • Checked all the graphics module expansion bay screws in case they were loose.
  • Carefully cleaned the graphics module interposer with isopropyl alcohol and cotton applicators.

Things to note:

  • I still have not been able to get my laptop to acknowledge the 7700s GPU. It’s not hidden under display adaptors, other devices, or USB controllers/devices in the device manager. It does not show up on the task manager, Windows graphics settings, or the AMD software.
  • My BIOS acknowledges my Expansion bay, but no mention of the 7700s GPU.
  • The fans are still working.
  • I’ve had this laptop for a little under a year.

The reason I’ll never buy another AMD graphics card again:

It has been so incredibly frustrating that the graphic settings between AMD software, Windows, and Frameworks would constantly trip over each other, cancel each other out, and override each other. If I want to change one graphic setting, I feel like I’m hunting down five different things to make sure everything is on the same page. The compatibility between these three feels atrociously low.

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Hi @Margaret_Apple, welcome to the community!

Sorry to hear of the issue with your AMD 7700s graphics adapter with your Framework Laptop 16. That is a long list of troubleshooting steps that has already been tried. If it has not been done already please start a ticket with Framework support so they can see it is malfunctioning while it is still under warranty.

Support may have some of the same steps peformed again as part of their troubleshooting. It may be that something has failed on the hardware side which has happened to a few users since this option came out. Now that you are incredibly proficient in troubleshooting (sorry!); an Ubuntu or Fedora USB can be created and booted to a LIVE session. There is a command that can be issued (sorry I am not an extensive Linux user) to have it report the hardware that the system is reporting as seeing. [A quick search of forum posts might turn this command line command up]

It is great having the extra graphics integrated into the laptop for portability, but for the issues that sometimes occur; the USB4 or Oculink connection to a video card sounds like an easier option. I keep mulling over doing this for my Framework Laptop 16 as I opted not to get the graphics option when it launched and have not really needed it as the desktop I use does my heavier lifting for graphics. Good luck! Let us know how it turns out.