Is your Windows drive aging faster than it should? Then it's worth checking the Resource Monitor. A bug in AMD's Adrenalin driver is causing continuous write access to the boot drive for some Radeon graphics card users. AMD has confirmed the bug and is working on a fix.
The numbers are significant: affected users report a constant write rate of around 5 MB/s, sometimes only 1 MB/s. Even that adds up to several hundred gigabytes per day, without any discernible reason. According to some Reddit users, their SSD's health status drops by about 1 percent per month as a result. The "AMD External Events Utility" service, specifically the processes atieclxx.exe and atiesrxx.exe, is considered the culprit.
How long has the Radeon bug existed and what is AMD planning?
AMD has confirmed the issue in a subreddit. The fix is expected to be released with an upcoming Adrenalin update, but according to ComputerBase, no date has been set. Interestingly, the bug has apparently existed for at least a year and a half and does not affect all users. Therefore, it's not possible to pinpoint exactly which driver version is to blame. About a year ago, there were already reports of high write activity caused by AMD drivers, at which time the chipset driver was the focus, also with the "AMD External Events Utility" as the cause.
Am I affected? Here's how to check
The good news: the check only takes a minute. And because the service can also be active on systems with an AMD chipset on the motherboard, you should also check briefly even with an AMD CPU and Nvidia or Intel graphics card.
- Check: Open the Windows Resource Monitor, search for the process "atieclxx.exe" and observe its disk write activity.
- Workaround 1: Press Win + R, type "services.msc" and confirm. Find "AMD External Events Utility," open its properties, stop the service, and set the startup type to "Disabled." Side effect: Functions like FreeSync and Frame Pacing may be affected.
- Workaround 2: Disable Resizable BAR in the BIOS. Side effect: Performance may decrease.
According to user reports, both measures help, but not in every case.
Why the driver bug is more than a side note
Our assessment: One percent health per month sounds minor, but for an already heavily used gaming SSD, it's real money, because continuous writing consumes the limited durability of the memory cells. In addition, the bug runs silently: no stuttering, no error messages, it goes unnoticed in everyday use. Anyone who never monitors their drive might only notice it when the health indicator has already dropped significantly. Radeon users have had their share of issues recently, such as the VBIOS update that crippled certain ASRock Radeon RX 7900 cards. While these are not technically related, it shows that it's wise to keep an eye on what's happening in the background with firmware and drivers. The fact that the problem went unnoticed for at least 1.5 years is not a feather in AMD's cap. At least a fix has been promised.
Source: ComputerBase
Have you checked your Resource Monitor, and is atieclxx.exe actively writing to your SSD?
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