Try This Quick Fix If A Recent Windows Update Is Wreaking Havoc On Your AMD Ryzen PC
As you already know, it's important to keep your Windows PC updated and patched to protect against the latest security threats, as well as to ensure you have access to the latest features and capabilities. And as you probably also know, Microsoft's updates sometimes inadvertently cause more problems than they solve. Such is the case for some AMD Ryzen owners right now.
At issue is last month's cumulative Patch Tuesday update for Windows 11 (KB5021255). Patch Tuesday updates go out on the second Tuesday of each month and vary in size, depending on how many issues need to be addressed. The one that rolled out on December 13, 2022 aimed to fix a display quirk related to Task Manager and included various patches for Azure, Edge, Office, SharePoint, and a few other bits.
It also arrived without the benefit of a non-security preview release due to "minimal operations during the holidays and the upcoming Western new year."
Who knows if a preview release would have changed anything, but unfortunately the actual Patch Tuesday update that shipped on Windows 11 is causing issues on some Ryzen PCs, according to various complaints. Fortunately, it doesn't appear to be all that widespread.
As spotted by Windows Latest, some Ryzen owners have taken to Microsoft's Feedback Hub and Reddit to note reports of quirky behavior after applying KB5021255.
"After installing this update on Windows 11 22H2, our clients with AMD CPU's started to completely freeze up at random times for minutes, then unfreeze again," a user wrote on Reddit. They went on to explain that unplugging and then plugging back in USB devices temporarily fixes the issue, but that solution is a band-aid for a gushing wound at best.
Another user stated they Ryzen 9 5900X PC started randomly freezing and unfreezing after around 10-20 seconds after applying the patch. And yet others have reported having issues in games, such as stuttering and drops in frame rates, among other odd behavior (like trouble joining a PC to a network).
Microsoft does actually outline a few known issues related to KB5021255, such as large file copies (multiple gigabytes) taking longer than expected and a quirk with provisioning packages, but nothing related to intermittent freezes or gameplay performance.
It's likely that not all reports of issues are the result of the patch. That said, if you're experiencing trouble on your Ryzen PC after applying the patch, the quick fix is to uninstall it. Just note that this is a temporary mitigation, and it means you'll be without the security updates that Microsoft packed into KB5021255.
If you decide to go that route, you can uninstall the update by going into Settings and navigating to Windows Update > Update history > Uninstall updates. Once there, find KB5021255 and click on Uninstall.
