Solved LG TV conn'd to AMD Mini PC is blinking/crackling

Hiya Everyone, Long time no sausage. I hope you're all well. I feel like I brought this issue up once here ages ago but I couldn't find such a post.

I have an LG OLED C1 in the living room. There a Beelink Mini PC is connected. (Ryzen 7 3750H, AMD Radeon RX Vega 10). I recently had to reinstall Windows and I must have broken the flickering/crackling issue I had previously fixed. Sometimes the screen momentarily goes black.

What I know (or recall) is that the AMD Adreniline Software isn't supported on this mini. And the advice was UNINSTALL, which I have. I believe the next advice was to go somewhere (AMD) and install the previous (?) software which properly chooses the correct display adaptors.

That's what I think the advice was, but I'm also having a feeling someone (here?) told me to bypass the AMD drivers and use a generic Windows one.

Does anyone have a sense of the direction I'm supposed to head in?

Thanks in advance for all help and guidance.

(Attached is info that confirms it is not running the latest AMD driver since that one was in August.)

Have you installed the old drivers from Beelink's website, assuming you can find them there?

Now there's the exact type of common sense question that eludes this older mind. To answer your question, nope. Let me see if they are there.

Thanks for reply.

So I found that drivers folder, downloaded, extracted -- but then got a little confused of what to do next. Attached is what I saw. I know the Adrenaline option is all wrong so I invoked the AMD CHIPSET option instead. It started, looked promising, but then announced it couldn't do it. (It didn't crash but refused to proceed.)

I'm guessing either the driver I was installing was already there?

You'll want to do both of them. Although it has today's day as the file date, look at the title, it's actually a driver package from 2020, so 3+ years ago.

Can you be more specific about the error message? Even perhaps take a screenshot of the error message from the chipset software?

Also, that is for the chipsets, and usually won't affect graphics. It's the Adrenaline software that you really want to try.

Mr Galt I'm almost CERTAIN the Adrenalin doesn't work (from memory and recent experimenting) and so, if you don't mind, I went right to AMD itself and used their current (?) installer for Windows.

(I sounded like I had a 'tone' above but it's actually being respectful, lol, if that doesn't translate over the web.)

So I went to AMD and their Adrenaline software replaced what's on the left with what's on the right.



Only when I prepared to combine these images as one did it ironically flicker. Can't make this stuff up...

Do you know the method I'd take to install a generic Windows display driver instead? That's all I haven't tried yet.

I just sent an email to BEELINK asking precisely which driver I should be using so you and I don't go crazy.

I still think that you should try uninstalling your current Adrenaline and then install the one from Beelink - it is made for your device, and the newest Adrenaline packages have reportedly dropped support for (some< I think) Vegas.

However, it may be simply a matter of the refresh rate - check in Settings --> System --> Display --> Advanced Display and check what refresh it shows there,. Then check your TV manual to see what the max refresh rate is supported by your TV, and verify both are the same. FWIW, I have the C1 55" OLED in my bedroom, and it can only do a max of 120 Hz.

I have the OLED55C1PUB model, and going to LG's site to grab the manual gets a generic manual for most of the C1s.




If you have one of the above listed models in the green boxes, then this manual applies, as does the following page regarding the refresh rates supported by the TV:

Cheezits Crispies! You're tofuking awesome!

So I really appreciate that you told me the un-intuitive part, which is whatever their driver was may be what it still is. And sure enough what just installed is 'historic' if you will --



My display refresh rate is this



My model is this



Do I have the refresh rate set properly, Sir Galt of John?

That value is correct,. but if you have the HDMI Deep Color setting enabled at the beginning of the Note section there, your TV will support 120 Hz refresh, provided that your Beelink can also run it. Check the dropdown in choose a refresh rate and see what the offerings are.

Side note - glad to see someone else with this TV, I'm loving mine that I bought 2 years ago via Best Buy's (early) Black Friday sales event.

Well, I suspect you just downloaded the latest AMD graphics drivers and of course they won't work with your older hardware since they are meant for newer AMD graphics chipsets. Use a utility such as aida64 or Speccy to see exactly which AMD chipset and CPU/graphics you have. Then go to AMD's download site and search for your chipset. If it is too old there might not be any drivers available, otherwise download the chipset drivers (you don't need the RAID drivers unless you have any RAID setup). Then search for CPU and make sure you find the correct CPU and graphics combination. Download the driver. If you see two (Catalyst and Crimson for example), try the newest first, if it doesn't work try the other, so download both just in case. Make sure to right-click on the files and Run as Administrator just in case. Go for custom installation and make sure you have checked to install all components. After you have successfully installed the PROPER graphics drivers and restarted the flicker should gone as the drivers automatically switch to the appropriate display mode.

That seems to be the limit on my Beelink.

At the moment the flickering has appeared to stop (THANK YOU THANK YOU and ONE more big fat THANK YOU), as well as a different bug you're uniquely qualified to comment on.

My LG TV gives me this terribly annoying message about "you've got your screen on the highest brightness and must consider your eyes" (words to that effect) when really I have the set on FILMMAKER mode, brightness around half, and contrast kind high. (wtf?)

Also, as I type these very words, the set automatically dims a little over minutes and I have to click another browser tab for it come back to full brightness. So annoying. I did contact LG and the texted help was BOT like, as if it doesn't know of this issue and so it offers irrelevant suggestions. Forgive me but I've forgotten their advice.





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Why do I smell it's that stupid energy saver greyed out setting...

LOL - we were both posting at the same time, so my reply was initially to Sap.

The LG fading is a massive PITA, but I turned off a lot of features in it, like the Pixel saver, and energy saver, because I never ever leave the TV on when I walk away, it is only one when I am actively using it, so their 'protection' is worthless to me.

I'll check the settings as I have them set and also try to find the exact steps I used to set it my way versus their energy saving nonsense that I clearly remember doing exactly what you say is happening.

spapakons said:

Well, I suspect you just downloaded the latest AMD graphics drivers and of course they won't work with your older hardware since they are meant for newer AMD graphics chipsets. Use a utility such as aida64 or Speccy to see exactly which AMD chipset and CPU/graphics you have. Then go to AMD's download site and search for your chipset.

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Hiya Spap. I have to explain to you that I was an Apple only user for 29 years straight. I switched to Android and PCs around 2015 when Windows 10 surfaced and I felt, well, this is actually promising. I never miss Tim Crook's Apple.

That said, and I don't know if I can explain this properly -- what you said makes complete sense in Windows world but is utter nonsense in Mac land. The reason why is ask yourself what you'd want a PC like mine to do? The answer is remember which drivers it needs and always reinstall it for you. If you wanted to try a different driver it would warn you to STOP and understand that's a really bad idea in most cases.

Software, for me, is always a journey of getting the 'new and improved' and moving forward. The idea that drivers stay 'stuck' in time is counter-intuitive, to me. Anyway, just a mini-rant but thanks for your words of re-education, lol.

To fix the brightness and make all colors natural select the normal mode (not remember how it is called) or the User mode where you can set the brightness and not change. This should enable the power saving menu. Make sure power saving is disabled. After you make sure the colors are neutral from the TV, you can also go in Control Panel and start Color Management. Then find the tab where you can calibrate the monitor color and start the calibration. If the settings are OK from TV you can skip the brightness and contrast adjustments and go straight to the gamma and colors. Make sure you fine-tune them as good as possible, preferable in the dark with the lights off so they don't affect the image on screen. This should make an ICC color profile and save it. Using this profile you should have the best possible image on your TV. Before you do the color calibration go at Intel/nVidia/AMD tool and make sure the desktop color settings are set to default. If colors appear unnaturally vivid on TV I reduce digital vibrance in nVidia settings. I don't know which is the respective setting for Intel or AMD. This of course implies that the colors on TV are set to normal, not dynamic.

I have the exact same model number as he does, and I can walk through the exact steps of where to go and what to do.

johnlgalt said:

I have the exact same model number as he does, and I can walk through the exact steps of where to go and what to do.

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So some updates --

1. The flickering is nearly gone and only happened this morning at boot. So it's fixed but I believe I have to unplug everything for five minutes and then plug everything else in again to be rid of that initial boot business. (It sounds silly but when my power goes out the soundbar makes a noise until it's unpaired, unplugged, replugged, repaired.) (Please tell me you don't have the Polk Audio Signa S2?)

2. Oh and I can't THANK YOU enough for the fix.

3. I messed with the LG settings and turned off all power saving stuff. I also lowered the OLED PIXEL BRIGHTNESS and the set is less annoying to look at. Buy MY DOG if I start typing (like I am now) the screen starts dimming. Does this set do this just before it triggers a screensaver? Because I have this pretty screensaver now and I can't tell if it's Windows 11 or the LG. It's basically this rainbow-y bar of light which dances around the black screen.

The Pool Man said:

1. The flickering is nearly gone and only happened this morning at boot. So it's fixed but I believe I have to unplug everything for five minutes and then plug everything else in again to be rid of that initial boot business. (It sounds silly but when my power goes out the soundbar makes a noise until it's unpaired, unplugged, replugged, repaired.) (Please tell me you don't have the Polk Audio Signa S2?)

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Nope, I don't have any soundbar attached to my TV, this is actually my bedroom TV so it has more than adequate sound for the room it is in. But I have seen things like that happen before - how is hte soundbar connected to the TV, optical cable, RCA sound output, or ... ?

The Pool Man said:

2. Oh and I can't THANK YOU enough for the fix.

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I'm really glad the majority of stuff is working, other than the boot thing.

The Pool Man said:

3. I messed with the LG settings and turned off all power saving stuff. I also lowered the OLED PIXEL BRIGHTNESS and the set is less annoying to look at. Buy MY DOG if I start typing (like I am now) the screen starts dimming. Does this set do this just before it triggers a screensaver? Because I have this pretty screensaver now and I can't tell if it's Windows 11 or the LG. It's basically this rainbow-y bar of light which dances around the black screen.

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OK, good, so now I know what I don't have to tell you lol.

As for the dimming when typing - hmmm. Is the BEELINK a full laptop or a tablet?

While booting the computer uses standard VESA display modes, not ideal for flicker. Inside Windows the graphics drivers take charge and remedies the issue.

johnlgalt said:

I'm really glad the majority of stuff is working, other than the boot thing.

OK, good, so now I know what I don't have to tell you lol.

As for the dimming when typing - hmmm. Is the BEELINK a full laptop or a tablet?

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So yesterday's boot had some serious flickering/crackling and so I must unplug everything this morning and see if it's trapped static or what have you.

The Beelink is a Mini PC connected to the TV.

The Soundbar had it's own issues of connectivity until I resorted to a bluetooth connection. Then it was fine.

I'll come back here with a report after The Great Unplugging.