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AMD Adrenalin 26.11.1 Fixes Idle SSD Writes on RX 7000 and Newer: How to Check and Update

Optional Adrenalin 26.11.1 (12 Nov 2026) fixes excessive system-drive writes at idle on RX 7000 and above, and while resizing windows. How to check Resource Monitor for atieclxx.exe, install the driver, and what is still open.

T Terapep ·

TL;DR: AMD Software: Adrenalin Edition 26.11.1, posted as an optional driver on 12 November 2026, fixes excessive writes to the system drive while a PC is idle on Radeon RX 7000 series graphics products and above, and a related case of heavy writes while moving or resizing application windows. AMD’s separate FAQ names RX 7000 and RX 9000 cards. The bug was previously traced, in reporting, to AMD External Events Client Module (atieclxx.exe) in the 26.10.1 and 26.10.2 drivers. To see if your PC is affected, open Resource Monitor → Disk, sort by write rate, and look for sustained writes from that process while the machine is idle. Then download 26.11.1 from AMD’s release-notes page — it may not show up as an official in-app update. After installing, check the Write column again, and on Windows 10 confirm that Smart Access Memory is still enabled.

Last checked: 14 November 2026 (KST).

What AMD actually fixed

The 26.11.1 release notes, last updated 12 November 2026, list two fixed issues:

Fix (AMD’s wording, shortened) Where AMD says it applies
Excessive writes to the system drive may be observed while the system is idle Radeon RX 7000 series graphics products and above
Excessive writes to the system drive may be observed while moving or resizing application windows Not limited to a GPU family in the release notes

A companion FAQ, PA-365, describes the idle problem on RX 7000 and RX 9000 products and says AMD has resolved it. Users who are seeing the issue are told to install 26.11.1.

That is the official fix. It is not a WHQL “recommended” drop in the usual sense: PC Gamer and TweakTown both describe 26.11.1 as an optional interim driver that you download yourself, and TweakTown says it will not appear as an official update inside Adrenalin. AMD says a future WHQL package should pick up the same fixes, per that coverage. Until then, the path is the installer on the release-notes page.

Who is affected — and who is not clearly covered

Before 26.11.1 shipped, VideoCardz and TechPowerUp reported that AMD had confirmed a bug in which atieclxx.exe (AMD External Events Client Module, part of AMD External Events Utility) kept writing to the system drive under 26.10.1 and 26.10.2. VideoCardz said an AMD representative described an interaction with Microsoft’s PCIe filter driver and later pointed to 26.11.1 as the fix.

Important limits:

  • AMD’s idle-fix wording is RX 7000 and newer (the FAQ says RX 7000 and RX 9000). PC Gamer notes that some user reports mentioned RX 6000 cards, so it is not settled whether older GPUs were affected or whether they get the same idle fix.
  • VideoCardz says the bug does not appear to affect every Radeon system. Some people on 26.10.2 reported no unusual activity.
  • The write rates in circulation are user reports, not an AMD measurement. VideoCardz recorded a commonly cited band of 0.3–1.5 MB/s, a public example of 0.65 MB/s (about 20 GB in roughly 12 hours), and one Redditor at 5 MB/s. TechPowerUp turned the low and high ends into roughly 26 GB to 432 GB a day if the rate never stopped. VideoCardz also warns that those totals are theoretical and may not equal physical NAND writes. AMD has not published an official rate. PC Gamer separately reported that some owners said SSD health was dropping by up to 1% per month; that figure is a user claim, not an AMD finding.

Horizontal bar chart of user-reported idle SSD write rates before Adrenalin 26.11.1, expressed as theoretical daily volume if the rate never stopped: 26 GB/day at 0.3 MB/s, 56 GB/day at 0.65 MB/s, 130 GB/day at 1.5 MB/s, and 432 GB/day at 5 MB/s. These are community reports compiled by VideoCardz and TechPowerUp, not AMD laboratory measurements, and may not equal physical NAND writes.

How to check if your PC is affected

Do this before you update, so you have a baseline, and again afterwards.

  1. Close games, browsers and anything that would reasonably be writing to disk. Let the PC sit idle for a couple of minutes.
  2. Press Win + R, type resmon, and press Enter to open Resource Monitor.
  3. Open the Disk tab.
  4. Click the Write (B/sec) column header so the heaviest writers rise to the top.
  5. Watch for sustained writes from atieclxx.exe (AMD External Events Client Module) to your system drive.

That is the check VideoCardz described when AMD first confirmed the bug. A brief burst is not the issue; a write rate that stays up while you are doing nothing is.

Two easy ways to misread the screen:

  • Task Manager’s Disk column mixes reads and writes. Use Resource Monitor and look at Write (B/sec) specifically.
  • After 26.11.1, some early TechPowerUp commenters said the process was “still writing.” Follow-ups in that same thread pointed out that the remaining activity was reads. Recheck the Write column, not total I/O.

You can also repeat the test while dragging or resizing a window, because that is the second case AMD listed as fixed.

How to install 26.11.1

  1. Read the 26.11.1 release notes and the known-issues list (summarised below) before you start.
  2. Download the optional Adrenalin Edition 26.11.1 installer from that AMD page. Do not rely on Windows Update or on the in-app “recommended” prompt if the optional build is not offered there.
  3. Run the installer. For a cleaner swap, AMD’s usual advice is a standard Adrenalin install. If you later downgrade, the release notes recommend the AMD Cleanup Utility first. AMD’s own uninstall and install support articles are linked from the 26.11.1 release notes.
  4. Reboot when the installer asks you to.
  5. Confirm the version in AMD Software: the package is listed as Adrenalin Edition 26.11.1. The release notes also give driver versions 26.20.15.16 (Windows Driver Store 32.0.32015.16001) and 25.10.45.26 (32.0.21045.26001), plus a Ryzen AI NPU MCDM driver. Your card will land on one of the packaged branches.
  6. Repeat the Resource Monitor check at idle, and again while moving a window.

Laptops and all-in-ones: AMD recommends the OEM driver when the company has customised it for that machine. If the AMD.com package misbehaves, go back to the vendor package. Adrenalin 26.11.1 does not support handheld gaming devices; those should use the device maker’s driver.

Windows 10 after the install: the release notes warn that AMD Smart Access Memory may become disabled after driver installation on Windows 10. If you had turned Resizable BAR off as a workaround (see below), or simply want SAM back, check it in BIOS and in Adrenalin after the update. TechPowerUp flags this specifically.

Known issues worth reading first

26.11.1 is a fix drop, not a clean sheet. These are from AMD’s own list, shortened:

Known issue AMD’s note
Intermittent crash or driver timeout in Assassin’s Creed Black Flag Resynced on RX 7000 Listed, no workaround given
Intermittent driver timeout in War Thunder on RX 5000 AMD recommends 26.9.1
Intermittent crash or timeout in Cyberpunk 2077 with FSR upscaling, Anti-Lag and in-game frame generation, during video playback on a secondary display, on some RX 9000 cards Disable in-game frame generation
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare Remastered may become unresponsive on Alt+Tab on Ryzen AI Max PRO 400 Listed
Black screen launching Gears of War: Reloaded on Ryzen AI 9 400 Switch the game to Windowed, then back to Fullscreen
AI Bundle install may fail in regions with limited access to Hugging Face and GitHub Listed
Smart Access Memory may be disabled after install on Windows 10 Re-enable if you use it
Visual corruption on character hair in Phantom Blade Zero on RX 9000 Disable High-Quality Hair
Black corruption in Modern Warfare Remastered on RX 9000 Listed

PC Gamer notes that most of these already existed on the previous driver, with Phantom Blade Zero called out as an exception in that comparison. If you need War Thunder stable on an RX 5000 card, AMD is still pointing those users at 26.9.1, not 26.11.1.

Temporary workarounds — only if you cannot update yet

Until 26.11.1, affected users were told, in reporting, to try one of the following. None of them is the preferred fix now that the optional driver is out, and none worked in every report:

  • Disable AMD External Events Utility in Windows Services. VideoCardz says this can break Adrenalin hotkeys and some display functions.
  • Turn off Resizable BAR in BIOS. That can cost gaming performance, and you should turn it back on after updating if you use Smart Access Memory.
  • A community-made tool that blocks the writes was also circulating; TechPowerUp mentioned it as a stopgap. Treat unofficial tools as optional and unverified here — the official path is 26.11.1.

What is confirmed vs still open

Confirmed Still open / not claimed here
AMD lists idle-write and window-resize write fixes in 26.11.1 An official AMD write-rate figure
FAQ PA-365 tells affected RX 7000 / RX 9000 users to install 26.11.1 Whether every RX 6000 report is the same bug, or whether those cards get the same idle fix
Reporting tied the older bug to atieclxx.exe in 26.10.1 / 26.10.2 That every Radeon PC was affected — VideoCardz says not
26.11.1 is an optional driver you download from AMD That theoretical GB/day totals equal physical NAND wear
SAM may turn off after install on Windows 10 That every early “still writing” comment after 26.11.1 was a real remaining write bug — some were reads

If Resource Monitor still shows sustained writes from atieclxx.exe after a clean 26.11.1 install, take a screenshot of the Disk tab (Write column visible) and check AMD’s support channels. Do not assume a failed fix from total I/O or from read traffic alone.

Related: How to enable FSR 4.1 on RX 6000 and Ryzen AI with Adrenalin 26.10.1 · NVIDIA Hotfix 621.12: install and rollback

Sources

#amd#adrenalin#radeon#rx-7000#ssd#driver#26-11-1#how-to#2026
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