Have you been noticing random performance stutters, slow loading and other issues on AMD Ryzen-powered Windows 10 or 11 machines? AMD has revealed that they could be caused by issues with the firmware trusted platform modules (fTPMs) located in the BIOS on Ryzen motherboards, TechPowerUp has reported.
Last year, Microsoft announced that TPM 2.0 chips would essentially be required for Windows 11. They serve as a hardware encryption system, authenticating Windows background memory transactions. AMD found that “select AMD Ryzen system configurations may intermittently perform extended fTPM-related memory transactions in SPI flash memory (“SPIROM”) located on the motherboard,” essentially causing your system to stutter until the transaction completes.
The company announced that it’s working on a fix, and offered an immediate workaround. You can switch from fTPM to a discrete TPM module (dTPM) installed in the dedicated TMP 2.0 header on your motherboard. If you decided to do that, you’ll unfortunately have to pay: they cost somewhere around $50-100 on Amazon, according to TechPowerUp. You’ll also need to be sure to disable Bitlocker before switching between fTPM and dTPM, if it’s enabled.
The other option is to simply wait for a fix that AMD said will arrive some time in early May. It will be distributed by PC or motherboard vendors and “will require a motherboard system BIOS (sBIOS) update containing enhanced modules for fTPM interaction with SPIROM,” according to AMD.
The fTPM issue is not the first we’ve seen with AMD’s Ryzen chips. Last year, AMD was forced to issue updates for two significant bugs, one of which was slowing popular eSports games by up to 15 percent.
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