Windows 11 Attestation finally fixed with Ryzen 5800X3D

Now, I don’t fully know what caused this, Microsoft, AMD or ASUS, but in my case on ASUS Strix X570-E motherboard with Ryzen 5800X3D, Windows 11 kept “complaining” about TPM security feature called “Attestation” being “Not supported” even though 5800X (regular non 3D) that I had before, supported it. Well, today I got notification that I have set up for my motherboard BIOS that new version is available. Okay, I check the ASUS support page and there is indeed a new BIOS update version 5003 for ASUS Strix X570-E which mentions firmware update for TPM subsystem. And that instantly got me thinking, is this it? So I made a screenshot of before and after update. And indeed, Attestation is now “Ready” the way it should be. I was also having issues with TPM just randomly not being detected in Windows 11 and after reboot, it was there. We’ll see if that was also fixed with this BIOS update. Hopefully, it is…

BIOS 4802

 

BIOS 5003

As you can see, the TPM firmware version now has newer date and Attestation status is now also “Ready”.

Since this is AGESA update, it means that this isn’t ASUS exclusive fix, it was sent out by AMD. Meaning if you’re experiencing similar issue and you understand why this feature is there, check out for latest BIOS update for your motherboard and update it if required. BIOS updates are good to have but usually not necessary and can brick your system so only do it if you understand how and what the risks are. Just a disclaimer.

Why is state of Bluetooth codecs on Windows so awful?!

I’ve been using bluetooth earbuds on my Windows PC for a very long time now, also for gaming because I don’t have any wire bothering me. Been using Apple’s AirPods 2 and they worked great, they even reproduce enough bass to be engaging for all the explosions and music easily. But recently I’ve upgraded to highly acclaimed SoundPeats Air3 Deluxe HS that get very high remarks almost everywhere and they are very accessible because they don’t cost 300€, yet boast some pretty impressive specs like very good audio profile, frequency response up to 40kHz which is rather rare since most go to 20kHz only and they also support AptX and LDAC which aren’t supported on AirPods 2.

And here comes the problem stated in the title of this article. Windows, for whatever dumb reason just pick codecs almost on random at this point. Most bluetooth audio devices these days support SBC and AAC codecs, of which AAC is superior. However, there are also AptX from Qualcomm and LDAC from Sony, both superior to AAC and especially SBC which just sounds horrendous in comparison.

What I don’t understand is why Windows 11 offers ABSOLUTELY NO control over bluetooth codec selection? Whole bluetooth headphones industry exploded and almost everything these days is bluetooth. Sure, audio purists will insist on wires and on PC I’m one of those, but I can’t deny convenience of wireless so I do use it for evenings. But I’m stuck with AAC with absolutely no way in changing that with Windows 11 itself. There is a tweak that can force disable AAC codec in Windows 11 using this registry modificiation:

Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\BthA2dp\Parameters]

“BluetoothAacEnable”=dword:00000000

However in my case, Windows just defaults to SBC codec instead of picking up on AptX, making everything sound like hot garbage. And yes, while LDAC isn’t supported by Windows 11, AptX absolutely is, yet you can’t frigging enable it in any way. Why Microsoft? WHY?

I did find way to use LDAC with this Alternative A2DP Driver tool:

https://www.bluetoothgoodies.com/a2dp/

Unfortunately, it’s not free, although it’s quite cheap so if you want to use LDAC, you may want to invest in it because Microsoft sure doesn’t give two flying fucks about state of bluetooth codecs. One would expect a simple, easy way to select codecs in sound settings in Windows and yet you just can’t do it. Ridiculous. Fix this crap Microsoft, it’s embarrassing.

Same company that’s providing the alternate bluetooth driver also offers Bluetooth Tweaker tool which you can use to check which codec is Windows using in your case and also a tool to confirm the above alternate driver is working correctly after enabling LDAC.

https://www.bluetoothgoodies.com/tweaker/

This tool is also available for a small fee and of course, you need headphones that support LDAC. You’ll have to check product specs to see if yours do. Cheap ones usually only support AAC while most higher end ones also support LDAC. Both tools have 7 days free trial so you can check things and test it out for few days before you commit to it or not. But I still hope Microsoft will get of their ass and add proper support for codec selection in Windows 11.

EDIT:

Turns out even Linux has Bluetooth in better state. Using Pipewire Audio subsystem and you can use any codec in a matter of 2 clicks. Not only I could use AptX easily on my laptop paired with SounPeats TrueAir 2, I could even select SBC XQ on the other where I had AirPods 2 paired with it. AirPods only support SBC and AAC, no LDAC or AptX, but still, seeing SBC with higher quality profile (XQ probably stands for Xtreme Quality) which sounds way better.

So, again, Microsoft, get your head out of your own ass. First you nuked hardware audio acceleration that was really amazing before Windows Vista and now you’re lagging even behind Linux with bluetooth audio? How pathetic is that?

Wolfenstein 2: The New Colossus crashing on NVIDIA graphic cards

I’ve revisited this game after many years because I realized I haven’t finished it somehow. Well, since I’m clearing my backlog of games, why not finish it up. Until I got a repeating crashing of the game the moment I’ve entered the game. It never crashed in menus and if I didn’t move mouse in-game, it could run just fine which was weird, but the moment I moved the mouse, it crashed.

I couldn’t really diagnose it because all I got was a sudden freeze of the game with a Windows dialog “ding” sound. Ctrl+Alt+Del and invoking Task Manager and I could see error message saying “Could not write crash dump” (this isn’t the actual error, it’s just a symptom of game being unable to write a crash dump on the error it just experienced) and all the Windows Error logs only state unspecified error in NewColossus_x64vk.exe and that was it.

Digging online I could find bunch of “solutions” that didn’t really work at all as game kept crashing no matter what. So I went with ALL settings OFF as that seemed to work, but it looked rubbish so I kept gradually enabling the settings. Basically I could enable it all until I enabled “Deferred Rendering” and the game instantly crashed again. For some reason this game really doesn’t like using Deferred Rendering method on GeForce RTX 3080 even with currently latest 532.03 drivers. Or with these in particular. Not in mood to downgrade drivers anyway.

SOLUTION

So, make sure “Deferred Rendering” is disabled in Advanced settings and it should work.

Android 13 update borked Poco X4 GT’s bluetooth with Smart Band 7 Pro :(

What the hell Xiaomi? Poco X4 GT and Xiaomi Smart Band 7 Pro worked like a charm, but ever since I received stable Android 13 update on the X4 GT, Xiaomi’s OWN Smart Band 7 Pro keeps somehow disconnecting and then failing to automatically reconnect back.

For some stupid reason I keep getting pairing dialog where I need to confirm pairing on both and to make matter worse, the damn thing doesn’t even work. I can confirm pairing and it won’t pair. I have to then manually turn off bluetooth on the phone, pairing fails and when I turn bluetooth back on, they suddenly get connected back together like nothing happened.

I’ve contacted Xiaomi support and unfortunately they weren’t very helpful. I did a factory reset for them and now NFC doesn’t work anymore with my banking app even though it did before and it didn’t fix anything. In the end they just directed me to a local service center. Ugh.

I really like the Poco X4 GT. Relatively cheap but really nice phone and Smart Band 7 Pro, while it has bunch of compromises, it’s also really nice and I enjoyed using both, but now the experience is so messed up it’s really not fun to use it when it keeps randomly bugging me with stupid pairing thing. Anyone else having same problem?

CDKeys “My Orders” page serving plain text gibberish?

Anyone else having this weird problem with CDKeys page? Entire webpage works fine, except “My Orders” menu inside user account profile. When I click My Orders button, it just serves me webpage in plain text instead of actually rendering it. Been talking to their support for days and apparently no one there knows how to go to that menu and fucking check it. I’ve tried in all the browsers that exist, on Windows, Linux, on Android, I’ve tried using 2 entirely different ISP’s, with adblocking and without, same fucking shit. It always serves me that page in plain text for some fucked up reason. And to make matters worse, I can’t redeem any game I buy because of this shit.

Can anyone who also uses CDKeys check this for me? Go to your profile and click on “My Orders”. Specifically this page: https://www.cdkeys.com/sales/order/history/

If anyone else has it rendered in plain text instead of seeing a normal page, please let me know. Thanks

Improving Creality Ender 3 V2 PSU cooling

For some reason designers of Creality Ender 3 V2 3D printer decided to make power supply unit (PSU) for it by slapping together two metal housings that don’t have overlapping holes, instead, the holes almost perfectly align in such a way that they block almost maximum possible amount of airflow into the PSU.

Spot the problem? So, I’ve decided to change that. But since my metal work skills are basic, I’d just cut away the middle part of the black shroud. But that would still be blocking large part of the airflow. So I asked my dad for help and with some of his metal working magic, this is the improved PSU fan intake now…

Spot the difference? Look, you can actually see the fan now! Now, the fan is still audible, but at least it’s not beating same air around trying to get it through those narrow gaps in metal that were there originally.

Next step is replacing that 40mm fan on motherboard that’s just 10mm thick with another 40mm fan with 20mm thickness. Should spin much slower while moving a lot of air. But that’s for another time…

HDMI is garbage for computer monitors

Yesterday, I’ve ranted about damaged DisplayPort cable and how it screwed up system badly with hard crashes and random reboots. Replaced it with HDMI and all seemed fine…

Until I noticed bad tearing in games. Hold up, I have FreeSync display, my image shouldn’t be tearing like that. Went to check settings if it somehow disabled itself and G-Sync settings panel on my RTX 3080 was just gone. Not even there anymore. What?! Checked Windows display settings and no Variable Refresh Rate settings either. Ok, now I’m confused. Done quick search online and read that HDMI 2.0 doesn’t support FreeSync or HDR. Now, RTX 3080 supports HDMI 2.1, but my monitor doesn’t as it only has HDMI 2.0 input. Well, fuck. So, I had to rush into a tech store for new DisplayPort cable on god damn Saturday just to get back freaking FreeSync. Ridiculous.

HDMI is such garbage connectivity standard for computers. Last monitor I had couldn’t do 1080p at 144Hz via HDMI. Only 60Hz. I had to use DisplayPort to get 144Hz refresh. Fast forward to now on larger 1440p display and same shit. Again some dumb limitations with HDMI. At least I could get 144Hz, but without FreeSync? Come on!

Well, now it’s DisplayPort and FreeSync is back again. Pretty annoyed by all this. If you’re on computer connecting higher end computer monitor, don’t bother with any other cable, go straight for DisplayPort, if you want to avoid dumb problems, because HDMI is apparently totally inferior.

Damaged/bad DisplayPort cable causing total system failures

Back to bizarro problem solving and here it is, another one I was dealing for a long time, but it never really crossed my mind it might be a god damn video cable causing this…

I’ve had really weird random system reboots for a while, we’re talking 2 years now because this AMD Ryzen 5800X system I’ve built just before the COVID pandemic hit with full force. But it happened so sporadically that I couldn’t really put a finger on it at any point. It could go entire month or two without an issue and then suddenly 4 reboots in a single day.

I’ve had my system just out of the blue in the middle of the night go “click” and reboot with fast fan ramp up that woke me up followed by 1 long beep and 3 short beeps. And then it would startup normally. What the F ?! Checking ASUS beep codes and 1 long and 3 short beeps means “No VGA detected”. Reseated my RTX 3080, reconnected VGA power again and it was fine. For some time. Recently I had just straight out power failure reboots. Like, I was using system and next moment it just blanked out and rebooted, but this time without the usual beep error code (but not always). Event Viewer gave me no insight on what happened other than “Unexpected power failure” error in the logs. Thought it was my Ryzen 5800X overclocking attempts. Just to have same problem on fully stock configuration. Ugh.

Then I had an “aha” moment as I was putting my system back together and I notice how wonky the DisplayPort connector is. It’s a plastic shell with a release button and I notice how connector can move slightly inside the connector shell and how it’s bent in the way how cable is hanging down from the system. Thankfully I had HDMI cable next for my PlayStation 2 “HD” module so I used that. It’s fine for 1440p at 144Hz so I totally unplugged the DisplayPort and I’m now on HDMI only for several days. No issues so far and it has been several days.

Now thinking about it, I’ve had this particular DisplayPort cable for ages (since GTX 980 actually and through GTX 1080Ti and now RTX 3080) and the way I have my PC case placed on a dedicated box stand next to my table, I regularly lift it up while turned on to put it on a table and tinker with it while everything is still connected. Apparently years of doing this messed up the cable which lead this cable to cause total system failures like reboots with graphic card detection failures as well as just absolutely random system crashes and reason they were happening so randomly is because I was trying to fix the issue, I was bending the cable some more and it sometimes fixed it for a moment and next time it made it worse. Seeing how flimsy that DisplayPort connector was after quick inspection, I have a strong suspicion this was really it, even if I don’t have weeks of system working to really confirm it. A god damn cable for 15 or 20€ causing such catastrophic problems. Wow. I’m generally used to problems like image blinking or green tint across entire image, not simple display cable crashing entire system like it lost power. And I think I’ll just stick with HDMI even though I generally prefer DisplayPort. Because all DisplayPort cables seem to have this wonky cheap plastic housing around the connector where HDMI has it really firmly molded into the housing, preventing any bending. You’d really have to yank it really hard to damage it.

Next time you’re having such weird issues, just try a different display cable as one of first things you try. I know I’ll do that from now on…

Update NVIDIA DLSS to latest version by yourself

A lot of games these days come with NVIDIA DLSS support which is nice. However, the DLSS support at the moment is sort of “baked” into games. The DLSS logic is not provided by driver itself, it’s provided by a DLSS DLL file inside game’s folder. So, you can update it and improve performance or resolve certain artifacting. However, there’s a catch. You can only update DLSS if it’s version 2.x. If game is still using original DLSS 1.x, then you can’t update it this way. You can check this by going into game’s folder and look for file named “nvngx_dlss.dll”, right click it and select Properties. Go to “Details” tab and look at file version…

On the left example from Battlefield V, you can see it’s DLSS 1.x which cannot be updated. However, the right example is from Doom Eternal which I already updated to the current latest version. As you can see from version number, it’s DLSS 2.x which can be updated by swapping the file with latest version.

You can always grab latest version from TechPowerUp and they even offer notification service via e-mail when new version is uploaded so you can always run games with latest DLSS version.

DLSS DOWNLOAD:

https://www.techpowerup.com/download/nvidia-dlss-dll/

Just download the ZIP archive and extract “nvngx_dlss.dll” file into game’s folder, replacing the file already located there. That’s all you have to do.

Don’t expect magic to happen, but I heard reports of newer version resolving certain visual issues created by DLSS itself and it’s possible that newer version might also provide higher performance. Or at least no performance degradation at better visual quality.

It’s still unknown if DLSS 3.x sometime in the future will behave the same or be updatable this way, but for DLSS 2.x based games, this is the method you can use to update DLSS.

Use “thermal throttling” to your advantage on PC

It’s no secret both, Ryzen 7 5800X and GeForce RTX 3080 are hot boyz. They both love to run really hot no matter how big coolers you bolt on them. And if you cool them better by ramping up fans they’ll just boost even higher. And noise is something I don’t tolerate well. I like my system quiet.

So I did something rather unorthodox this time around that actually doesn’t hurt performance much at all, but makes system sooooo much quieter. And cooler.

Temperature throttling the CPU…

Ryzen 5000 has a setting for thermal throttling in BIOS…

For a long time I treated this as something I need to avoid and it’s there just to protect CPU from burning out. But then it made me think. I’ve been at those temperatures by allowing it to pump as much power as it wanted and raising its clock limits to 5GHz. And all it did was drop clocks tiny bit and it’s not like it just drops from 4.4GHz on all cores down to 2GHz or something. The curve is rather progressive for it to stay at that temperature. So I dropped the thermal throttle limit down to just 65°C. My fans on AiO are set to run at 100% at 70°C. And behold, system was now so much quieter and observing the CPU temperature curve, it hits 65°C and remains there at all times, so fans never actually went to 100% as a result (I have Silent Wings 3 on my Liquid Freezer II 240mm AiO which are rather quiet until 100% speed).

What changes now is the cores clocks. And to my surprise, those haven’t changed much. In gaming, it runs at 65°C and still hits same clocks of 4.85 GHz. I kid you not. There was no change for games as far as clocks go. Played Necromunda: Hired Gun which is very new game and some Battelfield 1. Older, but still very nice looking game which is still relatively demanding. I also couldn’t tell a difference in gameplay smoothness. Probably something like GTA V would cause clocks to drop some more, but these CPU’s are really fast and they don’t need to max out for great performance. There was some change in Cinebench R23 where my usual unrestricted clock was 4.45 GHz on all cores and now it was around 4.2 GHz. Which is still quite respectable and given I generally don’t do much all core loads it’s still perfectly fine and I only lost few 100 points which is nothing.

Temperature throttling the GPU…

I’m using Palit GeForce RTX 3080 GamingPro which has a rather slim cooler that doesn’t extend past PCI rear bracket. It was only version at the time that I could get for normal price and it’s fine. I was playing Automachef yesterday and it was running full tilt even though game isn’t that demanding, making it quite noisy and pumping out tons of heat just because it was running at locked 144fps (my monitor refresh FreeSynced). And I applied same logic as for CPU. Lets just temperature limit the card…

Fired up MSI Afterburner and only thing I did was unlink power and temperature and gave TEMP LIMIT priority, dropped it to 65°C which is the lowest it can go. If temperature allows, it’ll still go to max clocks. And it sometimes does when not under heavy stress on entire GPU. And just like CPU, it goes up to 65°C and flatlines there. No matter what I do it stays at 65°C. Super quiet and it’s now only 1000 points slower than average RTX 3080 in 3DMark Port Royal test. In Necromunda and Battlefield 1, I couldn’t tell the difference once again. But my god it was quieter and under heavy loads clocks were fluctuating between 1500 and 1900 MHz. Quite lower than before when they were stuck at 1900 MHz and above, but drop in clocks doesn’t seem to affect framerate all that much even though in frequency numbers it’s huge.

Conclusion

Basically I prioritized my entire system on temperature and my choice was 65°C because it’s a good balance in my use case. And results are pretty amazing as performance wasn’t penalized as much as I was expecting, but temperature metrics changed dramatically. You can set any temperature limit you want so you can tailor it to your cooling capacity or noise tolerance that you can still deal with. Pretty useful settings.