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Ever since my purchase (In June 2022), my 2022 Zephyrus GA503RM (Laptop) has been experiencing a system-wide stutter. I found some threads and an official post from AMD that it's being caused by ftpm. I have decided I would like to disable TPM until a fix. However, my UEFI setup doesn't have an option for disabling TPM, switching to discrete, or anything else relating to TPM. I see the option to disable secure boot but that won't do it, will it? So, how can I disable it?

I know Win11 requires TPM but that during the installation of both Win10 and Win11, you can disable the TPM requirement. However, the instructions don't indicate that TPM won't be used, just that it won't be required if you do a registry edit during install. I'm also aware that you might not get Win11 updates if you don't have TPM.

I still want to disable it. I will downgrade to Win10 if I have to. How can I stop Windows from using TPM at all without having to disable it in BIOS? I tried opening tpm.msc (In Win11 as I haven't downgraded to 10 yet) and looked for a disable or stop option but only found the option to "Clear TPM."

References:

https://www.reddit.com/r/Windows11/comments/sccict/amd_ftpm_causes_random_stuttering_issue/

https://www.amd.com/en/support/kb/faq/pa-410

The Doctor
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  • You can uninstall the TPM driver in Device Manager and you can disable in BIOS (looking at that on another machine now). I would be inclined to question your thesis that TPM is causing stutter. No sign of that on 4 machines here. – John Oct 13 '22 at 23:37
  • There is no option to disable TPM in my BIOS setup. Please read the full post, reddit thread and AMD post (The reddit thread is huge). Many people are experiencing this issue where if they disable TPM, it fixes it. This happens on a clean install. Are any of your 4 machines a GA503RM or anything in the Zephyrus line with an AMD chip? I would like to test the hypothesis but without the BIOS option to disable, I must look for another way to disable TPM. – The Doctor Oct 13 '22 at 23:49
  • No. My machines are Lenovo. They all sport the ability to disable. Uninstall the driver and see what happens.. Be sure to have the correct driver on had to reinstall if you do this. – John Oct 13 '22 at 23:51
  • I also have had TPM running since 2013 (TPM V1.2 in 2013). That is the earliest of the 4 machines and not stuttering in any of them. – John Oct 13 '22 at 23:59
  • I think this problem started with mobos launched around 2020 to present. A quick google search for related terms reveals a wealth of troubled ppl on the topic. I will try to disable it via windows on yet another fresh install. – The Doctor Oct 14 '22 at 00:05
  • @John - The issue the author has is specific to specific AMD processors, which were recently released, not a decade ago. (I am replying to your comment that was 51 minutes ago, after an edit to the question (an hour ago), provided documentation that their issue more than likely is indeed caused by the documented issue). TPM 1.2 does not even meet the requirements for Windows 11. – Ramhound Oct 14 '22 at 00:50
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    @TheDoctor - The reason you cannot disable TPM doesn't have anything to do with Windows, UEFI doesn't know you are or are not running Windows 11, it just might not be a feature of the device's firmware. Unless you can disable TPM, even if you install WIndows 10, the stuttering will exist on that version too – Ramhound Oct 14 '22 at 00:52
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    @TheDoctor - [This](https://rog.asus.com/laptops/rog-zephyrus/rog-zephyrus-g15-2022-series/helpdesk_bios/) update from ASUS should update the AGESA microcode and solve the stuttering problem. I make that assumption since ASUS released the update back in [June](https://www.techpowerup.com/295821/amd-releases-agesa-v2-1-2-0-7-microcode-to-motherboard-vendors-and-oems) and ASUS is an OEM and the update from ASUS was released in September. An educated assumption is that the September update included the June microcode update. – Ramhound Oct 14 '22 at 01:01

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I see the option to disable secure boot but that won't do it, will it? So, how can I disable it?

If I am not mistaken, to enable BitLocker and store your encryption key within the fTPM, you have enabled to Secure Boot. A byproduct of disabling Secure Boot when you are not otherwise using the TPM will be that the TPM will be available but essentially unused. I don't know if clearing your TPM, if it currently is unused, will prevent stuttering. I would absolutely, NOT CLEAR THE TPM, if you are using BitLocker.

I know Win11 requires TPM, but during the installation of both Win10 and Win11, you can disable the TPM requirement.

You can disable the requirement it does not actually disable TPM within Windows. The article you linked to indicates the stuttering can happen on unpatched devices that are running Windows 10 and Windows 11. All that means is that downgrading to Windows 10 will not resolve your stuttering problem.

However, AMD released an AGESA microcode update that resolved the stuttering in June 2022, and ASUS released a firmware update that included that microcode update back in September 2022. If you cannot disable the TPM, which is a real possibility, I would simply update the firmware on your machine.

Ramhound
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  • BitLocker in non-Home versions will use the TPM even without Secure Boot, although it has to use a slightly more fragile PCR binding profile (in the sense of "prompting for recovery key more often"). When switching between SB and non-SB modes, OP will need to input the recovery key at least once for the initial non-SB boot (just like when clearing the TPM), but BitLocker will automatically update the keyslot afterwards. – u1686_grawity Oct 14 '22 at 04:41
  • @user1686 - You can disable TPM on Windows Home without any worry about your data, the whole comment about BitLocker, is that disabling TPM isn't really the solution to the author's problem. It would solve the problem, but why disable TPM when it can be solved another way? I am not even sure clearing the TPM would actually "disable TPM" to be honest, but it would clear the keys for BitLocker, which is the reason I mentioned to avoid that situation. – Ramhound Oct 14 '22 at 05:57
  • No, clearing the TPM won't disable it at all; Windows would just reinitialize it on the next boot. (Though even if it didn't, the fTPM code would still be running and would probably keep causing the same stutters anyway.) – u1686_grawity Oct 14 '22 at 08:58
  • @user1686 - I don’t use BitLocker but I have TPM initialized on my home systems but had a weird mental day yesterday, I will adjust my wording – Ramhound Oct 14 '22 at 12:17