Intel HD 4000 Graphics (i7-3770K) occasional flicker

[idata]

I have an i7-3770K on an Asus P8Z77-V PRO and am using the on-board Intel HD 4000 Graphics to drive two displays.

My displays are a Dell 3008WFP at 2560x1600 on DisplayPort, and a Dell 2407WFPHC at 1200x1920 (rotated 90 degrees to portrait) on DVI.

Running the latest drivers (8.15.10.2761) on Windows 7 Ultimate N x64.

32GB memory, water cooling, Intel 240GB SATA3 SSD and a 750W Corsair PSU round out the box.

When working (writing code, web surfing, watching video) on the machine, the video will quickly cut out on one monitor or the other and then come back. The 24" Dell on DVI handles this [in a small fraction of a second] like a champ and I hardly notice. The Dell 30" looses the signal, goes blank and then takes a couple seconds to reacquire the signal before showing the desktop again... it's REALLY annoying!!

Anyone seen something like this before, or have ideas?

I've changed the DisplayPort & DVI cables, tried a different motherboard of the same model, tried a motherboard from a different manufacturer (Gigabyte), hooked it up to a Dell 3011WFP (which re-acquires the signal much faster than the 3008WFP btw), reset monitors to factory defaults, and installed the latest drivers. To no avail.

Help?!?

[idata]

I'm in the same boat, Rob.

It's frustrating enough to be dealing with this issue on a very regular basis, and it adds insult to injury to not receive any kind of communication on Intel's part at this point.

I have tried holding out this long and not returning the laptop, as I've really wanted it to work out. On a conference call with a client yesterday my display went out (requiring me to power cycle the monitor to reset the connect) three times. Each time, I had to verbally stall the conversation with the client as I couldn't see what I was doing any longer. In times like this, it's more than a simple inconvenience or annoyance, it becomes critically damaging. It also seems to be happening much more often-- a few dozen over the course of a day now.

As long as I've held out in hopes that Intel makes the situation right by at least helping set some expectations on our end, I think I might have to call Lenovo and return this system and go back to my dependable old T410s with discrete NVIDIA chipset.

[idata]

I wouldn't put up with that. Not even for a minute in front of a client.

I'm a software engineer, so I know all about people who provide Support. Good supportl looks completely different from bad... but it doesn't take an insider to see that Intel is not doing all they should.

Sad.

[idata]

I found an answer!!!!

I change my GPU Voltage from Auto to 1.000 volt (which is the minimum voltage for my Z68A-GD65 G3) and now system is working properly

watching some youtube video and no flickering

ISSUE IS GONE

[idata]

How did you change the voltage? Tool? Bios?

Thanks

I am almost excited.......

[idata]

In bios

If you have dell, hp you will probably have to wait a bios update... That option is probably hidden.

If you have an asus, msi motherboard you will probably have a location in the bios with frequency to overclock and voltage should be here.

Here is my bios :

http://mltgames.ath.cx:443/IMG_0482.jpg http://mltgames.ath.cx:443/IMG_0482.jpg

[idata]

I tried dropping the voltage, the issue still occurs on my system.

Thanks for sharing the suggestion @Jo!

[idata]

Thank u so much, i just registered this forum to tell u how glad i am.

My Z68A-GD65 G3 got the GPU default voltage at 0.096, the minimun for "OC" was 1.000

Its ridiculous how low it was, and i was nerd raging with this computer. New upgrade and worst than the other ... and then i saw this post, reset the computer, set the gpu voltage on the bios to 1.000 and no more problems.

Tks Jo

[idata]

No problem Frojo

1.000 Volt (Minimum configuration) for me was higher than Auto (Auto on idle seems to be energy saver)

Try with a little more voltage (Like 5-10 % max more)

Just in case... Do not put too much voltage (The chip will burn and void intel warranty)

Also paid an attention to GPU and not take CPU which is a different settings.

I'm running my system at 1.000 Volt for about 16 hours and 0 crash or flickering occur of intel graphic accelerator.

Hope this will fix you problem too.

[ROBERT_U_Intel]

Folks, just want to let you know we are aware of the flickering issues and have replicated the issue internally. We are currently investigating the issue however, do to it's intermittent nature, it may take some time to root cause.

.

[idata]

Thanks for taking the time to post feedback @Robert_U.

We do appreciate the update.

[idata]

@robert_u:

This is such a welcome post, that even though there is nothing concrete being reported, it shows us we have been heard. I would like to ask if you would be willing to post a weekly update here, even if it is "nothing to report" so that we know this is still being worked on.

I think I speak for all of us when I say that we can be patient when we know someone is working on resolving out issue. And we will trust that the issue is being worked on when someone keeps us informed as to the progress.

Thanks again

Rob

[idata]

No problem, Rui Costa

I have also contacted MSI for an update to fix this

here is the reply :

TypeCreated DateProblem NoteAttachmentMSI Tech.07/13/2012Dear customer, THanks for letting us know about this problem I will foward this to our HQ to resolve this problem on the next bios.End User07/12/2012I have a problem with my IGP (Intel HD 4000) it's flickering while watching video, browsing on the web and playing game. When it occur i saw a message Intel Graphic Accelerator Driver has stopped responding and has been restored I have also found a fix, I have changed my setting GPU Voltage from Auto to 1.00Volt (Which is the minimum) and now my issue is gone. It seems that the GPU dont get enough of power. Thanks to fix this in the next bios version

[idata]

I'm also having the blanking problem on an i7 3770 w/Win7 64. Latest BIOS and all, clearly a driver issue.

Discouraging that this thread is getting old with no fix yet.

[idata]

@duncan3,

Please join us in lamenting and cursing the decision to purchase what we believed to be a superior, stable hardware upgrade from a reputable company that supports its customers.

INTEL -- if you thing the lack of activity in this thread is any sort of indication of the issue subsiding, you are incorrect. It is that customers are giving up on the idea that you are working very hard to address this issue and simply moving on to other solutions, to the detriment of our outlook on your brand and company. If you are having difficulty replicating this "intermittent" issue, by all means please use my system for troubleshooting. The issue happens dozens of times every single day, often within 10-15 seconds of each other. Please give us an ETA on when we can at least expect a beta fix, as the ranks of dissatisfied customers are growing.

We are:

- early adopters

- power users

- business owners

- company buyers

We are the people you should be listening to and working very hard to support. We buy your products when they first come out and help inform the masses. Those in the future weeks and months that see this thread and your lack of engagement and support will have sufficient evidence of the risks they run by putting their faith in Intel and its products.

Note: My screen went black twice in the construction of this post.

[ROBERT_U_Intel]

Jon,, this issue is very HW specific. It has been very difficult to reproduce in our lab. If you could, please post your HW configuration with model numbers of the displays, it will be helpful in building a system for reproduction.

[idata]

I recently created the following build (all hardware used is listed):

CPU: Intel core i7 3770K

CPU Cooler: Stock Intel Cooler

Motherboard: ASUS P8Z77-V LK

PSU: CORSAIR Builder Series CX430 V2 - 430W

RAM: EVO CORSA Series 16GB (2x8GB), Model: GOC316GB1600C10DC

Optical Drive: ASUS DRW-24B1ST/BLK/B/AS Black SATA 24X DVD Burner

SSD: Kingston HyperX 3K SH103S3/120G 2.5" 120GB SATA III

Monitors: 2 x ASUS VE228 (1920x1080 resolution @ 60Hz)

OS: Windows 7 Ultimate x64

Everything is running at stock speeds. I have all the latest drivers installed.

I also experience this flickering problem (screen randomly for ~1 second... occurs more often when watching videos) if and only if I use the 2 monitors. When I use a single monitor I don't experience any problems at all.

Edit: Here is a good description of what I experience - http://superuser.com/questions/431401/weird-glitches-on-intel-igpu http://superuser.com/questions/431401/weird-glitches-on-intel-igpu

[idata]

Searching the web for answers, I discovered changing the GPU voltage may help. So I decided to give it a shot.

I first set the GPU voltage to 1V and saw absolutely no flickering on the monitor using DVI. Still some flickering (but significantly less) on the other monitor which uses HDMI.

Hopefully this helps some of you guys out there. 

[idata]

UPDATE

I found out one of my sticks of RAM was defective (causing BSODs and failing memtest). I removed that stick and the other stick tested without errors. Since then no flickers whatsoever, even after reseting BIOS to default voltages & settings. I was able to play games (Portal for example) on all max settings and watch videos without visual problems or flickering so I'm considering this solved on my end. So I wonder if it was somehow the defective RAM that was causing the flickers.

[plee21]

Hi

Actually quite possible as some system memory gets picked for using as video memory. If the memory was faulty or not working in some way and that part of the memory was being used for graphics, it would could be causing the graphics GPU to crash and reboot. During reboot or re-initialisation you see a black screen for a short time.

Regards

Phil

[idata]

UPDATE II

I replaced the defective RAM stick and ran memtest x86+ v5.0. No errors at all over several hours of testing. No more BSODs and I'm able to run prime95 completely without problems.

So what's the problem? The flicker returned as soon as I added that second stick of RAM (16GB total). No flickers or problems at all when I only use 1 stick (8GB).

[idata]

Hi Everyone,

I just wanted to post an update as to my experience with this issue. It sounds like others are still having this frustrating issue occur. Per my earlier frustrated post (targeted at Intel and its then-lack of interaction in this thread), I had been experiencing the screen black-out a few dozen times a day on my ThinkPad T430s laptop. Having this happen on a business system is unacceptable.

Robert_U at Intel reached out to me and took a very patient, concerted stance in helping me try to get at the core of what I was experiencing. In one of his emails he mentioned that it was difficult to troubleshoot because every case seemed to be different. In my case, I couldn't change my CPU voltage or tweak any of the settings that many desktop users were able to (which subsequently fixed the issue for some users).

I had been using the Lenovo System Update utility to ensure my drivers were up to date. It turns out, the Lenovo System Update utility didn't have the latest BIOS update listed. It wasn't until Robert_U at Intel pointed out that I didn't have the latest BIOS. Though it was a very minor version number change, after downloading and installing the latest BIOS the issue completely went away.

I've used the system in the same setting for the past week and haven't had a single occurrence! I am completely ecstatic about that, especially since the issue was so prevalent before. I may never know what was changed in the BIOS to address the issue. This is also a good lesson for me as I should have been more diligent in my own research and ensuring I was running the latest version of everything I could.

Robert_U at Intel really stepped up, and took what was one of the worst technology experiences I've had, and turned it into one of the best customer service wins I've experienced. Thanks, Robert!

For those still experiencing the issue, I'd encourage you to look at the motherboard/BIOS/settings as a key component in the potential cause of your issue. I was so convinced it was a Windows driver problem, and a simple BIOS update proved me wrong.