topic Re: Workaround for black screen problem in Graphics

Workaround for black screen problem

idata — Sat, 28 Jan 2012 16:56:44 GMT

Hi everybody,

as many others here, I am affected by the problem that the Intel driver for the integrated graphics doesn't work when a display is connected via DVI or HDMI (VGA works fine). When this happened to me, I was quite disappointed first, but then I started to thinks of ways to solve the problem.

While thinking about it, I remembered that when I first installed the driver, it was working with the Intel driver active until the next reboot. So, as my display has both DVI and VGA inputs, I decided to connect it via both (my PC has both outputs) and see if I could get it to work. After some trial and error, I found out, that when I deactivated and then reactivated the device in the device manager, it would work perfectly normal over DVI. So I concluded, that there must be some problem with the driver initialization when Windows starts. That problem doesn't appear when the driver is initialized later.

(Intel support: maybe this could be a starting point for your engineers to sort this problem out? It definitely works with these displays, the only problem is, that the driver fails to work when it is started with Windows.)

So, I concluded that if I could get the device to automatically be deactivated and the reactivated when Windows starts I could circumvent the problem. Some googling later, I found out there was a command line program named devcon, which could exactly do that. So, here is how to do it (I will only cover Windows 7 here, as that is the only system I can test this on):

Get devcon (On Windows XP you could easily download the program separately from Microsoft (http://support.microsoft.com/kb/311272 http://support.microsoft.com/kb/311272). That version *may* even work on 32bit Windows 7 (I'm not sure, can't try it out), but if you've got 64bit it is a little bit more complicated):
- Download the Windows Driver Kit (WDK): http://www.microsoft.com/download/en/details.aspx?displaylang=en&id=11800 http://www.microsoft.com/download/en/details.aspx?displaylang=en&id=11800
- Open the ISO file. (I'd recommend 7-Zip for that - http://www.7-zip.org/ http://www.7-zip.org, I'll only be convering how to do it with 7-Zip here.) Just right-click on the file an choose 7-Zip > Open or drag it into 7-Zip file manager
- Once opened, enter the WDK subfolder (I hope all of this is correct, as I don't have the ISO anymore and am writing this according to tutorials on the net)
- There you should have three files with the prefix "setuptools_". If you are on 32bit choose setuptools_x86fre_cab001.cab, if you are on 64bit usesetuptools_x64fre_cab001.cab.
- Double-click on that file and you should see a file named _devcon.exe_00000_
- Extract that file to wherever you want (I choose C:\devcon) and rename it to devcon.exe
- That's that, now we have our devcon.exe

If you haven't yet, install the Intel driver, but don't reboot (the display should still work until you reboot)

Find out the device id:
- Open a command line window (type cmd in the start menu) and navigate to where you copied your devcon.exe (If it is under C:\devcon type cd c:\devcon)
- run devcon.exe find *
- That will give you a list of the IDs of all the devices in your computer. Now you have to look through that and find your graphics adapter. For example, mine is listed as "Intel(R) HD Graphics Family".
- Note the device ID before that name. For me it's PCI\VEN_8086&DEV_0112&SUBSYS_D0001458&REV_09\3&13C0B0C5&0&10

Create the script to disable and reenable the device:
- Create a new file with the following contents:

c:\devcon\devcon.exe disable ID_OF_YOUR_DEVICE

c:\devcon\devcon.exe enable ID_OF_YOUR_DEVICE

Replace C:\devcon\ with wherever you placed your devcon.exe
Name the file however you like, but give it a .cmd extension (be sure to have "hide extensions for known file types" turned off in Windows)

Create a task to run the script when windows starts:
- Start the task scheduler: Go to the Control Panel, System and Security, Administrative Tools or type task in the start menu and select the task scheduler (right click and select Run as Administrator if you aren't an Administrator on your computer)
- Create a new task (don't use basic task)
- Name it whatever you like, then change the user the task is run as to "SYSTEM" (otherwise it won't run)
- Select "Run with highest privileges"</...

Re: Workaround for black screen problem

idata — Sun, 14 Oct 2012 22:37:27 GMT

I have had the exact same problem with my Intel HD 2000 adapter on my Core i3 Processor, so thanks for the above script.

For the wake from sleep, if you add a trigger for Custom Event, for the Power-Troubleshooter, Information Category and Event ID of 1 in the System Log, and set it to delay execution by 30 seconds, the script will launch after coming out of Sleep.

If you don't put the 30 second delay, I found that it reboots the PC. You might be able to trim it to 15 seconds or so... but for my Media Center PC 30 seconds is ok.

Re: Workaround for black screen problem

idata — Mon, 15 Apr 2013 19:57:39 GMT

Dear Kh5,

I've experienced the same problems like you with my intel graphics 4000 (posted my information ot the "problem with HDMI and intel HD Graphics 4000" page already. Unfortunatly when i reinstall the driver and don't restart the computer my HDMI still doesn't work. I tried your solution from above, still no suc6. Any idea what to do? Maybe us al (older) driver version?

Re: Workaround for black screen problem

idata — Thu, 18 Apr 2013 06:51:29 GMT

Thank you, this worked for me.

I can't do it on boot because the main display goes black, but I have made a shortcut that runs as admin that I can use.

Hope they fix this soon.

Re: Workaround for black screen problem

AA43 — Sat, 28 Dec 2013 03:35:42 GMT

Interestingly enough I came up with the exact same solution of using devcon and the task scheduler prior to reading your post. I was looking for a more elegant solution but there does not seem to be one. The fact that your post is from January of 2012 and I am having this issue with my new PC in December of 2013 is extremely discouraging. I'm guessing there will never be a real fix. I can confirm this solution also works when connecting via HDMI.

Re: Workaround for black screen problem

Kevin_M_Intel — Mon, 30 Dec 2013 14:48:40 GMT

Hi all,

Thank you very much for this information. I will pass this to the corresponding department. In the meantime, any other report about this issue can be posted at the following link:

/thread/39881?start=0&tstart=0 https://communities.intel.com/thread/39881?start=0&tstart=0

Re: Workaround for black screen problem

IMilo — Wed, 22 Jan 2014 10:37:08 GMT

Hi all,

First off all I want to thanks for this workaround kh5!

Still, my screen come alive again after 20sec. Using HDD WD 500GB AAKX series. Asus z87 PRO and Intel 4570 with HD 4600.

But is better then manually disable and re-enable graphics adapter.

And the second,

Kevin, I do not understand, how it is possible that developers (engineers) do not have test system with where thay can verify, test and retest bugfix?

What is official INTEL answer for not correcting initialing of DVI port? Why it has to be dis/enb?

Using 3345 driver. and Windows 7 Entr. 64 bit.

And please, do not tell us, that it is mainboard, BIOS, monitor or something else, since We confirm that after proper reinitializing of graphics adapter, it's all working correctly.

Re: Workaround for black screen problem

Kevin_M_Intel — Thu, 23 Jan 2014 16:55:03 GMT

All information about this issue is being handled at the following link:

/thread/39881?start=0&tstart=0 https://communities.intel.com/thread/39881?start=0&tstart=0

Re: Workaround for black screen problem

DThom17 — Wed, 19 Mar 2014 15:53:48 GMT

Kevin,

that thread is labeled as "Answered" even though the answer Nic posted was that you only have a system with the black-screen behavior and are testing it.

FWIW, Netflix says that it can be an issue with Ad blockers in Firefox, but since Windows reports that the display driver failed once it recovers so I don't think this is the source. Netflix streaming is one of the sources of black screen for me - right in the middle of the show - with the other being on resume from sleep, which also reports display driver failure recovery after I enter my Win password and hit enter (blindly as the screen is off).

Re: Workaround for black screen problem

xto — Sun, 08 Mar 2015 09:05:21 GMT

Thanks kh5,

Intel's Official Black-screen thread is waste of time.

This workaround works, but after tried this, it caused my TV tuner card to malfunction.

Anyway, I solved the problem.

My HD 4000 device id is:

PCI\VEN_8086&DEV_0162&SUBSYS_0D8A105B&REV_09\3&11583659&0&10

.cmd file content is:

c:\devcon\devcon.exe restart "@PCI\VEN_8086&DEV_0162&SUBSYS_0D8A105B&REV_09\3&11583659&0&10"

The ampersand sign has special meaning, so I had to use quates and @ sign.

Instead of "disable and enable", "restart" works too.

Re: Workaround for black screen problem

SLi50 — Thu, 04 Jun 2015 02:38:21 GMT

This works for several weeks, then suddenly stop working.

Re: Workaround for black screen problem

HAber1 — Fri, 10 Jul 2015 20:45:12 GMT

@ kh5

Amazing! It works!

I've been ALL OVER Intel's forums (and everywhere else Google found this problem posted, really.)

In one of the forums or the other an Intel representative had dedicated himself to a particular thread concerning this BLACK SCREEN problem. I say dedicated because he popped

up about every third post and said something. Most of what he was saying for months was that Intel couldn't replicate the problem, thus couldn't offer a solution.

Due to the large number of users trying a huge multitude of fixes and workarounds, everyone was in complete agreement that it was a DRIVER problem.

People were trying new drivers, fairly old drivers, really old drivers (from 2011) all still had the same problem, i.e. the screen will display fine at POST and the 'Starting Windows' screen

then go black at that point.

The discussion on this particular thread went on for TWO YEARS!. Still no fix!

Thank The Gods I finally came across your workaround here. I followed your instructions exactly (except for a couple of things I'll mention here). It works like a charm.

First, being a computer technician and thinking I could do it an easier way, instead of using devcon find *, I opened the Device Manager and found the Device ID for the Intel HD Graphics.

That won't work. The Device ID found with devcon find * is much longer than the one in Device Manager. Like yours, mine was also named 'Intel HD Graphics'.

One thing that I did do differently, though, was that instead of scheduling a task to run the .cmd script (Task Manager won't run in Safe Mode and I had to boot in Safe Mode to see the

screen) I simply dropped a shortcut to the .cmd script which I had placed in C:\devcon (and named it Disable_and_Enable_Intel_HD_Graphics.cmd) into the Startup folder.

(Click on the Start Orb, scroll down to 'Startup', right-click it and choose 'Open' and the actual Startup folder itself will open.)

Anyway, I dropped a shortcut to the .cmd file into the folder and rebooted.

Voila!

Thank you so much for the info!

As a side note I'll tell you why this problem was so aggravating and making me pull my hair out. I don't even intend to use the Intel HD Graphics for my main display. I was just trying to get it to work because someone asked me if I knew the performance differences between a mid-range discrete video card compared to the Intel HD Graphics in the G3258 Pentium.

(Sometimes called the Anniversary Pentium)

As soon as I run 3 or 4 benchmarks on it, I probably won't ever use it again. lol

However, if my discrete card goes bad on me I guess I'll have to use the Intel HD Graphics until a new card arrives.

Thank you again!

Re: Workaround for black screen problem

MBaci — Fri, 07 Aug 2015 08:08:46 GMT

This isn't working for Windows 10. Couldn't find a workaround for windows 10 yet...

Re: Workaround for black screen problem

Anonymous — Thu, 13 Aug 2015 23:32:38 GMT

All:

This information is intended to all Windows 10 users that are experiencing issues with a supported Intel® Graphics Controller (supported graphics)

Re: -NEW- Intel® Iris™, Iris™ Pro, and HD Graphics Production Driver for Windows* 10 64-bit 15.40.4.64.4256

See post # 93

Mike C

Re: Workaround for black screen problem

KPoro — Sun, 27 Sep 2015 15:35:30 GMT

I found a similar workaround that works for Windows 10.

Instead of using "devcon.exe" from WDK, I took "devmanview.exe" freely available from http://www.nirsoft.net/ NirSoft - freeware utilities: password recovery, system utilities, desktop utilities

The reason is simple - finding "devcon.exe" in WDK 10 without installing the entire package is a big pain.

I used the information from the following thread - http://superuser.com/questions/849398/is-there-a-windows-script-to-disable-enable-the-intel-gpu http://superuser.com/questions/849398/is-there-a-windows-script-to-disable-enable-the-intel-gpu

So, in my case the batch file contains the following text:

============

@echo off

echo *** Restarting GPU ***

C:\Utilities\devmanview-x64\devmanview.exe /disable_enable "Intel(R) HD Graphics"

echo *** Done ***

===========

My platform has 3 possibilities for monitor connection - DVI and VGA on the same DVI connector and HDMI.

Before the fix, the monitor on DVI line was not detected, but both VGA and HDMI connection worked.

In order to debug the issue I have simultaneously connected two "Generic Non-PnP monitors" to DVI and HDMI lines.

I have created task as described in the first message of this thread, but added 2 triggers for running the disable/enable script.

First trigger is "At system startup", just like in the first message in this thread.

Second trigger is "On event" With following parameters - Log: "System", Source: "Power-Troubleshooter", Event ID: "1"

The second trigger ensures proper monitors detection on wake from sleep event.`

Everything works after system reboot.

Hope this method will help to solve similar issue on other machines.

Re: Workaround for black screen problem

KPoro — Sun, 27 Sep 2015 15:44:23 GMT

Matei, please try my method from message # 14

Re: Workaround for black screen problem

TRich6 — Wed, 16 Mar 2016 19:47:01 GMT

I had luck taping off pin 19 AND installing the intel HDMI test driver. Just taping prevented any output

https://downloadcenter.intel.com/download/24955 Download Test Driver - HDMI Display Detection

Re: Workaround for black screen problem

Anonymous — Thu, 17 Mar 2016 19:17:48 GMT

Hi ViperBoy,

Thank you for your feedback. I am pretty sure our community will find your results helpful.

Regards,

Mike C

Re: Workaround for black screen problem

RonaldM_Intel — Thu, 17 Mar 2016 20:31:29 GMT

Hello All,

I am locking this thread since it is very old by now.

If you experience any instance of this issue, and the information posted here did not help, then feel free to start a new thread.

When reporting a graphics issue on the community please use the format as detailed here:

Thank you for all your input!