Blinking display on HP Spectre with Intel 530 display adapter

[SAche]

Category

Questions

Answers (N/A if not applicable)

Description

Provide a detailed description of the issue

The display on my HP Spectre x360 laptop blinks on and off (i.e., it alternates between the normal Windows screen and a black screen without any display or mouse). The blinking occurs about every one second.

The computer is unusable when the display is blinking. The mouse returns to the center of the screen after every blink, so I can't use the mouse to do anything (e.g., disable the display).

Please place an X to the right of the option showing how often you see this issue using specific steps. (Ex: 'Every few times a game is started it flickers.' <- This would be "Often")<p> 

Always (100%):

Often (51-99%):

Sporadic (20-50%):

Very Sporadic (<20%): X

Hardware (HW)

Brand and Model of the system.

HP Spectre x360

Intel HD Graphics 530 display adapter.

Hybrid or switchable graphics system?

ie Does it have AMD or NV graphics too?

I don't know.

<td style="border-right-color: windowtext; border-bottom-color: windowtext; padding: 0 5.4pt; border-style: none solid solid none...

[idata]

Thank you for the information.

I will try to replicate this issue and will update this thread as soon as possible.Allan.

[idata]

I have been testing new driver version 4444 trying to see if I get same blinking issue, but I was unable to replicate this problem, maybe because as you mentioned, this is random.

Please try driver version 4444: https://downloadcenter.intel.com/download/25957/Intel-Beta-Graphics-Driver-for-Windows-10-and-Windows-7-8-1-15-40-?product=88345 https://downloadcenter.intel.com/download/25957/Intel-Beta-Graphics-Driver-for-Windows-10-and-Windows-7-8-1-15-40-?product=88345I hope that helps.Allan.

[SAche]

I receive the message, "The driver being installed is not validated for this computer. Please obtain the appropriate driver from the computer manufacture. Setup will exit." When I try to install the 15.40.23.4444 beta.

Note that I have version 20.19.15.4360, so I'm a little confused by the first two digits of these version numbers (I.e., the "15" vs the "20").

In addition to running the setup.exe in the beta zip, I also tried the "Browse my computer" option of installing the driver and directed it to the folder with the beta 4444 files. The message, "The best driver software for you device is already installed (and it shows my device as "Intel(R) HD Graphics 520").

[SAche]

I was able to install the 4444 beta driver using the Have a Disk option and directing Windows to the igdlh64.inf file. Although the software was called version 15.40.23.4444 somewhere along the way, when installed it displays as 20.19.15.4444.

Another important detail: The flashing almost always starts after waking up my computer. I set the battery option to never turn off the display and it hasn't gone into blinking mode all day (using the old driver). Let's hope 4444 allows the computer to awake without flashing.

[SAche]

Unfortunately, beta 4444 did not fix the problem.

Any other suggestions?

[idata]

That's unfortunate.

I see your computer manufacturer has posted different driver version, you could test customized versions: http://ftp.hp.com/pub/softpaq/sp72001-72500/sp72019.exe http://ftp.hp.com/pub/softpaq/sp72001-72500/sp72019.exe or keep on checking https://downloadcenter.intel.com/ https://downloadcenter.intel.com/ for newer driver versions. Allan.

[SAche]

When I try to install the sp72019 driver (using the Have Disk, and selecting the inf file, and saying to install the driver even if it can't be verified), I get the message, "The driver selected for this device does not support this version of Windows."

FWIW, I reset my computer and returned it to the factory new state, and the blinking continued (without any other programs installed).

[idata]

That does not sound good at all. What if you connect an external monitor? does it still blink?

If the screen still blinks, this is an issue with the graphics adapter and you will need to check warranty options with your computer manufacturer: http://store.hp.com/us/en/ContentView?eSpotName=CustomerService&catalogId=10051&langId=-1&storeId=10151 http://store.hp.com/us/en/ContentView?eSpotName=CustomerService&catalogId=10051&langId=-1&storeId=10151Allan.

[SAche]

Hi Allan.

I could not get it to blink with an external monitor (a 55" 4k TV... the only HDMI monitor I have). That doesn't mean it wouldn't blink because the problem isn't always consistent, but it almost always happens after the power saver turns off the display (and I wake it up). FWIW, when I unplugged the HDMI cable, the laptop's display started blinking. HP is sending me a new computer. We'll see...

For others who experience the flashing problem, I put the details and various solutions I tried, below. Although these didn't solve it for me, they're worth trying.

Steve

Problem Summary

• The display on my brand new HP Spectre x360 flashes on and off (i.e., it alternates between the normal Windows screen and a black screen). The computer is unusable.

Configuration

• This is a new HP Spectre x360 13t Touch Laptop (model M6W88AV). It has a 1TB SSD drive, 16GB memory, i7-6500U processor, with an Intel HD Graphics 520 display adapter. I am running Windows 10, version 10.0.10586. It has AMI Bios F.33 dated 3/24/2016. This computer cost $2,029 (before taxes and without any additional software).
• I am using the laptop's display at the default 2560x1440 screen resolution (at 60 Hz).
• I often have a Logitech wireless mouse connected to this computer, but the flashing occurs even if the mouse dongle isn't attached.
• This computer doesn't have any additional hardware attached.

Problem Details

• The blinking/flashing occurs slightly slower than every one second.
• The mouse returns to the center of the screen after every blink which makes it almost impossible to do anything (even shut the computer down).
• Sometimes the flashing will stop after about 10 minutes. Occasionally, it will stop blinking the moment I press the Windows key.
• The blinking can start randomly, but it usually starts after the screen was turned off by the power manager and then woken up. It often happens after restarting the computer.
• If I look very closely at the display when it is flashing, I can see a few flashing white pixels that shouldn't be there (i.e., graphic snow).
• The problem happens on both AC and DC power.
• The problem always goes away if I disable the display adapter from the Device Manager, but then I lose functionality (e.g., no WebGL, no option to change the screen resolution, terrible performance in Photoshop, etc).
• I'm unsure if the problem will occur if I set the power manager to never turn off the screen (because the primary trigger is the display turning back on), but I suspect it will because I've had it start randomly when launching Excel and Photoshop. And I can't keep the screen turned on forever…

Possible Causes

• I have seen many posts about the screen flashing in Windows 10. A Microsoft kb article says this can be caused by iCloud, Norton Antivirus, and IDT Audio drivers. I don't have these installed (and never have).
• I have seen posts saying that the Windows 10 display flashing can be related to a fingerprint reader. This computer doesn't have one.

What I Have Tried

• I ran Windows Update (multiple times) to make sure I have the latest driver. In my case, it is version 20.19.15.4360 (dated 12/21/15).
• I ran HP Support Assistant (multiple times) to check for updates.
• I tried installing Intel's beta graphics adapter driver version 20.19.15.4444.
• I manually installed the most recent driver listed on HP's site (it was version 20.19.15.4360, but it listed a newer build date on HP's website).
• I uninstalled, deleted, and reinstalled the driver as recommended by Intel.
• I selected Update Driver from the Intel HD Display Adapter Properties dialog which downloaded version 20.19.15.4377 dated 1/25/2016.
• I manually downloaded and installed a BIOS update (F.35 rev A, dated 4/26/2016) from HP's site.
• I disabled Hyper-V (a known cause of flashing on many computers) by typing "dism.exe /Online /Disable-Feature:Microsoft-Hyper-V" from an elevated cmd prompt. I confirmed that hyper-v was turned off in "Windows Features."
• I contacted HP about this problem and had it escalated. They suggested updating the display adapter drivers (done) and the BIOS (done).
• The Windows event viewer doesn't show any errors for the display adapter.
• The System Information doesn't show any sharing conflicts.
• I used the Windows 10 "reset" command (twice) to completely remove everything from the computer (after spending a week installing software) and reinstall Windows. The problem existed after restarting the computer.

[idata]

Thank you for sharing this information. I hope you get this fixed with the new computer.

Allan.