Failed to init HECI driver

[DeNiX]

Since the windows driver updates from date: 
1/29/2025 with id 785597 my media transcodes suffer from this error: 

IGSC: (D:\qb\workspace\31779\source\igsc-master\lib\igsc_lib.c:gsc_driver_init():218) Error in HECI init (3)

followed by this error:

IGSC: (D:\qb\workspace\31779\source\igsc-master\lib\igsc_lib.c:igsc_device_subsystem_ids():1597) Failed to init HECI driver

this will cycle continuously for about 120 ~ 150 seconds. 

It wont error out the operation, it will hang until it resolves.

Then like nothing happened all works again. 

This affects remote desktop as well, can't login remotely to the machine. 

If i physically go to the desktop and try to login i get send back to login screen. 
I have to go in to safe mode to login and out to reboot normally, to be able to login.
This only affects the user that was doing media transcodes. And if i am lucky to be logged in when it happens i get this from the arc control center: 

intel arc waiting for windows to complete device reconfiguration
 
When i uninstall the latest drivers and i install back the drivers from date: 

1/16/2025 with ID 785597

all works as before no rdp issues, no heci driver failed issues nothing, just works normally

How to solve this ? 

[Earl_Intel]

Hi DeNiX,

Thank you for posting in the communities!

For us to further assist you on your concern, kindly provide us with the needed information below:

• May I know the model of the Intel Graphics card that you're using with the media transcodes? I need to know the particular graphics card that you're using to get an idea on the technologies involved with the error.
• When did this issue start? I need to know if the system with the graphics card that you're using worked before if there were any changes that happened that caused this issue?
• What is the current graphics driver version you're using? I need to isolate if this issue is only present on a particular driver or set of drivers?
• What troubleshooting steps have you done so far? This is to avoid duplicating your efforts.

Best regards,

Earl E.

Intel Customer Support Technician

[DeNiX]

Hi Earl, 

Thnx for the reply, 

I am using currently a couple of arc a380 and a310 gpu's in a couple of systems. 
(Dual and triple setups)

All are ryzen 7 3700x / intel i5 12500k systems, they all behave the same way.

All running the latest version of windows 11 pro, with the latest updates installed. 

The issues started with the latest drivers: from date 1/29/2025 (32.0.101.6557_101.6262) 

I have uninstalled the newest drivers from the control panel,
and installed the older version from date: 1/16/2025 (32.0.101.6458_101.6257_WHQL_Certified)

after installing the older version everything went normal. 
no more remote desktop issues, no more media encoder issues. 
after verifying that the older one works, i tried installing the latest drivers again, 
and instantly my issues came back like described in the first post: 

HECI drivers stuff .
ARC Control Center complaining about device reconfiguration .
remote desktop not working anymore, black screen and logs out.
physical login from the device doesnt login, user gets redirected to login screen. 

need to get in to safe mode to login and logout the user to be able to use normal login with normal boot. 

Thnx for investigating. 

[Earl_Intel]

Hello DeNiX,

Thank you for sharing this useful information with us.

I've taken note of this, will investigate more, and will get back to you as soon as I can.

To further help on our investigation, kindly run this on your system so that I can also gauge the following peripherals and the driver versions that you have:

Intel® System Support Utility for Windows*

Once finished downloading, open the tool, click on scan (leave the default items checked), click next, then save the system information to a .txt file. Please provide us the .txt file.

Best regards,

Earl E.

Intel Customer Support Technician

[DeNiX]

Hi Earl, 

I run that tool on one of my systems, i dont think its necessary to pull it from multiple systems, as more and more people are coming in to this thread with same issue. 

Here is the txt file u asked for. 
i have attached it as a attachment. 

Kind regards 

Denix

[Stwrt]

I have also noticed this issue in a different way. 

I have an Arc A750. Whenever I try and play a video in something like MPV, MPC-HC, there's now a 4-5 second delay before the app opens and starts playing the video before it was nearly instant. 

I tried playing a video using MPV in the command line and the error I get is:

mpv.com D:\video.mkv

Wed Feb 5 02:33:51 2025: IGSC: (D:\qb\workspace\31779\source\igsc-master\lib\igsc_lib.c:gsc_driver_init():218) Error in HECI init (3)

Wed Feb 5 02:33:51 2025: IGSC: (D:\qb\workspace\31779\source\igsc-master\lib\igsc_lib.c:igsc_device_subsystem_ids():1597) Failed to init HECI driver

Only been getting this error since the latest driver update. 

Seems like something has been broken in the latest driver and will probably roll back. 

[TH_Tech1]

Hi All,

I too am receiving the same error message.

Intel Arc A770 Graphics card

Driver Version: 32.0.101.6557 (1/28/25)

Cpu: Intel Core i7-14700KF

My error is coming when I try to compile + run a JavaFX application on Azul Zulu 21 (OpenJDK 21.0.5.11).

It throws the below error messages; however the JavaFX application seems to work fine.

Tue Feb 4 19:27:30 2025: IGSC: (D:\qb\workspace\31779\source\igsc-master\lib\igsc_lib.c:gsc_driver_init():218) Error in HECI init (3)

Tue Feb 4 19:27:30 2025: IGSC: (D:\qb\workspace\31779\source\igsc-master\lib\igsc_lib.c:igsc_device_subsystem_ids():1597) Failed to init HECI driver

[Earl_Intel]

Hello DeNiX,

Thank you for providing the SSU logs.

I will further investigate on the logs that you provided and will provide you guys an insight on this thread as soon as I can.

Best regards,

Earl E.

Intel Customer Support Technician

[Earl_Intel]

Hello DeNiX, Stwrt and TH_Tech1,

Thank you for patiently waiting on us.

Upon checking, this is a known issue but rest assured that a fix is on the way.

I'll provide you guys an update once the fix has been publicly released as soon as possible.

Best regards,

Earl E.

Intel Customer Support Technician

[DeNiX]

Hi there Earl, 

Is there any update on this issue so far? 
i saw intel pushed another WHQL certified driver.. 
this means the problem is solved ?
I don't want to update to something that will break my remote login stuff as it's a big hassle to connect keyboard mouse monitor to these machines. 

Best regards,

DeNiX

[DeNiX]

Thnx Earl for the effort you put in there already 🙂 
We are waiting patiently for the update 🙂 

[angus-dev]

I also encountered the same issue with the same error message: "Failed to init HECI driver."

This problem has caused a lot of inconvenience, including noticeable delays when taking screenshots or playing any kind of video.

It’s clear that the issue is caused by the new driver because everything was working fine before updating.

After forcibly installing the legacy version of the Intel Arc driver, the problem disappeared, which confirms that the new driver has a bug under certain conditions.

If anyone else is experiencing the same issue, I recommend installing the old driver to restore normal functionality.

[DeNiX]

They are not legacy actually, like stated in the posts above, the latest WHQL drivers work as expected, the newer drivers are not WHQL signed and the drivers normally don't upgrade to latest intermediate non-WHQL versions, unless the toggle is set to off in the ARC control center. 

[DeNiX]

the newest WHQL drivers still have the same issues in further silence from Intel i tested it out, and they dont work, 
still the same errors: 

IGSC: (D:\qb\workspace\31779\source\igsc-master\lib\igsc_lib.c:gsc_driver_init():218) Error in HECI init (3)

IGSC: (D:\qb\workspace\31779\source\igsc-master\lib\igsc_lib.c:igsc_device_subsystem_ids():1597) Failed to init HECI driver

Still remote desktop breaks.  When remote desktop breaks, need to forced log in to safe mode and log out, to have normal desktop login with keyboard and mouse. 

Drivers 01/16/2025 are the ones that are known to work good and should be kept till Intel provides an solution. 


** 
Discovered, remote desktop doesnt break on windows 10, but the errors are still there: 

IGSC: (D:\qb\workspace\31779\source\igsc-master\lib\igsc_lib.c:gsc_driver_init():218) Error in HECI init (3)

IGSC: (D:\qb\workspace\31779\source\igsc-master\lib\igsc_lib.c:igsc_device_subsystem_ids():1597) Failed to init HECI driver

This time on windows the media application error out, but with a few retries they start and function properly. 
Noticed, this behaviour also on the iGPU of that particular machine. (UHD 770) CPU 12500

Also in this case: 

Drivers 01/16/2025 are the ones that are known to work good and should be kept till Intel provides an solution. 

[amkza]

I have the same issue running HandbrakeCLI

I have found running the cmd.exe as Administrator fixes the problem.

I have also found that the Intel AI Playground only works if run as Administrator - so probably something in the driver is not yet 100% on permissions and rights.

So anyone running into this issue try running the application as Administrator and see if that can be used as a temp fix until they get the drivers sorted out.

[amkza]

Ah I should probably just mention that I do not use GPU hardware encoding.

I'm using Handbrake purely with CPU encoding but the Intel driver was preventing Handbrake from even starting.

Running as Administrator fixed that - not sure if it will fix issues with hardware accelerated encoding if that is what you are after.

[Esteban_Intel]

Hi @amkza ,

We have been able to replicate this issue internally and we are working on a fix for it. I'll let you know as soon as the fix is available.

[oyange]

I encountered the same problem.

When I used the CoppeliaSim simulation software, it prompted that the HECI driver could not be initialized.

I hope you can notify me at the same time after solving this problem.

[saluf]

I encountered the same problem and had to roll back to the driver that was released on 1/16/2025. A new version was released yesterday, 2/27/2025. Has this issue been fixed in the new release?

[amkza]

I installed 32.0.101.6632 yesterday and the problem I had is fixed.

Software that previously failed to even startup is now starting without an issue.

I have not tried to do any GPU hardware encoding yet, but the software starts without the previously mentioned failures.