Intel Graphics Drivers after the version 31.0.101.3790 cause screen flickering and flashing

[yemret]

Hi everyone!

Edit: I don't know why this post is marked as spam. I am new here, so if I am breaking some rules, please let me know and change my post accordingly.

I have a laptop equipped with Intel Core i7 11800H with Intel UHD Graphics. When I try to download the official drivers from the following link (Intel® Arc™ & Iris® Xe Graphics - WHQL - Windows*), my screen starts flashing after some time. Also, the screen does not wake up from sleep unless I hit Ctrl+Shift+Win+B to reset the display driver. This page only shows the oldest driver as 31.0.101.3802, and all of the drivers here cause the same issue.  After some digging on the Reddit, I have found a link (Intel® Graphics – Windows* DCH Drivers) to some older drivers in which is not accessible by the drivers official drivers page. The latest driver seen here is 31.0.101.3790, and it works with no issues. The version provided by the OEM for this laptop is 27.20.100.9565, which has issues regarding the Adaptive-Sync behaviour and it is fixed when I install the version 31.0.101.3790. I must add that my screen supports HDR and the flickering/flashing behaviour is more frequent when I enable HDR (on the latest drivers at Intel® Arc™ & Iris® Xe Graphics - WHQL - Windows*). My questions are:

-Why is this page Intel® Graphics – Windows* DCH Drivers hidden and why I can't access the older drivers from Intel® Arc™ & Iris® Xe Graphics - WHQL - Windows*?

-What is the key difference between the drivers provided in those two pages?

-Do I have a chance of upgrading my drivers from 31.0.101.3790, without the said issue? (My OEM is not the most helpful kind, and they don't respond my questions about this, nor do they plan to release an update.)

[Alberto_R_Intel]

yemret, Thank you for posting in the Intel® Communities Support.

No problem at all, we will be more than glad to assist you with this matter. 

For this scenario, it is important to mention, that it is always recommended to install the graphics driver provided by the manufacturer of the computer, since that driver was customized by them to work with your specific platform. Additionally, keep in mind as well that the Intel® graphics drivers are generic, meaning they might or might not work as expected with some devices since they do not contain the customizations done by the OEM. 

In order to provide the most accurate response to your inquiries, I will do further research on this matter. As soon as I get any updates, I will post all the details on this thread.

Any questions, please let me know.

Regards,

Albert R.

Intel Customer Support Technician

[Alberto_R_Intel]

Hello yemret, I just received an update on this matter.

In reference to your inquiries, it is important to mention that the DCH webpage is not hidden, it is still public on our website however, for 11th-generation processors and above we recommend using Intel® Arc™ & Iris® Xe Graphics - WHQL - Windows* as they are the most updated driver version for 11th to 13th gen and ARC dedicated graphics: 

https://www.intel.com/content/www/us/en/download/726609/intel-arc-iris-xe-graphics-whql-windows.html?

Even though Intel® Graphics – Windows* DCH Drivers work for these generations the last drivers published for this were on 10/26/2022, so you can install either, the two different downloads published on the download center website contain newer gen 11th, 12th,13th, however, it is best to use the latest updated one. We still maintain the record for the other driver because it includes Gen12 and Gen11/Gen9 drivers as well:

https://www.intel.com/content/www/us/en/download/19344/intel-graphics-windows-dch-drivers.html

Regarding the issue:

-Did you try a clean installation of the latest driver version 31.0.101.4575 using the DDU method?

https://www.intel.com/content/www/us/en/download/726609/intel-arc-iris-xe-graphics-whql-windows.html?

https://www.intel.com/content/www/us/en/support/articles/000091878/graphics.html#:~:text=Go%20to%20the%20DDU%20extract,Windows%20to%20the%20normal%20mode.

-Is the flickering issue present on an external display?

-Are you running the latest BIOS, Operating System build?

-Is the flickering happening on specific applications or on the Operating System level?

Please attach the SSU report so we can verify further details about the components in your platform, check all the options in the report including the one that says "3rd party software logs":

https://www.intel.com/content/www/us/en/support/articles/000057926/memory-and-storage.html

Regards,

Albert R.

Intel Customer Support Technician

[yemret]

Thanks for the reply,

-Unfortunately, the problem reappeared even when I stick to the older DCH driver.

-The issue is only gone when I install the OEM provided drivers. With the OEM driver, I get micro stuttering while Adaptive Sync enabled, and these stutters are gone with the updated drivers.

-I couldn't test an external display, because I don't have one.

-The issue is on the OS level. The blinking issue happens when I try to wake from either hibernation or sleep. The flickering starts to occur when I am playing a game (not a specific game) or sharing my screen via Teams. The flickering does not start immediately, rather it happens randomly during use, and does not go away until I restart.

-I have attached my SSU report to this reply.

Thanks a lot in advance.

[yemret]

I am also uploading a video showing the issue happening.

[Alberto_R_Intel]

yemret, You are very welcome, thank you very much for providing that information, the SSU report, and the video.

We will now continue with our research on this matter and provide a response as soon as possible.

Regards,

Albert R.

Intel Customer Support Technician

[Alberto_R_Intel]

Hello yemret, I just received an update on this matter.

In regards to this case, in the following link, you will be able to verify additional troubleshooting steps to try in order to attempt to fix the flickering issue:

https://www.intel.com/content/www/us/en/support/articles/000026580/graphics.html

After checking the video and the SSU report, it is important to mention that actually, your computer is working with Hybrid graphics, Intel® UHD Graphics, and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3080 Laptop GPU. Still, you mentioned that the issue seems to get fixed but it still appears with OEM drivers, which leads us to believe this is not an issue with drivers instead could be hardware related problem with the computer itself. 

Please check the link below where you will be able to find useful and helpful information on "Frequently Asked Questions for Switchable Graphics Feature", especially the part related to "My computer supports Switchable Graphics. Can I use Intel's generic graphics drivers from the Intel website?":

https://www.intel.com/content/www/us/en/support/articles/000005669/graphics.html

Additionally, we also wanted to let you know that Intel's generic graphics drivers from the Intel® website do not work on some computers that support Switchable Graphics. It depends on your computer's hardware configuration. If you encounter problems using the generic driver, Intel recommends reinstalling the latest validated driver from your computer manufacturer for your system. So if this was the case and there are no issues with the OEM driver, then we would suggest sticking with the OEM driver version.

https://www.intel.com/content/www/us/en/support/detect.html

Another test that can be performed will be to try to disable one GFX card and test with just one at a time to see if the issue persists plus the article steps provided above and if anything seems to work, then the next thing to do will be to get in contact directly with CASPER BILGISAYAR/OEM support for further assistance on this subject.

https://www.casper.com.tr/destek

Regards,

Albert R.

Intel Customer Support Technician