Intel HD 530 - Graphics Corruption in Mozilla Firefox

[idata]

Hi,

I am experiencing random graphics corruption in Mozilla Firefox.

The issue:

Whenever I minimize Firefox and restore it, the Firefox window appears garbled and text appears to be illegible. Moving the mouse cursor over the affected areas, seems to bring the missing parts of the window into view.

Minimizing, maximizing, or resizing Firefox appears to correct the issue (until I minimize Firefox again and the issue reappears).

While this is annoying and impedes productivity, the graphics corruption is limited only to Firefox. However, since that is my main web browser, I would like to get the issue fixed asap.

Points to observe:

• My laptop has an Intel HD 530 graphics subsystem (running on an Intel Core i7-6700HQ processor)
• The laptop also has a dedicated nVidia GeForce GTX 950M graphics card
• I am running Windows 10 Home (64-bit)
• The issue occurs only in Mozilla Firefox
• Mozilla does not list this as a known bug in their repository (as far as I can tell, I am the only one experiencing this issue)
• The corruption persists even after restarting the laptop or starting the machine from cold boot
• The issue occurs at random
• I have the latest version of Firefox (with all plugins updated)
• Creating a new Firefox profile (even with no add-ons installed) will not solve the corruption issue
• I have 2 versions of Microsoft Direct X installed (Direct X 12 and 9.0c for playing older games) but the issue persisted even before I installed version 9.0c
• I am running version 20.19.15.4360 of the Intel HD Graphics Driver (I have not updated the drivers nor have I tried any other version yet)
• I experienced a graphics corruption while typing this post and have attached a screenshot below to demonstrate my issue

Any help will be greatly appreciated...

(in the above screenshot, the complete top part is missing. If I were to move the mouse cursor over the affected areas, then some missing parts will reappear. Minimizing, maximizing, and resizing Firefox will also correct the issue temporarily)

[idata]

Allan,

I was able to get the driver installed after following your suggestions. However, the problem still persists. In fact, it seems to have gotten worse with the newer drivers. I think I know why HP had installed customized drivers on my laptop (to minimize the effects of this problem).

I believe Intel should continue to try and resolve this problem. The newer drivers don't seem to be helping at all.

[JStee9]

I have exactly the same issue and glitches when using HD530 graphics in Firefox.

If I switch off hardware acceleration or switch to the NVidia GPU the problem goes away - Dell XPS 15 9550

Same glitches also on my Surface Pro 4 with integrated Intel graphics.

[Allan_J_Intel1]

I will continue working on my Surface Pro 4 and see if I experience same problem. I'll update this thread if I get more news about it.

Allan.

[idata]

Hi JSteel,

You're right. If I switch off the Use hardware acceleration when available feature in Firefox the issue goes away. But browsing performance and video-quality playback speeds are affected (I noticed a 20% ~ 30% drop in performance with the setting turned off).

Switching to the nVidia GPU, the problem goes away completely (and I can use the hardware acceleration option).

[JStee9]

Absolutely. i didn't intend switching off the "Use hardware acceleration when available" option as a solution, but it was more to show that there is an issue with the Intel driver that switching to different hardware solves.

Switching to NVidia GPU is also not a solution but a workaround while we wait for Intel to (hopefully) fix the issue.

@ Intel Admin, have you tried 'forcing' glitches? Some things that seem to trigger glitches are going to/from fullscreen, working in a different software for a while and then AltTabbing back to Firefox, watching a video (e.g. Youtube) in fullscreen, then returning to Firefox and so on. But there are also general glitches which come up and these seem completely random.

[idata]

I have not tried forcing glitches, this seems to be total random situation.

At this stage, let's wait for new drivers to be available at: https://downloadcenter.intel.com/product/88345/Intel-HD-Graphics-530-for-6th-Generation-Intel-Core-Processors https://downloadcenter.intel.com/product/88345/Intel-HD-Graphics-530-for-6th-Generation-Intel-Core-ProcessorsAllan.

[PSchl1]

I'm experiencing the same problems. Driver updates didn't help, unfortunately. Is there any news here or an ETA for new drivers?

This is really annoying...

[idata]

I still do not have an estimate for new drivers. You would need to keep on checking the link I have previously posted for new drivers.

Allan.

[idata]

Hi JSteel,

Actually the nVidia GeForce 950 GTX GPU is superior in every way:

• Gaming (traditional PC Games and Windows 10 Store App Games)
• Video Playback (downloaded videos, Blu-ray, Online Video Rentals, Movies converted from Disc to digital video, and YouTube!)
• Applications (Windows 10 Store Apps and traditional software suite programs)
• 3D Applications (Catia, 3D Builder, and SolidWorks)

The only downside of the nVidia GPU is the additional heat generated, which causes the system fan to rev-up (I'm using a HP Envy 17 notebook) and the fan noise is not discernible when using the Intel GPU.

By far the only thing the nVidia GPU cannot do is use Intel WiDi to connect wirelessly to a TV display. For that, the Intel GPU works in concert with the Bluetooth and WiFi modules to get the job done. I like Intel products, and agree with you that Intel really needs to get this issue fixed asap.

[TRant2]

I figured out yesterday that disabling hardware acceleration in the browser stops the graphics corruptions in my system (Core i3-6100, Asus H110I-PLUS). This isn't a perfect solution since it effects performance, but at least it makes the computer usable until hopefully Intel comes up with a fix.

Maybe it might help in your situation as well?

[idata]

I have not been able to replicate this matter. I would recommend contacting Asus for any customized graphics driver or wait for Intel to release new drivers at https://downloadcenter.intel.com/ https://downloadcenter.intel.com/

Allan.

[TRant2]

Allan, do you mean that you could use hardware acceleration with other motherboards, or do you actually have a H110I-PLUS available and could use it there, too?

If the latter, could you please tell me the display driver and BIOS versions and BIOS settings you used to help me pinpoint the problem?

Anyway, not having the hardware acceleration available is not a big problem for me - not having the glitches now is so much better. The occasional display driver crashes that still happen are still an issue. I put an event log of those in my own recent post update (not sure if it's OK to link here since this is not my discussion).

Asus help desk is saying that they are not responsible if Intel drivers are not working properly with Windows 10, and that they are refusing warranty since the problems are not caused by them.

[idata]

I do not have same motherboard model, I have tested the graphics controller Intel® HD Graphics 530 but I do not see any graphics issues with Firefox while using the latest video drivers provided by Intel.

Does this happen with Edge, Chrome, Opera, etc?Allan.

[FiZi]

I get it in Firefox and Internet Explorer 11.

Don't use Edge and haven't noticed it in Opera.

I'm running driver 20.19.15.4404

[TRant2]

Installed .4404 once again to test other browsers, but for some reason I'm not getting artifacts even in Firefox with hardware acceleration now, although I can't remember changing anything. I'll wait and see what happens. Strange.

[idata]

Hi Virrhe,

Thanks for your suggestion. I turned off the "Use hardware acceleration when available" option in Firefox and have not experienced any graphics corruption since then.

On the downside, performance when browsing webpages with videos (YouTube!), and CSS content (almost all websites I know of), and when playing in browser games and animated content (Adobe Flash , HTML5, VP9, and H264/H265 based content) has taken a major hit. I noticed a nearly 40% decrease in speed with this setting turned off (but have not had any graphics corruption since it has been).

I am going to try the new Intel Drivers that Allan suggested (when time permits) and see if that corrects my issue.

[FiZi]

Installed 20.19.15.4380, Rebooted, Logged in, ran Firefox, Edge and IE11 and went to Google.ca

Results:

[idata]

I have been testing Intel® HD Graphics 520 on Firefox but I still do not have any graphics issues.

If there is anything, I will come back and post my findings. Allan

[FiZi]

Try installing F.lux (https://justgetflux.com/ f.lux: software to make your life better) and see if that makes a difference.

I have it installed on all my systems that are having issues but it is not currently active because it's day time.

I do have to run F.lux in 'Safe Mode' because of another issue with Intel Drivers.

I did test existing F.lux with the beta drivers and still had the problem but maybe just having F.lux installed is the source of our grief.

[idata]

Thanks for the tip FiZi.

I have used F.lux in the past on different laptops. I have had no issues with it whatsoever. I don't use F.lux on my present system because I want the Full HD viewing experience and F.lux is designed to offset that (with its energy preserving and eye comfort features).

By the way, F.lux uses PwM (Pulse Width Modulation) augmented with existing hardware capabilities to achieve its results. PwM is not a fool-proof system and is known to cause epilepsy and other problems - especially if the hardware does not implement PwM properly.

Then again, almost all LCD manufacturers (including Samsung that make the screens for Dell) implement their own algorithms for PwM at the hardware-level (using firmware and software run-time routines), which are certainly bound to be different than what F.lux is implementing at the software-level (that could be a source of the problem as well, but is very unlikely).

[idata]

Allan,

When I switched to the new Intel drivers that you pointed me to (Driver Version: 15.40.18.64.4380), I now have the same glitches as FiZi. The white corruption spaces are now replaced with black colored ones.

I have also begun having issues in Windows 10 Home with the new drivers. The blue HP logo (at boot time) appears fuzzy. In Windows 10, the Start Menu sometimes has 2 'mirror' versions of it (it seems like there are 2 instances of the Start Menu, one overlapping the other, closing the start menu and relaunching it makes the problem go away).

Playing HD movies (1080p or higher resolution) via DVD or as a file on the desktop in VLC or MPC or CyberLink PowerMedia Player results in video tearing and jittery playback.

When playing certain games (like Microsoft Chess Titans, SMITE, and Asphalt 8:Airborne) the games freeze and locks-up at times - the only way to remedy the issue is to exit the game completely.

As always, if I switch to the nVidia GPU, all of the above problems disappear. I am now convinced that the issue is with the Intel Drivers (because the in-game graphics corruption, video playback issues, and glitches in Windows 10 did not exist when I was using the earlier driver version).

Please get Intel to remedy these issues in the next production driver. Consumers should not have to troubleshoot and diagnose problems with products from manufacturers.