The Intel(R) Graphics System Controller Firmware Interface is being reset

[elnurani]

Hi,

Recently i started facing video playback stutter with audio stutter for about 1 sec and then restore normal playing, this happened several times in an hour. after checking the windows logs in the event viewer the message "The Intel(R) Graphics System Controller Firmware Interface is being reset" found repeatedly and coinciding with the video and audio stuttering.

System configuration:

Lenovo  IdeaCentre AIO 5 27IAH7

CPU: Intel I7 12700H

GPU: Intel ARC A370M

RAM: 32GB DDR5

Storage: 2TB Samsung 980 Pro SSD .

Troubleshooting steps bien done:

- Bios was checked and found it is latest version as per OEM "LENOVO" website

- Tried several intel ARC graphics drivers and currently the latest driver installed "32.0.101.5762"

- Clean install of windows 11 with formatting of the SSD.

All the above did not solve the problem.

Very important Note:

The system started this behavior only after upgrading to windows eleven 24H2, 

On windows eleven  23H2 and 22H2 the system runs fine without any issues.

SSU.TXT attached for further analysis and troubleshooting.

please help to resolve this issue

Regard

[JohnStockton]

Hello RandyT_Intel,

I have the same problem with my A370M HP Envy Laptop. The Audio stutter coincides with the warning event "The Intel(R) Graphics System Controller Firmware Interface is being reset."

I tried all the steps previously mentioned; none worked. Do you have any updates for us?

@Gabarowski @elnurani Hi, have you found a solution?

[Gabarowski]

Unfortunately no, but the only solution to avoid the crack is to disable the dGPU.

[elnurani]

Hello John,

Unfortunately non of the proposed steps worked, the only solution to stop the stuttering is to disable he dGPU "as mentioned by @Gabarowski"

[elnurani]

@Mike_Intel   @RandyT_Intel

UPDATE

for further tinkering and trying to understand the problem, i decided to clean install windows 10 "64bit" the following steps taken:

1. clean install windows 10 X64

2. Update all drivers from windows update including Intel graphics drivers.

3. Manually update Intel graphics driver from intel website version "32.0.101.5989"

4. Run graphics stress test for both iGPU & dGPU.

5. Play video for 1 hour.

There is no stuttering while playing video, and checked event viewer there is no "The Intel(R) Graphics System Controller Firmware Interface is being reset" event registered.

However I noticed one thing regarding the drivers installed as follow:

Intel iGPU Iris (R) Xe driver found  "32.0.101.5989"

Intel ARC A370M driver found "32.0.101.5989"

Where as for Intel(R) Graphics System Controller Firmware Interface the driver found "31.0.101.5590"

hence,  i decided to repeat the same experiment for windows 11.

1. clean install windows 11

2. Update all drivers from windows update including Intel graphics drivers.

3. Manually update Intel graphics driver from intel website version "32.0.101.5989"

4. Run graphics stress test for both iGPU & dGPU.

5. Play video for 1 hour.

Results

 Experienced video playback stuttering and  "The Intel(R) Graphics System Controller Firmware Interface is being reset" many times registered in event viewer.

I checked the installed intel graphics driver and i found that version "32.0.101.5989" was installed also for "Intel(R) Graphics System Controller Firmware Interface" (which is not the case for windows 10).

I rolled back the driver for "Intel(R) Graphics System Controller Firmware Interface" to version "31.0.101.5590" and run the test again. and viola everything running fine without stuttering and without event viewer errors 

This prove that the issue was not attributed to hardware failure, but it has to do with the graphics driver and hopefully Intel will take the necessary steps to rectify this problem.

I blocked the driver from being automatically updated using group policy editor.

@JohnStockton  @Gabarowski

You may try the above steps, however I am sharing my own experience and I am not sure if it will work for you due to hardware differences, also I bear no responsibility if something goes wrong with your configuration.

All the best 

you 

[Gabarowski]

Hello @elnurani 

Thank you for your detailed reply. Can you tell us some infos like

- How did you test both of the GPUs? What program did you use?
- What was the process? Installed 5989 and then installed back 5590?
- How did you rolled back the graphic driver? Did you use DDU?
- As I understood, when you installed 5989, the Intel(R) Graphics System Controller Firmware Interface showed 5590?
- Also have you checked Arc Control Resizable Bar's status? What is it shows?

Sorry for the lot of questions, I'll stay on Win10 but I'd like to try the same process what you did.

Thanks for your answers!

[elnurani]

Hello @Gabarowski

First my intention is to try windows 10 to rule out the if the problem related to windows 11 or not. when installed windows 10 i discovered the disparity of the drivers installed for graphics cards "irs xe and arc a370m found 5989" and different version for " Intel(R) Graphics System Controller Firmware Interface found 5590". This driver configuration gave stable system. Hence I duplicate the same drivers combination for windows 11 AND it works also fine without stuttering and event viewer logs.

To answer your questions in order:

- To test the stability of the GPUs I used AIDA64.

- You can install first 5590 then upgrade to 5989, then rollback only "  Intel(R) Graphics System Controller Firmware Interface" driver to 5590 (frankly speaking I have no idea how this solve the problem, it is maybe by chance this is what works on windows 10 and it was done by windows 10 itself without intervention by me) so i duplicate the same for windows 11.

- To rollback the driver don't use DDU, just go to device manager and double click on the "  Intel(R) Graphics System Controller Firmware Interface" device and rollback to 5590.

- This is happened by itself in windows 10 for windows 11 you have to rollback to 5590.

- Unfortunately for the Resizable Bar nothing changed still showed "not supported" however intel told somewhere this as aesthetic  error and doesn't affect the functionality.

I hope that i answered your question.

Goodluck 

[Gabarowski]

Meanwhile what I done

I already had newest graphic driver (I had to install for Adobe programs), so I used DDU.
Then I installed 5590, the stuttering didn't disappear...
After this I upgraded the graphic driver up to 5989, I had to realize the driver (arc control) showed 5989 but the Intel(R) Graphics System Controller Firmware Interface shows 5590 what was quite strange...

I had this like 10-15 minutes ago and I don't have ANY stuttering!

I really hope this solved the problem permanently, thank you so much @elnurani . I don't know how you found this solution out but It's work on my setup (i7-12700H,  Xe & A730m)

[elnurani]

Hi @Gabarowski

Really happy for you

I have no scientific evidence or any deep knowledge about how this happened, It is just random event led to this discovery. I can't also guaranty if this is the proper solution and how long it will sustain.

Regards