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UHD Graphics stutter

cambsukguy
Beginner
3,267 Views

Hi,

I have a brand new laptop (HP Spectre i7). It has UHD graphics and an Nvidia GTX1650 Ti.

It has a 4K screen and I have a standard 2K TV attached using HDMI.

When playing video, whether it be the Netflix app, Chrome or Edge running the Netflix Web page or the standard video player playing a disk file, the video plays with occasional 'stutter'.

If I play (say) a download Netflix movie (even low resolution 700MB per film) on the external TV over HDMI the movie stutters every so often (say once per minute).

The Task Manager shows the NVidia is performing most of the rendering work, the UHD graphics is running at 2% (for the 3D), the NVidia at (say) 20%.

Then the video will stutter and a spike occurs on the Task manager display for the Intel UHD graphics display (essentially spiking to 100% from 1%).

If I play the same film on the laptop display, the UHD graphics runs at 80% but I still get a stutter every so often (with a spike to 100% still).

This happens even if I don't have the HDMI connected, it also happens if I run on battery only.

It happens with streaming content, it happens with stored content, it happens with Netflix, it happens with standard (H264, H265) video files.

The processor is only running at a few percent (10%), the memory (16GB) has 8GB available. The shared GPU memory is hardly used at all (1GB of 8GB)

If I play the Netflix film, in the app, on the laptop, full screen, without power or HDMI attached, I still get the spike on the UHD graphics adapter (3D) (I also note that the NVidia driver 3D spikes a little too).

There appears to be no indicator of why this happens.

I just installed the latest Intel driver (100.8691), but this made zero difference (it was 100.8201).

I have tried several NVidia drivers but that has no effect (I originally thought it was only an issue with external display).

I have tried using the settings to force NVidia and/or UHD but no setting has an effect. I also tried the "Reduced latency to improve performance" setting, also to no avail.

I upgraded the machine to Windows 10 2004 just after it arrived so I am unaware if it was working with the previous Windows.

It looks for all the world as if the UHD driver is crashing and restarting but there is nothing in the reliability monitor to reflect that.

I do get Hardware Errors (occasionally) showing the NVidia driver failing but these do not co-incide with the actual stutters, they just seem to happen (perhaps) when I move windows from one screen to the other. They actually can happen when the machine is in standby.

Also occurring, and possibly related, is that the BBC iPlayer will play on the external monitor, glitch (i.e. go black) a couple of times over a minute or so and then stop with an error (this content doesn't seem to be working). This will repeat again and again but sometimes it will then finally play the content. If the power is removed, the content plays. I should point out that the power plug is next to the HDMI on this laptop (so it is not impossible that there is an effect), plugging in the power (or removing it) causes both screens to 'black' and redraw over a few seconds (which seems strange to me).

As you can see, there are myriad issues (especially for a new machine). I may return it in fact, but I wanted to see if there is anything that can be done, analysis, debugging etc. as I am a SW developer and can assist in debug and capture if required.

I would prefer not to replace the machine, it is almost certainly a SW issue so I would have to buy a different laptop altogether.

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Alberto_Sykes
Employee
3,253 Views

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


In order for us to provide the most accurate assistance, we just wanted to confirm a few details about your system:

I looked for the HP Spectre i7 specifications but there seem to be different versions of that model, what is the specific model of the laptop? You can also provide the SSU report:

https://downloadcenter.intel.com/download/25293/Intel-System-Support-Utility-for-Windows-?product=91600

You mentioned this is a new computer, how long ago did you purchase it?

Besides the Windows* update, did you make any recent hardware/software changes before the problem started?

When did the issue start, right after the Windows* update?


We recommend to install the graphics driver provided by the manufacturer of the computer, since that driver was customized by them work with your specific platform, that is why I wanted to confirm the model of the laptop to try to install those drivers.


To try to fix the issue you can always get in contact with HP directly to confirm what is the latest BIOS version and to gather the instructions of how to update it:

https://support.hp.com/us-en


Keep in mind that it seems to be this laptop is working with a Hybrid Graphics configuration, when using that type of configuration the graphics functionality will depend on the hardware and the Operating System but also on the customizations done by the manufacturer of it, so you can always check on that topic when contacting HP.


Just to let you know, at this point you pretty much tried all the troubleshooting steps for this scenario, most of the stores, place of purchase or manufacturers have a 30-day warranty policy, even though you do not actually want to replace it you might consider that option because the system might have a hardware problem as well.


Regards,

Albert R.


Intel Customer Support Technician

A Contingent Worker at Intel


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Alberto_Sykes
Employee
3,238 Views

Hello cambsukguy, I just wanted to check if the information posted previously was useful for you and if you need further assistance on this matter?


Regards,

Albert R.


Intel Customer Support Technician

A Contingent Worker at Intel


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cambsukguy
Beginner
3,210 Views

Hi, apologies for not replying, the messages went to my Junk folder, which I only check occasionally.

Rather than supply the responses, I would simply say that I discovered what the issue is, still a bug, possibly with the graphics driver - it didn't happen with my previous HP laptop doing the same thing.

The stutter occurs when the background (wallpaper) image changes (whether visible or not). I noticed the stutter occurred regularly but it turned out to be exactly every minute.

Because the video runs full-screen I never saw the image change 'behind' it but, having seen a seemingly unrelated post somewhere mentioning the wallpaper, I manually selected "next background image" and the stutter occurred.

Windows, when running two screens places different images on each screen when running 'slideshow' mode. When you select 'next image', it changes only one of them. However, the graphics stutters regardless of which screen image changes (the one on the laptop or the external monitor).

Obviously, the fix is trivial as a workaround, I switched to a fixed image, no problems at all, at least with stuttering.

Since my HP laptop I ran for years happily changed background without stutter, it is either a bug in the graphics driver - there is a performance 'spike' when the image changes, on both the Intel and NVidia graphs (the Intel reaches 100% and the NVidia only 30% though), or Windows 2004 has a bug - ,y old laptop ran the previous Windows 10 release.

For further information, in case you wish to replicate the issue (and perhaps it only happens because of my setup), I have copied a chunk of spec below. My 'slideshow' is special, in that I wrote a powershell script to scan my photo directories and place a link in a single directly (Windows still can't do slideshows of directories for some reason). Of course the link files have no size (they just point to the original - all of which are on OneDrive). My OneDrive is completely replicated on my C drive and it is a 1TB SSD and is very, very fast, so that is not the issue causing the stutter.

If I had to guess (I am an embedded programmer so I have a view), it might be that the 'main' explorer.exe (which controls the wallpaper) 'might' have an issue calling the graphics driver to update the wallpaper with a 'lock' such that other entities (like Netflix) cannot access the screen buffers during the update.

Of course, the update should be very quick but perhaps there is an issue when using links or the fact that I have 10000 links in that directory - I don't care enough to investigate but am willing to try capturing debug etc. if Intel wish me to.

I have reported it as a bug via the Microsoft Feedback Hub also.

HP Spectre X360 15-eb0001na
Product number: 2T980EA#ABU Serial number: xxxx
General specifications
Operating system
Windows 10 Home 64-bit

Microprocessor
Intel(R) Core(TM) i7-10750H CPU @ 2.60GHz

System memory
16 GB

Memory slot 1
8GB SK Hynix 3200MHz
Memory slot 2
8GB SK Hynix 3200MHz

System board
86E8 01.73

System BIOS
F.07

Video
Graphic device 1
Intel(R) UHD Graphics

Current resolution
3840 x 2160

Refresh rate
60 Hz

Version
27.20.100.8280 (5/19/2020)

Graphic device 2
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1650 Ti with Max-Q Design

Current resolution
1920 x 1080

Refresh rate
60 Hz

Version
27.21.14.5206 (8/12/2020)
 

 

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Alberto_Sykes
Employee
3,200 Views

Cambsukguy, No problem at all, thank you very much for providing that information.

 

I am unable to find your laptop computer on HP’s web site, it seems like there are no drivers for it. As an alternative, we can try to install Intel® Generic Graphics driver version 27.20.100.8681:

https://downloadcenter.intel.com/download/29855/Intel-Graphics-Windows-10-DCH-Drivers?product=197533

 

Still, we recommend to contact HP directly to install the proper Graphics driver version for your system.

 

If the problem persists after installing the Intel® Graphics driver, is there any way that you can provide a video of the issue so we can clearly see what is the problem and the steps that you follow to replicate it?

 

Regards,

Albert R.

 

Intel Customer Support Technician

A Contingent Worker at Intel


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Alberto_Sykes
Employee
3,180 Views

Hello Cambsukguy, I just wanted to check if you saw the information posted previously and if you need further assistance on this matter?


Regards,

Albert R.


Intel Customer Support Technician

A Contingent Worker at Intel


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cambsukguy
Beginner
3,115 Views

Hi,

I thought I explained in my last response.

I fixed the problem by  disabling the wallpaper slideshow - I just use a picture now.

This fixes the issue completely, but of course means something is wrong with the driver (probably) in that it makes the video stutter when the picture changes (which it really shouldn't).

As for the driver on my machine. I use the HP system which looks after downloads and installation etc.

The machine does, in fact, use the standard Intel driver (as well as an NVidia driver for the second GPU), although an earlier version than the one you list (8280). I assume HP haven't gotten around to testing or allowing the later version to be standard.

However, I did install the 8681 driver you mention and the issue was still present so I reverted to the older driver, since that is what HP currently install.

FYI, the HP link for drivers for my machine is:

https://support.hp.com/us-en/drivers/selfservice/hp-spectre-15-eb0000-x360-convertible-laptop-pc-series/32516320/model/34766742?sku=2T980EA

Thanks.

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Alberto_Sykes
Employee
3,105 Views

Hi Cambsukguy, Thank you very much for clarifying that information.


Perfect excellent, it is great to hear that you found a workaround to fix the problem by disabling the wallpaper slideshow.

Just to confirm, when you use the slideshow, are you sure that all the pictures in the slideshow have the same resolution as the one currently being used on your computer?


Regards,

Albert R.


Intel Customer Support Technician

A Contingent Worker at Intel


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cambsukguy
Beginner
3,097 Views

No, the slideshow is thousands of jpgs from my photo collection on OneDrive; I wrote a PowerShell script to scan the folder tree and produce a single dir with links so the slideshow works. The photos' resolution ranges from very low to very high res.

It works just fine on my old laptop and on my new Surface Pro 7 too.

Of course, it also works on the HP, it just has this unwanted effect.

 

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Alberto_Sykes
Employee
3,075 Views

cambsukguy, Thank you very much for sharing those details.

 

Just to let you know, the proper functionality of the slideshow will actually depend on the combination of 3 factors, the application being used, the resolution of the pictures, and the Operating System and the way it uses or manages those pictures.

 

So, this unwanted effect is not because of an Intel® Graphics driver problem, it is the combination of those factors mentioned previously and the Operating System.

 

You mentioned, "it works just fine on my old laptop and on my new Surface Pro 7", those computers pretty much are using the same Intel® Graphics driver as the one that is showing this problem, so, the platform being used has a lot to do as well in this case, but it is not a driver problem.

 

Keep in mind also that your laptop is working with Hybrid Graphics and it is not for sure which Graphics controller is the one handling the features of the computer, including the "Slideshow". For that, we recommend to get in contact directly with Dell to confirm that information, to report this scenario, and verify with them if they have a solution for it, maybe they have a different Graphics driver version available to install.

 

Regards,

Albert R.

 

Intel Customer Support Technician

A Contingent Worker at Intel

 

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