Horizontal Dithering on screen.

[LynnReese]

Problem... A horizontal band of multi-color, dithering (pixelating) has appeared in the lower half of the screen of a laptop. Below that band, any images and text flicker so as to render them unreadable.

I have updated all display adapter drivers for Intel. My LG Gram uses the Intel Iris(R) XE Graphics.

I have discovered that if I change the driver to from the Intel to the Microsoft Basic Display Adapter, the dithering and flickering goes away, but then I lose detecting/casting to other monitors on the network.

Any suggestions?  I've also reset my laptop completely, two times, and the problem is still there.

Thanks for any response.

[AlfredoS_Intel]

Hi Lynnreese,

Thank you for posting in Intel Communities.

We know how difficult it is to use a system with a half functioning display. We will work with you to provide you suggestions to fix the issue.

Please allow us to ask for the following information that we will use to determine what recommendations will be effective for your concern:

1. Was your system like this before? If no, when did you start having the issue? Is it after a driver update or any system update?

2. It would really help us if we can get more information about your system. Please download and run our Intel® System Support Utility from this page, https://www.intel.com/content/www/us/en/download/18377/intel-system-support-utility-for-windows.html. To run it, please press "Scan". After the scan is finished, click next and there will be a save button, giving you an option to save the logs to a text file, please do so and attach the file on your reply. You can refer to How to get the Intel® System Support Utility Logs on Windows* https://www.intel.com/content/www/us/en/support/articles/000057926/memory-and-storage.html for instructions.

We will wait for your response.

Best Regards,

Alfred S

Intel® Customer Support Technician

[LynnReese]

Probably not an update that is the culprit for the screen malfunction. I rolled back all updates that could be done by the system. I then did a full reset of the computer, removing and replacing Windows 11 Home Edition. Problem still there... I reset the computer a second time. Problem still there. Before any reset, I had gone to the Intel ARC Control and force updated the driver (Device Manager said I had the latest update). 

Only when I changed the Display Adapter to Microsoft Basic Display Adapter did the bands disappear.

I just went back into the Intel ARC Control App and noticed that there was an error message about not updating the Display Adapter. I followed the instructions and updated the driver from 10.0.22621.1 to 31.0.101.5592(released 6/19/2024).

Dither banding and text flickering below the band came back immediately. Cannot read Intel Notifications as a result.

See attached scan from the Intel System Support Utility.

Hope there is a solution out there. My relatively new LG Gram is hobbled.

[AlfredoS_Intel]

Hi Lynnreese,

Thank you for your response.

After reading your answers, it seems that our generic drivers maybe incompatible with your system. I checked the website of LG for official graphics drivers’; however, it seems there are no graphics drivers uploaded for your system and instead it may have been propagated via Windows update. For this reason, please try the following:

I. Use the graphics driver from LG

1. Open Device Manager and expand Display Adapters

2. Double-click the Intel graphics driver

3. On the Window that pops up, access the drivers tab and click on “Update Driver”

4. On the box that open, select “Browse my Computer for Drivers”

5. Then “Let me pick from a list of available drivers on my computer”

6. In the middle box, check if you have a graphics driver that has a Microsoft prefix to it but not the Microsoft Basic Driver. Drivers with Microsoft prefix was applied from a Windows update and could be the graphics driver from LG.

7. Select the item and click next. Check if the problem persists.

II. Arc Control settings maybe causing the issue

1. To isolate if some features of the ARC Control Software are causing the problem. Please test by uninstalling the program on Add/Remove Programs

III. Do you have Intel Graphics Command Center installed?

IV.  Please also refer to How to Fix a Flickering Screen with Intel® Graphics for other suggestions.

We will wait for your update regarding our suggestions.

Best Regards,

Alfred S

Intel® Customer Support

[LynnReese]

Thanks for your interest in my problem. It continues unabated.

For your first suggestion... there is no LG Display Adapter graphics driver, just either the Intel Iris Xe Graphics or the Microsoft Basic Display Adapter. I went to LG Support and could not see any driver to download.

For your second suggestion... I uninstalled ALL programs that noted Intel ARC. Restarted, went to Device Manager/Display Adapters. Changed back to the Intel Iris Xe Graphics, and the dithering band came right back. Returned to the Basic Display Adapter.

I saw that the Intel Support app, before I removed it, noted that there were three updates. I installed them and the dithering spread across the entire screen.  Went back to the Microsoft Basic Display Adapter.

Yes, I have the Intel Graphics Command Center. It is stuck on "REFRESHING" and will not Finish. The Display/Information shows a red triangle (error, I assume) but nothing else. While in there, I did a SYSTEM/Restore Original Settings... nothing.

Remember, I Reset the Laptop two times back to factory clean. Did nothing.

Hope this stimulates the Sherlock Holmes in all of us.

[Mike_Intel]

Hello LynnReese,

Thank you for the quick reply.

Have you tried updating the BIOS of your laptop? You can also update the BIOS of your laptop and check if there will be improvements.

Also, I found this link from LG. They have a documented fix for this similar issue:

https://www.lg.com/levant_en/support/product-help/CT20158039-20153354249765

If you have questions, please let us know. Thank you.

Best regards,

Michael L.

Intel Customer Support Technician

[LynnReese]

Hello Support.

LG has no update for the BIOS that I can find. Playing with the BIOS is also a little over my head.

The link provided sounded good, but there is no System/Power option in my Intel Graphics Command Center.

I now have three different Intel Iris Xe Graphics Display Adapter versions, and none of them solve the problem. In fact, the latest two versions only make the screen worse, not better than the first version.

Reese Cumming

[LynnReese]

Oh, by the way. I see that the Brightness Control is gone from my Display Settings. Tried various fixes for this issue and nothing resolves it.

Reese Cumming

[AlfredoS_Intel]

Hi Lynnreese,

Thank you for waiting for our update.

It is odd that different drivers is not resolving the issue plus you are experiencing behaviors that are abnormal.

Losing the brightness controls usually means that there is a LG software that is managing the graphics settings of your computer and can also be the cause of the problem that you are experiencing.

Please check if you have any LG software (power management or display management). If there is, please check if there is a way to disable them.

We look forward to your reply.

Best Regards,

Alfred S

Intel® Customer Support Technician

[LynnReese]

I uninstalled all of the LG software that was listed. Reverted back to Intel Iris Xe Graphics and the dithering/banding/pixelating came back.

There is a lot of Intel software listed:

Intel Connectivity Drivers UWD

Intel Chipset Device Software

Intel Dynamix Tuning Technology

Intel Innovation Platform Framework

Intel Wireless Bluetooth

Intel Connectivity Performance Suie

Intel Driver & Support Assistant

Intel Graphics Command Center

Intel Management Engine Components

Intel Serial IO

Intel Unison

Any issues you can think of regarding these apps?

Thanks for hanging in there.

[AlfredoS_Intel]

Hi Lynnreese,

Much obliged for trying our previous suggestion.

Thank you for enumerating the list of Intel applications that you have on the system which led me to find out that you have Intel Graphics Command Center installed.

There are features of that application that is meant to improve display experience on your system, but could be causing issues on prebuilt machines such as your laptop. We will try turning off those features to see if they are causing the problem that you are having. 

The features that you can toggle are different for each machine model. Due to this reason, please provide a screenshot of the following:

1. Open Intel Graphics Command Center and click on System (or Window icon if you are on a compressed view) on the left hand pane.

2. The click on power. Kindly capture a screenshot of this Window and the settings available.

We will wait for this image to provide you a new set of recommendations.

Best Regards,

Alfred S

Intel® Customer Support Technician

[LynnReese]

Thanks for your contact and suggestion.

I have looked at this matter previously, and the curious thing is that there is no POWER option on the SYSTEMS page. Cannot find it anywhere. I have deleted and reinstalled the Command Center at an earlier time; still no POWER option, and I have RESTORE TO ORIGINAL SETTINGS, without any positive effect to this problem.

Here's the screen shot of the SYSTEMS page...

On other matter... on the DISPLAY page the REFRESHING does not stop or resolve; keeps going round and round.  Screen shot also...

[AlfredoS_Intel]

Hi Lynnreese,

Many thanks for quickly reverting to us.

To explain the behavior of the application regarding the refreshing message that you are getting, that means the application is not detecting your displays or built-in monitor and could somehow be the reason why you do not have the power tab.

Due to this current behavior that you are experiencing, please download an alternate or beta version of the Intel Graphics Command Center from Microsoft store, which can be obtained from this page.

After downloading the beta, please open it using your search function in Windows. Ensure that you are opening the beta distinguished by a (BETA) label at the end of the application name. Check if you have a power tab there and if there is disable all power savings.

If the same issue happens, we may need to investigate deeply on the matter, and we need your cooperation to provide a video capturing the issue.

Best Regards,

Alfred S

Intel Customer Support Technician

[LynnReese]

Installed BETA... nothing's changed. Note screenshots. No POWER option on SYSTEMS page. Non-stop REFRESHING on DISPLAY page.

[LynnReese]

Changed back to the Intel Iris Xe Graphics, and the dithering/banding/ pixelating came back across the entire screen. Took a screenshot and the interesting thing is that the problem does not show in the screenshot. Trust me, it's there.

[AlfredoS_Intel]

Hi Lynnreese,

Appreciate for trying our last suggestion.

We were also investigating your case while waiting for the results of our last suggestion. Since it is still the same, we will be providing you a list of instructions made for the flickering/banding/ dithering/ pixelating that you are experiencing, How to Fix a Flickering Screen with Intel® Graphics. I will highlight the steps on that page about lowering the refresh rate. Please try and test to lower the refresh rate of your screen through Windows display settings and check if the issue is present on a lower refresh rate.

The picture indeed did not show the issue, but to confirm the problem is like what is shown on this page, [LG Gram Laptop Screen] Horizontal lines appear and disappear in the screen while using Windows 10, is this correct.

We look forward to hearing from you.

Best Regards,

Alfred S

Intel Customer Support Technician

[LynnReese]

Well, it's never a dull moment... now the screen is experiencing what I'd call smearing. After several minutes of not using the laptop while the screen is on, when attempting to use the mouse, the screen will not respond, but the mouse will leave a smear where ever it goes, exposing and erasing any image or text it tracks over, almost like revealing another image or text beneath. Very strange.

I can close the webpage, usually, so it is not entirely frozen, but acts that way.

I will go through your further suggestions, but I have received a shipping tag from LG, for it to be repaired, as if it is a hardware problem.

Your opinion on it being a hardware issue?

[LynnReese]

The suggestions from your last reply has no effect on the problem. Changing the refresh rate does nothing.

The DISPLAY page of the IGCC (Beta) has no options to change the Refresh Rate, also. I change the refresh rate in the Windows Settings/Display.

[LynnReese]

I think it's time to send this laptop into LG. We tried our best.  Thanks.

[LynnReese]

Just when one has given up... tried to open an image in Photoshop, and, of course, it noted that the Microsoft Basic Graphics Driver I am forced to use is not up to the job for Photoshop. It suggested a link to Intel for an update. I did so, hoping there might be some change. Installed, and the problem continued. 

I went to the IGCC (Beta), went to System, and lo and behold... this time there was a POWER option. Went to Panel Self Refresh and turned it off. The problem went away.

Restarted the laptop, and the problem came back, but just until I signed in, still the problem, and then it went away; a couple of seconds after signing in. Restarted again... the same: first the problem for a couple of seconds and then it went away. Once gone, it appears to not come back while using the laptop.

I also see that on the DISPLAY page of IGCC (Beta), the refreshing is done and a monitor is detected; a fix from before also.

Not sure what's happening here, but does this seem a software or a hardware issue?

See attached screenshots.

[AlfredoS_Intel]

Hi Lynnreese,

Thank you for the update and for your perseverance to try our suggestions.

To answer your question, actually both hardware and software. It is hardware since the built-in monitor of your laptop has a feature called “Panel Self Refresh”. This feature is what causes the problem, and it is confirmed since once you turn it off using our program, the issue is fixed. Some systems incorporate this feature on their BIOS firmware, the software for your hardware or board, which is why it was suggested by my colleague hoping to fix it that way; unfortunately, it did not work also.  Our software the Intel Graphics and Command Center (BETA) is just a workaround to disable that feature, but it would be best if your system manufacturer has an option in your laptop’s BIOS or released their own software to mitigate the problem.  

Additionally, the reason why the issue is present when you load in the system but goes away after a few minutes, is the Intel Graphics Command Center (BETA) software loads up in your system after a few minutes and it deactivates that “Panel Self Refresh” option.

Given the reason provided above, you can contact LG first to ask if they have a software that fixes it or any firmware update that deactivates the issue. It would not be your discretion if you want to have the laptop replaced, since it is most likely still under warranty.

We will wait for your next update.

Best Regards,

Alfred S

Intel® Customer Support