Intel Arc A770 Black Screen

[Frooastside]

I have a Arc A770 LE 16GB and sometimes when I play video content, my secondary Monitor (connected via HDMI) gets a black screen and all Windows on that Monitor get moved to my primary Monitor (connected via a DP Port on the Arc A770 but connected through an DP to HDMI Adapter and an HDMI Cable to the Monitor). I noticed that i can reproduce the issue by restarting the PC and playing video content that is protected by Widevine DRM. Youtube was able to trigger that behaviour too but it is very irregular that way. I am not sure if it ever happened twice in one "session".

https://youtu.be/Isurk8AB0U4

[Alex0072]

The issue may be related to the use of a DP to HDMI adapter and HDMI cable for the primary monitor. Ensure all connections are secure and consider using a direct DP or HDMI connection. Moreover, update graphics drivers and check for firmware updates for your Arc A770. If the problem persists, contact customer support for further assistance.

[Frooastside]

@Alex0072 that answer is not helpful at all because I posted the Output of the SSU (System Support Utility) where you can see that I indeed have the newest driver and also I am not sure what "contact customer support" should mean because on this page https://www.intel.de/content/www/de/de/support/contact-intel.html#support-intel-products_80939:227960 the first entry on how to contact customer support is this community forum. Also I am aware that the Adapter may be a Problem but my Monitor does only support HDMI and VGA and the Intel Arc A770 only has one HDMI Output and I dont think the Solution to my Problem should be to just use a single Monitor.

[AlHill]

@Frooastside    Alex cannot help it.  He gets his answers from ChatGPT.

Doc (not an Intel employee or contractor)
[Maybe Windows 12 will be better]

[Hugo_Intel]

Hello Frooastside

Thank you for posting on the Intel® ARC™ Graphics Communities. We will be glad to help with the black screen issues that you are experiencing.

In this case, if you are using and DP to HDMI video adapter it can cause problems. Was this configuration working fine before, do you recall if there issue started after a driver update?

I would advise that you either test another monitor that supports DP natively or a different adapter/cable to make sure the adapter is not causing the issue.

Best Regards,

Hugo O.

Intel Customer Support Technician.

[Frooastside]

As an important note (I am not sure if that came across) the monitor that is affected by that behaviour is not used in conjunction with the DP to HDMI Adapter.  The main monitor is the one that is connected with the adapter and works perfectly. Im not really sure if it was with a specific version, but I used Linux for a long time and I think it never happened in Linux. I started using Windows with the driver 31.0.101.4369. I don't know since when I started having this issue, as I didn't use any streaming platform that triggers that issue reliably. One of the first few driver updates, after switching to Windows, wanted to install HDMI firmware on the arc card but it failed every time for months. It never bothered me as the HDMI firmware to my knowledge didn't improve any game performance and HDMI worked, so i just ignored it. It eventually worked in maybe August - Oktober 2023, but i cant recall if the issue started with that firmware update.

My first idea would be the HDMI firmware, because of the issues with it before. Additionally it looks to be specific to HDCP because of the fact that DRM content (from Netflix, Crunchyroll and Amazon Prime) can trigger it so reliably for the first time after boot.

I will try to get a different DP to HDMI adapter that i own but borrowed to someone. I do have a somewhat working 7 inch DP monitor (the panel is damaged but it should behave as it works) but I do not own a DP cable so if the second adapter fails I may buy a cable to test every case. It is important to me to provide as much detail as possible but i hope the information's given help before i get the test results.

Was it a known issue that new HDMI firmware wasn't be able to install at all even after trying a lot of DDU and different versions?

Kind Regards,
Frooastside

[Hugo_Intel]

Hello Frooastside

There is no known issue related to issues updating the GPU firmware and seems your GPU is the Limited Edition version there should be even fewer reasons for the firmware not to be updating itself with the driver update.

Were you able to test the different adapters and monitors?

Best Regards,

Hugo O.

Intel Customer Support Technician.

[Frooastside]

It took me a while to test all these cases as I could not get the second adapter until today and because i have to restart the pc everytime to reliably trigger the issue. I tested a few different configurations now, but as a quick recap:

I have 3 HDMI Cables

1. Nintendo Switch HDMI Cable
2. HDMI Cable delivered with C27R500
3. HDMI Cable delivered with C27R502

I have 2 Monitors that look exactly the same but have a different model numbers

1. Primary Monitor C27R500
2. Secondary Monitor C27R502

And i have 2 DP to HDMI adapters

1. Short Cable DP Plug and HDMI Port Adapter
2. DP to HDMI Cable (Integrated Adapter)

The original setup was

Arc A770 DP Port 1 (next to HDMI Port) -> 1. Adapter -> 2. Cable -> Primary Monitor

Arc A770 HDMI Port -> 3. Cable -> Secondary Monitor

Issue did occur on the Secondary Monitor.

Today I tested

Arc A770 DP Port 1 (next to HDMI Port) -> 1. Adapter -> 2. Cable -> Primary Monitor

Arc A770 DP Port 2 (middle) -> 2. Adapter Cable -> Secondary Monitor

Issue did not occur.

and I tested

Arc A770 HDMI Port -> 1. Cable -> Primary Monitor

Arc A770 DP Port 2 (middle) -> 2. Adapter Cable -> Secondary Monitor

Issue did occur on the Primary Monitor

and finally

Arc A770 HDMI Port -> 1. Cable -> Primary Monitor

Issue did occur on the Primary Monitor

so now It failed with 2 different Cables on the affected Monitor, including two different - and no adapter on the non affected Monitor, and on both Monitors.

[Frooastside]

Also as a side note, uploading a SSU log via the button inside of the tool is not working. Also i could not upload the mkv file that showed the issue i first had to convert it to mp4.

[Hugo_Intel]

Hello Frooastside

Thank you for sharing the information and troubleshooting you did. Based on your post the issue does not happen when using 2 DP ports on the GPU and seems to happen as long as you use the HDMI port. We will need to further investigate the issue, but please first update to our latest driver which was recently released version 31.0.101.5186, and check if the issue continues to happen.

if the issue continues to happen share with us a report from the Intel Graphics Command Center (Intel GCC) to get more details and EDID information from the monitors.

Best Regards,

Hugo O.

Intel Customer Support Technician.

[Hugo_Intel]

Hello Frooastside

Please let us know if you were able to update and test the system with our latest driver and if the issue continues to happens, please share the report we requested in our previous post.

Best regards,

Hugo O.

Intel Customer Support Technician.

[Frooastside]

Hello, I am sorry I didn't respond earlier, i did not receive my email notifications in that period. I tested the new drivers and the problem seems to be worse. On the first time after reboot, both Monitors share the issue now instead of only the one connected via HDMI directly, and instead of one "disconnect" after reboot, it is now triggered every single time when i start a video on Netflix on the monitor connected via DP.

I appended the requested report as an attachment.

[Frooastside]

I noticed i put it in a weird way, the issue stays the same for the HDMI monitor and for the DP Monitor it is the same except it is not only after reboot but on every time a video is played on Netflix.

[Hugo_Intel]

Hello Frooastside

Thank you for sharing the results and the reports with us. We will further investigate this issue and let you know the next steps once we have more information.

Best Regards,

Hugo O.

Intel Customer Support Technician.

[Jean_Intel]

Hello Frooastside,

Thank you for your patience. After conducting an internal investigation, we discovered that your system does not meet the system requirements for the Intel Arc A-series graphics. Your current platform is a 9th Gen, whereas Intel recommends using a 10th Gen Intel® Core™ Processor or a newer platform. Based on this information, we suggest testing on a recommended system. However, we do understand that you may not be able to test the graphics on a recommended system. If this is the case, please let us know so we can explore other options.

Best regards

Jean O.

Intel Customer Support Technician

[Frooastside]

The additional, issue i wrote about in my previous post, that was only introduced with the new driver is gone again. Its only the original Problem that remains (only HDMI part of issues remain, nothing with DP).

I do own a Server with an I7-13620h on an Erying motherboard (Erying.cc or on AliExpress), however that is certainly not a supported configuration with a mobile chip soldered to a desktop motherboard. I can test that our when i have access to my PCIE riser on Tuesday because of space constraints in the 2u server case. The bios is kinda hacked together and has no rebar support and VT-d is not working although activated.

I could try it on there (06.02.2024), would that be helpful?

I also know people with configurations with at least 10th gen intel CPUs, but it is not that easy to try to replicate the issue because im not sure what parts I would have to bring with me. (Maybe only Arc A770 is enough, maybe i need my exact windows installation on SSD, maybe the monitors too). And transporting my Arc A770, two 27'' Monitors and my SSD is probably not an option.

[Jean_Intel]

Hello Frooastside,

We understand that it may be challenging for you to test a recommended system. Therefore, we recommend that you contact us internally for further support and to explore the available options for you. Please feel free to use any of the following contact methods:

U.S. and Canada: Intel Customer Support

Europe, Middle East, and Africa: Intel Customer Support EMEA 

Asia-Pacific: Intel Customer Support APAC 

Latin America: Intel Customer Support LAR  

Best regards, 

Jean O. 

Intel Customer Support Technician

[Andres_Intel]

Hello Frooastside,

Remember to contact us internally for further support and warrant options for you. Please feel free to use any of the following contact methods:

U.S. and Canada: Intel Customer Support

Europe, Middle East, and Africa: Intel Customer Support EMEA 

Asia-Pacific: Intel Customer Support APAC 

Latin America: Intel Customer Support LAR  

Let us know if you still need assistance.  

Best regards, 

Andres P. 

Intel Customer Support Technician

[Frooastside]

Sorry it took so long i was trying to get it works with my server but there was a different issue so no luck, but I am a little bit confused, is the only option for Europe via telephone? I am not really comfortable making phone calls.

[Andres_Intel]

Hello Frooastside,

You can access to the following link Intel Customer Support to find find the ways you can contact us.

Let me know if yo have further questions.

Regards,

Andres P.

Intel Customer Support Technician

[Frooastside]

I was finally able to test it on a supported system (the support wrote "the Intel ARC A770 requires Intel® Core™ Processors of 10th Gen or higher, along with motherboards of 500 Series or above." which is not what https://www.intel.com/content/www/us/en/support/articles/000091128/graphics.html tells me) and the same issue did occur. I tested it on a system with a 10600k and a Z490 Motherboard. I used a different Windows installation (I did test it with both the SSD from the device where the issue first occurred with my Windows installation and a different Windows installation to test if it is only because of my Windows installation or combination of drivers or whatever). S24F350 Monitor from Samsung was used and connected via HDMI, I went to Netflix multiple times, but every boot the first time I went to Netflix the monitor looked like the HDMI cable was removed and got a black screen (original issue). I attached both the SSU log and the support log of the Intel Graphics Control Room thing. I left my A770 at the house of the person with the 10th gen system so if there is anything that should be tested, I can forward the steps and get this issue resolved.

Also, should I get in contact via the support or this Thread in the future?