Random Freezes with Arc Series GPUs Thread

[Saveno]

First off, i'm not looking for Support here. This Thread is supposed to find a solution for the common Freezing Problem a lot of people are having. Here are more than 20 posts about the issue, with many people reporting to have the same issues in the threads comments. There are many more reports in other places like Microsoft or Tech Forums but guess that should be enough for now.

Arc Issues - Pastebin.com

The Problem

Sometimes, out of nowhere when the Arc is under load, the PC just completely freezes. You sometimes still hear a buzzing sound from your headphones and a few seconds later your system restarts. The weird thing is, however, that nothing seem to trigger it specifically. For example:

I can play a game like Black Desert on max Settings and nothing happens for a whole day. The next day when i play the freeze happens 1-2 times, then its fine for the rest for the day. Same with AI Tools such as Stable Diffusion, which kinda has become my "Crash Benchmark" for the Arc. On some days the Freeze and Restart happens after generating 2 or 3 images, and sometimes i can go out, let SD generate 100+ images, come back a few hours later and the system is still running.

This issue seem to happen with any Arc Series Card, which implies a Driver Problem.

The Hardware

Since dozens of people have reported the same phenomenon and some posted their hardware there is nothing people have in common here either. Some people have Intel CPUs, some AMD ones, some high-end hardware, others low-mid hardware, people have different type of ram sticks, different mainboards, different PSUs etc.

What has been tried?

The Intel Support gives the usual advices. Uninstall Drivers via DDU, Update or/and Reset Bios, enable ReBar, reinstall Windows, try a different PSU, but the result is always the same. It does not fix the problem. Everyone also reports that this does not happen when they use their old or different GPUs. Old drivers are not helping either, neither does Undervolting or Underclocking. Overheating is not an issue either since my Arc never goes above like 75° under max load.

Error Logs

Due to the instant crash, Windows sadly does not manage to create Minidumps and the Event manager reports nothing but an "unexpected system shutdown (Event-ID 41)". I was lucky once tho and my system did not instantly restart and actually created a Minidump, which is not that interesting tho. It only reported that the GPU Driver has crashed.

SYMBOL_NAME:  igdkmdnd64+157e0

MODULE_NAME: igdkmdnd64

IMAGE_NAME:  igdkmdnd64.sys

STACK_COMMAND:  .cxr; .ecxr ; kb

FAILURE_BUCKET_ID:  0x116_IMAGE_igdkmdnd64.sys

OSPLATFORM_TYPE:  x64

OSNAME:  Windows 10

FAILURE_ID_HASH:  {7eb0cc99-c85b-4092-6430-8f1db059b7c1}

Followup:     MachineOwner

Since the Intel Support is not really helpful in this matter (nothing against you guys, i know you doing what you can) maybe we can gather Data over the next months or so that helps solving this problem via a Driver update.

Also a small tip, if i press Win + Ctrl + Shift + B fast enough to restart the Intel GPU Driver it sometimes happens that my System does not shut down and actually recovers. You have to do that the moment you notice your PC is about to freeze however. 

Also made a Post on Reddit about it here since Reddit is more active: Random Freezes with Arc Series GPUs Thread : IntelArc (reddit.com)

[Saveno]

Well...dunno if you already closed this, but got a Bluescreen just again. I'm also giving up at this point to be honest. As i said before i will now just contact the support, send it back to 100% rule out that something is wrong with the GPU, sell it and buy a Nvidia one again. Thanks again for trying to help. 

[Yoel-S]

nothing with your GPU, its intel software, I'm having this on 2 different laptops, just not willing to do their job with testing and reporting as you do, it's enough a big problem they should work a bit, and find it them selfs and fixing it, I just can't return my laptops back so i turned off the dedicated GPU because i can't have it crash in the middle of my work multiple times a day

[Saveno]

Yeah, when i Google the Error i have been getting for all these months almost every result also says that "something is wrong with the GPU drivers" etc. But i don't want to sell a potentially broken GPU either, even if the chance that something is wrong with it is maybe only 1%. 

[Andres_Intel]

Hello @Saveno, 

I am sorry to hear that the BSOD came back, we have completed all the necessary troubleshooting, I recommend contacting Internal Support to check warranty options.

For now, as I mentioned before we will close this thread. If you need any additional information, please submit a new question as this thread will no longer be monitored. 

Regards,  

Andres P. 

Intel Customer Support Technician

[Andres_Intel]

Hello @Saveno, 

Before we close the case, I just want to make sure if you were able to follow the recommendations provided before, you can find them below:

• Test the system to a minimum state, i.e. only one RAM stick (test both), one SSD (the one with the OS), revert any non-default configuration in the BIOS (except the necessary for Arc, such as ReBAR, ASPM thing, etc) and run the same test with and without the card installed.
• If possible also try to test the card on another PC.

Please keep me informed.

Regards,  

Andres P. 

Intel Customer Support Technician 

[Andres_Intel]

Hello Saveno,

Were you able to follow the recommendations provided in previous post?   

Let us know if you still need assistance.    

Best regards,   

Andres P.   

Intel Customer Support Technician 

[Andres_Intel]

Hello Saveno,

We have not heard back from you, so we will close this thread. If you need any additional information, please submit a new question as this thread will no longer be monitored.  

Best regards, 

Andres P.   

Intel Customer Support Technician