Screen flashes black in Chrome/Edge

[mindplay]

With Chrome or Edge open, I'm seeing an intermittent flash of black - the whole screen blacks out for a fraction of a second.

It's so brief that, for a while, I wasn't actually sure if the whole screen was blacking out, or just the browser window - I'm certain now that it's the whole screen.

I was running Windows 10 Pro, and the issue was happening there as well - about a week ago, I did a clean Windows 11 Pro reinstall, hoping this would fix the issue, but it still happens.

It seems to happen only when Chrome or Edge are open - it does not appear to happen while gaming, but the only game I have installed at the moment is Horizon Zero Dawn. It crashes or reboots every now and then, but this game is somewhat notorious for crashing a lot, so I'm not too worried about that.

I've never seen this black flash while playing though - which makes me wonder if whatever is causing the black flash could also be causing the game to crash? I have sometimes played with Chrome open in the background, so I wonder. Crashes happen sometimes after several hours though, so I can't say I've noticed a pattern.

I read a post somewhere from someone else with the same issue - they said they upgraded their BIOS and that fixed it. So I've upgraded my BIOS to the latest version, but it still happens.

I figured maybe there was a memory problem, so I've underclocked my memory from 6400 to 4800, but that also didn't help.

I'm on a week-old, fairly clean Win 11 Pro system - the only things I've installed are Epic Games and Horizon Zero Dawn. I also have Chrome, WSL 2 and VS Code, MS Powertoys and Stardock Start11, and not much else yet.

I've been having a few BSOD crashes from my Windows desktop as well, while browsing or working in VS Code. It doesn't seem to be related to what I'm doing.

I ran memtest86 earlier, for a whole day, with my memory still set to 6400 like it says on the sticker, so I'm fairly certain my RAM is good.

The system itself is fairly new - here's my configuration:

- Windows 11 Pro 10.0.22621 Build 22621
- MSI MAG B650M Mortar WiFi (model MS-7D76)
- AMD Ryzen 9 7900 (non-X, not-overclocked)
- RAM: G.Skill Ripjaws S5 DDR5 2x16 GB, DIMM 288-pin, 6400 MHz / PC5-51200, unbuffered, CL32, 1.4 V, non-ECC
- BIOS Version/Date American Megatrends International, LLC. A.65, 02-08-2023 
- SMBIOS Version 3.5|
- BIOS Mode UEFI 
- HP X34 display at 3440 x 1440 and 165 hertz HDR10
- Arc Driver Version 31.0.101.4577
- Onboard graphics disabled

So it's a fairly clean and vanilla system, which might be helpful.

Please let me know if there's anything I can do or provide to help diagnose the issue.

[mindplay]

Speak of the devil, it just crashed with a BSOD for the 4th time this week - always with a DRIVER_POWER_STATE_FAILURE.

Here's a log:

[mindplay]

Another quick update: I just saw the black flash after rebooting *without* having Chrome open.

I did have Start11's configuration window open though - it's possible these new Win 11 user interfaces use an Edge web control under the hood, not sure.

[mindplay]

I forgot the most important thing, I guess - my product is the Intel ARC 16 GB Limited Edition.

(Is anyone reading this?)

[Andres_Intel]

Hello mindplay,

Thank you for posting on the Intel communities. I see that you are having flashing issues with your Intel® Arc™ A770 Graphics (16GB), I understand how frustrating this can be, I will be happy to help you.  

To have a better understanding of the situation, please answer the following questions: 

• What is the PSU make and model? This is to check the compatibility.
• When did the issue start?
• Did it work before properly? If so, did you make a hardware or software change?

Regards,  

Andres P. 

Intel Customer Support Technician 

[mindplay]

My PSU is an Antec HCG 620M - it only has the 1 lead for the GPU, but I was told 1 would be enough, since I don't overclock. (?)

The issue started immediately - it's a new system, a couple of months old, all components except the box and the PSU are new.

As explained, it did not work with my previous Win 10 Pro install (which was very old) and I'm now running a clean Win 11 install with hardly apps installed yet.

I actually haven't seen the flash these past couple of days, so maybe Chrome or Windows rolled out some sort of update - or maybe the BIOS update fixed it. But it was happening randomly, so I guess we'll see.

The flashing honestly isn't the part that concerns me the most - the DRIVER_POWER_STATE_FAILURE BSOD is the most annoying part right now, when you're trying to do work, and the whole system just reboots.

As shown, I have dump files, if those are any use. Or if there's something I can set up or configure to capture more details next time it happens, let me know.

If there's anything else you could suggest that I could change or turn off temporarily, I'm open to experimenting.

Thanks for trying to help!

[Andres_Intel]

Hello mindplay,

Thank you for your response, all the information provided has been really helpful.

Please follow the steps below and let me know the results:

• Clean install the graphics driver to version 31.0.101.4578 with Display Driver Uninstaller (DDU). For guidance, How to Use the Display Driver Uninstaller (DDU) to Uninstall an Intel® Graphics Driver.
• If the issue persists, repeat the previous steps but this time by downloading the driver version 31.0.101.4644.

Regards,  

Andres P. 

Intel Customer Support Technician

[mindplay]

Alright, I'm now running build 4578 - let's give it a couple of days and see how that goes.

[mindplay]

Okay, so I just had the same BSOD with build 4578.

Will DDU again and install build 4644 now.

I'll let you know how it goes.

[mindplay]

Just for the record, the 4644 driver also upgraded my firmware. (I've never seen another version of the driver do that.)

[mindplay]

So yeah, same BSOD with upgraded firmware and the 4644 driver.

Please let me know what I should try next?

[Andres_Intel]

Hello mindplay,

Thank you for your answer, and for completing the steps.

Just for you to know, not all graphics driver versions include a firmware update, but the driver version 31.0.101.4644 includes it that is why you noticed the change if version.

I will start with an investigation to provide you with the next steps, as soon I have further information I will let you know.

Regards,

Andres P.

Intel Customer Support Technician

[mindplay]

Thank you.

I just lost half an hour of work this morning, so I'm very willing to experiment with my system, or whatever it takes to figure this out - just let me know if there's anything I can do to help isolate the problem, I'll be here.

[mindplay]

I found the pinned post here:

https://community.intel.com/t5/Intel-ARC-Graphics/Need-help-Reporting-a-bug-or-issue-with-Arc-GPU-PLEASE-READ-THIS/m-p/1494429#M5057

I figured I might as well go ahead with the SSU tool right away.

The submit-button in the tool links to this URL, which doesn't work:

https://servicerequestmgmt.intel.com/webticketui/

You might want to have someone look into that.

I did a google search and found the right page though - I logged in, and I can see you've already created a ticket for my issue, so I went ahead and uploaded the SSU report straight away.

I'll see about setting up the registry changes as described in the "Crashing/freezing issues/BSOD" section - as mentioned, I'm not too worried about losing this system. I figured, most likely that's what your people would ask me to do first anyway, so we can figure out for certain whether it's definitely the ARC causing this crash or not.

[Andres_Intel]

Hello mindplay,

Thank you for your time.

I have been working on the investigation to provide you with accurate information, and now I have the following questions:

• I know you have installed the latest version of the graphics driver, just to check if the behavior changes, clean install it using Display Driver Uninstaller (DDU) to version 31.0.101.464. For guidance, How to Use the Display Driver Uninstaller (DDU) to Uninstall an Intel® Graphics Driver.
• Is the flashing happening in chromium based browsers all the time or when you are doing anything specific? In case we need to replicate the issue.
• Is it possible to use the two power ports to discard any issues with that particular configuration?
• Are you using a straight connection and no docking or adapter is being used? We recommend not using adapters.
• What interface and monitor is being used?

Regards,  

Andres P. 

Intel Customer Support Technician 

[mindplay]

Yes, I did do the DDU procedure and clean install the driver both times - so I am already running a clean install of the build 4644 driver, following the exact procedure with reboots and so on.

As mentioned, I have not seen the flashing recently. It's possible that this issue has been resolved by the driver change or the DDU reinstall, I suppose - or maybe an issue with Chrome itself was resolved.

I will let you know if I start to notice the issue again, but currently the BSOD issue is the real problem.

I'm not sure what you mean about the two power ports? My PSU only has the one power lead - that was one reason I picked the A770, I read somewhere the second power lead was optional.

But also, if this was a power issue, wouldn't it occur while gaming, when the card is actually drawing power? As mentioned, I do get crashes while playing Horizon Zero Dawn - but this game is pretty notorious for crashing a lot. And the symptoms are different - when the game crashes, there's no BSOD, it just flat out reboots the system without any warning or error message. (Except for once in a while, when it'll exit to the desktop instead, and there's a prompt to submit the crash information to the game vendor - but that's likely due to other bugs in the game, I would think.)

I don't know what you mean by straight connection versus docking or adapter? The card is plugged directly into the PCI-E port. (I didn't realize there was any other option.)

The monitor is an HP X34 ultrawide QHD running at native resolution and native 165 Hz refresh rate, with HDR enabled, connected via DisplayPort interface.

Let me know if there's anything else I can do or provide.

[mindplay]

By the way, I was just reminded of another issue that points to a possible power management problem.

About every 4th time or so, when I power down my system, everything but the GPU appears to power down correctly - and then the system just sits there and never switches off. I have to press and hold the power button to force it to switch it off.

When this happens, I can hear the physical hard disk drive powering down, the num lock indicator on the keyboard switches off, the monitor powers down, the LED in the base of my mouse switches off, and the light in my USB hub goes out.

Only the GPU remains lit up with the fans still spinning.

(I haven't checked internally to see if the case fans and CPU fan are switching off - I definitely hear something winding down inside the case, but it might just be the HDD, which I can also hear spinning up when it's in use...)

Since both issues appears to be related to power management, maybe these issues could be related?

[mindplay]

One more note:

Tonight, I noticed Edge on my Windows 11 (ARM) tablet has started having the "black flash".

Whatever this bug is, I would guess it's a bug that has been introduced in Chromium - as mentioned, I haven't see it lately on my PC, but now it seems to have arrived with Edge on my Windows 11 tablet.

I think we can safely focus on the crashing problem, as this "black flash" now seems very unlikely to be a GPU driver issue.

[Andres_Intel]

Hello mindplay,

Thank you for your response and for letting me know about it.

I will continue with the investigation to provide you with the next steps, and as soon I have further details I will let you know.

Regards,  

Andres P. 

Intel Customer Support Technician

[Andres_Intel]

Hello mindplay,

Thank you for your time.

I have been working on the investigation, the 6-pin connection is required as well as the 8-pin, without it we can't guarantee the card is going to work correctly.

Intel® Arc™ A750 and A770 Graphics Limited Edition Cards feature 8-pin and 6-pin PCIe power connectors that need to be connected to the system's power supply unit (PSU) connectors.

Note: Both external power connectors are required for operation.

For more information, you can access How to Connect Power to an Intel® Arc™ Graphics Limited Edition Card.

Let me know if you have further questions.

Regards,  

Andres P. 

Intel Customer Support Technician 

[mindplay]

How sure are you about this?

As mentioned, I don't think insufficient power seems like a likely cause - given that the system appears to run under gaming workloads, often for hours at a time without incident, why would simple desktop workloads be enough to crash it?

You understand I'm going to be out $200 for a new PSU, and it's not like I can return that if it doesn't help.

But you're sure about this?