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]

I'm not sure which driver update fixed the "black flash" - it returned with the older 101.4577 driver, and it definitely wasn't present either with the previous 4824 driver, or the current 4826 driver. It might have been fixed already with an earlier version - on august 15, I noted that the "black flash" had stopped. Whatever the current (beta) driver was at the time, it likely fixed it.

As for the BSOD, yes, that still happens - although it seemed to be more frequent with the older 101.4577 driver, maybe 2-5 times a day, as opposed to maybe 0-2 times a day with the latest and previous drivers.

[Andres_Intel]

Hello mindplay,

Thank you for your clarification.

Just for you to know, we are working on the BSOD replication, and as soon I have the results I will let you know.

We appreciate your patience and help. 

Regards,  

Andres P. 

Intel Customer Support Technician 

[mindplay]

Andres,

Sorry to report this, but I just saw the "black flash" again - with the latest 101.4826 driver installed.

It's the first time I've seen it in a long while.

So it's definitely a lot less frequent than it was before - but apparently it's not fixed after all.

[Andres_Intel]

Hello mindplay,

Thank you for keeping me informed, and I am sorry to hear that the black flash issue came back.

Now I will continue working on both issues, for the BSOD issue we still working on the replication, and I will continue working on the investigation for the black flash issue, 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 for you time and patience.

We have been working on the investigation and I just want to let you know that using the GPU with just the 8-pin power cable is not compliant with the hardware requirements and thus we can't guarantee the hardware will work with stability or as designed. Just to make sure one more time, are you using the 1x8-pin & 1x6-pin power cables?

We haven't been able to reproduce the BSOD issue, and considering you see the issue on other devices it is unlikely a GPU or driver issue.

As for the BSOD, we would like to continue with the research please provide us with a memory dump to analyze it by following the steps below:

1. In Control Panel, select System and Security > System.
2. Select Advanced system settings, and then select the Advanced tab.
3. In the Startup and Recovery area, select Settings.
4. Make sure that Complete memory dump is selected under Writing Debugging Information.
5. Restart the computer.

Regards,  

Andres P. 

Intel Customer Support Technician

[mindplay]

Hi Andres,

Yes, I am using the 8+6 pin power cables - sorry for the confusion earlier, I was simply not remembering this correctly.

Just to be 100% certain we're talking about the same thing, here's a photo.

Is there any way to be certain that both of these cables are delivering power as expected?

I have some new information I can add, about the most recent driver update. (101.4826)

I'm now seeing a new symptom, when shutting down my computer - the "shutting down" message from Windows will just sit there and spin for almost 2 full minutes, followed by the same BSOD with the DRIVER_POWER_STATE_FAILURE error code I've been seeing randomly.

To be clear, I'm still getting the random BSOD issue - and now, in addition, when this two-minute delay happens, I always see the BSOD right after, before it powers down. If the delay doesn't happen, there's no BSOD when shutting down.

This happens at least one out of two times when I shut down my computer.

Hopefully this new information tells your team something.

I've enabled "complete memory dump" as you explained - hopefully this will tell us more.

[mindplay]

> considering you see the issue on other devices it is unlikely a GPU or driver issue.

Sorry, I overlooked this line. What do you mean, "on other devices"? I only have the one computer.

The problems began with the GPU - but I suppose I could try to eliminate the GPU, by unplugging it, and using my computer for a few days with just the onboard graphics on the motherboard.

Let me know if you think this would be worth while?

[Andres_Intel]

Hello mindplay,

Thank you for the information provided.

If you want you can test your system with the onboard graphics on the motherboard to check if the issue persists.

With "on other devices" I was referring to the following you previously mentioned the following: "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."

Related to the BSOD once you have the memory dump, please share it with us to analyze it.

Regards,  

Andres P. 

Intel Customer Support Technician

[Andres_Intel]

Hello mindplay,

Were you able to generate the memory dump logs files?   

Let us know if you still need assistance.    

Best regards,   

Andres P.   

Intel Customer Support Technician 

[mindplay]

Hi Andres,

I've attached a dump file to the open support request #05945558.

Let me know if this helps.

Rasmus

[Andres_Intel]

Hello mindplay,

Thank you for sharing the dump files.

We will analyze these files, and as soon I have more details I will let you know. 

Regards,  

Andres P. 

Intel Customer Support Technician 

[Andres_Intel]

Hello mindplay,

Thank you for your waiting time.

I analyzed the dump file and the crash root is located in Failure Bucket ID: "0x9F_3_IMAGE_storahci.sys" related to the Windows Storage driver (i.e. disk drives) and doesn't relate to the Graphics driver or graphics hardware.

Some basic recommendations would be on the motherboard side:

• Download and install the version of chipset drivers.
• Check for any Intel driver installation like Intel Rapid Storage Technology.

For guidance, you can contact the motherboard manufacturer.

Let me know i the issue persists.

Regards,  

Andres P. 

Intel Customer Support Technician

[mindplay]

I went to the manufacturer's website, and discovered a big package of chipset drivers - the installer did not look familiar, I'm pretty sure I never saw or installed that.

So I wonder if what happened is, since the ARC package also installs the Intel Driver & Support Assistant, maybe this decided to install a driver for some other Intel thing on my system? I don't recall what it prompted me to install, but I'm pretty sure I just accepted whatever it wanted to install.

Just for the record, is there any way a "normal person" could have diagnosed and identified this issue without your help?

Is there any diagnostic software or a guide somewhere that would help identify the source of a crash like this?

Because now I feel like I've wasted your time - and I'd really like not to do that to anyone else in the future.

So, thank you, and I apologize for putting you through all this work.

Well, I've installed the manufacturer's chipset driver package, so we'll see if that helps.

[Andres_Intel]

Hello mindplay,

Thank you for your reply.

The only way to know the source of this kind of crashes is with the dump files, you can look for our help every time you have this kind of crashes and we always will be more than glad to help you.

I will wait for the results after the chipset driver, please keep me informed.

Regards,  

Andres P. 

Intel Customer Support Technician 

[Andres_Intel]

Hello mindplay,

Do you have the results after installing the chipset drivers?   

Let us know if you still need assistance.    

Best regards,   

Andres P.   

Intel Customer Support Technician 

[mindplay]

I had one crash on the day I installed the drivers - but I haven't been on the computer much since.

I'll let you know how it goes.

[Andres_Intel]

Hello mindplay, 

Thank you for keeping me informed.

I will wait for you to continue testing your system, once you have the results let me know.

Regards,  

Andres P. 

Intel Customer Support Technician 

[mindplay]

Hi Andres,

So yeah, it's still crashing - though the kernel address seems to have changed, but I suppose that could be due to the most recent Windows kernel update, which I think arrived right around the same time I installed the drivers.

Do you have any idea how to get in touch with MSI or how to approach them about this issue?

[Andres_Intel]

Hello mindplay,

In this case we recommend contacting Microsoft for further troubleshooting, since we have perform all the necessary steps, and we have already made sure that your system is up to date.

For now, 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

[mawer]

I don't know if it helps, but I had a very similar problem. I solved it by going into chrome's settings, on the system page, and disabling 'use hardware acceleration when available'.