Screen flickering

[geost77]

A friend got second hand small form factor PC - HP ProDesk 705 G2 DM - with i5-4570T (with HD Graphics 4600).

 

I had Windows 10 installed on it and soon I notices screen start to flicker - went black for half a second, up to a second ... and then all normal. Expected that it is for soem Windows updates related to GPU. So I ignored that. But all this continued later. Sometimes 4-5 times per 5 few minutes, sometimes 10-15 min no flickering.

Trying to locate the issue - is it monitor, DP cable, PC or drivers. Next time I go to my friend at least I can bring new cable. As all parts are second hand I am not sure what may be an issue, but I think it may be drivers, but no idea why.

 

Used DDU in safe mode to uninstall drivers set by Windows. It was some Intel driver from January 2020. Downloaded latest driver from Intel website and installed. Checked with GPU-Z and I see driver is from August 2020. But 2 min later I again got black screen for a second as nothing changed. A moment later again and I saw Windows replaced driver back to one from January 2020 ! WTF ! Why Windows keeps rolling back driver to some older one ... I can't test with latest one.

Only idea I have next time I go to my friend (as all over for today) is to just unplug internet so Windows can't get new driver .. if not kept cached somewhere and still replace my latest drivers. So I can check if screen flicker with latest driver. But I think it did, even before Winwodws replaced with old one.

If so - and if not driver - it will be hard to detect. As said I can replace DP cable. But if it is that second hand monitor I will need to bring other monitor. Same for computer - to use other one to see if it is port at computer or something.

I also noticed USB ports at that PC do somethinfg similar. Sometimes my USB flash drive just unplug and re-plug and I get one after other notifications new drive plugged in. While flash drive is just sitting there. So I am worried it may be the PC itself acting faulty at USB and DP ports, or all ports in general.

 

Suggestions how to proceed next time ? What to do about Winodows insisting to install older driver ? Any solution to stop that behavior and keep latest driver I manually instaled ?

[v0id]

8 hours ago, geost77 said:

A friend got second hand small form factor PC - HP ProDesk 705 G2 DM - with i5-4570T (with HD Graphics 4600).

 

I had Windows 10 installed on it and soon I notices screen start to flicker - went black for half a second, up to a second ... and then all normal. Expected that it is for soem Windows updates related to GPU. So I ignored that. But all this continued later. Sometimes 4-5 times per 5 few minutes, sometimes 10-15 min no flickering.

Trying to locate the issue - is it monitor, DP cable, PC or drivers. Next time I go to my friend at least I can bring new cable. As all parts are second hand I am not sure what may be an issue, but I think it may be drivers, but no idea why.

 

Used DDU in safe mode to uninstall drivers set by Windows. It was some Intel driver from January 2020. Downloaded latest driver from Intel website and installed. Checked with GPU-Z and I see driver is from August 2020. But 2 min later I again got black screen for a second as nothing changed. A moment later again and I saw Windows replaced driver back to one from January 2020 ! WTF ! Why Windows keeps rolling back driver to some older one ... I can't test with latest one.

Only idea I have next time I go to my friend (as all over for today) is to just unplug internet so Windows can't get new driver .. if not kept cached somewhere and still replace my latest drivers. So I can check if screen flicker with latest driver. But I think it did, even before Winwodws replaced with old one.

If so - and if not driver - it will be hard to detect. As said I can replace DP cable. But if it is that second hand monitor I will need to bring other monitor. Same for computer - to use other one to see if it is port at computer or something.

I also noticed USB ports at that PC do somethinfg similar. Sometimes my USB flash drive just unplug and re-plug and I get one after other notifications new drive plugged in. While flash drive is just sitting there. So I am worried it may be the PC itself acting faulty at USB and DP ports, or all ports in general.

 

Suggestions how to proceed next time ? What to do about Winodows insisting to install older driver ? Any solution to stop that behavior and keep latest driver I manually instaled ?

Rule out the easiest options first, so go ahead and try a different cable and a different monitor. If the problem persists you can try a factory reset, at least that way everything will be from a clean slate. When it comes to drivers, you can try getting a hold of the manufacturer of the motherboard and grabbing the drivers from their website directly...even if they're older they were designed to work specifically witih that board. Might be a long shot but worth trying at least. If the problem STILL hasn't gone away, then yeah it might be a motherboard or I/O issue. 

[geost77]

On 12/24/2020 at 8:23 AM, v0id said:

Rule out the easiest options first, so go ahead and try a different cable and a different monitor. If the problem persists you can try a factory reset, at least that way everything will be from a clean slate. When it comes to drivers, you can try getting a hold of the manufacturer of the motherboard and grabbing the drivers from their website directly...even if they're older they were designed to work specifically witih that board. Might be a long shot but worth trying at least. If the problem STILL hasn't gone away, then yeah it might be a motherboard or I/O issue. 

Good idea about drivers from manifacturer. Unfortunately I think I am unable to find drivers tehre. They have only for AMD and Nvidia, but not for one with integrated intel GPU. So I still have to use one from Intel directly. And Windows still decide and replace it with older one. But I think it flicker even with new driver in 5 min before Windows replace it.

 

I just got an idea (as cable is fine, I can teke mine, but to bring monitor to my friend's home will not be as easy) ... I think I may try Linux (live USB for example) and check if with Linux and drivers there for 1-2 hours we get flickering or not. If that is DP port, cable monitor or some hardware issue - we must have flickering at Linux too, right ? If none - then it is Windows 10 drivers issue and I have to find proper drivers and solution to stop Windows overwrite them.

[geost77]

I had drivers removed (DDU) and installed drivers from manifacturer. And it still blinks ... Same cable and monitor at other old computer - no issues.
Based on other advices I found - tested and Task manager also blinks - so it must not be any other software, even it was clean Win, but drivers ... but no matter of drivers I place - allow Windows default, latest from Intel or latest from Pc manifacturer - it always blinks :(

PS: I did force stop Windows updating drivers, used also Microsoft tool for that from Microsoft website. And it blinks, I checked - drivers are manifacturer ones, not replaced by Windows.

I think I will give up and only solution is to return that PC, but I think they will not accept warranty replacement or fix, as they shipped without Windows and stated warranty is only for hardware. And under Linux no blinking ... just Windows.

[v0id]

11 hours ago, geost77 said:

I had drivers removed (DDU) and installed drivers from manifacturer. And it still blinks ... Same cable and monitor at other old computer - no issues.
Based on other advices I found - tested and Task manager also blinks - so it must not be any other software, even it was clean Win, but drivers ... but no matter of drivers I place - allow Windows default, latest from Intel or latest from Pc manifacturer - it always blinks

PS: I did force stop Windows updating drivers, used also Microsoft tool for that from Microsoft website. And it blinks, I checked - drivers are manifacturer ones, not replaced by Windows.

I think I will give up and only solution is to return that PC, but I think they will not accept warranty replacement or fix, as they shipped without Windows and stated warranty is only for hardware. And under Linux no blinking ... just Windows.

As a last resort you can do a either a full system reset or try system restore and see if there's a point where everything was working.