Graphics
Intel® graphics drivers and software, compatibility, troubleshooting, performance, and optimization
20492 Discussions

Bug in 7212 driver build, TB3 eGPU displays black screen when playing games.

odin
Beginner
1,206 Views

As highlighted here, https://forums.intel.com/s/question/0D50P00004Rpl7ySAB/bug-report-for-build-7158-driver-causing-artifacts-in-win-10-pro-1903,

 

The 7212 driver did in fact fix the Win 10 artifact issue that was present in build 7158. But 7212 has a problem where when I hook up my eGPU via TB3 and play a game utilizing it I get no or VERY intermittent display output from it. It looks like if I hit windows key to bring up the task bar i can see it behind that, but as soon as the game is the focus again it disappears. Tried with multiple games.

 

I also tried re-installing 7212 in hopes something just went wrong during installation, didn't fix it.

 

I reinstalled build 7000 and everything is fine again. The system info from the other thread is still the same.

0 Kudos
8 Replies
AndrewG_Intel
Moderator
930 Views

Hello odin,

 

Thank you for posting on the Intel® communities.

 

Thank you for the reference to the previous thread with the reports of the environment.

Please allow me to look into the information and as soon as I have more details I will be posting back on this thread.

 

Andrew G.

Intel Customer Support Technician

A Contingent Worker at Intel

0 Kudos
AndrewG_Intel
Moderator
930 Views

Hello odin,

 

I am still looking into this behavior and after checking the information on the reports there are some details missing in order to understand better the environment. Could you please confirm the following information?

 

1- External GPU enclosure brand and model:

2- Nvidia* RTX 2070 driver version:

3- Display brand and model connected to the external GPU enclosure, and input type (from enclosure to display, is it, for instance, HDMI® to HDMI?)

4- External Display resolution and refresh rate:

5- When connecting the external GPU, are you using single display, clone or extended?

6- Games and versions experiencing the issue:

 

Andrew G.

Intel Customer Support Technician

A Contingent Worker at Intel

0 Kudos
odin
Beginner
930 Views

1 - Sonnet Breakaway Box 550

2 - Using nVIdia driver 436.30 (I've tried many previous revisions though, I noticed there's a new one out today I haven't installed it)

3 - I am using the internal display on the laptop, I don't have an external monitor

4 - 2560x1600 60Hz (internal display)

5 - Using internal display

6 - I tried two, Rage 2 and Divinity: Original Sin II. After reinstalling build 7000 they both worked fine. I didn't try any additional games, but they both exhibited the same symptom of the display being all black, and if I hit the windows key to get the task bar to come to the front with the start menu open the game rendering appeared. When I gave focus back to the game it disappeared. I think I was able to see it very intermittently at one point then it disappeared. Somewhat hard to describe. I tried both borderless windowed fullscreen and exclusive fullscreen in Rage 2, didn't help.

 

I also tried rebooting with the eGPU connected or disconnected, that didn't help, it must be some driver issue with the render output of the eGPU being displayed through the HD 620 on the internal display. A good test of that would probably be to hook it up to an external monitor, but I don't have one I can easily do that with. I will take an educated assumption and say it would work fine.

 

The eGPU setup is extremely stable, I can pretty much connect and disconnect it at any time and it is detected and works stably. Performance, though not as good as an external monitor due to TB3 bandwidth is more than acceptable. I play pretty much everything at the panel's native resolution at very high/ultra details and can usually get 60FPS unless the game is very demanding, even then maybe 35-50 FPS. Playing at higher resolutions is more GPU bound and the hit from the TB3 bandwidth limitation is much lower percentage.

 

I'm happy with driver 7000, just thought I'd report it, so thanks for following up! This setup also worked fine in all the previous driver revisions that have been released since I've had this laptop in April and also the "official" version that's locked to the hardware, I forget which build that is. (except the rendering artifacts in the last version that were fixed in 7212).

 

0 Kudos
AndrewG_Intel
Moderator
930 Views

Hello odin,

 

Thank you very much for the details provided.

Please let me look into this and I will be posting back as soon as I have more details.

 

Regards,

 

Andrew G.

Intel Customer Support Technician

A Contingent Worker at Intel

0 Kudos
AndrewG_Intel
Moderator
930 Views

Hello odin,

 

We would like to thank you once again for all the feedback provided and we are glad to know that you are happy with driver version 26.20.100.7000.

 

The drivers provided by LG* for your Intel component might have been changed or customized. This means the graphics drivers from  downloadcenter.intel.com are generic and they are meant to be used for reference and testing. We recommend using the Original Equipment Manufacturer (OEM, in this case, LG*) drivers so you don’t lose features or customizations. You may check the LG drivers available using this link: LG* Software & Drivers*.

 

We kindly suggest you report this to the laptop manufacturer (LG) so they can customize, test and validate a new driver for this laptop.

 

Regards,

 

Andrew G.

Intel Customer Support Technician

A Contingent Worker at Intel

 

*Links to third party sites and references to third-party trademarks are provided for convenience and illustrative purposes only. Unless explicitly stated, Intel® is not responsible for the contents of such links, and no third party endorsement of Intel® or any of its products is implied.

0 Kudos
odin
Beginner
930 Views

Thanks for your reply.

 

In relation to driver "changes and customization" done by vendors. What kind of customization are possible in regard to this. Do you actually give vendors the driver code or are we talking simple configuration parameters? Do vendors compile their own drivers from source? Is it just a validation exercise against the hardware/vbios embedded in the system bios?

0 Kudos
AndrewG_Intel
Moderator
930 Views

Hello odin,

 

Thank you for your response,

 

Regarding your inquiries, Original Equipment Manufacturers (OEMs) can modify parameters and add their own requirements to the driver and they perform test and validation on their hardware, specially when working with Hybrid graphics configurations which are NOT an Intel design but rather done by OEM with Microsoft®.

 

Andrew G.

Intel Customer Support Technician

A Contingent Worker at Intel

0 Kudos
odin
Beginner
930 Views

Thanks for officially supporting installing new drivers on all hardware! I figured you guys would eventually have to do that if you're releasing discrete GPU AIBs with metal based on the current iGPU architecture. This is fantastic though, thanks for that! 🙂

0 Kudos
Reply