Starting to see garbled graphics?

[RobMeade]

Hi all,

In the last couple of days I have started to see some garbled graphics on my new laptop, and I'm a very concerned, its timing is a bit scary as I'm just completing my degrees first year and kinda need the laptop!

So far I've seen this happen in Word and also in Chrome, here's a screenshot from Word;

Closing and re-opening the app seems to resolve it. It was ok before I went out for an hour, left the laptop on, came back, woke it up, Word looked like that.

I've had a brief look online and suggestions seem to be either a) dodgy driver b) failed/failing graphics card.

My NVidia card (RTX 2060) is all up to date with the latest drivers (451.67 - released 09 July 2020), as is Windows.

Just wondering/hoping that someone else has perhaps seen this same issue and found out what it was and can suggest something to resolve it.

I'm a little conscious of doing too much fiddling with an immenient deadline for my work, but at the same time, don't want it to suddenly get worse and make the laptop unusable...

Any help/ideas are gratefully welcomed

 

[SpyderTracks]

If you can uninstall the GPU drivers with DDU:

Display Driver Uninstaller (DDU) V18.0.2.6 Released. - Wagnardsoft Forum

Then reboot and reinstall the latest version direct from nvidia, reboot again and see if it occurs again.

Also, hav you checked thermals on the machine? Test thermals when idle with HWMonitor:

HWMONITOR | Softwares | CPUID

HWMonitor for Windows® x86/x64 is a hardware monitoring program that reads PC systems main health sensors : voltages, temperatures, powers, currents, fans speed, utilizations, clock speeds ... The program handles : CPU and GPU-level hardware monitoring...

www.cpuid.com

 

[barlew]

I think if you sent that picture to PCS mate they would tell you straight away that its a hardware fault.

 

[Tony1044]

It looks more hardware than driver related to me.

DDU is worth a try.

On the plus side that is Word 365 I see so make sure your docs are on OneDrive and at least if it comes to it, you can continue to work on them - even from a browser (even if the web apps are a bit lousy, they do work)

 

[RobMeade]

Hi all,

Thanks for the replies.

One day after posting this and the issue seems to have gone away, in that, it hasn't occurred since.

Prior to the issue there had been updates for both Windows and the graphics card, since then, I think there might have been an update for Windows but nothing else for the graphics card.

It's all quite strange.

Regarding DDU, its not something I've used before, and, I am a little hesitant using stuff like this as I'm unfamiliar with it and I'd worry I may cause more problems than solve etc. Is this specific piece of software well regarded? I see two of you refer to it and you clearly have more experience with this kinda stuff than myself.

Regarding it being a hardware issue, do you think overheating could have been a cause? As I mentioned above, on one occasion it occured after the laptop was woken, so it wasn't like it had been sat there burning away on anything graphically challenging for hours on end.

On that note, I'm not sure if I've had a situtation since where I've woken it up in the same way, gah, that's what I hate about stuff like this, the causes / steps-to-recreate are so varied.

Thanks again for the replies and if you have anything else I'm all ears... at the moment I'm just trying to be cautious... 8 days till my deadline so after that I can perhaps try a few more things if it re-occurs. Sorry also for the delayed reply,... up to my ears in it at this end, sorry, wasn't trying to be rude.

Kind regards

 

[ubuysa]

If you look at the screen image you posted above, the garbled graphics affects only the top part of the application window. The Windows taskbar at the bottom is completely unaffected, as is the bottom of the application window. This could be a hardware issue that affects only the top part of the screen, or it could be a software issue (that may have been fixed by the updates).

What I suggest you do is temporarily move the taskbar to the top of the screen and next time you see the issue look to see whether it affects the taskbar or just the application window. If the former it's a hardware issue, if the latter it's likely software.

To move the taskbar first ensure it's not locked; right-click on the taskbar, select Taskbar Settings and ensure the lock (at the top) is off. Then left-click in a blank area of the taskbar and drag it to the top.

See how that goes.

 

[Tony1044]

Morning Rob

Touch wood it was only a driver issue!

DDU is well regarded - it's just a piece of software that removes all traces of the NVidia (also can handle Intel and AMD) GPU drivers. It's far more effective than just trying to use NVidia or Windows' own uninstallers (which I'm sure you already know can be notoriously poor at clearing up properly).

I'm not personally aware of anyone reporting any issues caused by running it.

I agree that it's not likely to be a heat issue if it happened after waking up.

 

[RobMeade]

So, I've just back in after being out for an hour or so and its happened again, seemingly worse this time, although still constrained to the application window.

I had Unity, Chrome, Word and Explorer open, when I came back in the laptop had gone off, I assumed it was asleep, turns out I'd forgotten to plug it in so it had consumed the entire battery and gone off. I plugged it back in, woke it up, and saw this within the Chrome window (that was the default view it was on, e.g. I didn't get to flick between apps and it stayed)

It's definitely not in the task bar area, and I have now moved the task bar to the top of the screen to further the test should it happen again.

I think the heat issue can be ruled out, although Unity was running, it wasn't really doing anything, I had built a project a couple of hours before which would have hiked the resources but once that had finished it was just sitting there fairly idle.

I clicked on a new tab in order to update this thread and as soon as I did, all of the garbled stuff went away, even when I clicked back to the previous tab, they were all ok.

Whilst it occurred/appeared over/in a different app this time, its coincidental that I had Word open again, I don't expect its related in anyone and just coincidence but I'll try to make a point of closing Word in the future before leaving it to rule that out too.

Thanks both for the further replies, once I get passed the 31st I'll have a play with the DDU thingy-majig, just want to get to my deadline and submit my assessments first before destroying anything

 

[SpyderTracks]

think the heat issue can be ruled out, although Unity was running, it wasn't really doing anything, I had built a project a couple of hours before which would have hiked the resources but once that had finished it was just sitting there fairly idle.

That wouldn’t rule out overheating. Load has no bearing if a unit is overheating, the only way is to take readings.

 

[RobMeade]

Ah, ok, that's interesting. I just assumed that when I did things like a game build, or launched Fortnite etc, where I can actually hear everything revving up and whirring, the loads on the unit must be significant, as all the fans kick in, so I assumed temps must be rising.

I guess what my thinking wouldn't account for would be a scenario where fans weren't working, and the temp was rising but there was no obvious indicators.

Not sure the best way of monitoring the temp really, as so far this issue occurs only when I "come back to" the unit, it hasn't happened whilst I've been sat there using it etc, so my feeling is, even if readings went sky high, I'd not necessarily be sat there to see them and then when I did return to the unit, they may have dropped, so looking at them then wouldn't necessarily match up with the issue occuring.

I suspect there's some clever logging that can be done also, but as I'd not be able to log the garbled graphics it might still be coincidental if the temperature was to have risen and the issue occurred. Tis tricky. I know the fans are working on the unit, as it sounds like a hover craft when they all kick in Today, it was also in a well ventilated room, the window was wide open, bit of a rainy day, so not hot outside etc.

/sidenote - having the taskbar at the top of the screen is boggling my mind!

 

[SpyderTracks]

Ah, ok, that's interesting. I just assumed that when I did things like a game build, or launched Fortnite etc, where I can actually hear everything revving up and whirring, the loads on the unit must be significant, as all the fans kick in, so I assumed temps must be rising.

I guess what my thinking wouldn't account for would be a scenario where fans weren't working, and the temp was rising but there was no obvious indicators.

Not sure the best way of monitoring the temp really, as so far this issue occurs only when I "come back to" the unit, it hasn't happened whilst I've been sat there using it etc, so my feeling is, even if readings went sky high, I'd not necessarily be sat there to see them and then when I did return to the unit, they may have dropped, so looking at them then wouldn't necessarily match up with the issue occuring.

I suspect there's some clever logging that can be done also, but as I'd not be able to log the garbled graphics it might still be coincidental if the temperature was to have risen and the issue occurred. Tis tricky. I know the fans are working on the unit, as it sounds like a hover craft when they all kick in Today, it was also in a well ventilated room, the window was wide open, bit of a rainy day, so not hot outside etc.

/sidenote - having the taskbar at the top of the screen is boggling my mind!

Just monitor temps with HWMonitor

 

[RobMeade]

I'll download this evening and take a look.

As it happens, I just returned from my evening meal and it has happened again.. lol..

This time, the taskbar is at the top, and again doesn't show any garbled stuff on it. Sadly I forgot to close Word before leaving it, so that will have to be a future test.

Within the Chrome window, when I clicked in it to focus/re-focus it, some of the garbled stuff disappeared but left all of the text garbled. Upon opening a new tab (to post here) and then clicking back on the garbled one, it was all cleared up and ok again. I could move the mouse around prior to this and nothing changed, only when I interacted with the app did it refresh/clear.

Obviously I dont have the monitoring software installed yet, although I think the laptop actually has something along those lines already installed, same thing that lets you change the keyboard glowing colours I think, don't really use it. No obvious signs of extreme heat anywhere on the laptop though and no whirring from aggitated fans.

Found it! After some manic func button pressing action... so I'm not going to pretend to know what all of this means, but the temps either side seem reasonable, and presumably it would be more likely to be NVidia one which would be of concern.

 

[SpyderTracks]

I would suggest it's a software issue if redrawing the screen corrects it.

A windows clean install would be the next logical progression.

 

[ubuysa]

I would suggest it's a software issue if redrawing the screen corrects it.

A windows clean install would be the next logical progression.

The unaffected task bar, whether at top or bottom, is clear evidence I believe that this is some sort of software issue.

One way to prove that conclusively would be to download a Linux distro and run it off the USB stick (without installing). No garbled graphics there would be conclusive proof that it's some sort of software issue.

 

[deanparkr]

Things like that look like a GPU issue to me, I expect it happens in Chrome because Chrome is using hardware GPU acceleration.

@ubuysa 's idea of Linux on bootable usb stick is where I would head next also.

 

[ubuysa]

Things like that look like a GPU issue to me, I expect it happens in Chrome because Chrome is using hardware GPU acceleration.

Now that (the hardware acceleration bit) is a good idea. @RobMeade try disabling graphics hardware acceleration in the browser settings and see whether the issues persists.

 

[barlew]

Out of interest have you contacted PCSpecialist and sent them these images?

I have had the same problem that you are experiencing twice with my current laptop (which is currently being repaired) both times i contacted them and sent them images almost identical to yours they said that it was hardware without a doubt.

Last time they replaced the mother board. I'm still waiting for the outcome of the current RMA.