Graphical artifacts with some apps

Community Support
,
1

Started seeing graphical artifacts after installing Windows. (I had been using Linux for several years with no issue.)

Artifacts look like black boxes which appear and disappear rapidly. They only impact certain sections of certain apps, not the whole display.

Some places where the issue is exhibited:

  • Windows Terminal app
  • 1Password
  • Windows Settings > Display > HDR
  • Intel Graphics Command Center > Video tab

Many other apps work just fine. Haven’t seen any issues with Firefox, or most of the builtin Windows apps.

I have a suspicion this is related to hardware accelerated rendering. Seems to happen with anything that is drawn using hardware acceleration, e.g. video playback embedded in apps.

Very interestingly, the issue can be “fixed” by navigating to the Windows “Advanced display” settings, and modifying the refresh rate from 60Hz to 48Hz. The screen blanks for a moment, and when it comes back online the issue is gone. It can be changed back to 60Hz with no issue. Seems like some component (GPU? Display panel? Graphics driver?) just needed a kick in the pants.

I can make the issue repro reliably by locking Windows (Win key + L) and unlocking. After unlocking, the graphical issues come back, and I need to toggle the refresh rate again to fix it.

OS: Windows 11 Pro
Framework Laptop 13, Intel 11th Gen
BIOS: 3.20

2

Try pressing Ctrl + Shift + Win + B next time you encounter the issue. This refreshes the graphics driver and should resolve your issue until you lock it again.

As for a permanent resolution, I would recommend checking if there are any newer driver bundles that you haven’t yet installed. If there are, try installing them to see if the issue goes away. If not, try getting the latest driver from Intel, although there may be some customizations that Framework put in place that may break. If you encounter any issues on the driver from Intel, roll it back by running the driver bundle or uninstalling it in device manager then running the driver bundle.

3

I already had the latest driver bundle from Framework. But I went to Intel’s website and there was an even newer version of the graphics driver - 32.0.101.6299. After installing, the glitches are gone. Thanks for the suggestion!

1 Like