RTX 3000 Series artifacts, black squares that flicker in desktop and 2D mode

[ThirtyNinety]

If it's a hardware problem, why the problem resolves after restart? And why there is no glitch in the bios screen?

I think even the people who said here before it’s certainly a hardware issue, are quiet in this thread for a long time now. Because some here have replaced their gpu already multiple times.

In MODS/MATS = nvidia bootable usb tool for diagnosing/stressing the vram en core, I get 100% pass including all vram banks for huge transfers, so hardware is fine.
In Windows I also haven’t seen the issue anymore since the day of my first post here.
And above all, someone was able to reproduce it in Windows using software which tampers with the Nvidia driver.

So…

 

[ZG370]

Sorry about the translation software I used:

Yes!!!, my RTX 3080 12G is the same as you described.
It occurs after power on. If it does not occur after power on, it will not occur.
The small square is usually triggered when using the browser or on desktop.
If I continue to use the computer, the nvidia driver will restart, and even the computer will automatically reboot.reboot computer will return to normal.
this issue happens about once a month for my computer. But I runing the game and test is normally.
I used MATS software to test the VRAM.The result is normal.
This issue occurs on my two 3080 12Gs. They are different brands, one is colorful RTX3080 12G ADOC, and the other is MSI 3080 12G suprim X.
Our descriptions are so consistent, and I have seen a lot of the same examples on the Internet. I can't remember how many.
So I think this is a nvidia Driver bug in 2D mode.

So I actually created a similar issue with mine today. I did a full shutdown and booted back into the BIOS. Did a case reset, loaded up the default values (no DRAM profiles) and rebooted. Then directly back into the bios. Loaded my old profiles but made one change which was disabling the Serial Com port. Rebooted into Windows 11 normal but then suddenly got the rectangle artifacts. Then the PC just rebooted on its own, no BSOD. I updated the NVidia driver on my RTX 3060 and rebooted. The problem hasn't returned. I've never seen this before but it only occurred after I went into the BIOS and did the things I mentioned previously. Also never had this PC just reboot on its own with no Windows warning or BSOD. Somewhere there was a hardware/Windows conflict when it rebooted into Windows the first time. And BTW, I left that serial port disabled so that wasn't it. I also don't think it was a graphics driver problem.

I think these motherboard BIOS's become unstable from time to time. I did a full case reset and BIOS default/reboot thing because it always fixes a problem with the on-board Realtek NIC occasionally not loading up after the system comes out of sleep/hibernation. A full shut down with the power supply button off along with a BIOS case reset is the only thing that fixes that issue. This time, I did a couple additional things and created this stability problem at the motherboard level, which affected Windows in two ways. One with the rectangles and two, with the sudden reboot. If I see this again, I'm going to swap out the DRAM modules and see if maybe that's the source of my instability. Maybe the DRAM stick's EMP's are being affected over time and especially when the PC comes out of sleep mode.

 

[ThirtyNinety]

So I actually created a similar issue with mine today. I did a full shutdown and booted back into the BIOS. Did a case reset, loaded up the default values (no DRAM profiles) and rebooted. Then directly back into the bios. Loaded my old profiles but made one change which was disabling the Serial Com port. Rebooted into Windows 11 normal but then suddenly got the rectangle artifacts. Then the PC just rebooted on its own, no BSOD. I updated the NVidia driver on my RTX 3060 and rebooted. The problem hasn't returned. I've never seen this before but it only occurred after I went into the BIOS and did the things I mentioned previously. Also never had this PC just reboot on its own with no Windows warning or BSOD. Somewhere there was a hardware/Windows conflict when it rebooted into Windows the first time. And BTW, I left that serial port disabled so that wasn't it. I also don't think it was a graphics driver problem.

I think these motherboard BIOS's become unstable from time to time. I did a full case reset and BIOS default/reboot thing because it always fixes a problem with the on-board Realtek NIC occasionally not loading up after the system comes out of sleep/hibernation. A full shut down with the power supply button off along with a BIOS case reset is the only thing that fixes that issue. This time, I did a couple additional things and created this stability problem at the motherboard level, which affected Windows in two ways. One with the rectangles and two, with the sudden reboot. If I see this again, I'm going to swap out the DRAM modules and see if maybe that's the source of my instability. Maybe the DRAM stick's EMP's are being affected over time and especially when the PC comes out of sleep mode.

I do not believe in a problem with any hardware like DRAM, as this would cause other issues then just the Nvidia driver crashing.

These rectangles and the auto-reboot right after, due to BSOD'ing is certainly one and the same problem: the driver is occasionally slipping away. You surely can verify this by checking the aforementioned logging. And this is also proven by the fact that when you are fast enough to shutdown/reboot the pc as soon as you see the rectangles, the freeze or BSOD has never enough time to initiate, so nothing bad of that kind happens.

BTW: also I never use sleep mode/fast startup, and do not recommend it, as it is known/more likely to cause problems, compared to a proper shutdown.

 

[ZG370]

I do not believe in a problem with any hardware like DRAM, as this would cause other issues then just the Nvidia driver crashing.

These rectangles and the auto-reboot right after, due to BSOD'ing is certainly one and the same problem: the driver is occasionally slipping away. You surely can verify this by checking the aforementioned logging. And this is also proven by the fact that when you are fast enough to shutdown/reboot the pc as soon as you see the rectangles, the freeze or BSOD has never enough time to initiate, so nothing bad of that kind happens.

BTW: also I never use sleep mode/fast startup, and do not recommend it, as it is known/more likely to cause problems, compared to a proper shutdown.

I wanted to post a reply because it seems I actually created this situation and can trace back my steps that seemed to lead to it. Reading your reply however did make me think that my issues with the Realtek NIC is likely related to Windows sleep/hibernation and how those power saver technologies actually create instability. I've spent more time troubleshooting problems due to power saving glitches than anything else.

 

[chrcoluk]

On my GTX 970 I used to get red squares showing in some games, it was fixed by a custom bios I made which bumped the voltages at each step.

 

[ThirtyNinety]

On my GTX 970 I used to get red squares showing in some games, it was fixed by a custom bios I made which bumped the voltages at each step.

sure, seen it before, f.i. after doing a bios mod which i shouldn’t have done But this is a totally different one.

 

[chrcoluk]

sure, seen it before, f.i. after doing a bios mod which i shouldn’t have done But this is a totally different one.

Was a complete lottery loser of a card, boost clocks were pretty low and even then wasnt stable in shipped state. Couldnt be bothered to RMA so stabilised it with the bios mod.

 

[Zer0code]

Sorry for the bad English.
I have RTX 3060 EVGA and I see strange glitch in browsers, especially where there is video on pause or when rewinding video. On such pages you can often cause a glitch that breaks the rendering of the page. On such sites glitches appear when you scroll, when you drag the cursor over the links, when you rewind the video. There are no glitches on sites that do not have video or special graphic effects such as dimming, etc. In games I have not seen any problems. Check out my video, the gliches are indicated by timecodes.

Glitches and artifacts timecode: 1:03, 1:23, 1:32 (!!!), 1:54, 2:05, 2:14 (!!!), 4:57, 5:45, 5:51, 5:54 (!!!), I think glitches somehow related to GPU acceleration + when the video card is in the minimum frequency state (p8 state). What can it be? Is it a video card defect?

 

[pavle]

Interesting, has to do something with the architecture, such squares can easily be observed on nvKepler GPU's (104 and even 110B at times), but only when loading a picture or new page, not as errors.
Perhaps nvidia would have to respin the 30x0 chips, but didn't and this is the result.
Is your chip A0 revision?

 

[Zer0code]

Is your chip A0 revision?

No, GPU-z says A1

 

[itsakjt]

I can confirm I have had this issue 2 or 3 times since I got my RTX 3070. No overclocking done. Just random out of the blue.

 

[lordofrandy]

rtx 3080ti FE. Had this issue on and off since I got the card. It happens about once a month or so. No idea what causes it at this point, i've tried rebooting my computer a bunch of times to simulate a months worth of startups. Nothing.

 

[pavle]

rtx 3080ti FE. Had this issue on and off since I got the card. It happens about once a month or so. No idea what causes it at this point, i've tried rebooting my computer a bunch of times to simulate a months worth of startups. Nothing.

What chip revision do you have (what does it say in GPU-Z)?

 

[lordofrandy]

What chip revision do you have (what does it say in GPU-Z)?

A1

 

[pavle]

Interesting, the chips all seem to be A1 I wonder which rev. 3050, 3090 are...perhaps there is a pattern.

 

[Zer0code]

rtx 3080ti FE. Had this issue on and off since I got the card. It happens about once a month or so. No idea what causes it at this point, i've tried rebooting my computer a bunch of times to simulate a months worth of startups. Nothing.

Do you have the same artifacts as in my video or different?

 

[Chomiq]

Interesting, the chips all seem to be A1 I wonder which rev. 3050, 3090 are...perhaps there is a pattern.

3080 Ti FE, no artifacts.

 

[lordofrandy]

Do you have the same artifacts as in my video or different?

The artifacts I have are the ones from the very first post on this thread.

 

[Tarkovski]

What can it be? Is it a video card defect?

I get exactly the same artifacts on desktop, mostly streaming or on Youtube, never on load or playing. It happens to me on both 3090 and a 3060.
I have tested with a thousand drivers and always get the same errors with geometric patterns. I am really upset.

If you find a solution or Nvidia tells you something, please let me know.

PS: i7-13700K + ASUS TUF GAMING Z790-PLUS D4 + G.Skill Trident Z Neo DDR4-3600 CL16 32GB

 

[Zer0code]

If you find a solution or Nvidia tells you something, please let me know.

Okay.

 

[UltiZA]

Man am I relieved to have found this thread. I got my RTX 3080 TUF last year in July and it's been great, but I also recently started have artifacting in windows, browsing google, Discord and watching youtube. But it never ever happens when the GPU is under load. I play A LOT of games and also have a sim rig that runs 3x monitors so the GPU can get pegged to 100% quite a lot, but never ever had a game crash nor seen any artifacts in games itself. I'm getting the feeling that it's either a Windows update or Nvidia driver update that caused this? I'm also running completely stock settings on the card.

What I don't understand is that it happens COMPLETELY random. I haven't found a way of forcing it to happen, through overclocking or anything. I could got a week or 2 without seeing it happen, then it randomly pops up again.

 

[Tarkovski]

Has anyone contacted Nvidia (forums) commenting on these problems?

 

[UltiZA]

Has anyone contacted Nvidia (forums) commenting on these problems?

Made a post on forum real quick https://www.nvidia.com/en-us/geforc...idia-drivers-causing-artifacting-for-number-/

 

[Tarkovski]

Made a post on forum real quick https://www.nvidia.com/en-us/geforc...idia-drivers-causing-artifacting-for-number-/

Perfect! I will write in the next few days. I will try to include videos and examples of the artifacts

 

[Bomby569]

When the GPU is under heavy load the fans are also at higher speeds, when the card is almost at idle the fans are very slow or even at idle, this logic that it can't be the vram because it doesn't happen at full load doesn't make sense to me.
With the card at idle the vram is getting little to no fresh air.

This is most likely a vram issue specific to whatever is happening to those cards. What is the vram clock speed when this happens, when the machine is idle? There is issues with vram clock speeds at 100% even at idle in certain situations with amd, nvidia and even intel cards. Has anyone opened these cards to see the thermal pads? etc...

This has nothing to do with drivers.