Youtube, Discord, Visual Studio Code are flickering with black checkered squares/vertical lines. Partial solutions to this issue.

[KsushaTeaKisa]

Hi all,

Just a small correction to KsushaTeaKisa's notes:

The Discord, VSCode and Steam apps use Electron. Electron uses Chromium. And the bug is in Chromium. That is why you see this bug in those apps. And you also see this bug in the Chrome, Opera and Edge browsers, because those use Chromium as well.

My current theory is that there might be something going wrong in Chromium's task scheduler that causes this bug when a video is playing while an additional graphical change is rendered on the webpage with a lower framerate than the display framerate. (Like the ambient light effect that is only rendered once per second or a few seconds.)
I think this goes wrong because Chromium's scheduler is finetuned for a display framerate of 60Hz. For example, when you have a monitor that runs at a higher refreshrate combined with those graphical changes, the video will play with stutters and framedrops. This happens because Chromium's task scheduler renders video frames to late sometimes: Chromium bug 1433124. So, I suspect that the incorrectly scheduled rendering of some video frame's in Chromium combined with the DirectComposition Video Overlays of the NVidia driver could sometimes set Chromium in a tricky state. A state where Chromium is decoding/rendering a new video frame while the NVidia driver is displaying the currently decoded/rendered video frame to the monitor. (This could also explain why you sometimes see black checkered artifacts and sometimes checkered artifacts that contain the previous video frame. Because some video's use i-frames and b-frames. I-frames are constructed from data in the previous video frame which could hint to those checkered artifacts that contain previous video frames. And b-frames are rendered from scratch which could hint to those black checkered artifacts. More info about video decoding can be found here: Video compression)

Anyway, because I've gathered some additional information via that other bug that I found last week, related to the checkered artifacts: Chromium bug 1433124 And because the reproduction of this bug seems to be the hardest hurdle at the moment. I'll (after 2,5 years ) once again attempt to create a solid test case this week. (But I won't promise that I will succeed).

PS: Some info about my setup:
GPU: NVidia RTX 2070 Super
CPU: Intel 6700K
Monitor: 1440p @ 144Hz

Thanks for the corrections! I'm glad you came here =)

P.S:
If it is somehow useful, info about my setup:
GPU: Nvidia RTX 2060 Super
CPU: AMD Ryzen 5 5500
Monitor: 1080p @ 75Hz, HDMI connection, without any technologies like GSync/Freesync etc.

 

[ThirtyNinety]

A bit missing in the theory, is this Chromium bug now DX11-related, or can it happen too with OpenGL angle enabled, or still unsure?

 

[Zer0code]

A bit missing in the theory, is this Chromium bug now DX11-related, or can it happen too with OpenGL angle enabled, or still unsure?

No artifacts in OpenGL mode! Tested during a month of using the browser in this mode and everything is fine! But if I switch to DX11 api there immediately appear artifacts in some work scenarios where there is video on the page.

 

[ThirtyNinety]

No artifacts in OpenGL mode! Tested during a month of using the browser in this mode and everything is fine! But if I switch to DX11 api there immediately appear artifacts in some work scenarios where there is video on the page.

OK, thanks. Thus no driver timeouts as well then, at least that is what I would suspect.
So: switching to OpenGL does not seem a problem to me, my desktop GPU can handle that as well, and I see no difference in the image nor in the performance here.

Or are there still some caveats (working on a notebook/slower system excluded)?

Choose the graphics backend for ANGLE. D3D11 is used on most Windows computers by default. Using the OpenGL driver as the graphics backend may result in higher performance in some graphics-heavy applications, particularly on NVIDIA GPUs. It can increase battery and memory usage of video playback. – Windows

 

[Spiffciu]

I have the same problem. Only chromium based browsers - only with GPU acceleration on, only when tab with video is opened.
"Choose ANGLE graphics backend" works for me, but... only in D3D9. On others i have glitches/artifacts.

I have Lenovo Legion 5 17ACH6 laptop - GPU only NVIDIA® GeForce RTX™ 3050 4GB GDDR6, Boost Clock 1500 / 1740MHz, TGP 95W
AMD Ryzen™ 5 5600H (6C / 12T, 3.3 / 4.2GHz, 3MB L2 / 16MB L3)).
All drivers from OEM manufacture Lenovo is updated.

I have no problem in other softwares - ADOBE Photoshop, After effects, games etc.
Firefox works great, but all chromium based browsers have those artifacts

- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SgJb3FiBhUg

- https://youtu.be/z31HVjYezDI

I'm was getting worrired this is something with my computer :-( I was devastated and broken...
But i see there is more people with those artifacts/glitches. You gave me hope guys, thank you

 

[Zer0code]

I have the same problem. Only chromium based browsers - only with GPU acceleration on, only when tab with video is opened.
"Choose ANGLE graphics backend" works for me, but... only in D3D9. On others i have glitches/artifacts.

I have Lenovo Legion 5 17ACH6 laptop - GPU only NVIDIA® GeForce RTX™ 3050 4GB GDDR6, Boost Clock 1500 / 1740MHz, TGP 95W
AMD Ryzen™ 5 5600H (6C / 12T, 3.3 / 4.2GHz, 3MB L2 / 16MB L3)).
All drivers from OEM manufacture Lenovo is updated.

I have no problem in other softwares - ADOBE Photoshop, After effects, games etc.
Firefox works great, but all chromium based browsers have those artifacts

- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SgJb3FiBhUg

- https://youtu.be/z31HVjYezDI

I'm was getting worrired this is something with my computer :-( I was devastated and broken...
But i see there is more people with those artifacts/glitches. You gave me hope guys, thank you

View attachment 293455

Are the artifacts the same or different in OpenGL mode?

 

[Spiffciu]

Are the artifacts the same or different in OpenGL mode?

Same - some random weird "boxes"

 

[KsushaTeaKisa]

I have the same problem. Only chromium based browsers - only with GPU acceleration on, only when tab with video is opened.
"Choose ANGLE graphics backend" works for me, but... only in D3D9. On others i have glitches/artifacts.

I have Lenovo Legion 5 17ACH6 laptop - GPU only NVIDIA® GeForce RTX™ 3050 4GB GDDR6, Boost Clock 1500 / 1740MHz, TGP 95W
AMD Ryzen™ 5 5600H (6C / 12T, 3.3 / 4.2GHz, 3MB L2 / 16MB L3)).
All drivers from OEM manufacture Lenovo is updated.

I have no problem in other softwares - ADOBE Photoshop, After effects, games etc.
Firefox works great, but all chromium based browsers have those artifacts

- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SgJb3FiBhUg

- https://youtu.be/z31HVjYezDI

I'm was getting worrired this is something with my computer :-( I was devastated and broken...
But i see there is more people with those artifacts/glitches. You gave me hope guys, thank you

View attachment 293455

Hi, Spifficiu

May I ask you to follow these steps and reproduce this issue again?

1. Right-click on the Start button located in the taskbar, then click on Settings
2. Inside the Settings menu, click on System from the left-side list, then access Display
3. After that, scroll down through the Display menu until you find Graphics (under Related settings), then click on it
4. Click on Change default graphics settings (under Default settings)
5. Disable the toggle associated with Hardware-accelerated GPU scheduling
6. Reboot your laptop
7. Go to this page and download mpo_disable.reg file
8. Open this file and apply
9. Reboot your laptop again
10. Try to reproduce artifacts on OpenGL and Dx11

 

[Spiffciu]

Hi, Spifficiu

May I ask you to follow these steps and reproduce this issue again?

1. Right-click on the Start button located in the taskbar, then click on Settings
2. Inside the Settings menu, click on System from the left-side list, then access Display
3. After that, scroll down through the Display menu until you find Graphics (under Related settings), then click on it
4. Click on Change default graphics settings (under Default settings)
5. Disable the toggle associated with Hardware-accelerated GPU scheduling
6. Reboot your laptop
7. Go to this page and download mpo_disable.reg file
8. Open this file and apply
9. Reboot your laptop again
10. Try to reproduce artifacts on OpenGL and Dx11

Even if i don't have flickering effect? I have only those "boxes" - look my YT videos.
I'm affraid that this mpo_disable will add new problems.

 

[KsushaTeaKisa]

Even if i don't have flickering effect? I have only those "boxes" - look my YT videos.
I'm affraid that this mpo_disable will add new problems.

Yes, please try these steps.
Otherwise, you can always use mpo_restore.reg file after these steps if this issue get worse. I have some thoughts, but I will tell about them in case if after these steps the issue disappears. Enabled MPO can do worse in case of your laptop.

 

[Spiffciu]

Yes, please try these steps.
Otherwise, you can always use mpo_restore.reg file after these steps if this issue get worse. I have some thoughts, but I will tell about them in case if after these steps the issue disappears. Enabled MPO can do worse in case of your laptop.

Done it - everything looks the same :-(

 

[ThirtyNinety]

Done it - everything looks the same :-(

But these artifacts happen only in the browser right? Not happening on the Windows desktop/explorer environment?
Edit: nvm, I see in your video's these also happen on your desktop. You should kill dwm.exe in task manager while seeing the artifacts and check if these artifacts disappear immediately by doing that. If they do, you are sure it's not a hardware problem. After doing this you will need to sign out with Ctrl + Alt + Delete and re-login to let recreate the dwm.exe process.

 

[Spiffciu]

But these artifacts happen only in the browser right? Not happening on the Windows desktop/explorer environment?

Yes, only in browsers with chromium engine.
In Firefox I don't have any artifacts.

Other programs for graphics - like Photoshop, After Effects, Blender etc. Everything works absolutely great.
No problem with games, windows apps, VLC etc. Zero artifacts on desktop and any environment.

 

[ThirtyNinety]

Yes, only in browsers with chromium engine.
In Firefox I don't have any artifacts.

Other programs for graphics - like Photoshop, After Effects, Blender etc. Everything works absolutely great.
No problem with games, windows apps, VLC etc. Zero artifacts on desktop and any environment.

Hmm, is this not your system then?

I see clearly the artifacts leaving the browser, and affecting your Windows desktop at this moment.

 

[Spiffciu]

Hmm, is this not your system then?

I see clearly the artifacts leaving the browser, and affecting your Windows desktop at this moment.

Ach... This effects if from my very, very, very... very bad phone camera, hehe ;-)

It looks the same like in the first video - but I had to record a second video and I used a weak phone camera.

 

[ThirtyNinety]

Ach... This effects if from my very, very, very... very bad phone camera, hehe ;-)

Ah ok. Yeah in that case, ignore what I said about dwm.exe as this problem is indeed logged here in the correct thread.

 

[KsushaTeaKisa]

Done it - everything looks the same :-(

Then my theory failed which is related beetween VEGA and MPO.
The only detail that confuses me is that OpenGL does not help you, but perhaps this is some kind of "feature" of the laptop or just another conflict with the drivers. In any case, we all need to wait for this bug to be fixed.
I don't think there is any problem with your laptop, play and enjoy games and tea


P.S. It's weird that you don't have artifacts in Firefox because you said that OpenGL doesn't help you. Firefox browser always uses OpenGL.

 

[MarsM4N]

I had a similar issue years ago, but with a AMD card. If I remember correctly, it was a GPU driver issue. The card didn't clock up to 3D speeds when required but stayed in 2D, resulting in artefacts.

You can try out if that's the root of the issue by f.e. running a game windowed in the background or raising GPU speeds manually (f.e. with MSI Afterburner) & see if it goes away. It could even be enough if you open your applications in full screen, which should raise your clocks. Of course that's just a bandaid and you need to wait for a Nvidia driver fix.

 

[ThirtyNinety]

Yes, only in browsers with chromium engine.
In Firefox I don't have any artifacts.

Other programs for graphics - like Photoshop, After Effects, Blender etc. Everything works absolutely great.
No problem with games, windows apps, VLC etc. Zero artifacts on desktop and any environment.

Did you also already check if the artifacts are related to HAGS?
There are multiple levels where you can manipulate this.
Previous time I had the artifacts, I could not check this as it requires a reboot anyway, and then I would have lost the option to find the cause of the artifacts (HAGS is always enabled here)

How do you disable hardware-accelerated GPU scheduling via the command line in Windows 10/11?

I need to disable, programmatically, hardware-accelerated GPU scheduling in Windows if it's enabled. Searching, I was pointed at the HKLM\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\GraphicsDrivers - HwSchMode

superuser.com

Changing the Behavior of the GPU Scheduler for Debugging - Windows drivers

Changing the Behavior of the GPU Scheduler for Debugging

learn.microsoft.com

 

[Spiffciu]

P.S. It's weird that you don't have artifacts in Firefox because you said that OpenGL doesn't help you. Firefox browser always uses OpenGL.

Yes, this is weird - I've used Firefox for couple of weeks, and no glitches - with GPU acceleration on/off, and... everything works perfect. But I like Edge more than FF

I don't think there is any problem with your laptop, play and enjoy games and tea

Thank you! - it's a relief

...
ThirtyNinety - with GPU acceleration off, and "ANGLE graphics backend" set to default - I have no glitches.

Thank you all for response. So... I have to wait for the drivers updates. I am happy that this is not my computer fault.
All the best for you guys, and sorry for my bad English. Much love from Poland

 

[ThirtyNinety]

Yes, this is weird - I've used Firefox for couple of weeks, and no glitches - with GPU acceleration on/off, and... everything works perfect. But I like Edge more than FF


Thank you! - it's a relief

...
ThirtyNinety - with GPU acceleration off, and "ANGLE graphics backend" set to default - I have no glitches.

Thank you all for response. So... I have to wait for the drivers updates. I am happy that this is not my computer fault.
All the best for you guys, and sorry for my bad English. Much love from Poland

aha so your problem looks clearly related to enabling HAGS. thank you too for the valuable information.

 

[Zer0code]

Hmm, is this not your system then?

I see clearly the artifacts leaving the browser, and affecting your Windows desktop at this moment.

In the video, the moiré effect, the grid structure of the monitor matrix and the grid structure of the camera matrix lead to such a result during video recording!

 

[ThirtyNinety]

Just found another interesting use case that Google Chrome, even when set on OpenGL angle, can behave very weird when hardware acceleration is enabled.

I was checking this page, and started to play the video (second tile just below the image on the left):

Star Wars - Black Series Replica 1/1 Force FX Elite Lightsaber - Speelfiguur | bol

Star Wars - Black Series Replica 1/1 Force FX Elite Lightsaber - Speelfiguur. Voeg deze black series replica van de “Force FX Elite Lightsaber” van...

www.bol.com

Here with the newest Nvidia drivers and a Chrome which is completely up to date, the whole browser starts to flicker as soon as the video plays.
When i disable hardware acceleration in chrome and perform the necessary relaunch, the problem is already fixed. In no other browsers like Firefox or MS Edge, I have this same problem.
Also when I set Chrome back on the default Dx11, the flickering is gone.

So indeed using OpenGL will have its drawbacks, it is NOT a real solution.

 

[Zer0code]

Just found another interesting use case that Google Chrome, even when set on OpenGL angle, can behave very weird when hardware acceleration is enabled.

I was checking this page, and started to play the video (second tile just below the image on the left):

Star Wars - Black Series Replica 1/1 Force FX Elite Lightsaber - Speelfiguur | bol

Star Wars - Black Series Replica 1/1 Force FX Elite Lightsaber - Speelfiguur. Voeg deze black series replica van de “Force FX Elite Lightsaber” van...

www.bol.com

Here with the newest Nvidia drivers and a Chrome which is completely up to date, the whole browser starts to flicker as soon as the video plays.
When i disable hardware acceleration in chrome and perform the necessary relaunch, the problem is already fixed. In no other browsers like Firefox or MS Edge, I have this same problem.
Also when I set Chrome back on the default Dx11, the flickering is gone.

So indeed using OpenGL will have its drawbacks, it is NOT a real solution.

Yes I also have flickering background on this site in Opera in OpenGL mode, but no flicker on Firefox browser! On DX11 in Opera and Edge - no flicker! Maybe it's just a bug of this particular site?

 

[ThirtyNinety]

Yes I also have flickering background on this site in Opera in OpenGL mode, but no flicker on Firefox browser! On DX11 in Opera and Edge - no flicker! Maybe it's just a bug of this particular site?

Can be, but the most interesting part is that it is gone by disabling hardware acceleration.