Solved Weird graphic artifacts

3 days, ago, my PC was running fine with no issues and then the next day, I started noticing weird horizontal graphic lines running across my screen sometimes. If I opened any app, these lines may appear at the bottom of the app or a modal within the app. When I played Atomic Heart, graphic artifacting would come into play all over the game. I was on the Insiders Release Build for months without issue and a day ago I switched to the Beta build. There were also additional updates from Microsoft along with an Nvidia driver update. I tried reverting the changes to no avail.

I tried the following which didn't help:

• Reset This PC
• Windows reinstall and keep my apps/documents
• Clean install

This time when I opened any app and went to another app, one or both apps would turn completely black. If I moved my mouse over the app, UI elements would appear and would be functional. When I play any YouTube video, there are high chances that there will be a temp blackout of the video, a buzzing noise like Windows is about to BSOD but doesn't.

• I installed the latest Nvidia Experience and got the latest driver.
• Under Settings - Gaming - Gaming Mode - Graphics, I played with turning on and off the various options. Before this all started, I had all 3 options enabled.

I'm not sure what else I can do to resolve this issue so any good advice is welcome.

Thank you

Have you tried a different cable?

Semi-random suggestion, I admit.

@Nature_Boy

I would redo the graphics drivers as follows...




DDU Instructions - Nvidia
1. Get this program, here: Display Driver Uninstaller (DDU) | Wagnardsoft ...get the latest version, and save it to your desktop.
2. Get the DCH/Game Ready vid card driver here, use the Manual Search: Advanced Driver Search | NVIDIA ...save this to your desktop.
Unhook the internet completely.
3. Reboot into Safe Mode and run DDU (Display Driver Uninstaller) choose the "Highly Recommend Option", and just do what it tells you.
4. After it's done, reboot to normal mode, then just double click the Nvidia driver to install.
[See pics below]. If it want's to reboot, let it.
Rehook the internet.





Do NOT install Geforce Experience...

I don't have any other cables for the graphics card but I did unplug then plug it back in...no luck. I also ran "sfc /scannow" which found some issues and repaired them but I'm still having the issue.

Nature_Boy said:

I don't have any other cables for the graphics card but I did unplug then plug it back in...no luck. I also ran "sfc /scannow" which found some issues and repaired them but I'm still having the issue.

Click to expand...

You're right at the minimum recommended power supply for a RTX 4080, but try the driver first.
Out of all 750W PSUs, you do have an excellent one.
Just the gear you have is drawing 550W when gaming. And the higher the resolution, the more power draw.
The higher the room (ambient) temperature, the higher the power draw.
Make sure the power supply connections (both ends) are tight.

When you redo the driver... do it exactly like the directions above.
Don't install any Nvidia driver updates from Microsoft.
Since the dawn of Nvidia... mixing MS Nvidia drivers and Pure Nvidia drivers, usually causes problems.
That's why DDU was invented, and why you should disconnect the internet when you do the Nvidia drivers.

Just my measly RTX 2070 - 8GB has 448 GB/s memory bandwidth. That's a LOT of data per second.
The RTX 4080 - 16GB is 736 GB/s
You NEED everything to do with your vid card (especially the drivers), running clean and tight, or you will have issues.

Hey @Ghot, thx for the information/instructions which I tried and for a brief while, everything seemed to be working fine until I tried playing Atomic Heart. Once the main menu appeared, the game stuttered like crazy as if it was building the shader again but it wasn't. Once I was in the game, and moved a bit, it froze then the entire OS went haywire. No apps worked and I had to manually restart the PC.

I saw your comment about the power draw and my only thought is what I pointed out initially, that before moving to the Beta channel, this game worked flawlessly. I did verify that after the clean install, I'm no longer in the Insider Channel and I'll never be again!

I'm now noticing that the system tray is visibly flickering with the txt/icons popping in and out. When I tried to take a screenshot, the CMD window where I'm running "SFC" again (it passed) had the entire CMD window turn black then the on-going "verification xx% complete" message appeared.

I checked the Nvidia control panel and the driver is still 531.29; GeForce Experience is NOT installed. When I opened a new tab in Edge, those pesky horizontal lines appeared and started flashing (couldn't get a good screenshot).

I attached two files that contain info on my system along with a partial screenshot of the Update History.
I hope you have some other suggestions for me?

Thanks in advance.

Ghot said:

@Nature_Boy

I would redo the graphics drivers as follows...




DDU Instructions - Nvidia
1. Get this program, here: Display Driver Uninstaller (DDU) | Wagnardsoft ...get the latest version, and save it to your desktop.
2. Get the DCH/Game Ready vid card driver here, use the Manual Search: Advanced Driver Search | NVIDIA ...save this to your desktop.
Unhook the internet completely.
3. Reboot into Safe Mode and run DDU (Display Driver Uninstaller) choose the "Highly Recommend Option", and just do what it tells you.
4. After it's done, reboot to normal mode, then just double click the Nvidia driver to install.
[See pics below]. If it want's to reboot, let it.
Rehook the internet.

Do NOT install Geforce Experience...

Click to expand...

Whats you're big hoopla with geforce experience lol

@Nature_Boy

I dunno. I haven't gamed in years (modern games). And I've never played Xbox games.

I would check in Settings, see if something in there is affecting it. Hardware Acceleration?
Maybe something in Nvidia Control Panel, like Vertical Sync?

I'm guessing you had something "set" when you were on Insider, and now it isn't.

GPU-Z has a built in benchmark sort of, that may help in your testing... it's really easy to get to and start.


The little question mark will start the render test...





You're gonna need someone that can troubleshoot, the software end of things.
Maybe @zbook


Might also want to make sure you have the latest chipset driver and the latest BIOS.
When you did the clean install, it may have affected the chipset drivers or even the Intel 630 graphics?

This will help with the chipset drivers...

I went to your motherboard website... and there's something weird about the BIOS download, or lack of??

I've been running ASUS boards forever, but always AMD.





At least we know your Nvidia driver is clean, now.
The things that could have changed after a clean install...
1. Maybe a Setting somewhere.
2. The chipset drivers
3. The Intel 630 grfx driver, and possibly a setting relating to that.

I can't think of anything else that may be having as much affect as you seem to be experiencing.



Another thing you can do while you're waiting is check your SSD with CrystalDiskInfo...
Get the portable (zip) version... after unzipping run: DiskInfo64.exe


It should look something like this...








Maybe run DDU again, and go back to whatever driver you "were" running while still on Insider.
You should be able to tell from the dates.

I'm afraid this is not a software issue (drivers or applications or settings). At best your card overheats and starts these artifacts. Or it might be failing and needs replacement. Don't panic. First try to make it cooler. I would use an air spray or blower to blow away dust from the fans and any other parts from the card. You may also need to clean your entire computer case if it has too much dust accumulated. I would also carefully remove the fans, clean the old thermal paste and put some new paste. Not too much or you create the "greenhouse effect" (heat has nowhere to escape). Just the size of a pea. Then put the fans back and see how it goes. If you still experience these artifacts have your card checked by a professional. He may be able to repair it with a heating process know as air flow (removes the fans and heats the chips for several seconds with a heatgun or other equipment). In worst case you might need to replace it.

I'd try another monitor if you have one, just to eliminate that.

Unfortunately, changing the monitor won't make any difference. It is the card, hopefully is only due to overheating. Clean dust as good as you can and if possible replace thermal paste. You can ask a professional to do it for you, if you are not confident doing it yourself.

I am having the same issues here with a AMD Radeon RX 6800 XT.

quite literally the same issues as the poster is describing.
i got a video aswell, sorry for the bad quality but i guess it shows what needs to be seen.

(had to upload it to youtube because for some reason a 3.5mb file is too big?)

I hope we can resolve this issue. it only recently appeared about a month or so ago. never had this issue before.

I took my PC to a store that does install, troubleshooting, etc. and they clearly saw that the card had overheated. They took it out and I got it replaced by MSI. I will note that they were extremely friendly and the turn around time was amazing, 2 days. The downside is that the card got fried in the first place so I told them via a survey that I'll never buy a card from them again.

If the card was out of Warranty they could repair it by heating (air flow), but for a new card they should replace it as they did.