Question Green artifacts on videos - - - any fix ?

[ditko]

Hello everyone, it's been a week that I'm having these green vertical artifacts that are driving me crazy. They appear every time I'm watching a video, online or offline. Disabling "GPU hardware acceleration" on Chrome/Edge/VLC fixes the problem but I also use my laptop for video editing and I would prefer not to disable "HW hardware acceleration decoding" on Premiere Pro because it slows down my work.

Here are some screenshots/videos of the problem:

https://imgur.com/a/hxprl42

View: https://imgur.com/a/hxprl42

https://imgur.com/a/zDLRXEb

View: https://imgur.com/a/zDLRXEb

https://imgur.com/a/ZK1NYxg

View: https://imgur.com/a/ZK1NYxg


These green/black lines only appear when watching videos, not on BIOS and not when playing games, except when a game includes a pre-recorded video like in the last link above.

Laptop Model: ASUS GL502VMK (6 years old).

Specs:
CPU: Intel(R) Core(TM) i7-7700HQ CPU @ 2.80GHz - 3.80GHz
GPU: GTX 1060 6GB VRAM
RAM: 16GB
OS: Windows 10 Home 64 bit (10.0, build 19045)
DISPLAY: 1920x1080 60hz with G-Sync
BIOS VERSION: 308 (latest)
STORAGE: HDD 1 TB + SSD 128GB
POWER ADAPTER: Input 100-240V 50-60Hz 2.34A - Output 19.5V --- 9.23A

What I tried to understand and fix the problem:

- Run Furmark, OCCT, MSI Kombustor and Memtest, all for 1 hour each. No artifacts and no errors detected.
- Updated all drivers, clean install through DDU.
- Run my Kaspersky antivirus (no virus detected).
- Installed Windows 10 from scratch, deleting all apps and files.
- Played 3D games, no artifacts, no crashes and no performance downgrade detected.
- Underclocked my GPU (core clock & memory clock).
- Disabled G-Sync.
- Connected to an external monitor.
- Installed Windows 10 on an external SSD (to see if it was my internal SSD fault).
- Repasted GPU and CPU to get better temps (before GPU: 75°C-80°C in-game and CPU: 85-95°C in-game / now GPU: 70-76°C in-game and CPU 70-80°C)

Nothing fixed my problem and now I run out of ideas. I don't understand if the problem is my GPU because 3D games run perfectly fine and the artifacts only appear when playing a video, so it has to do with the decoding process (encoding on Premiere Pro works fine).

If anyone can help me understand the issue I will greatly appreciate it!

 

[Lutfij]

Installed Windows 10 from scratch, deleting all apps and files.
Where did you source the installer for the OS?

Updated all drivers, clean install through DDU.
Did you manually reinstall with the latest driver sourced from Nvidia's support site in an elevated command, i.e, Right click installer>Run as Administrator.

I'm leaning on the codec being the issue, perhaps try and install K-Lite Codec pack?

 

[ditko]

Installed Windows 10 from scratch, deleting all apps and files.
Where did you source the installer for the OS?

Updated all drivers, clean install through DDU.
Did you manually reinstall with the latest driver sourced from Nvidia's support site in an elevated command, i.e, Right click installer>Run as Administrator.

I'm leaning on the codec being the issue, perhaps try and install K-Lite Codec pack?

Hi, thanks for the help (and for moving the thread, sorry about that!)

I have installed Windows 10 using the default Restore function and choosing to download the OS again, so I assume from Windows servers.

I uninstalled my GPU driver using DDU while running Windows in Safe Mode, then I downloaded the latest Nvidia driver from the website and yes, I run it as Admin.

Just tried installing K-Lite Codec (Mega) and it didn't work, I still see artifacts also when using Media Player Classic. I used the default installation btw and run it as administrator:

https://imgur.com/a/RKbsMhx

View: https://imgur.com/a/RKbsMhx


If it was a GPU issue, shouldn't I see artifacts also when running Furmark/MSI Kombustor and when playing videogames? I have never seen anything like this tbh but I'm no expert and couldn't find much online.

 

[Eximo]

Not necessarily. Video encode and decode are hard wired into a separate part of the GPU from the shaders responsible for game rendering. It is possible that part has broken.

Try disabling hardware acceleration in your browser and playing a video that way. Curious if the problem goes away.

Another test would be to set your browser to use the Intel iGPU and see if the problem persists.

 

[ditko]

Not necessarily. Video encode and decode are hard wired into a separate part of the GPU from the shaders responsible for game rendering. It is possible that part has broken.

Try disabling hardware acceleration in your browser and playing a video that way. Curious if the problem goes away.

Another test would be to set your browser to use the Intel iGPU and see if the problem persists.

I understand. The encoding part works well because I have it enabled on Premiere Pro and doesn't cause any artifact. It's just the decoding process.

Yes, disabling hardware acceleration fixes the problem on Chrome, Edge and VLC, at the cost of being more laggy. I also disabled "decode through GPU hardware acceleration" on Premiere Pro to remove the artifacts, but now the performance is a bit worse.

My laptop doesn't have Nvidia Optimus or an iGPU because it has a G-Sync screen. When I installed Windows 10 from scratch, I tried opening a video before installing the GPU driver and it didn't show any artifact, but the GPU was being detected as "Microsoft basic video card" or something like that. Then, after installing the Nvidia driver, the problem immediately came back.

 

[ditko]

I forgot to mention that around 8 months ago I accidentally scratched my motherboard when repasting.

Here are the pics:

https://imgur.com/a/RUZaVCD

View: https://imgur.com/a/RUZaVCD


They told me this is nothing to worry about because there isn't any visible copper. Could this be the cause, even if the problem started after 8 months from the scratch?

 

[Eximo]

Nothing looks bridged or anything. Mostly a ground plane from the looks of it. I would agree that is a non-issue.

Just an old GPU showing signs of a failure. It could break tomorrow, it could work like this for many more years.

If you want to go to the effort of taking the cooling apart again, you could give a close inspection of the GPU die and see if there is any physical damage. A bare spot may have overheated and died, or it might be overheating now and causing the problem.

I would try forcing Power Saving mode on a per application basis. Anything that performs video decode should then use the 7700HQ Intel HD. If not there are more forceful ways at least for Chrome.

https://superuser.com/questions/1319250/how-to-force-chrome-to-use-integrated-gpu-for-decoding

 

[ditko]

Nothing looks bridged or anything. Mostly a ground plane from the looks of it. I would agree that is a non-issue.

Just an old GPU showing signs of a failure. It could break tomorrow, it could work like this for many more years.

If you want to go to the effort of taking the cooling apart again, you could give a close inspection of the GPU die and see if there is any physical damage. A bare spot may have overheated and died, or it might be overheating now and causing the problem.

I would try forcing Power Saving mode on a per application basis. Anything that performs video decode should then use the 7700HQ Intel HD. If not there are more forceful ways at least for Chrome.

https://superuser.com/questions/1319250/how-to-force-chrome-to-use-integrated-gpu-for-decoding

I did repast it some days ago, didn't think about taking pictures but I did check the GPU die and it was clean, no scratches or any other sign.

As for overheating, my GPU temps were always 80°C or below in game - but around 46°C idle (now after repasting they are mid 70s in-game and 41°C idle) - CPU have always been hotter (around 90°C in-game, now high 70s).

I think the 7700HQ Intel HD have been disabled by Asus because the laptop has a G-Sync screen that can only be used with the Nvidia GPU. I don't know how to force it.

On Chrome/Edge/VLC I fixed it by disabling hardware acceleration, my only concern is for Adobe Premiere Pro, a video editing software that greatly benefits from GPU decoding, and of course in some videogames that have pre-recorded videos and when it happens it is just annoying to see all these green lines.

It would have been better if the GPU simply died, at least I would know that it was time to replace my laptop. Do you think this laptop as any resale value? (even for scraps etc.)

 

[Eximo]

Not particularly. The memory and the drive could be sold. But a motherboard with a known questionable GPU would be a tough sell. Someone might want the screen or keyboard/trackpad.

GTX1060 mobile isn't exactly a powerhouse of a GPU these days, and the i7-7700HQ is before the general core count increases. Basically an i3 or i5 ultrabook processor today. I've been looking at lighter laptops and can pick up an RTX3050/4050 based laptop for about $600 with decent memory and storage.

I would still expect GPU passthrough to work on such a system. Even if the display is connected to the DP on the discrete GPU. Otherwise you would be burning through the battery all the time to render the desktop.

 

[ditko]

I honestly don't know how to make GPU passthrough work.

Even if it's GPU failure, to me it's just bizarre that only videos are affected and I'm unable to understand if it's something fixable or not.