Intel HD 4000 Graphics failure

[stalkerusa]

Hi All!

Long time lurker, rare poster. I am in need of some help. I will be the first to admit, I do not have a lot of experience with integrated graphics to begin with outside of enterprise computing. I have zero experience with the integrated graphics that exist on CPUs, so it is highly possible I am doing something bizarre. I don’t think I am, though. Why go integrated graphics now? They have come a long way and I don’t see my sons needing anything better for a couple of years, at least. The PC I am building for my kids have the following specs:

• Intel Core i5 3570K Processor
• Cooler Master Hyper 212 EVO CPU Cooler
• Asus P8Z77-V LK Motherboard
• 8 GB (2x4) G.Skill Ares series RAM
• 1 x Silverstone 850W PSU (from my previous system)
• 2 x Western Digital 250 GB Hard Drives in Raid 0 configuration (from my previous system)
• LG 1 DVD-RW/R Burner

Everything with this build works great except the integrated HD 4000 graphics. Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit installs with no problems and, for a basic Windows Driver, the graphics look pretty good for only moving around Windows. All drivers provided by Asus work fine for the chipset, the audio and the other components on the motherboard. I don’t run into any issues until I loaded the video driver for Intel’s HD 4000 graphics. It installs with no errors and prompts for a system reboot. The system reboots, gets to the Windows 7 splash screen and right when the video driver loads, the display goes blank and the monitor states it is going to into a “Power Saving” mode and turns off. I’ve tried updating the motherboard with the latest bios, formatted the drive and installed windows, loaded the chipset drivers and then the video driver and have gotten the exact same results. I get to the Windows 7 splash screen on boot up and the moment the video driver loads, no video. I did run a boot log to see which drivers load and which ones fail. Literally, the moment the video driver loads, from that point on, all the drivers fail to load. On a whim, I even tried the HD 4000 video driver from Intel’s site. This driver refused to install saying the HD 4000 graphics was not detected.

I contacted ASUS and completely stumped them. They suggested I try to install Intel’s video driver. I informed them that I did and that it said I didn't have the correct video adaptor. Since it was outside my 30 days to return anything to NewEgg (thank you bad new PSU for my system), I got an RMA. ASUS was going to “repair” the P8Z77-V LK motherboard saying it’s something with the board causing the integrated graphics to not be detected correctly. Well, ASUS ended up sending me a brand-new motherboard of the same model. I installed all the hardware last night, installed Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit (no issue) and the chipset driver (no issue) and everything was working as you would expect. I installed the ASUS provided video driver and got the exact same issue I had when I returned the motherboard. The system reboots, gets to the Windows 7 splash screen and right when the video driver loads, the display goes blank and the monitor states it is going to into a “Power Saving” mode and turns off. I even tried the latest driver from Intel (version 15.26.12.64.2761), which did install but would act the exact same way. I’m, very literally stumped. In 15 years, I’ve never seen anything like this. It’s as if the video driver is not correctly detecting the monitor, which is connected via DVI. As a result, it’s changing to a different port. I do not think that is it since the boot logging show the video driver failing to load. I think it is a driver compatibility issue. The drivers from ASUS are still Intels drivers, just with an ASUS software front-end to install with.

I don’t see how this could be bad hardware. Aside from the basic drivers that Windows 7 installs, I only have the Intel chipset drivers installed that were provided by ASUS.

Thanks and has anyone seen the same thing or any suggestions to fix!

 

[colinduncanator]

I am having this same problem using the exact same motherboard, but I also have a EVGA GTX 660 installed.
Every time I try to install the included ASUS VGA driver it tells me I do not have the supported hardware. Same thing when I try to install the drivers from the Intel site.
I have tried taking the GTX 660 out and booting up with the monitor plugged in to the DVI port on the motherboard, the system will boot up but there is no video on the monitor.

Here's to hoping someone can help us out!

 

[timmmay82]

Hate to revive a 3 year old thread but I can provide some insider insight.

I am a computer consultant in Chicago and do a lot of hardware diagnostic repair. I have seen this issue on multiple occasions over the years specifically on Core i5 ivy bridge cpu's (desktop AND mobile) and not even on i3 or i7.

I recently replaced an i5 3220m in an HP Elitebook 8470p with an i3 3130m to correct the Intel graphics anomaly. Previously I've seen this problem on desktop PC's such as Lenovo ThinkCentre m72's and HP Compaq Pro 4300's (two of each in fact since 2013) but my first mobile experience was last week. I suspect this issue will slowly crop up as more and more systems of this era are cycled out to refurbishers. I've talked to other r2 and MAR recyclers and they have indicated a notable defect rate in ivy bridge systems compared to previous generation sandy bridge and especially Nehalem (which lacked integrated graphics and was primarily used in workstations) but wouldn't elaborate on what the defective components were (or what they thought they were) because most people will assume it is the motherboard (I would have in the case of the Elitebook 8470p if it had not been for my experience with this particular graphics driver black screen issue on other ivy bridge systems) when you need to realize Intel is not invincible.

It's hard to say if it is a lithography defect or a bad generation stepping or even a bad microcode, but in all cases once I narrowed it down to the CPU (replacing the CPU always fixed the problem) the faulty CPU always passed Intel's diagnostics tool, so even Intel's utility couldn't detect what can only be designated as a defective graphics core. Considering the graphics EU's account for a huge portion of the CPU die, a failure here isn't as hrs to rule out as you think.


Long story short, it's the CPU. Replace the CPU in any system exhibiting a BSOD (in this case black screen of death) and it will most certainly boot right to the desktop on the new CPU.

If you have a desktop chip, consider a warranty claim, although as I said, even Intel's utility won't detect a problem so you are going to have to 'talk them into it'

Hope this helps blow the lid off of what I see as becoming more common place in the future. Don't jump to conclusion and just replace that motherboard people, you might be wasting your time.

 

[zos]

Thanks. I'm going to revive this zombie thread once again. I currently have an optimus based workstation laptop that refuses to boot from the integrated only. It just happens to have an ivy bridge i7. What is strange is that optimus mode works fine and I know the intel chip drives the laptop display and that works. As soon as I force it to integrated only it refuses to past the windows logo. Interesting that you saw the problem on i5s more than anything. I will do some further testing to see if the part is indeed defective. I have a slightly slower i7 sitting here from the previous laptop this one replaced. Both are the same model. I might try rolling back the bios to a previous version just to roll that out too. It did work fine with optimus disabled previously. This laptop has a "feature" where if optimus is enabled and the nvidia chip is powered it will throttle to 1.2ghz because the huge battery is not powerful enough for the full load. So basically I am forced to run at just 1.2ghz on battery right now which is slightly less than ideal.