HP Spectre - Screen Burn - except it's not!

Monty Burns

Hey Guys!

I've got a HP Specter that has an AMD/Intel Vega M in it.

Up until maybe a month ago it's been working fine but, for some reason, I'm getting what looks like a screen burn issue - except it's NOT screen burn as it moves with the Windows/mouse!

So, what happens is that some of the Windows now appear to be transparent to a degree, in some cases I can see through two or even three windows on top of each other, right to the desktop. However, note that this doesn't affect ALL windows but, I can't figure out any pattern as to why some are affected and not others.

Further, I'm also getting vertical bars appear from the edges of windows that will go from the bottom of the window right to the bottom of the screen. These vertical bars will also move with the window/mouse (yes, even the mouse seems to sometimes get it's own downward bar that moves with the mouse).

Finally, when I shut down Windows 10 and see the little dots spinning around, these also get vertical bars dropping to the bottom of the screen that rotate with the dots.

This does NOT happen on an external monitor.

I've uninstalled, cleaned registry etc. and reinstalled the HP drivers but, no improvement. I've tried installing the drivers from Intel and AMD but they both reject saying that I must get the combined driver from the manufacturer.

I'm running the latest Windows 10 public release with latest patches.

I've been uninstalling/reinstalling with HP package SP95392 as per my laptops support page.

I've turned off windows Transparency but I don't think this is it anyway.

Here is an example of the transparency problem:

Transparency

Here is an example of the bars problem:

Bars

Any other ideas?

Thanks!

techquest

Have you by chance got an external mouse you can try on the system to see if the same issue is there?

Monty Burns

Eh?  This is a GFX issue, nothing to do with the mouse.  The mouse, like the windows transparency and the extended windows bars is a symptom.

techquest

I asked because you mentioned the mouse.

You say this doesn't happen on an external monitor, so why do you suspect it to be a gfx issue? It could well be the screen itself.

Monty Burns

Indeed it could be the screen but, if it is, that's a hardware issue and will require warranty so, i'd rather exhaust all software investigation first.  Speaking of which, if I drop back to the Windows 10 "factory" driver the issue vanishes so, this stinks of a driver/Windows 10 version clash.  I'm currently, right this moment, in the process of applying Win 10 1903 which I thought was installed but, clearly not.  The fact i've discovered it's OK on the factory driver strongly suggests it's not a hardware issue.

There are a few reasons it could only affect the internal screen, not least because the internal screen is 4k and the 2 external ones are via USB C and only 1080.

I'll update after the 1903 update

techquest

Then that sounds very likely a driver issue.

What build number of windows is it?

Type winver in search and get build number.

EndlessWaves

Do they show up on a screenshot? If they don't then it's something after the graphics card output buffer that's at fault. And vice versa.

FireBall32

Hi guys, i have exactly the same issue with my HP spectre and the AMD vega. Its only 18months old and i have reported the case to HP who are looking in to it. There is only this issue on the main display as it doesnt pull across to an external monitor. its also not something you can snapshot, you have to physically take a photo of your laptop screen                                                                       

Monty Burns

Please keep me posted

next010

Is this one of those Intel chips with AMD GPU on the CPU package (Radeon RX Vega M GL), those appear to use custom drivers from Intel which in turn HP sources from them.

If your feeling brave, you could try adding the PCI ID of the GPU to the current AMD drivers, maybe it will trick it into installing, but it could crash the system.

I would seriously make a full system image with reflect before trying such a thing.

1) Extract AMD Adrenalin 2019 Edition 19.11.1 to a folder, installer does this be default so just cancel installer when it comes up.
2) Drop two .inf files into C:\AMD\Win10-64Bit-Radeon-Software-Adrenalin-2019-Edition-19.11.1-Nov4\Packages\Drivers\Display\WT6A_INF
3) Go back to the ....Nov4\ and run setup

Probably wont work, I think AMD changed many more things over the years checking GPU ID and there is probably more locations in the driver looking at its PCI ID, that was just a quick old one I used to know from years ago. I looked at the Vega M GL PCI-ID in HP driver then replaced that string in AMD driver with one from HP.