Windows 10: Help troubleshooting graphics issues flickering, stuttering and rubberbanding introduced...

Hello,

I'm looking for help to troubleshoot a persistent graphics issue which I have had since early August, and haven't been able to figure out.


My Setup

I am running Windows 10 version 2004 build 19041.508, with the latest September Cumulative Update applied.

I have a Dell U3014 monitor with an NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1660 Ti card, connected with a Mini DisplayPort cable I have also used an HDMI cable, same issue persists, see below.


The driver version for the card reported by Speccy and System Information is: 27.21.14.5638. The "Game Ready Driver" version reported byGeForce Experience is 456..38 release date 17 September 2020 although this issue is also applicable to prior driver versions, including 452.xx.


Important: I am using the built-in Windows Magnifier. I am legally blind, so I don't know if I have the same issue without the magnifier enabled.


As for extra software...well that's a long list and I'm not sure what is relevant to the debug.


The Issue

I have been experiencing weird graphics behaviour since updating to v 2004 in early August. Sometimes the screen will "flicker" or "shake" from side-to-side, sometimes it will "rubberband" to an area I was being before. For example, I may be looking at a browser tab, then move down into the body of a webpage, and then my screen will "rubberband" back up into the menu / tab bar of the browser.


This does not happen all the time, but it happens frequently enough to be annoying. I have not been able to isolate this to any single application or action. Sometimes, even performing the same action multiple times in a row will give different results.


Example: at the time of writing this post, opening the system tray caused this graphics issue. My screen was shaking and flickering from one edge of the tray area to the right, and it was almost impossible to click anything. It went away on its own after a few seconds, and I was not able to reproduce the effect reliably. Sometimes nothing happens, sometimes there is a small flicker, but I haven't been able to reproduce the original shaking.


The issue happens everywhere. It happens in FireFox and in Chrome both latest versions. It sometimes happens on the desktop, on the taskbar, in the tray area, in Cygwin and in other mintty windows.


I'm pretty sure I've seen it happen in VS Code as well.


Because it happens intermittently, I cannot get a recording of my screen either natively or with an external camera.


What has changed?

The only significant change on my system was updating to Win10 version 2004 in early August. I cannot say if the issues began immediately after the update or shortly afterwards, but I can say for certain that I have not had this issue before updating.


I have had my current monitor for over 6 years at this point, and the rest of my system was built in December 2019. The only recent hardware change was adding an additional hard drive, which should have no effect on graphics.


Aside from Windows Update, there haven't been any significant software changes on my system, but more on that later.


What I tried:

I found this support article on troubleshooting screen flickering: https://support.microsoft.com/en-au/help/12374/windows-10-troubleshoot-screen-flickering


I have updated my graphics drivers, performed clean installs of graphics drivers, and tried different versions. The issue persists.

I have installed the August and September cumulative updates for Windows, hoping that they would have a fix, and the issue still persists.


The support article suggests opening task manager and seeing if the issue persists. While I have tried to do this, it is not a good troubleshooting technique for my situation, because my graphics issue occurs intermittently and is not tied to any particular program. It may happen, or not happen, in the same browser window, on the same webpage, over the course of a day. I cannot leave task manager open for hours and hope to see if my screen flickers or not.


I have tried disabling both Fences and Groupy by Stardock Software, thinking that they may be causing interference. The issue still persists with both apps inactive.


Someone I know has encountered a similar graphics issue with Skype. However, I have not used Skype in months since July. Skype does not run on startup or in the background I run it manually when I need it. Further, I have not encountered this or similar issues with Skype installed before.


There is no other software I use on a regular basis that I believe would cause this issue. Having said that, I have quite a number of programs installed and using the suggested solution of "uninstalling the incompatible program" does not seem easily done or reasonable.


What I think is going on

I think version 2004 broke something with Windows Magnifier, or with the desktop window manager.


I have noticed that the Windows Magnifier has changed with v 2004 in behaviour and appearance. The UI is different, the aero peak preview is different, the magnifier control window sometimes appears when zooming completely in or out using WIN+ESC or WIN++. This never used to happen prior to v2004.


What I need

I need help troubleshooting what is going on. Has there been change to the way Magnifier works, or the desktop is rendered in v 2004?


If not, then I need to figure out what other software on my system may be causing this issue, and why did it suddenly break with v 2004, because nothing else has changed and this is a serious impact on productivity.

:)

 

Screen flickering in Windows 10 safe mode

I haven't made any changes on my device. This screen flickering is only happening in Safe Mode.

 

Screen flickering in safe mode help!

Hi Yasmeentq,

Thank you for posting your query in Microsoft Community.

I understand your query. I suggest you to follow the steps to get out of safe mode.

• 
  Press Windows key + R
  
• 
  Type msconfig
  
• 
  In msconfig > Boot tab >
  Boot Options > uncheck Safe Boot > APPLY / OK.
  

Screen flickering in Windows 10 is usually caused by incompatible apps or display drivers. I suggest you to refer to the article below and check if it helps.

Troubleshoot screen flickering in Windows 10

http://windows.microsoft.com/en-in/windows-10/troubleshoot-screen-flickering

Regards.

 

Screen flickering in Windows 10 safe mode

Hi Adhio,

Screen flickering can be caused by hardware or application issue.

To better assist you, please answer the following questions:

• Is the issue only happening in Safe Mode?
• Have you made any changes on your device prior to the issue?

In the meantime, we suggest following the troubleshooting steps on this article:

Troubleshoot screen flickering in Windows 10 to resolve screen flickering issues on Windows 10.

We're looking forward to your reply.