XPS 8950, S2721QS, pixelated pattern flicker

Question

Specs:XPS 8950 12th Gen Intel(R) Core(TM) i9-12900K[Cores 16] [Logical processors 24]Nvidia RTX 3080 32GB RAM In the past I have had issues with my monitor shutting off for a second before coming back on, creating a 'black flicker'. This persisted for months through multiple rounds of tech support directly from Dell, including the replacement of the monitor and the graphics card, and extensive driver troubleshooting (including a clean install of all graphics drivers). Eventually this issue went away without it being clear what exactly fixed it (the replacements did not fix the issue). I only note this in case it is relevant to my current issue, since both seem to be graphics related. See image below: Around July / August of this year, a pixelated black pattern began appearing on the screen sometimes. The pattern is different every time. Sometimes it’s just a split-second flicker; sometimes it stays on screen until I move or scroll the mouse. On 16/11/23 the black pattern (which filled the file explorer window) was accompanied by an error message stating 'Application has been blocked from accessing Graphics hardware. Application Microsoft Windows Operating System'. Shortly afterwards it seemed to completely reboot itself on its own, while I was in the middle of using it. I have also experienced a blue-screen-of-death on 18/9/23 (only once, hasn’t happened since) with the error message 'CLOCK_WATCHDOG_TIMEOUT' I can’t be sure if these instances are linked but figured someone may recognise a pattern here. All my drivers are up to date too! Any help or ideas could be helpful. Thank you in advance.

RoHe · Accepted Answer

@snaaail  - Have you tried a different browser, and/or turned off hardware acceleration in the browser?

RoHe · Answer

Did you mean XPS 8950, not 8590, in the OP title?

What version of BIOS is running?

Is CPU overclocked in BIOS setup?

Which version of NVidia driver is installed?

Have you scanned thoroughly for malware recently? Malwarebytes (free version) is a good tool to run a scan.

Assuming no malware is detected, reboot and tap F12 when you see the Dell splash screen. Select the option to run Diagnostics, and run all of them. Copy and post error messages, if any...

Assuming no hardware errors detected, run these commands, in order listed:

1. At desktop, open a CMD prompt window, Run as administrator

2. At the prompt, type in: chkdsk c: /r and press Enter. Accept offer to run chkdsk at next boot and reboot PC. chkdsk will run before Windows loads, so be patient. Back at the desktop, you can look at the chkdsk log to see if any "unfixed" errors were reported.

3. At desktop, open a CMD prompt window as in #1

4. At the prompt, type in DISM.exe /Online /Cleanup-image /Restorehealth and press Enter. Be sure to include a space in front of each / and note any error messages when that's done.

5. Assuming no "unfixed" errors in #s 2 or 4, at the CMD prompt, type in: sfc /scannow and press Enter. Be sure to include a space in front of the / and note any errors when that's done.

Assuming no "unfixed" errors in #s 2, 4, or 5, reboot and test PC performance...

DELL-Chris M · Answer

I would have first checked the S2721QS Built-in diagnostics to verify if the S2721QS was faulty. If the Built-in diagnostics passed, the fault lies with either =
PC video card
PC drivers
Cabling

Per the online S2721QS User's Guide page 69 =

I would have then tested one at a time from the RTX 3080 =

RTX 3080 HDMI out to S2721QS HDMI 1
RTX 3080 HDMI out to S2721QS HDMI 2

RTX 3080 DP 1 to S2721QS DP
RTX 3080 DP 2 to S2721QS DP
RTX 3080 DP 3 to S2721QS DP

snaaail · Answer

@RoHe​ Hi! Thank you so much for your thorough reply.  Yes, it is an 8950, excuse the typo! I'm running version 1.16.0 of BIOS (issue has persisted from an older version too). The CPU has never been overclocked. The NVIDIA driver version is 536.40 and I keep it regularly updated.  Unfortunately I ran all of these diagnostics and received no errors, and yet the issue has persisted. I'm going to be trying monitor diagnostics now as suggested by the other commenter but if you have any other ideas or suggestions they would be more than welcome.  Thanks again!

snaaail · Answer

It may be worth noting that I believe I only seen it happen while browsing the internet, not when I'm using software

RoHe · Answer

If you only see this when using a browser, maybe that software is corrupted. What browser do you use? Can you try a different one? Or at the least, reset (reinstall) or refresh the one you use now. Be sure to back up your bookmark file, etc, before resetting or refreshing the browser.

Have you scanned thoroughly for malware recently? Malwarebytes (free) would be a good tool to use.

EDIT: some browsers allow you to disable "hardware acceleration", so you might try that first, since the acceleration feature can cause video issues.

snaaail · Answer

@DELL-Chris M​ Thank you for your answer. The monitor passed all the above tests and the issue persisted with both HDMI and Display port, including trying each port in turn like you said!

snaaail · Answer

@RoHe​ This is going to be the next thing I try. Thanks for your help.  I wonder if it's unheard of for a monitor to be just incompatible with certain PC set ups, even if it's not advertised this way? I have a separate issue, unrelated to browsers since this would happen under any circumstance, where I can't even use a display port cable because it causes my monitor to 'crash', shutting off for a second randomly throughout usage. Dell replaced the graphics card and the monitor but the issue persisted. We did an unbelievable amount of troubleshooting, and never resolved it other than to just use a specific HDMI cable - though I have had the issue happen with a different HDMI.  As you can see it's constant display issues in this house...

snaaail · Answer

@RoHe​ I've turned off my hardware acceleration (Chrome), but I'm hoping if this resolves it then I may be able to target the route cause rather than sacrifice acceleration. I would've thought my graphics card should be more than powerful enough to handle webpages without causing issues

RoHe · Answer

Did you scan PC for malware?If disabling hardware acceleration in Chrome doesn't help, try a different browser and disable acceleration in that browser too, if necessary.If none of that helps, open the NVidia Control Panel and click Manage 3D settings. Then scroll down right panel and set Power Management Mode to 'Prefer Max Performance'. Reboot PC and test video performance now...

snaaail · Answer

@RoHe​ You are a star - switching off hardware acceleration on Chrome fixed the issue!  I can troubleshoot this individually now or change browsers. Thanks for your invaluable help with this!

RoHe · Answer

@snaaail - Yea! Glad you found an easy fix, at least when using Chrome. You could try a different browser, or just leave hardware acceleration off in Chrome and keep using it.

I don't think you'd notice a big difference using Chrome with acceleration off, even if you didn't see that video issue when it's on.

Now that your question has been answered, please mark a post in this thread as an Accepted Answer.

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XPS 8950, S2721QS, pixelated pattern flicker

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