Help diagnosing a dGPU issue

Hi folks,
Hoping I can get someone's help in diagnosing a problem I'm having with my SurfaceBook i7/16GB/dGPU model.

With certain apps, when I run using the dGPU, I only get a black screen. There is sound and the application cursor changes, but just a black screen. This is for some apps, not all. I think I have this nailed down to apps using OpenGL, but not 100% sure. I took this into a Microsoft Store and met with an orange shirt. We did a Win10 upgrade in place to refresh the OS files, and then did all updates through and including the 4/19 updates. When that proved unsuccessful, the tech just claimed it was a driver issue and I had to wait for the drivers to get updated - which I don't believe, since this is affecting common apps like Photoshop and Wunderlist.

If anyone has a matching SurfaceBook, could you please respond if you can successfully use Photoshop / Wunderlist / The Elder Scrolls Online (these are three apps I know don't work for me) using the dGPU explicitly? (These apps work under the integrated graphics chipset). If I get confirmation that it's working on someone else's machine then I know that I should go in and ask for replacement hardware.

Thank you in advance
Raj

 

I have had no problems with Photoshop. I tested by using the NVIDIA control panel set to auto and to program specific. Haven't installed my video software yet which is why I bought the SB but did see a big improvement with the GoPro software.

 

I have the same setup. For me Adobe Premiere only works with integrated Intel graphics. When I force the Nvidia graphics I get the above mentioned black screens. Adobe is not helpful as they officially only support single graphic cards.

 

Well I guess that solves a question for me...keep Premier or switch. Glad I hadn't installed it yet.

 

I was curious as to why there were blogs saying how well the dGPU/SB worked with Premier yet so many people get black screens. Late last fall I got a free copy of Premier Elements 14 with a ton of photo gear I bought but had never installed it. Rather than buying another license for Premier Pro and hoping it would work, I installed Elements, set it to use NVIDIA and it works, no black screen. Any chance the difference is between Pro and Elements or did I just luck out with one of the SB's where Premier will actually work? I really do not want Pro on my SB if it isn't going to work.

 

Thanks Nosediver and dcoplien. The fact that some people have the same app working and some don't is a little disheartening, but it points me towards potentially faulty hardware more than drivers... time to figure out how to image the SB and then send it in for repairs...

 

After my initial updates I used DISM with a clean Win 10 iso....not the SB iso. Had to do the same thing with my SP4. If you run SFC/scannow and get errors, try using DISM and see if that solves the problem. Note that after DISM I had to re-run SFC/scannow to correct the problems. With my SP4 the original problem was using a USB Ethernet adaptor. SFC showed multiple problems I wasn't aware I had.

 

What is DISM and can someone link me to a page on how to use this on a Surface Book?

 

Some apps that don't allow you to use DGPU won't a;llow you to set Nvidia as the default graphics. GOM Video Player won't even allow me to switch from integrated to Nvidia.

 

DISM returned the expected OpenCLL.DLL issue, which I cleaned out using a RestoreHealth and a media tool created ISO. Didn't help the issue though (but my screen flicker is down, so there's that)

 

Well when I turned on my SB last night and checked for updates a Nvidia driver update was out there. Did you install the new driver?

 

DISM - Deployment Image Servicing and Management Technical Reference for Windows