SP4 i7 owners: any fix for the display driver crash issue?

[masterpace]

Hi there,

I've received my SP i7 a few days ago. I've decided to install a few games, including Skyrim, Thief, Far Cry 3. I'm using a 65w adapter to make sure there's enough power to supply. Did all Windows updates. Installed the latest Intel Iris 540 driver.

Every game I've tried so far crashes consistently after a few minutes. It even crashes if I pause the game and leave it unattended for a couple of minutes. Im getting the dreadful "Game has stopped working" and the game quits. I'm a bit desperate here and just about to return the whole thing for a refund. It seems like a software issue.

My question: Is anyone here able to run some games on their i7 SP4 without any crashes (or very few)? Which setup (config) are you using? Any tricks? It seems like one forum member (Josher14) is able to do some gaming on his SP i7 without much issues.

 

[sharpuser]

I am not a gamer, but I use extreme high-end 3D geophysical visualization and applications. Used to get crashes multiple times daily.
Have only had a couple since installing Windows 10 Insider Preview Build 11102. Even those crashes merely froze everything for about 15 seconds, then resumed without error. Now I've been using Build 14251 for four days, and getting zero crashes.

Yes, software, me thinks. They are working on it.

Surface Book i7/16/512

 

[Cerif27]

I had actually more of a problem with the newest Intel 540 driver than the one prior. There are currently three drivers for the 540. I can't remember their numbers right now but the first was a mess, the second fixed just about everything for me and the third crashes quite a few of my games. If you went with the most recent and forced the update (ie, didn't get it from windows update) I would roll back to the next highest build number.

You'll find though that anecdotal stories and evidence are about with the SP4. So stuff is gonna work great for someone else and bone your whole business. Try everything and then do what works for you.

 

[masterpace]

Thanks all for your inputs! It seems indeed that using the previous latest Intel driver fixed the multiple crashes, or at least alleviates them a lot. I'm going to do some more tests, just to see how stable is that driver. However, I'm afraid that the Iris 540 stability can drastically during a driver update. You would expect things to get better as a new driver is released, which is not the case.

 

[Cerif27]

You would expect that, but that doesn't seem to be how they have decided to roll with this product. Unfortunately.

 

[masterpace]

Well... Then I guess I'm going to soak that SP4 a few more days, giving it a last chance. Bear in mind I also own a Razer Blade gaming ultrabook and an iPad Pro. Both excell in their respective areas and although the SP4 beats the iPad Pro hands down functional wise, my "tablet experience" on the latter is far more polished overall.

The SP4 is for occasions (travel) when I want to go light and have the best of both worlds and still do some light gaming.

 

[isurf]

I have SP4 i7 256GB 8GB RAM model. I got it 2 days ago. Works ok but when I use Maya 2016 (3d software) and select any part of a reltively light and simple model the software freezes for half a minute or more. I can switch to other already open software or interact with windows and continue working but Maya stays froozen and then suddenly unfreezes. Until I select again. Extremelly frustrating as I need to be able to display my work on it.

Is it buggy display drivers? What could I do?

 

[isurf]

Man I poneyed up for i7 version to get better graphics but really sad right now. And in Europe I don't have the chance to exchange either.

 

[masterpace]

isurf, it is indeed unfortunate that you cannot get a refund for your SP4 i7. That bug in Maya is simply unacceptable, especially if you're using the SP4 for work. I'm stil on the fence of returning it. Another thing that bugs me is the fact I need to use a USB fan just to "cool down" the processor whenever doing a bit of gaming. Otherwise, thermal throttling just kicks in.

 

[Matt Vaughan]

I've had several crashes now, which I think is linked to the Intel display driver. WDF_Violation is what I am seeing.

 

[Glenn.Q]

I have the i5 version and installed steam to play some counter strike source yesterday. Worked fine with x1440 resolution.

 

[masterpace]

I had the i5 model for a moment and surprisingly, that one was stable in terms of gaming. Performance was really lacking though. That's the only drawback. Otherwise, it was fine.