Windows flickering while using NVIDIA M60 in passthrough

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1

Hello Everyone,

we have a strange issue with our XenApp 7.15 LTSR environment and a NVIDIA M60 graphic card in passthrough mode:

  • When connected through RDP or ICA we get a flickering, that lasts about 1 second, when opening Windows Explorer windows.
  • This happens only when the GPU is attached to the VM and the NVIDIA driver is in use.
  • It does not happen when the NVIDIA driver is not installed.

The NVIDIA support has been useless so far (as well as very rude), I was wondering whether anyone has experienced the same issue here.

Concerning the environment, we run:

  • VMware ESX 5.5 Update 3
  • NVIDIA GRID M60 in passthrough mode (the only mode supported on this ESX Version)
  • Xenapp 7.15 LTSR installed on a Windows 2012 R2 VDA, with all the Windows patches installed
  • NVIDIA GRID driver for Windows version 385.90
  • NVIDIA GRID Virtual Workstation licenses
  • The GPU is configured in graphic mode on ESX
  • We publish server based Desktops

Hope someone can help.

Cheers
Seb

2

Hi

I think I know what you’re referring to. It’s actually quite difficult to articulate the symptom to someone who hasn’t seen it. I had to take a video of it so I could clearly show others.

When you open a new window (in your case Explorer), there is a split second where it looks like the driver has crashed (or something along those lines) and you get what looks like "image tearing". Very strange and I don’t know how else to describe it.

I’ve taken a couple of screen grabs (which are attached) directly from the video I took a while back, so they’re not very clear but do show the issue. As said, this lasts for a split second when opening a window (In my case, Windows Event Viewer, Powershell etc) and it’s not always repeatable. Can you confirm the attached image is what you’re seeing?

If this is the same issue, it started with GRID 5.0. GRID 4.x does not have this symptom. It has already been reported to NVIDIA who are investigating.

Regards

Ben
Image 1.jpg
Image 2.jpg

3

Hi guys,

this is a known issue and we are working with highest prio to get this fixed with an upcoming driver. There is atm no workaround other than using the R367 branch.

Regards
Simon

4

Hi we are seeing similar issues with m10 cards on ESXi 6.5 , Win2k16 , XenApp 7.15.
Some applications are flickering. Graphics tearing in just miliseconds.

Do you have an eta for the driver release?

5

Hi guys,

short update on this topic. The issue will be fixed in the upcoming GRID5.2 release. In urgent cases please file a support ticket with ESP to get a pre-release driver.

regards

Simon

6

Hi Simon

We submitted a support ticket regarding this issue but have not heard from your support.

How can we escalate the issue?

7

Just send me a PM with the case ID.

8

Ok we need to do a downgrade from 384.73 to 367.123. Do we need to uninstall the 384.73 first or simply just install 367.123?