Lenovo Carbon X1 with Intel WDDM 1.x Drivers Display Black after Windows update

[EJeff]

I spent a day working on an issue and want to share to save folks time. Bottom line, Intel Graphics Drivers WDDM 1.0, 1.1., 1.2, 1.3 automatically updated with Windows and broke the system.

BIOS and Lenovo splash screen showed and safe mode worked fine showing this was not a hardware issue. Windows began to load and the screen went black. I connected an external monitor via HDMI, pressed power for 2 seconds to put the machine to sleep, pressed power again for 2 seconds and it woke up on the 2nd monitor.

In Device Manager, the 2nd (HP w2007) monitor showed up and there was no mention of the laptop physically connected display.

I reinstalled Windows 10 and all was well until the auto-update occurred and I had the same issue.

I installed Windows 7 and all was well until I installed all updates, same issue.

I didn't think this was a display adapter problem because the 2nd monitor worked just fine and it was the monitor that didn't show in Device Manager. Alas, my assumption was incorrect.

After HOURS of selecting which Windows 7 updates to install, nearly 180, I finally narrowed it down. I thought it was a Windows problem, turns out this was an Intel Graphics driver issue.

SOLUTION: I used Revo Uninstaller to remove the Intel Graphics driver program and the system recovers. Sadly, in both Windows 10 and Windows 7, the auto updates would put the drivers back and the same problem recurred. I was finally able to put Windows 10 on and both disable auto updates of drivers and "ROLLBACK" the Intel Driver. This made it so Windows saw it already updated the driver, saw I didn't want it and then wouldn't download again.

ROLLBACK Drivers Link: https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/help/3073930/how-to-temporarily-prevent-a-driver-update-from-reinstalling-in-window https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/help/3073930/how-to-temporarily-prevent-a-driver-update-from-rei...

Stop Auto Driver Updates in Windows 10: http://www.itprotoday.com/windows-10/stop-automatic-driver-updates-windows-10 http://www.itprotoday.com/windows-10/stop-automatic-driver-updates-windows-10

I hope my pain and posting this helps at least one person.

Eric

[idata]

Hello, ejeffery.

Thank you very much for sharing your findings with the Intel Communities Team. We really appreciate it. This will be very helpful for another community peers.Antony S.

[slushtin]

I know this post is several years old but would you happen to know where I can download the display drivers that actually worked for your Thinkpad Carbon X1? I have run into the same issue but I completely erased my drive when trying to reinstall Windows 10 after many attempts of fixing it. I'll get all the way to the new screen and then it will sometimes it will immediately ask to update everything which I then let it and then after boot the screen turns on for one second and then it shuts off. Other times it immediately just shuts off. By shutting off I just mean the screen it self as windows is still running in the background. Anyways, I have a Thinkpad Carbon X1 (Gen 😎 but apparently it was one of the rare ones that was made at the tail end of the (Gen 7) so it's more similar to that in certain ways. If you can point me in the right direction that would be AMAZING! The only os I managed to get running on this thing is fedora which I'm currently using other than that everything else would either shut off in the process of or right after installing due to the drivers.

[AlHill]

Use the drivers provided  by Lenovo, and not the intel generic drivers.   The lenovo drivers were "tested" with your laptop.

And, next time, start a new thread.

Doc (not an Intel employee or contractor)
[Maybe Windows 12 will be better]