Random screen dimming on HD3000/i7-2600k

[idata]

Hello,

I'm experiencing a rather weird and very annoying issue - I have yet to figure out exactly when but when browsing certain webpages (e.g. photos on FB, both FF and IE are affected) sometimes my screen suddenly dims to ~50% of brightness. Interestingly enough it will happen when viewing a certain photo but the moment I move to the next one the screen brightens up to its original setting. The same happens when I switch to a different application at that point. Unfortunately this also randomly happens when editing photos which is an issue for me.

I have tried disabling all "Automatic" options in the driver settings but to no avail. When I uninstalled the Intel drivers the issue disappeared (however I can only go to 1600x1200 and lose acceleration).

Win 7 Pro 64bit, MB ASUS P8H67-V, i7-2600k

Intel(R) HD Graphics 3000

Report Date: 1/29/2011

Report Time[hr:mm:ss]: 18:35:28Driver Version: 8.15.10.2279Operating System: Windows 7 (6.1.7600)Default Language: Czech (Czech Republic)DirectX* Version: 10.1Physical Memory: 16295 MBMinimum Graphics Memory: 64 MBMaximum Graphics Memory: 1696 MBGraphics Memory in Use: 111 MBProcessor: Intel64 Family 6 Model 42 Stepping 7Processor Speed: 3502 MHzVendor ID: 8086Device ID: 0122Device Revision: 09

I can post the rest of the support info if required.

[DKnow2]

What is the monitor? Sounds like failing capacitors or tubes.

[idata]

I don't believe it's a HW problem

- the monitor is a not-so-old 24" connected via DVI

- only started happening since I upgraded to this HW config

- I can replicate the issue by visiting a certain webpage or viewing certain photos on FB (down to the point where just hovering over a link brightens the screen and moving the mouse away dims it again)

- the dimming is obviously well controlled and happens always at the same rate and with the same intensity, it does not feel like failing HW

- it never happens when the Intel drivers are unistalled, started happening again right after I installed them back

All of this points me to the drivers...

[DKnow2]

If it happens while editing it shouldn't be related to monitor or picture profiles. The profile could be loading when you hover over a different picture since the desktop graphics is different. A smaller monitor might work. The drivers are supposed to support higher resolutions but I would personally would relieve the stress by using a graphics card.

[idata]

Well, I hope that's not the case - the whole reason why I bought this setup is that the integrated card has more than enough power for my mostly 2D editing but I really cannot live with random changes in screen brightness.

Here's a video demostrating the issue.. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tupCSx-2ZGE http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tupCSx-2ZGE (camera set on fixed manual exposure), I noticed later that just hovering my cursor over facebook's blue title bar brings the brightness back up..

[DKnow2]

If your monitor has automatic brightness adjustment for room lighting, it may not be working with the motherboard. It shouldn't be activating that way but I've seen mostly bad reviews of that feature.

[idata]

My monitor has no such feature, no ambient lights sensors, no nothing. Even if it had that it makes no sense for it to adjust brightness when the cursor is moved by 3 pixels. While I appreciate your support I can assure you that I'm literate enough to eliminate all these possibilities before raising this as an issue here.

[idata]

Hi plawa...You are totally right,even I was thinking of buying this very same model for just using it like what you do and for other ideas also...That is why you do not want a graphic card,but are willing to buy something up to date,but also to save money on the graphic card since it can cost around $130- and upwards in Sydney,Australia for a GT240 model...Sorry I could not be of any real help,but I thought I would give you some support...