Windows 10 DirectShow Crash

Question

After recently upgrading to Windows 10 (recently, as in a couple months back), I've encountered a few problems with Windows 10. One of which is the DirectX DirectShow component. When running 'dxdiag', the application ALWAYS crashes when attempting to run the DirectShow test. This issue with DirectShow is also affecting all applications on my PC, with windows frequently becoming not responding and then responding again - the process happens in less than a second creating a 'flashing' effect for the application, and is quite detrimental in games as the game then loses focus of the keyboard/mouse and I have to press the keys that I was holding down again.

In my attempts to diagnose the issue, I have reinstalled Windows (from 3 different methods - a system point restore, a reset and a complete reimage using a bootable USB which had the installer on it), reinstalled all my graphics card drivers, ensured all my other drivers are up to date (including the PCI bus drivers), installed the latest redistributes from Microsoft (i.e. the VC++ redists, etc) but all is to no avail.

After reinstalling/resetting windows, however, the issue does go away, but after a few weeks it returns again. On the hardware side of things, I have stress tested my RAM, GPUs, and CPU, I have performed HDD checks and scans to ensure that the issue is not caused by corrupt sectors, and I have scanned my memory to ensure that my memory is not corrupt. All tests passed successfully.

It is also important to note that my PC has not encountered a BSOD due to the DirectShow issues. The applications only ever 'flicker' or crash. No logs appear in the Event Log with regard to DirectShow (or even DirectX) crashes or issues, and the DirectX.log (in the windows directory) does not specify any crashing either. My PC specifications are as follows:

• OS: Windows 10 Home - Build 10240. All current updates available have been installed
• CPU: Intel i5 4200U (The device is a laptop)
• GPU1: Intel HD Graphics 4400
• GPU2: NVIDIA GeForce GT 740M
• Memory: 8GB DDR3L 1333Mhz
• HDD1: 750GB 5200RPM Mechanical
• HDD2: 24GB Sandisk SSD
• Misc: PCIe Wireless-N Network Card (130Mbps)

Also note: This issue occurs with both graphics cards - that is, disabling each graphics card through device manager so only one is enabled, and then doing dxdiag. DirectShow still crashes. This issue has also only been happening since the Win 10 upgrade, and I never had any issues with it in Win 8.1 (which was my previous version).

Any recommendations as to what my next steps to take would be? I am considering purchasing Windows 8.1 again, but I would prefer to stay on Windows 10 (Windows 8.1 is a 'last resort')

Solution

Booting in Windows Safe Mode, deleting the drivers for both the Intel HD Graphics and the NVIDIA Graphics, as well as uninstalling NVIDIA Experience and the Intel HD Control Panel seemed to fix the issue. Upon uninstalling the drivers, Windows was forced to install the drivers that were used for the initial Windows 10 install, and these using these older drivers seemed to fix the issue. No flickering occurs anymore, and FPS is stable in most games and applications.

Comments

[Ramhound]

You don't experience a BSOD because of how Windows 10 handles the crash, this wouldn't crash 8.1 either, but it would crash the kernel in 7. Why would you purchase Windows 8.1, you already have a license, that you are presumably allowed to use on the machine you are using since you upgraded to Win 10. What you describe indicates a hardware failure, DX12 is enabled by default in Windows 10, and cannot be uninstalled. It isn't corrupted since the problem exists after multiple attempts after a clean install, some hardware is causing the display driver to crash which forces the kernel to recover

[Ramhound]

Since DirectShow is a component of Direct X 12 and Direct X cannot be installed, so by that virtue, it literally cannot be a software problem. My troubleshooting suggestion would be to install the Version 1511 update.

[Bilfred]

Win 8.1 was an OEM install, and I didn't receive an install disk or license key. And regardless, once you upgrade to Win 10, the license key becomes unusable on any previous versions of Win having been 'transferred' to Win 10 (says Microsoft). I should have also mentioned that DShow crashes when both cards are individually enabled - that is, going through device manager to disable each device so only 1 device is enabled, then doing dxdiag. This issue also never happened on Win 8.1, and has only been happening since the Win 10 upgrade. I shall try the 1511 update.

[Ramhound]

No; It doesn't; Provided you get rid of the Windows 10 installation.

[Bilfred]

Damnit Microsoft... I don't have a Win 8.1 ISO or installer anyway. Well I ran Windows Update and it didn't find anything to update, so I went to the Windows Update Catalog and manually downloaded the version 1511 update. Upon trying to run the update, it said that the update is not applicable to my system. And yes, I downloaded the right architecture.

[Ramhound]

Use the Media Creation Tool it's fool proof ( not that your a fool ) just the simplest way to install the update

[Bilfred]

Good point, I never thought of that. I'll download that and give it a go.

[Bilfred]

I've installed all the latest updates, through downloading the latest version of windows, reinstalling using said version of windows, and then checking for updates through windows update. The issue is still occurring - the update did not fix it.

[Telion]

Have you found the way to resolve this problem? I have installed FL Studio too recently and that might actually be a problem. I am preparing my PC to restore the 2 weeks old version so there wasn't installed FL Studio. Uninstallation of FL Studio didn't work.

[Telion]

Actually, 2week restore helped. But the better way would be to find out how to fix that easier.