Answer

When watching streaming videos through browsers such as Chrome or Edge, if you encounter frequent screen flickering, corrupted images, a black screen with audio, frequent stuttering, or continuous buffering, please refer to the troubleshooting methods below to resolve the issue.



This FAQ applies to all MSI notebooks.



1. Disable Browser Hardware Acceleration



Using Google Chrome as an example, open the Settings page, select System from the left menu, turn off Use graphics acceleration when available (or Hardware acceleration), and then restart the browser to apply the setting.





If you are using Microsoft Edge, go to Settings > System and performance, turn off Use graphics acceleration when available, and restart the browser to apply the setting.



2. Close Browser Tabs or Background Programs That Are Abnormally Consuming Resources



Option A: Use the Built-in Browser Task Manager



In Chrome or Edge, press Shift + Esc on the keyboard to open the browser-specific Task Manager. You can check which tab, extension, or GPU Process is consuming a large amount of resources. Select the item and click End process to quickly release memory and system resources.





Option B: Use Windows 11 Task Manager



Open Task Manager. Under Processes, check whether any non-essential background program is abnormally consuming CPU, memory, disk, or network resources. Select the program and click End task to force it to close.





3. Check the Network Environment and Connection Quality



If the video quality automatically drops from 1080p to 360p, or if the video keeps buffering, it usually indicates that the current network environment may be congested or the bandwidth may be insufficient.




  1. Check background downloads: In Task Manager > Processes, check whether any background program is automatically downloading large update files, such as Steam, Xbox App, game platforms, or Windows Update. These downloads may directly consume the bandwidth required for video streaming.

  2. Test the basic bandwidth: Visit a free speed test website, such as SpeedTest.net, to test the current network connection status and confirm whether the basic download speed is sufficient for high-definition video playback.



4. Perform a Clean Installation of the Graphics Driver



If the above settings do not improve the issue, the graphics driver may be abnormal, corrupted, or incompatible with the browser graphics acceleration function. It is recommended to refer to the following FAQs to perform a clean installation or update of the graphics driver:





FAQ



Q: What is hardware acceleration?



A: Hardware acceleration allows the browser to offload heavier tasks, such as video decoding or web graphics rendering, to the graphics card (GPU). If the current graphics driver has a compatibility issue with the browser, the image rendered by the GPU may show a black screen, white screen, flickering, or corrupted graphics. Since this is a common cause and is easy to cross-check, it is recommended to disable browser hardware acceleration first for verification.



Q: What is the built-in browser Task Manager? How is it different from Windows Task Manager?



A: The browser Task Manager, opened by pressing Shift + Esc, is a tool specifically used to monitor resource usage inside the browser. Compared with Windows Task Manager, which may only show the overall chrome.exe or msedge.exe process, the browser Task Manager can more precisely identify which webpage tab, extension, or browser process is consuming a large amount of CPU and memory, making it easier to quickly close the source of the issue.