Laptop freezing during GPU (I think) intensive work

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frustratedfranky

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Feb 2, 2018
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Hi all,

I've been having issues with my laptop freezing when (I think) using the graphics card. I was gaming one evening, playing Witcher 3 (GOTY edition) and after 4 hours or so the game froze and locked the whole laptop up. Upon restarting, the game kept locking up in the same spot, requiring a me to hold down the power-button to turn the laptop off each time. Now the game freezes before even reaching the Main Menu. Note this was the first time I had used the laptop for gaming in 6 months to a year, however the laptop has in years past been used for a lot of gaming (including Witcher 3) without problems.

After verifying the game via GOG (with no positive effect), I checked my drivers were up to date (they are), and also tried various changes to optimise the settings on NVIDIA GeForce experience to see if that made a difference (it didn't).

I then tried running FurMark's GPU Stress Test OpenGL Benchmark several times, with the laptop freezing within 2-6 seconds, thereby requiring me to again hold the power-button to turn off the laptop.

My laptop is an XMG p304 and the specs are as follows:

Graphics Card: NVIDIA GeForce GTX 860M 2048MB GDDR5
Processor: Intel Core i7-4710MQ Quad Core - 2.50 - 3.50GHz 6MB 47W
Memory: 8GB (1x8192) SO-DIMM DDR3 RAM 1600MHz Crucial Ballistix Sport
Hard Drive 1: 1000GB SATA-III 7200rpm HGST Travelstar 7K1000
Hard Drive 2: Samung 840 EVO 250Gb

Any thoughts appreciated.
 
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Alright, then I think we're back to component failure, possibly due to overheating. If you got errors just running graphics benchmarks, then barring any software issues, the hardware would seem to be at fault. I'll assume you've attempted to clean it out, so it could be the result of long-term heat issues.

One final test you could try is to do a fresh install of Windows, possibly to that 1TB HDD, if it's blank. Then install the game to it. If you still have problems, then it's definitely the hardware. The bad part is that it will hard to identify which part.

It will probably run you $50 - 100 for a diagnosis at a computer repair place. The usual suspect for laptops is the main system board because that's where virtually every...
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2Be_or_Not2Be

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Aug 23, 2013
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My first thought is that you may be running into cooling performance issue. In looking at the review of it on Trusted Reviews, they noted a problem with heat build-up. So it may be that with your years of usage, you've built up enough debris inside the laptop (fans/filters don't keep everything out) that the cooling performance (fans, heatsinks, etc.) no longer adequately cool it enough at high load due to a design that already allows for a bit of heat build-up.

If that's the case, try cleaning it out (blowing it out with compressed air or the reverse with a micro-vaccuum, opening up the case & cleaning it if possible, etc.). You could also let it sit in a cool place a while, and then start it up. If you can play longer the first time before lock-up, and then subsequent play (trying to go again right after a restart) results in lock-ups even quicker, it would seem to point to cooling factors (subsequent lock-ups happen faster since the system is already warmed up).

On a different vein, I've seen lock-ups occur because of bad spots on hard drives. When your system tries to access the data on the bad spot, it locks up because it can't read it & that particular chunk of data is critical for the current program running. So the whole system locks up. I would especially consider this if your primary drive is the 1TB HDD (or the game runs off the 1TB HDD). So run a disk check on it (Windows > properties of the drive > Tools > Scan drive) & hopefully it will mark & possibly move any bad sectors. You may also want to reinstall the game (keep your save files) in case any of the game's program files were damaged.

You also might want to check on the firmware for that 840 EVO SSD. There was a read performance bug on older versions that affected files not read/refreshed in a while, and while it shouldn't cause lock-ups, you definitely should ensure you're on the latest firmware to keep your performance at its highest potential.

 
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frustratedfranky

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Feb 2, 2018
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Thanks for the reply 2Be.

I'd hoped it was a simple overheating issue, so was disappointed to find the same (instantaneous) problems when I running it completely cold first thing the next morning.

The game is installed on the SSD, which has plenty of space left on it. I'll have a look at the firmware and see whether it needs updating, though it shouldn't as I check this fairly regularly.
 
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2Be_or_Not2Be

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Yeah, the 840 EVO had a few issues with long-term data "freshness" that was helped with newer firmware & a "refresh" tool. Hit the link for the Samsung Magician software, and it can help you with those items.

A side result may be that you will need to re-install the game itself. So copy your game saves somewhere, un-install/install it, and then copy your game saves back.
 
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frustratedfranky

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Feb 2, 2018
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Thanks for the suggestions. Unfortunately, reinstalling to another drive did not work, nor did checking for updates on the firmware of the drive(s). Also the disk check did not identify any issues.

If anyone has any other ideas, I'd appreciate hearing them.

If all else fails, I guess I'll take it to a repair shop. Really hope I don't need to replace the laptop as I'm guessing it will be expensive thanks to BTC driving up the price of graphics cards

 
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2Be_or_Not2Be

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Alright, then I think we're back to component failure, possibly due to overheating. If you got errors just running graphics benchmarks, then barring any software issues, the hardware would seem to be at fault. I'll assume you've attempted to clean it out, so it could be the result of long-term heat issues.

One final test you could try is to do a fresh install of Windows, possibly to that 1TB HDD, if it's blank. Then install the game to it. If you still have problems, then it's definitely the hardware. The bad part is that it will hard to identify which part.

It will probably run you $50 - 100 for a diagnosis at a computer repair place. The usual suspect for laptops is the main system board because that's where virtually every primary component (CPU, integrated GPU, etc.) is located. Memory is usually replaceable separately as individual SO-DIMMs. Depending on the vendor, you might be able to find easy replacements for the system board. For example, eBay has that XMG p304, but usually as a whole system. Still, it may be cheaper to get one of them and just put your existing HDD/SSD into it. Laptops usually aren't targets of cryptominers since they have heating issues and (usually) slower GPUs, so you shouldn't have to worry about price inflation for that reason.

Hey, this also might be a good time to figure out if you want to replace the laptop with a gaming desktop. $500-1200 can get you a decent one! (Edit: depending on your budget, of course)
 
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