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Question 100% CPU Usage from browsers and games causing Freezes followed by BSOD.

Jun 4, 2020
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Good evening.

So, here is the situation: I have used this notebook normally since it`s purchase in 2016, the HUGE problem now is that with some games, the CPU usage spikes to 100% and instead of slowing down its tasks, it just freezes everything, even the mouse and most of the time it goes to a BSOD.
The games that caused problems are the following:

  • Minecraft(every version tried): It runs nominally on its first creation, but when I tried on the following day, it would freeze and crash 3 to 5 seconds after entering the world. At first I managed to play by unticking the "read only" on properties, but after a while even that didn't work.
  • League of Legends: Straight up freezes forever or goes into BSOD after either entering game or purchasing an item(but not always).
  • Valorant: only tried twice and both times it froze into a BSOD, happened when clicking on a certain icon in the menu.

The only other game I tried and for some reason hasn't shown any problems is Minecraft Dungeons, no problems at all.

Another detail that might be relevant is that all freezes are accompanied by a glitchy sound.

Notebook GIGABYTE P57v6w
CPU i7 6700HQ
GPU GTX 1060 6GB
RAM Ripjaw(1x16GB)
Windows Home 64bit
Storage: 120gb SSD(boot) +525gb SSD(CrucialMX on SATA port) + 1tb HDD.

I did search for possible solutions to the best of my googling abilities and have done the following so far without success:
Update OS
Update Drivers(as well as GPU drivers)
Cleaned the insides reseated ram, SSDs as well as conectors for battery and fans. Changed thermal paste(Did this 3 weeks ago thinking it could be due to overheating).
CMD
Nothing found on sfc /scannow
Nothing found on checkdisk
Nothing found on Windows Defender Full Scan
The last 3 BSOD were due to the following:
VIDEO_TDR_FAILURE due to nviddmkm.sys
DPC_WATCHDOG_VIOLATION
VIDEO_SCHEDULER_INTERNAL_ERROR

I really fear my GPU might be failing, or the CPU for that matter. Because neither can be replaced.
Really looking for some insight.
The only advice I read and didn't do yet was to change the fast boot setting.
 
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Doesn't look like you've tried doing a clean install of Windows.
As it is, any pre-built machine has a bloated Windows installation.
And it's possible you installed or messed with something that caused Windows and drivers to become corrupted.

And Windows Defender, while good enough for basic protection while coupling it with safe browsing practices and such, will not help you if using it to scan after the fact for potentially any malicious software that is smart enough to hide itself from Defender.

You can download and use the free version of MalwareBytes to run a scan if you like.

But after that, backup important files that you don't want to lose, and do a clean install of Windows.
 
Doesn't look like you've tried doing a clean install of Windows.
As it is, any pre-built machine has a bloated Windows installation.
And it's possible you installed or messed with something that caused Windows and drivers to become corrupted.

And Windows Defender, while good enough for basic protection while coupling it with safe browsing practices and such, will not help you if using it to scan after the fact for potentially any malicious software that is smart enough to hide itself from Defender.

You can download and use the free version of MalwareBytes to run a scan if you like.

But after that, backup important files that you don't want to lose, and do a clean install of Windows.
I'm going to sleep now, but will do both tomorrow evening and post here.
Did the windows format but never tried a clean install.
Looking forward to it!
 
Doesn't look like you've tried doing a clean install of Windows.
As it is, any pre-built machine has a bloated Windows installation.
And it's possible you installed or messed with something that caused Windows and drivers to become corrupted.

And Windows Defender, while good enough for basic protection while coupling it with safe browsing practices and such, will not help you if using it to scan after the fact for potentially any malicious software that is smart enough to hide itself from Defender.

You can download and use the free version of MalwareBytes to run a scan if you like.

But after that, backup important files that you don't want to lose, and do a clean install of Windows.

So did the malwarebytes scan and nothing popped up.
Later did the clean install through a flash drive and while reinstalling some of my apps when I checked my backup on my SSD (E:), it went like the following:

I noticed on device manager that the AHCI controller now is the Standard one, wheter before it was an AHCI controller from Intel.

When trying to install a driver from my files, the intel one isnt there anymore and I don't quite remember it's name/version.

Later will try the games to check wheter I still get those freezes and BSODs.


Edit: After restarting yesterday, it showed a message on boot like this "To skip disk checking press any buttom". I waited and after 6 hours in "Fixing (E:) Stage 1...." The drive is now accessible. Does that means it is on its way to death?

Edit2: It did freeze when buying an item in league of legends but didnt bsod, I waited to see if it would but it didnt. I manually turned it off and back on and it prompted the disk check again. This time the E drive was taking waaaay too long so I turned it off. Now Im afraid my ssd is done for, thinking about removing it...😕
 
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