BSOD Loop, seems like associated with graphics card.

jackrodriguez.fin

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Nov 29, 2017
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So, I was playing a game (world of tanks) and my laptop turned off all of a sudden. I restarted it worked, then I have been getting BSOD errors endlessly. I removed windows, made fresh installs from usb, again the same errors. Then while I was updating drivers I realised whenever the graphics card driver was updating the errors and crash occurred. I disabled the driver from device manager and then everything worked smoothly.
I separately updated the Intel HD graphics 4000 it worked. Afterthat I enabled the AMD driver from device manager and BSOD. Rebooted tried AMD auto detect, again BSOD (everytime with different error codes).
So I narrowed it to the graphics card. Yet, when I run diagnostics (by pressing F12 during boot and selecting diagnostics) the video card diagnostics didn't return any error.
So, I absolutely don't know what to do next. Is my graphics card dead(diagnostics doesn't say so)?
I appreciate any help. Thanks in advance.
Update: I shut down my laptop for a while, now when I start the screen won't turn on at all. I hear the fans going on, the backlit keyboard lights, that's all 🙁
Update 2: I removed RAM sticks one by one, found out removing older RAM solved the screen not turning on issue.
The graphics card issue still prevails.
I used DDU and AMD cleanup and then tried again. This time I could use my DELL service tag and download the original driver from dell and it installed successfully.
Then as I tried to run AMD software, it says "no driver installed or driver not functioning properly".
I repeated the same process again, then again stuck in BSOD loop. Only way I found possible to get out of the loop is using DDU.
At this point I am starting to feel that there is something wrong with the hardware. *fingers crossed*
 
for memory, I would run the free version of memtest86 on each stick and see if any are faulty. Any errors above 0 are too many. Test 1 stick at a time. Any errors means stick needs to be replaced/removed

Can you right click start
choose run...
type dxdiag and press enter

this shows GPU info, you can save a text file of all the information by clicking "Save all information" on front page. Can you make a copy and follow upload steps as listed in the BSOD minidump instructions below so I can see what it says.

I suspect that since you don't have a driver installed for AMD it will just show the Intel igpu

For BSOD info, Can you follow option one here
and then do this step below: Small memory dumps - Have Windows Create a Small Memory Dump (Minidump) on BSOD

that creates a file in c windows/minidump
copy that file to documents
upload the copy from documents to a cloud server and share the link here and someone with right software to read them will help you fix it :)

What model laptop is it?
 
I had 1 OEM RAM wrecked earlier and I replaced it with crucial, and I highly suspect another is wrecked because it caused screen blackout issue. I didn't put it in again and I don't even want to. So I ran memtest with my crucial ram (I will replace the other some day soon). No errors, all good.
I ran dxdiag and the laptop froze and crashed, so I ran in safe mode, and saved all info : https://app.box.com/s/fysm329es4qxed3s7crblf6nremfh7mh
Here is minidump, after I followed your steps: https://app.box.com/s/p0n35zsa6zfidhhhtaf58iw459vtbkfo
The laptop model is DELL 15R INSPIRON 7520 SE.
This is a screenshot from device manager (in SAFE MODE) which shows the graphics driver installed and enabled, if this helps for anything: https://app.box.com/s/jxiz2dczree7owqdw7sqa9ypxgd4t0c7
Also I forgot to mention that I have been noticing 100% disk usage in task manager even though nothing major is running.
The most common BSOD errors I remember are: DPC WATCHDOG VIOLATION, VIDEO TDR FAILED, CRITICAL PROCESS DIED, MEMORY MANAGEMENT. There were many more but I don't remember right now.
 
Problem with DXDiag in safe mode is no drivers run in safe mode except the Microsoft basic display driver. Its not the right place to look anyway as it only shows cards after the drivers are installed. You also can't upgrade drivers in safe mode.

the fact this all started after a random restart while playing a game could mean it is the GPU. Not being able to install new drivers is a problem too.
 

I contacted a friend and he told me I have to replace my motherboard. Does it seem like there has been some physical damage to the GPU or it is at the software level?
Also, I was thinking that if it is the motherboard that has to be replaced to solve the issue, how about I disable the internal GPU permanently and set up an external GPU?
 
Your friend is likely right about motherboard only as everything is built onto it in a laptop

I think its a hardware issue. You could try booting a Ubuntu Live USB and see if it recognises card. windows can see card but not install drivers.

If you are out of warranty it really depends on the price of the external GPU compared to getting it fixed.
 
I had linux mint installed earlier, which I later deleted to clean install windows 10. So after the issues started I did boot to linux and I don't remember very well but on the login screen was an error which said something "vram". So I believe what you mean to say is right, yet I will do the live boot thing again and see if it recognizes.
the price of repair in my place would be something around 100-120$, so I am looking into GPUs around that price range.
 
Hi, I ran the dump files through the debugger and got the following information: https://pste.eu/p/wNjm.html

File: 113017-33734-01.dmp (Nov 30 2017 - 05:52:38)
BugCheck: [DPC_WATCHDOG_VIOLATION (133)]
*** WARNING: Unable to verify timestamp for atikmdag.sys
Probably caused by: memory_corruption (Process: System)
Uptime: 0 Day(s), 0 Hour(s), 38 Min(s), and 12 Sec(s)

File: 113017-29359-01.dmp (Nov 30 2017 - 06:32:29)
BugCheck: [DPC_WATCHDOG_VIOLATION (133)]
Probably caused by: memory_corruption (Process: System)
Uptime: 0 Day(s), 0 Hour(s), 06 Min(s), and 08 Sec(s)

File: 113017-29109-01.dmp (Nov 30 2017 - 08:47:22)
BugCheck: [UNEXPECTED_KERNEL_MODE_TRAP (7F)]
Probably caused by: ntkrnlmp.exe (Process: svchost.exe)
Uptime: 0 Day(s), 0 Hour(s), 00 Min(s), and 27 Sec(s)

File: 113017-28875-01.dmp (Nov 30 2017 - 05:59:47)
BugCheck: [DPC_WATCHDOG_VIOLATION (133)]
*** WARNING: Unable to verify timestamp for atikmdag.sys
Probably caused by: memory_corruption (Process: System)
Uptime: 0 Day(s), 0 Hour(s), 06 Min(s), and 33 Sec(s)

The following dump file was 0 bytes long which means it's invalid: 113017-28984-01.dmp
I can't help you with this. Wait for someone else to reply. Good luck.
 
vram = video ram. Signs are pointing at it being hardware, at this stage. If linux had worked fine and installed drivers and not had errors, i could have said it was Windows perhaps, but with 2 operating systems both reporting errors associated with the card, it seems fairly obvious now.

the AMD drivers you tried to install may be older than these? http://support.amd.com/en-us/download/desktop?os=Windows+10+-+64
 

Thank you so much for taking time to check these out :)
 


Yes they are, the one that dell website provides is 2013.
And yeah it feels like it's the hardware. Once the GPU disabled, laptop runs perfectly fine. So maybe I won't use it for anything heavy now on.
it seems like 3 years is enough for this laptop and it also overheats a lot no matter how light is the use even after servicing it for that issue and the heat is what I think is slowly damaging all the components.
Anyways I very much appreciate your time and help, I would wait for sometime before closing the thread so that if anyone can run the dump files and find a way around.
Thanks again :)