Question GPU Disappearing and Appearing Randomly with Error 45 and CLOCK WATCHDOG TIMEOUT

[Roman_16]

Hi!
This post is the continuation of https://forums.tomshardware.com/threads/asus-zenbook-q408-gpu-not-showing-error-45.3799052/

I have been using an Asus zenbook q408 for a year now. The laptop gets super hot when running games. Yesterday I was playing bl2 on it with the 4k monitor attached (it isn't that hot when I play games on an external display). The windows just crashed with a BSOD error of 'clock watchdog timeout'.

I restarted it again and this time the games got laggy. I opened the task manager (no gpu 1 there, only the integrated AMD gpu marked as gpu0 running). Open device manager, no mx450 driver showing. Enabled hidden devices, now showing the driver (but says its disconnected and error 45). Tried to uninstall and reinstall it. Nvidia setup sends ping to the gpu, no response, driver is not installed. 2 days back windows 10 automatically upgraded to windows 11. But on there, Nvidia mx450 was working fine.

Opened BIOS, no mention of a dedicated gpu there as well. It's like it did not exist anymore. Opened the laptop, no visible sign of burnout. Everything looks fine. Not sure about the chips and components.

After using my laptop for 2 weeks without the Nvidia MX450 working. Today, it appeared randomly as a '3D video controller' with an exclamation mark. Installed the latest Nvidia driver for MX450.

The driver now showing in the device manager... image
GPU Z image
Here are the events after that.

1. Getting first BSOD error as DXGKRNL FATAL ERROR (image)
2. Windows 10 restarted and ran for a few minutes until this BSOD error: CLOCK WATCHDOG TIMEOUT (image)
3. Windows 10 restarted again now working fine. Checked if the driver is still there. Yes, it's in Device Manager. No issues so far.
4. Playing Among US with Task manager opened along with AC power now supplied. The game is freezing for short time and the Task manager shows sudden spikes to 100% with delays. Not responding now. Laptop stuck. Now shows the BSOD named DXGKRNL FATAL ERROR (image)
5. Laptop restarted. Fan speed increased, laptop heating. On sleep mode heating as well, previously before the GPU issue, it would not heat, and no noise when was on sleep mode.
6. Opened task manager, GPU 0 as MX450, shows 53 temps with no readings 0% while the AMD one shows 61-celsius temp (image)
7. After a few seconds, temperature not being detected on GPU on the task manager. (image)
8. Using cmd sfc/scannow and dism commands now. Completed. (image 1) (image 2)
9. Restarted
10. Trying to run the game again. BSOD with a new error which is 'VIDEO_TDR_Failure' ....what failed nvlddmkm.sys. (image)
11. System restarted...Opened Task Manager GPU 0 only showing with AMD Radeon graphics. (image)
12. Opened Device manager...No MX450 driver found (image)....Show hidden devices....MX450 appearing with code 45 (image)

Reached where we started lol. Do you think the GPU is faulty or is it related to drivers?

Update: The GPU just randomly appears after a few restarts and shutdowns. I play games like I usually do. No sign of slowing, or freezing. Played BL2 for around 3 hours until the BSOD screen appeared with the CLOCK WATCHDOG TIMEOUT error again. For the last few weeks, it's been like that.

Also in the Windows reliability report, it marks as 'Hardware error' (image), and here's a detailed description of the error (image)

Tried:

1. Installing the driver again
2. Reinstalling BIOS (already on the latest version)
3. Reinstalling windows 10
4. Installing all drivers (no device with a warning sign)
5. Cmd commands mentioned in most tutorials

 

[helpstar]

check if you still have warranty on it and RMA it

eventually update the BIOS of the Laptop if available

 

[Roman_16]

check if you still have warranty on it and RMA it

eventually update the BIOS of the Laptop if available

Sorry, no warranty.

The BIOS isn't available. The last one was of 2022.

 

[LeviTech]

45 error means probably that you have a bad bga.