Laptop Freezing and Buzzing - Games Only

[joshuaqueen]

Hey all.
So I have a decent'ish laptop I had made by Dell. The only issue is that is older now, but still decent for what it is.
I had been able to play any game up until I let the gf take it for a couple of months (yes, that is the first issue, haha). I got her to try ArcheAge with me. Last I knew it worked fine! When she logged in the game would work fine initially, then it would freeze and buzz. I figured no big deal. Some games may be too intensive for the laptop, but that wasn't the case. From that point on it would freeze on ANY and all games I played. I am at a loss as to what is causing it.
One issue that I have read about is the Nvidia vs the Intel HD GPU. I have tried to force the Nvidia to default with all games, but I am not sure if it is or not.
I have run multiple stress test programs and this does NOTHING to the laptop. Max CPU temp = 75c, max GPU is 75-80c under load. Everything seems to work fine outside of games. Once a game is ran it will freeze and buzz eventually.
I have also tried uninstalling the Intel HD GPU
I have tried rolling back drivers to the original dell drivers
I have tried disabling the Intel GPU
I got a laptop cooler
I ran virus scanners and adware removers etc
I applied thermal paste to the GPU and CPU
Confirmed fans are cleared and blowing
updating drivers, rolling back, going with defaults
I have used the Nvidia control panel to force all games to default to the dedicated GPU/Nvidia
I have monitored the heat for an extended amount of time.
I have left the Laptop on for a week+ stress testing it from time to time, and it never froze or locked up at all. This was done after applying fresh thermal paste to let it sink in.
I have not taken my RAM out to test each stick individually, and I don't think any of my temp sensors reported RAM temps.


Right now I am thinking it is RAM or Drivers.

Any suggestions?

This occurred on Windows 7, and now on Windows 10 - Same exact behavior on a fresh install of Windows 10

Dell XPS 15 (L502X) (2010 Laptop)
Windows 10 x64
Core i7 2620M
Nvidia GT 540M/Intel HD 3000
Realtek High Def Audio/JBL speakers
300GB HDD
6GB Ram

Any help is much appreciated

 

[Wayfall]

Remove all video drivers and try and run a game at the cards basic resolution, that will rule out software issues.

 

[joshuaqueen]

I uninstalled the drivers using a driver remover, which also blocked it from auto downloading the drivers again (allegedly - it looks like decent driver).
It IS letting me play the game now. I am running a game and GPU stress test without issue.
So it does sound like a driver issue, but how do you fix it? I really dislike the dual gpu crap they are doing or did. Nothing but a nightmare if I want to make my laptop my own and re-install windows.

 

[Wayfall]

Aah good we are making progress.

Well are you running at the resolution where everything is huge on your screen like if you were in safe mod right?

I would say double check the Intel HD display driver/device is disabled via device manager them go to your dedicated graphics cards official site for its oldest driver.

So
-Install oldest driver
-Restart
-Install next driver up
-Restart
-Rinse and repeat till you get to the buggy driver and rollback to the working one

Hope this helps

 

[joshuaqueen]

Couple things;
I am now on Windows 10, so there aren't that many drivers to try.
The first Windows 10 driver seems to work, but performance is terrible. I got to the first "Game Ready" driver and the performance was 10x better, but it only lasted about 5 minutes before it crashed and buzzed...or burned, haha. Not sure what to do. I can use my gpu without drivers, or with the very first driver (same performance) or just not play games. Well, its for the gf to play games, not me. I don't care to buy a new one atm.

Suggestions?


*Edit* I am going to try to remove all Nvidia drivers again, then add the first game ready driver to see if that does anything.

 

[Wayfall]

Hmm it sounds like a conflict really. You could try and clone your current master HDD as a backup and then wipe the current one by reinstalling windows from scratch with the disk of whatever OS you have and do not let windows update at all till you put the updated video driver in first.

As their should be nothing getting in the way then.

Try that, installing windows doesn't take that long really.