Question Laptop Shuts Down when Gaming in Win10, runs fine in Linux

[fallout2077]

I have a MSI GT70 2PC Dominator with a 970M I installed a couple years ago, with 24GB RAM. Over the past week the laptop has been shutting down within a minute of playing a game (Elite Dangerous, specifically) or running the OCCT's PSU test, as well as when running Blender 2.80 in the Render viewport with lights, cameras, and materials set up. However, I ran a CPU stress test with the "stress" package in Manjaro without a shutdown. I also opened the same scene in B2.80 in Manjaro, while rotating and moving around like I did in Windows, with no shutdown.
Has anybody ever heard of Windows 10, or any recent version of Windows, suffering from an issue that causes the system to shut down while gaming or performing any power-hungry tasks? I've thought about backing up the games I care about in Steam as well my important files and conducting a clean reinstall of Windows 10, though before I took that leap I figured I'd ask you folks what you thought, and see if there's any hope of saving Windows. Judging from days of Googling, I determined the issue to be a faulty power brick, though after purchasing a new one, the problem persists. Any help from you fine folks would be greatly appreciated!

 

[COLGeek]

How hot is your CPU and GPU at idle and under load? Does this issue occur when gaming on battery power?

Is Windows and all of your major drivers up to date? You scanned for malware recently?

 

[fallout2077]

How hot is your CPU and GPU at idle and under load? Does this issue occur when gaming on battery power?

Is Windows and all of your major drivers up to date? You scanned for malware recently?

The temps don't go above 70C during gaming and the stress test before the shut down. My battery's a bit on the worn out side, and I haven't attempted to play solely with the battery, as it would likely die well within a couple minutes, if not sooner, of game time. And drivers are definitely up to date, as well as Windows itself. I performed a malware check via Malwarebytes several nights ago, and it did find 10 or so minor hits, which after removal didn't solve the issue.
Thank you for the quick response!

 

[COLGeek]

In Task Manager, do you seem to have any applications using an usual amount of system resources (memory and/or CPU)?

 

[fallout2077]

In Task Manager, do you seem to have any applications using an usual amount of system resources (memory and/or CPU)?

I'll check later, I'm not at my computer. I'll get back to you.

 

[fallout2077]

In Task Manager, do you seem to have any applications using an usual amount of system resources (memory and/or CPU)?

Okay, I just checked and when not gaming/running Blender the most resource-intensive task running is Window Defender's Antimalware Service Executable, and even then it's only using anywhere between 0.1 - 0.3% CPU.

 

[COLGeek]

When running Linux, are you using the Intel integrated GPU or the Nvidia GPU to stress the system?

 

[fallout2077]

When running Linux, are you using the Intel integrated GPU or the Nvidia GPU to stress the system?

Nvidia GPU.

 

[COLGeek]

Everything points to a Windows issue. These sorts of issues are often driver related. Have you looked for any clues in your Event Viewer regarding any critical entries?

 

[fallout2077]

I'm making preparations for a Windows reinstallation. Over the course of the past several months I've been seeing strange behavior within Windows that I don't see in linux, such as the screen flickering when plugging in a USB device.

 

[fallout2077]

Everything points to a Windows issue. These sorts of issues are often driver related. Have you looked for any clues in your Event Viewer regarding any critical entries?

The only critical entries are Kernel-Power Event ID 41.

 

[COLGeek]

From Windows, go here:

https://www.intel.com/content/www/us/en/support/intel-driver-support-assistant.html

Run the tool to identify any driver updates. I would update all that are available, especially the chipset.

 

[fallout2077]

From Windows, go here:

https://www.intel.com/content/www/us/en/support/intel-driver-support-assistant.html

Run the tool to identify any driver updates. I would update all that are available, especially the chipset.

Hah, one step ahead of you, my friend. I ran that a couple nights ago, and it updated the wireless adapter and the Bluetooth adapter, though it finds and wants to install the same update for the Bluetooth adapter everytime I run it. I updated the Nvidia driver a few days ago, too.

 

[COLGeek]

Might be time for the re-install of Windows after all. Good luck.

 

[fallout2077]

Might be time for the re-install of Windows after all. Good luck.

Thanks. It's been slow going since I'm copying everything important to a slow hard drive. I have a Win8 installation ISO, so I'm wondering if I should use that or reinstall Win10 using the reinstallation option in the recovery section. Any suggestions on that front?

 

[COLGeek]

Go here and get the most recent release of Win 10. Don't install Win 8 first.

https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/software-download/windows10

 

[fallout2077]

Go here and get the most recent release of Win 10. Don't install Win 8 first.

https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/software-download/windows10

Thanks for that link! And is it safe to format the hard drive and then install Windows 10 with that ISO, or does the ISO installation process ask and automate that process for me? I was just wondering if there would be any registration/authentication issues since Win8 is the original OS installed on the system. I'm just wanted this process to proceed as clean as possible.

EDIT: Actually, it appears that the options for creating Windows Installation media are different when opened on my computer rather than on my phone. On my phone I can download an ISO, on the computer I can create installation media using the Media Creation Tool.

 

[fallout2077]

Go here and get the most recent release of Win 10. Don't install Win 8 first.

https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/software-download/windows10

Well, I reinstalled Windows 10 yesterday and, up until now, everything was running normal, but now I'm experiencing the shut downs again. I'm dropping the min/max processor state in the power plan settings to see if that solves the issue, but so far no good.

 

[Prostar Computer]

Are your utilization and temps comparable to that of your gaming sessions in Windows when stressing the system in Linux? I believe Linux is slightly less taxing on hardware (most distros/desktop managers, anyway), so an apples to apples stability test might require you to push the system slightly harder while running it.

 

[fallout2077]

I ran a CPU stress test in Linux and ran it until it reached 90C or so, with no system instability seen. In Windows, while running a PSU stress test using OCCT, the CPU temps reached between 80C-85C, with the GPU running cooler. Last night, though, before the shut downs started, the GPU was reaching a 80C.

 

[fallout2077]

Is there a chance that the issue is a Windows 10 conflict with a component on my laptop? I was wondering if downgrading Windows 8 might be a possible solution. Any thoughts?

 

[COLGeek]

Windows 10 should work fine on your laptop (assuming nothing is defective). Did you also update all of your drivers after you re-installed Windows?

 

[fallout2077]

Windows 10 should work fine on your laptop (assuming nothing is defective). Did you also update all of your drivers after you re-installed Windows?

Yep, I updated the Intel and Nvidia drivers to their latest releases. The network adapters are also updated to their latest versions via the Intel Driver Support and Assistant tool. When Earlier today I even downgraded to a Nvidia driver version from September to see if the drivers were at fault, but nope, still shutting down. As relieved I am that I can still use Linux, Windows is my main gaming machine, and it's sad to think that it could be coming to an end.

 

[fallout2077]

Actually, I should add something that I've forgotten about it until now. In the days leading up to the shut downs, I started experiencing BSODs referring to memory errors. Reading around the net led me to run MemTest to diagnose issues, but no problems were found.
I should also mention that those BSODs occurred at fairly random moments in contrast to the predictable nature of these BSOD-less shut downs.