[SOLVED] very rare random freezes

[micbp]

hello, everyone
i recently started having a problem with my hp omen 15 laptop
i had it for a little over a year, and that problem appeared a few months ago
problem has to do with very rare and seemingly random freezes. basically laptop freezes up for a second (with looping sound) and then continues normally
at first i didnt notice this, so rare those were, but this issue is definitely not going away
freezes seem to happen during any activity, whatever watching a movie, playing video games (so i guess its not dependant on cpu or gpu or ram load), and cant really tell the exact rarity of it, it can happen once a month or once a week, but it is rare, concidering im spending around 6 hours at my laptop a day

i have windows 10, 20H2 update
cpu is i7-9750h
gpu is rtx2060

i did all cpu and gpu tests in OCCT for 10 minutes each, no mistakes
also did the gpu and cpu tests in HP hardware diagnostics, also no mistakes

cpu has been undervolted via throttlestop by -125 mV in both core and cache for some time, but i cant tell if its related or not, because of the rarity of those freezes
any advice on the potential cause, and maybe on if i can pull up some log or something, after i catch one of these freezes, would be very welcome

 

[micbp]

i pinpointed the exact time of that recent freeze happening, and went into Event Viewer to see mistakes that happened during that
and there no mistakes or even warnings happened at that exact time, or prior in almost an hour
i dont know if that helps

ps. sorry for the misleading log file earlier

 

[Juan_Bijero]

You may want to run chkdsk once you find the problem.

 

[micbp]

You may want to run chkdsk once you find the problem.

well, im not sure how i can find the problem tbh, but i run chkdsk right now and says no problems found

 

[micbp]

also i have a suspicion on Kaspersky antivirus
since once this freeze happened i saved the game i was in, and exited to the desktop to see Kaspersky doing his quick scan (autorun files)
but its probably completely unrelated, since when i start it manually or usually when it autostarts, no freezes are happening
so probably just a coincidence, but i thought i voice it, just in case

 

[uWebb429]

Many 9750H are not 100% stable when the cache is set to -125 mV. Try doing some TS Bench 1 and 2 Thread tests to see if ThrottleStop reports any errors.

I would set the cache to -100 mV for a week to see how it goes. The core and cache voltages do not need to be set equally. Run Cinebench R20 and try increasing only the core offset.

MAXON Cinebench R20.0 Download

CINEBENCH is a real-world cross platform test suite that evaluates your computer's performance capabilities. CINEBENCH is based on MAXON's award-winn

www.techpowerup.com

You can reliably push the core to -200 mV as long as the cache is not set too high. Most guides never suggest doing this because they were written by people that have never done any testing of this.

https://imgur.com/xGn0OHu

View: https://i.imgur.com/xGn0OHu.png

https://imgur.com/8glvcK6

View: https://i.imgur.com/8glvcK6.png

https://imgur.com/60aueU6

View: https://i.imgur.com/60aueU6.png

 

[micbp]

ok, thats something, thanks
it did TS bench with 1 and 2 threads with 96m normal priority and fixed MHz, but no errors (i guess they will show up, i dont need to go into logs or into menus to look for them, right?)
it might be related to Throttlestop, but it happens so rarely i cant be sure, but it DEFINITELY didnt happen before i installed throttlestop around half a year ago. so hopefully its that

also, i forgot to mention Speedshift - EPP is also activated and set to 0
the rest of the settings are default as far as i remember

i will try to set settings as you mentioned, but again, it could be weeks or months before it happens again

but does this makes sense to happen with low CPU load? i mean it happened in an old game also, which never loads CPU above 20% (but it is an old game, so maybe it uses 1 core or something)

also if thats the case, do those freezes actually hurt my CPU? i mean i can coop with them, since they are so rare, if they not harmful (assuming undervolting is the cause)

 

[uWebb429]

Freezes and crashes are more likely to happen when a mobile CPU is lightly loaded, especially if your undervolt settings are on the edge of stability. Have you lowered your cache undervolt yet? -125 mV for the cache has proven to be right on the edge of stability for many 9750H.

An undervolt reduces voltage along the entire voltage curve. At lower CPU speeds, the voltage is already at a very low value. Much lower compared to when loaded. When you undervolt, the full load voltage and tests might be OK but light load tests is where you will see BSOD problems first.

I doubt a BSOD or freeze is going to hurt your CPU but it would be difficult to prove this one way or the other.

Run a longer TS Bench test while you are having lunch. The 96M test is pretty quick. The Random option is not a bad idea either. The CPU constantly changing speeds is more of a real world test for a laptop compared to the CPU being held to a fixed value.

If any errors are detected, the TS Bench will show how many errors it found at the top where it normally shows how much time it took to complete the test.

 

[micbp]

hey thanks for educating me on that, i had very vague ideas on this undervolting actually works. interesting to know more about it
yes, undervolted to -100 mV right away as i made my previous post, no freezes so far (but then again, they were so rare)
i can say for certain that -150 mV cache was an instant guaranteed BSOD for me, so maybe -125 mV is right on the verge, as you said

will do more TS bench tests and just general running of different activities, maybe it will become obvious
well, fingers crossed, it was the issue)

 

[micbp]

update for those who has the same problem
i guess underclocking was the cause, no freezes since