[SOLVED] WHEA error - Out of options. Please help.

[icetea04]

Hello. I am in dire need of help.

I just registered because I don't know where else to seek for help anymore. Reddit wasn't helpful at all and before I began this post, I did as much research as I could, followed some links and instructions from other Tom's Hardware topics that dealt with the same error. Nothing helped.

This post is literally my last resort because I am at a loss of what to do. I tried testing what I could from temperature, to memory, disk errors, updating BIOS, updating Windows, resetting, reverting updates, you name it. Everything seems to be working well. Not an error in sight.
For context, I've been getting the BSOD at random, with the whea_uncorrectable_error. Be it when playing games, watching YouTube, turning the PC on, watching a movie... anything. I then need to reboot it manually, because it often says that it cannot find a bootable device. Between the times of these random BSOD the laptop works normally, infact, as if nothing's wrong at all. One of the reddit users asked me to check for a minidump but strangely enough - there's none. No minidumps or anything.

Is there anything else I can do at all or am I just out of luck? I've had a comment mention a possible faulty SSD or possible need to reapply thermal paste, but again, it might not be it. This is the only laptop I own and gaming is my passion. I just want to know if I can save this in some way 'cause I don't think I can afford even a basic new pc nor even to repair this. I wish I could at least identify what could be causing this BSOD.

Below I will post the specs, if anything's missing please do tell:
OS: Windows 10 Home 64-bit (10.0, build 19043)
System manufacturer: Intel(R) client systems
System model: LAPQC71A
Processor: Intel (R) core(TM) i7-9750H, 2.60GHz (12 CPUs)
RAM: 16GBIntegrated
GPU: Intel(R) UHD graphics 630VRAM: 128MB
Dedicated GPU: NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1660Ti
VRAM: 5991MB
Storage: two 1TB SSDs, NVMe
Manufacturer: Cyberpower UK
---I should also mention that this laptop has no battery, because it ened up swelling and I had to remove it. No chance of replacing it.

Any help is greatly appreciated.

 

[Colif]

WHEA = WIndows Hardware Error Architecture.
Its an error called by the CPU but not necessarily caused by it.
It can be any hardware and/or drivers.
can be caused by over heating
can be caused by overclocking software. I assume you don't have Intel extreme tuning installed but I have seen it on laptops before. Uninstall MSI afterburner if its on laptop

not getting a dump with them is sadly common. A lot of the time getting a dump doesn't actually tell me a great deal anyway. They are almost always the same. It would at least show me what drivers were running.

the drive itself could be the cause. Its one reason to not get a dump after a crash, as if drive crashes, it can't record the dump.

because it often says that it cannot find a bootable device.

Would also explain why drive randomly isn't there after a crash.

what make/model is the boot drive?

 

[icetea04]

WHEA = WIndows Hardware Error Architecture.
Its an error called by the CPU but not necessarily caused by it.
It can be any hardware and/or drivers.
can be caused by over heating
can be caused by overclocking software. I assume you don't have Intel extreme tuning installed but I have seen it on laptops before. Uninstall MSI afterburner if its on laptop

not getting a dump with them is sadly common. A lot of the time getting a dump doesn't actually tell me a great deal anyway. They are almost always the same. It would at least show me what drivers were running.

the drive itself could be the cause. Its one reason to not get a dump after a crash, as if drive crashes, it can't record the dump.

Would also explain why drive randomly isn't there after a crash.

what make/model is the boot drive?

Thanks for giving me a reply. I thought that WHEA stood for something else, but it seems to have been wrong info when I first looked into it.

I believe I can rule out overheating, overclocking or any software that does overclock. Also, nope, no intel extreme overtuning or MSI afterburner.

I hope I am providing you with the right information: My boot drive is an SSD, WDC-WDS100T2B0C-00PXH0. It's an NVMe SSD and I've read that those can often fail like this?

 

[kanewolf]

Thanks for giving me a reply. I thought that WHEA stood for something else, but it seems to have been wrong info when I first looked into it.

I believe I can rule out overheating, overclocking or any software that does overclock. Also, nope, no intel extreme overtuning or MSI afterburner.

I hope I am providing you with the right information: My boot drive is an SSD, WDC-WDS100T2B0C-00PXH0. It's an NVMe SSD and I've read that those can often fail like this?

It could be the fact that you have no battery. That battery acts like a power reserve. High power needs, like gaming, could be too much for the AC adapter alone. The battery adds extra, instantaneous power capacity to prevent voltage sags.

 

[Colif]

try running this on nvme - https://support.wdc.com/downloads.aspx?lang=en&p=279

 

[icetea04]

It could be the fact that you have no battery. That battery acts like a power reserve. High power needs, like gaming, could be too much for the AC adapter alone. The battery adds extra, instantaneous power capacity to prevent voltage sags.

It's a possiblity, but the thing is, it worked completely alright until I got a pretty much forced BIOS update - I'm the idiot here who had the automatic updates on. I wish I paid more attention. After that, it all got borked to hell and I began getting the BSOD.

 

[icetea04]

try running this on nvme - https://support.wdc.com/downloads.aspx?lang=en&p=279

Okay, just did. Is there anything specific I need to pay attention to? What I notice is that it says drive health is normal, but it needs new firmware. OTher than than it seems to be okay, temperature too. Should I just go ahead and update it? I know I may be asking dumb questions but still.

 

[Colif]

updating firmware up to you, I just got you to run to check its health.

 

[icetea04]

updating firmware up to you, I just got you to run to check its health.

I see. So there's nothing else I could check to find out the reason of the BSOD aside from assuming it could probably be an SSD or don't know.. CPU?

 

[itsduhhbzz]

I see. So there's nothing else I could check to find out the reason of the BSOD aside from assuming it could probably be an SSD or don't know.. CPU?

With it being a laptop the CPU would be integrated to the Motherboard in most cases. Intel Graphics to me indicates that the GPU is processing from the CPU as well.

As someone who worked for warranty repairs for Dell, HP, and Lenovo. The best approach is to find any error codes or what is causing the issue. So if the system seems to fail when you use anything involving the graphics, there could be some driver issues, but you also stated you have updated everything.

Your SSD is healthy. Have you got any compatible RAM modules you can take out the current ones and try different ones? I wouldn't suspect them to be the root though either. I would look into rolling back to previous BIOS builds if you know for certain it worked before certain drivers or updates were done.

Aside from all that your last and final before tossing it would be to replace the system board (motherboard).

 

[icetea04]

With it being a laptop the CPU would be integrated to the Motherboard in most cases. Intel Graphics to me indicates that the GPU is processing from the CPU as well.

As someone who worked for warranty repairs for Dell, HP, and Lenovo. The best approach is to find any error codes or what is causing the issue. So if the system seems to fail when you use anything involving the graphics, there could be some driver issues, but you also stated you have updated everything.

Your SSD is healthy. Have you got any compatible RAM modules you can take out the current ones and try different ones? I wouldn't suspect them to be the root though either. I would look into rolling back to previous BIOS builds if you know for certain it worked before certain drivers or updates were done.

Aside from all that your last and final before tossing it would be to replace the system board (motherboard).

Sadly, I've gone none. No spare laptop parts left that'd be compatible in any way. I will try the rolling back route once more, and see if there'll be any changes.
As for replacing the motherboard, it won't be possible for a really long time... so if not even the rollback works, I suppose this is really gonna be it for the time being. Such a shame, I only had this laptop for a year...

Anyway... Thank you, and the others, for replying and trying to help. It looks like pc gaming isn't meant for me in this life, haha

 

[Diceman_2037]

WHEA = WIndows Hardware Error Architecture.
Its an error called by the CPU but not necessarily caused by it.
It can be any hardware and/or drivers.
can be caused by over heating
can be caused by overclocking software. I assume you don't have Intel extreme tuning installed but I have seen it on laptops before. Uninstall MSI afterburner if its on laptop

not getting a dump with them is sadly common. A lot of the time getting a dump doesn't actually tell me a great deal anyway. They are almost always the same. It would at least show me what drivers were running.

the drive itself could be the cause. Its one reason to not get a dump after a crash, as if drive crashes, it can't record the dump.

Would also explain why drive randomly isn't there after a crash.

what make/model is the boot drive?

Drivers do not cause WHEA errors, they only allow for already unstable hardware to reach a state where the hardware crashes and reports one.