Dead laptop? constant bluescreens

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arcon

120 posts

Master Geek
+1 received by user: 3

# 175579 4-Jul-2015 18:40

5 times in the past day I've had random BSODs / forced shutdowns on my Dell M6600. i thought it was temperature related the first time, however 3 crashes were at non-stress temps, and i've cleaned dust out. one incidident was just random in windows eg. not in a heavy graphical app.

when it happens its like a notebook siezure lol, bright flash, black screen then half the screen glitches, sometimes sound locks, then shutdown & restart.

I've had this laptop for nearly 4 yrs... so its out of warranty... scandisk & memtest clear, the minidump analysis (below) shows suspect video hardware or drivers, but i've tried a clean install with newer drivers, same issue.

my guess is faulty nvidia video card. the mobile quadro cards are not cheap to replace... and i don't want to risk replacing it and it turns out to be something else. anything else i could try before writing off the laptop and buying a new one...? :/

minidump below:
-----

VIDEO_TDR_FAILURE (116)
Attempt to reset the display driver and recover from timeout failed.
Arguments:
Arg1: fffffa800d18f4e0, Optional pointer to internal TDR recovery context (TDR_RECOVERY_CONTEXT).
Arg2: fffff8800fc47750, The pointer into responsible device driver module (e.g. owner tag).
Arg3: ffffffffc000009a, Optional error code (NTSTATUS) of the last failed operation.
Arg4: 0000000000000004, Optional internal context dependent data.

Debugging Details:
------------------

TRIAGER: Could not open triage file : e:\dump_analysis\program\triage\modclass.ini, error 2

FAULTING_IP:
nvlddmkm+9af750
fffff880`0fc47750 48ff2569f7ecff jmp qword ptr [nvlddmkm+0x87eec0 (fffff880`0fb16ec0)]

DEFAULT_BUCKET_ID: GRAPHICS_DRIVER_TDR_FAULT

BUGCHECK_STR: 0x116

PROCESS_NAME: System

CURRENT_IRQL: 0

STACK_TEXT:
fffff880`039eaa48 fffff880`04c6c134 : 00000000`00000116 fffffa80`0d18f4e0 fffff880`0fc47750 ffffffff`c000009a : nt!KeBugCheckEx
fffff880`039eaa50 fffff880`04c3f867 : fffff880`0fc47750 fffffa80`11d40000 00000000`00000000 ffffffff`c000009a : dxgkrnl!TdrBugcheckOnTimeout+0xec
fffff880`039eaa90 fffff880`04c6bf43 : fffffa80`ffffd846 ffffffff`fffe7960 fffffa80`0d18f4e0 00000000`00000000 : dxgkrnl!DXGADAPTER::Reset+0x2a3
fffff880`039eab40 fffff880`04d3c03d : fffffa80`0ca95010 00000000`00000080 00000000`00000000 fffffa80`1043c410 : dxgkrnl!TdrResetFromTimeout+0x23
fffff880`039eabc0 fffff800`0335caba : 00000000`04f78ef5 fffffa80`11d3fb50 fffffa80`0ca18840 fffffa80`11d3fb50 : dxgmms1!VidSchiWorkerThread+0x101
fffff880`039eac00 fffff800`030b4426 : fffff800`03242e80 fffffa80`11d3fb50 fffff800`03250cc0 00000000`ffffffff : nt!PspSystemThreadStartup+0x5a
fffff880`039eac40 00000000`00000000 : 00000000`00000000 00000000`00000000 00000000`00000000 00000000`00000000 : nt!KiStartSystemThread+0x16

STACK_COMMAND: .bugcheck ; kb

FOLLOWUP_IP:
nvlddmkm+9af750
fffff880`0fc47750 48ff2569f7ecff jmp qword ptr [nvlddmkm+0x87eec0 (fffff880`0fb16ec0)]

gzt

10750 posts

Uber Geek
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# 1337170 4-Jul-2015 23:59

Some potential exists for a driver problem. Get the latest display drivers for that exact machine model from the dell site. Yes, the OEM or generic drivers may be later but you don't want those for this purpose. Yes, it may be a bit of work to uninstall the existing drivers and you should do that booting in safe VGA mode only.

Quick cheat if your o/s supports it - hit the rollback button on the display driver tab.

afe66

1991 posts

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Lifetime subscriber

# 1337210 5-Jul-2015 08:58

Running ubuntu on USB stick would bypass Windows software issue and help exclude hardware problem.

A.

arcon

120 posts

Master Geek
+1 received by user: 3

# 1337227 5-Jul-2015 10:01

afe66: Running ubuntu on USB stick would bypass Windows software issue and help exclude hardware problem.

good idea i am downloading now. once i have it what would be a good way to stress test the video..? in windows this happened 3 times in Starcraft, once in Maya (3D app), and once in general windows usage. however would prefer not to wait a day or so for it to happen :D

timmmay

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Trusted

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# 1337235 5-Jul-2015 10:44

Reinstall Windows. If you have a spare disk reinstall to a different disk, that way if it's not the disk you still have the old install. You can always plug in a USB disk and image the disk using macrium reflect free.

arcon

120 posts

Master Geek
+1 received by user: 3

# 1337594 6-Jul-2015 09:25

after trying driver rollback i actually realised i could activate Optimus (integrated graphics), and disable the Quadro card for testing. under stress i wasn't able to reproduce a crash which is telling.

considering the age of the laptop - intensive graphics work almost every day for nearly 4 years lol... i'm fairly sure its hardware. a few of the keys are also starting to fail so the time kinda feels right for a new workstation. probably not going to go mobile this time as i feel the Dell Precisions are currently way overpriced for what they offer.