Gpu Failures - Bsod Video Tdr Failure/driver Power State Failure

[Chub_N_Tuck]

tl;dr underclocking my gpu solved(?) video TDR failure, and what can I do more if anything? Is there permanent underclocking option? How? Is there anyone out there with similar problem I had?

 

Hello, I have been playing Warframe for about 1 year and half now, and recently I have purchased a gaming laptop to do everything on it. Here's a recent post of mine about laptop warframers in general, if u want to know about my laptop.

https://forums.warframe.com/index.php?/topic/452094-for-laptop-users-how-well-can-your-laptop-run-warframe/

 

So... the problem not mentioned in the pst above is my GPU's failures. At first, it was just showing BSOD with a message under: Driver_power_state_failure. Whatever work that involved using the GPU caused the laptop to either slow down so much that I couldn't do anything, or it simply froze, forcing me to hold the power button to reboot.

 

It has been torturing me for a good one month now, and I even send the laptop back to the manufacturers to fix the damn thing. It obviously wasn't fixed, and I was searching for fixes all month only to gain nothing but stress.

 

I thought I really have a defective GPU, and I still do actually. Here are my current conditions.

1. I have every single drivers updated to the newest versions. 

2. I have a cooling pad and playing any games barely made my laptop go around 70 degrees celcius.

3. I did a system reset to return to the default and reinstalled every drivers from scratch.

 

But I came across this simple tool called nvidia inspector during the search, and found out that I could underclock/overclock the Memory clock and Base clock of my GPU. So I tried underclocking first because I did read somewhere that the GPU might be working more than it should.

 

Apparently, that fixed the problem. I had no more freezes and "display driver stopped responding and has recovered" messages. I underclocked about 512 Mhz first, to see if it helps. Then I tried 256 Mhz, and even less later on. I'm still testing it and see if it really did solve it. 

 

Well, the question is in the first sentence, and I would like to know what you guys have to say.

Edited May 10, 2015 by Chuck_NoMiss

[ChloeSakuna]

I'm not a laptop specialist, but in my personal experience with computers, it could be a multitude of problems with your laptop and it's GPU, from Dust in your laptop that could cause the malfunction with the GPU, to something much worse. I mean, it looks like you hit the main trouble shooting points and logic which would be, Make sure all of the drivers are correct, make sure that you have everything updated. You did restore your system, so a clean sweep kind of unnecessary but, hey it might be something? So, yes you hit the nail on the head with your GPU is being out performed for something extremely intensive like gaming, now it's failing because it can't keep up because things have changed graphic wise. Also, underclocking the GPU will keep it a bit more for longevity sake, but I don't know if the old horse will keep being able to play at your standards.

I suggest getting yourself or building a desktop, laptops were not really meant for gaming (Despite there are some nice gaming laptops). I'm sorry I couldn't be more help.

Edited May 10, 2015 by ChloeSakuna

[Vargras]

I get the feeling this is the kind of thing that Steve would be really interested in seeing (and fixing). Send him a private message or tweet to him (https://twitter.com/sj_sinclair is his twitter).

[Chub_N_Tuck]

I'm not a laptop specialist, but in my personal experience with computers, it could be a multitude of problems with your laptop and it's GPU, from Dust in your laptop that could cause the malfunction with the GPU, to something much worse. I mean, it looks like you hit the main trouble shooting points and logic which would be, Make sure all of the drivers are correct, make sure that you have everything updated. You did restore your system, so a clean sweep kind of unnecessary but, hey it might be something? So, yes you hit the nail on the head with your GPU is being out performed for something extremely intensive like gaming, now it's failing because it can't keep up because things have changed graphic wise. Also, underclocking the GPU will keep it a bit more for longevity sake, but I don't know if the old horse will keep being able to play at your standards.

I suggest getting yourself or building a desktop, laptops were not really meant for gaming (Despite there are some nice gaming laptops). I'm sorry I couldn't be more help.

 

I agree with laptops not meant for gaming, but I still love the mobile aspect of laptops. I still am a college student for another semester, and I just wanted to bring my stuffs to school easily. I also do have a built desktop btw, I realized I didn't mention it. It only has GTX 550 ti, which is about 4 years old now. But it performs well still, since Warframe doesn't really require high end graphics card.

 

I just don't like how much more gaming gears I would feel like getting if I play on desktop though, like headsets, keyboards, monitors and stuffs like that. It is a huge investment. Whereas this laptop, I only had to pay $1000 and it's ready to go with good enogh screen and storage with a decent GPU. Since Warframe runs liquid smooth on this laptop still, I think i'll stick with it until i get a proper job and invest some in gaming gears.

 

EDIT: Oh I also forgot to mention, after I underclocked the GPU, it actually runs even better. It could be my feeling, but I think I see more smooth and consistent gameplay. It's pretty good.

Edited May 10, 2015 by Chuck_NoMiss

[Chub_N_Tuck]

I get the feeling this is the kind of thing that Steve would be really interested in seeing (and fixing). Send him a private message or tweet to him (https://twitter.com/sj_sinclair is his twitter).

Interesting, but I think my problem is really not that common. I know a lot of people did experience the problem similar to mine in general, but in this community it is still a rare case. Maybe I'll try that. Thanks.