Defiance crashing only when gaming

Zer0access

Active member
For months my laptop has been crashing when gaming. It only happens when running a game and does not matter if it's new or old. I'm currently playing Far Cry Primal and it crashes every hour or so. Basically it's as though i've held the power button and switched it off. Sometimes I'm lucky and I can switch it straight back on, sometimes I won't be able to switch it back on for about an hour and no lights turn on or any response.

Temperature running is about 85-90.

Specs are: Chassis & Display Recoil Series: 17.3" Matte Full HD 144Hz 72% NTSC LED Widescreen (1920x1080) Processor (CPU) Intel® Core™ i7 Six Core Processor 9750H (2.6GHz, 4.5GHz Turbo) Memory (RAM) 32GB Corsair 2666MHz SODIMM DDR4 (2 x 16GB) Graphics Card NVIDIA® GeForce® RTX 2070 - 8.0GB GDDR6 Video RAM - DirectX® 12.1

Anyone has any idea? It's becoming more and more frequent making gaming virtually impossible. I've updated all drivers but not updated to Windows 11.
 

SpyderTracks

We love you Ukraine
For months my laptop has been crashing when gaming. It only happens when running a game and does not matter if it's new or old. I'm currently playing Far Cry Primal and it crashes every hour or so. Basically it's as though i've held the power button and switched it off. Sometimes I'm lucky and I can switch it straight back on, sometimes I won't be able to switch it back on for about an hour and no lights turn on or any response.

Temperature running is about 85-90.

Specs are: Chassis & Display Recoil Series: 17.3" Matte Full HD 144Hz 72% NTSC LED Widescreen (1920x1080) Processor (CPU) Intel® Core™ i7 Six Core Processor 9750H (2.6GHz, 4.5GHz Turbo) Memory (RAM) 32GB Corsair 2666MHz SODIMM DDR4 (2 x 16GB) Graphics Card NVIDIA® GeForce® RTX 2070 - 8.0GB GDDR6 Video RAM - DirectX® 12.1

Anyone has any idea? It's becoming more and more frequent making gaming virtually impossible. I've updated all drivers but not updated to Windows 11.
When was the last time you repasted?
 

Zer0access

Active member
When was the last time you repasted?
Maybe half a year ago. This started so I repasted but the problem continued. I might add that sometimes it doesn't switch off and rather just goes to black screen. In that time it's almost like the computer is still running the game but all I see is a black screen.
 

SpyderTracks

We love you Ukraine
Everything is updated just not windows 11.
Can you take a screenshot of your optional updates page please?

Maybe half a year ago. This started so I repasted but the problem continued. I might add that sometimes it doesn't switch off and rather just goes to black screen. In that time it's almost like the computer is still running the game but all I see is a black screen.
It's weird, the symptoms either point to heat causing timed failure until it's cooled, or power issues which is likely motherboard related.

What are you using to read temps, and what are you using to stress it?
 

Zer0access

Active member
Can you take a screenshot of your optional updates page please?


It's weird, the symptoms either point to heat causing timed failure until it's cooled, or power issues which is likely motherboard related.

What are you using to read temps, and what are you using to stress it?

I assume motherboard would be a big problem?

I'm just using the standard command center and checking temps while gaming. Should I download a better one?
 

SpyderTracks

We love you Ukraine
I assume motherboard would be a big problem?

I'm just using the standard command center and checking temps while gaming. Should I download a better one?
Can you include a screenshot of your optional updates?

It would be worth monitoring temps with something like HWMonitor


What are you using to stress the system to get temps?
 

DarkPaladin

Enthusiast
If I were you, I'd be doing the following:
  • Download HWInfo64 and just going through a few system checks such as Battery Health (sensors enabled, bottom of the page, wear level). If the wear level % is low, the battery is unlikely to be causing any issues. https://www.hwinfo.com/download/
  • Run a game and monitor your temperatures either with HWInfo64 or HWMonitor running in the background. It doesn't matter which of these you use, but I personally found that HWMonitor caused system stuttering when it was active.
  • Pay attention the current temp and maximum temperature. If your temperatures are coloured red, I'd personally investigate in improved cooling (ideally re-paste, clean out dust, turn fans on full with FN + 1 when gaming, invest in a power-supplied cooling pad such as IETS 500)
  • If thermals aren't an issue, I'd look into downloading Intel XTU to check for throttling (current, power limit, thermal, motherboard vr). It'll indicate if you have an issue with a simple "Yes" text change: https://www.intel.com/content/www/us/en/download/17881/intel-extreme-tuning-utility-intel-xtu.html
  • Push the windows key and type "windows memory diagnostic". Let it run for the full duration and see if it comes up with potential memory issues (unlikely but something to consider when diagnosing potential faults)
  • Additionally, I'd also consider running an application such as XTU's stress test or Timespy 3DMark to check for system stability. If your laptop crashes under these conditions, I'd likely resort to considering this a hardware issue
  • If it is likely to be a hardware issue, I'd recommend calling PCSpecialist or setting up an RMA and explain the issue + steps you've already taken to try and fix it on your end
Hopefully some of this has been helpful to you!
 
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