Windows 10 How to troubleshoot laptop crashing

[blksith0]

My guess is hardware, but what I notice is that the machine will stutter -> hang -> then totally crash. The system is still "on" but I must do a hard-power-off in order to turn it on again.
Sometimes after crashing it will hang and crash during the whole POST/BIOS startup section as well.

Here's my specs - Lenovo W510:
Link Removed

So can we start by you asking me what info you need to in order to narrow down the issue?

And I will try to get a video of it happening asap, but it's random, though I think it's CPU related, e.g. a burst of heavy CPU activity might trigger it for instance.

 

[Neemobeer]

The first thing I would do is boot into safe mode. If it doesn't hang, then it's likely a driver causing the issue.

 

[BIGBEARJEDI]

Hi,
You're specs you posted require a password, which we normally don't recommend as it slows down other forum helpers trying to assist you with your problem. I suggest you post it on a different photo sharing site without a password, such as OneDrive, GoogleDrive, or Dropbox.

Most common causes to this problem (if not producing a BSOD), are:
1.) Viruses/malware
2.) Windows registry corruption
3.) Failed Hardware

Take a look at my free TROUBLESHOOTING GUIDE to help you narrow things down in the meantime. Knowing the Make/Model of your computer is always a good starting point for us. Here's the link to my GUIDE: Windows 10 - Unclickable Task Bar

We'll look forward to getting your Make/Model of computer, and specs if you can repost them to a site without a password; and of course if you get stuck or have additional questions, post back here to this thread.

Best,
<<BIGBEARJEDI>>

 

[blksith0]

Updated the specs to no password required.

I'll try safemode soon, and go through that troubleshooting guide.

Here's BlueScreenView results, but I know that it's crashed much more often than what's listed here:
Link Removed

 

[kemical]

Hi,
if you would like you can post in bsod section and we'll debug your dump files. All you need to do is use the app found in the sticky.

Looking at what you've put up though, they are all caused by the gpu driver.

If your overclocking the card then stop and see if the bsod stops.

Download the DDU or display driver uninstaller.

Download your graphics driver (either the latest or the same one again)

Boot into safe mode and use the DDU to uninstall driver. This will also remove any corruption.

Once back in windows install your driver.

If the issue persists then it's either a hardware issue or the problem lays deeper within the system and looking at an actual dump file will help.

 

[blksith0]

More symptoms:
After about 30+ attempts I'm finally in the OS - and when I actually make it in, it functions well, but every other time:

Startup computer ->
display goes black / display freezes / (rarely) display shows colored error mess ->
laptop lights are still on +
wireless and hdd lights seem to be on or off but frozen as well (I think it depends at which stage it crashes. not sure. need more testing there. e.g. sometimes I've seen the hdd light solid when the screen is black after a crash) ->
have to pull the plug or hold the power button to restart ->
repeat

Sometimes I can't even get the bios image, simply black frozen state, sometimes I get all the way up to the initial windows loading screen.

So since the problem isn't limited windows, I'd like to try something more broad than a windows display driver though I'll try that too.
Any suggestions, please, shoot.

 

[BIGBEARJEDI]

Hi again,
I was out of town this weekend and had a busy couple of days this week, so I'm just getting back to checking my forum posts from last week tonight! sorry about the delay.

A few things:
1.) Great job on fixing your share site with your machine specs removing the password requirement so everyone here helping can look at it.
2.) Since you chose to use SPECCY, that's another big help for us hardware types like myself, as it gives us a quick overview of your system health. Most importantly, your CPU, RAM, and HDD temps all look good. The HDD also looks fine with about 15,000 hours of use, fairly low, with no major errors. Again, good job there. We use this utility a lot, and I put it onto all my Customer machines too.
3.) The next thing is, I'm not familiar with the BlueScreenView dump viewer utility. We like to use our own tools for that one, and fortunately, kemical, one of our best Crash Dump Analysts has jumped in to help with your thread as I hoped he would! I would urge you to use his recommend tools and procedures first, and then we can work together after you get there *if the problem persists* and go into further hardware testing and troubleshooting as per my GUIDE in my previous post. The BSOD sticky article with instructions on how to post your minidump into a format our Analysts need is here for you: How to ask for help with a BSOD problem
This will get you right to the page on our forum where specific instructions for obtaining and posting your computer's dump files are located.
4.) Regarding your further observations, it appears to be hardware related as you first thought. I have some ideas on how to check for that quickly. But, first, let's go through the BSOD dump analysis with kemical, as if it is a software or driver problem, the Crash Dump analysis process can identify the software modules, or drivers causing problems very specifically and will often produce a fix! We see your kind of problems on a very regular basis. Software repairs are often successful, and there is no need for Hardware testing and advanced software repairs such as W10 resets and W10 reinstallation from factory media/partition.

I'll relinquish the lead on this one to kemical until you can proceed through his process to see if he can produce a fix for you.
Then, if we don't seem to be getting anywhere, we'll go through my GUIDE together.

In the meantime, you can try this simple trick: Remove BOTH your hard drive and all your RAM sticks from the laptop (as long as you have access through bottom case ports, and don't have to disassemble the entire laptop to do so, making sure that your AC Adapter is unplugged and the battery is physically removed from the laptop. When you power the laptop back on, you should get some video display, if not you should get some "beep-codes" from the onboard speaker on the laptop Motherboard. If you get neither display nor audio beep-codes; your Motherboard has most likely failed and will probably need to be replaced. Most laptop makers (as well as desktop PC makers) include this diagnostic feature and have for decades. Your problem may be intermittent, and even if SPECCY or other utilities aren't showing overtemp numbers, that doesn't mean your Mobo hasn't experienced some kind of thermal or drop damage and the boot to BIOS problem being intermittent is a symptom of either or both of those causes.

We'll look for your MINI-DUMP files per the link instructions I gave you above, and kemical will get started with you on that.

@kemical: Thanks very much for the assist with this one-I'm turning it over to you until he can get your his mini-dump files.

Best,
<<BBJ>>

 

[kemical]

So since the problem isn't limited windows, I'd like to try something more broad than a windows display driver though I'll try that too.
Any suggestions, please, shoot.

Try running furmark and see if the graphics manages to run the stress test ok. If it doesn't then you may have either driver issues or hardware problems.