Still plagued by DRIVER_POWER_STATE_FAILURE!

[NeVMiku]

I think it's solved for now. After a BIOS update there has been no problems so far. Read the bold updates below.

So, I have had this laptop for about 8 months. Stuck on Windows 10 and having a lot of problems. A lot.

The most annoying of all being the DRIVER_POWER_STATE_FAILURE BSOD that keeps happening ever so often when I try to use applications that involve the GPU.

SolidWorks would hang the computer and then the BSOD would come up. When exiting Far Cry 4 the laptop will hang same as SW and the BSOD will be displayed.


What I've tried:

Asking PCS about this issue, sent them the diagnostics and was told to disable power management in Device Manager under the USB category. Helped for a while and it "came back." Refreshing Windows 10 (the reinstall option), no luck.
Updated to the nearly latest graphics driver version 362.00 and no luck. Tried the version that is on the PCS site and did nothing.

Why is this still a problem after 8-9 months? Why has it not been resolved? Will I have to use this setup until it's time for the "next upgrade?" What is being done about it? I can't even use this for gaming with stability let alone work. All I'm using this laptop for is just document and emails with some light gaming that uses the iGPU instead of the discrete card that hangs my computer every now and then!

Some questions are not directed to PCS directly but I still want to know an estimate of when this will be resolved. I can't return this laptop anyway as it's out of the 14 day period (lol, no ****).




UPDATE 12/05/2016: Contacted PCS. RMA is imminent.

UPDATE 27/05/2016: Received word that the RMA will be returned to me. It's apparently fixed now after a BIOS update. Will play around with it once it's arrived.

UPDATE 08/06/2016: The laptop came back to me for about a week now. The BIOS has been updated (you can do this too at your own risk but please email PCSpecialist first before doing ANYTHING) and has been checked for stability. There are no problems so far for the past week whether it be freezes, lags or stutters. I think the problem is solved for now and I hope there will be less (preferably none) BSODs in the future. Thanks PCS!

 

[SpyderTracks]

Have you got hotkey installed?

 

[NeVMiku]

Yes. Every single driver provided by PCS (except for the VGA which I have updated).

 

[ubuysa]

Yes. Every single driver provided by PCS (except for the VGA which I have updated).

That might possibly be your problem. What little experience I've had with Windows 10 on laptops is that things work better if you allow Windows Update to install all the required drivers. Windows 10 is a different approach, "Windows as a Service", so the old adage of not allowing Windows to install drivers no longer holds good. In some cases I've seen Windows Update has access to more recent drivers than PCS.

What you're having is clearly a driver related BSOD so it would be wise IMO to try a clean reinstall of Windows 10 and let Windows Update install all the drivers it can (you might need to re-run Windows Update several times to pick up all the necessary drivers). Only manually install those drivers that Windows Update doesn't find.

In addition, and AFAIK, there is still an issue with NVIDIA Optimus on laptops and Windows 10. I'm not at all sure that this is likely to be fixed anytime soon.

Windows 10 is still a work in progress and whilst I completely understand your frustration your anger would be better directed at Microsoft rather than PCS.

 

[NeVMiku]

That might possibly be your problem. What little experience I've had with Windows 10 on laptops is that things work better if you allow Windows Update to install all the required drivers. Windows 10 is a different approach, "Windows as a Service", so the old adage of not allowing Windows to install drivers no longer holds good. In some cases I've seen Windows Update has access to more recent drivers than PCS.

What you're having is clearly a driver related BSOD so it would be wise IMO to try a clean reinstall of Windows 10 and let Windows Update install all the drivers it can (you might need to re-run Windows Update several times to pick up all the necessary drivers). Only manually install those drivers that Windows Update doesn't find.

In addition, and AFAIK, there is still an issue with NVIDIA Optimus on laptops and Windows 10. I'm not at all sure that this is likely to be fixed anytime soon.

Windows 10 is still a work in progress and whilst I completely understand your frustration your anger would be better directed at Microsoft rather than PCS.

Thank you for the answer. I will surely try that, but I will need to find time for it because I'm having exams coming quite soon. Maybe I'll do it over the weekend (7-8 May 2016).

 

[NeVMiku]

So I did a reinstall of Windows 10 and I don't know if I should install Hotkeys or not. Can you please give me advice about this?

 

[SpyderTracks]

So I did a reinstall of Windows 10 and I don't know if I should install Hotkeys or not. Can you please give me advice about this?

The only 2 drivers you should need to install are the chipset and hot keys, Windows should install all others automatically.

 

[NeVMiku]

Alright, thanks. I shall do that. I'll report back when finished.

A quick question: Wouldn't Windows find the right Chipset driver anyway?

 

[ubuysa]

Alright, thanks. I shall do that. I'll report back when finished.

A quick question: Wouldn't Windows find the right Chipset driver anyway?

If it's a standard chipset driver then yes, however chipset drivers are sometimes modified by the motherboard vendor I believe, especially on laptops.

 

[NeVMiku]

Right, I have now got both two things installed and looking good so far. Although I used "Windows 10 DPI Fix" which uses Windows 8's DPI algorithm.

I now have but two problems, the text looks a bit small even though I've set DPI scaling to 125% and when I right click on the Desktop the menu pops up to the left of my mouse instead of to the right.

Any advice?

 

[tom g]

So, I have had this laptop for about 8 months. Stuck on Windows 10 and having a lot of problems. A lot.

The most annoying of all being the DRIVER_POWER_STATE_FAILURE BSOD that keeps happening ever so often when I try to use applications that involve the GPU.

SolidWorks would hang the computer and then the BSOD would come up. When exiting Far Cry 4 the laptop will hang same as SW and the BSOD will be displayed.


What I've tried:

Asking PCS about this issue, sent them the diagnostics and was told to disable power management in Device Manager under the USB category. Helped for a while and it "came back." Refreshing Windows 10 (the reinstall option), no luck.
Updated to the nearly latest graphics driver version 362.00 and no luck. Tried the version that is on the PCS site and did nothing.

Why is this still a problem after 8-9 months? Why has it not been resolved? Will I have to use this setup until it's time for the "next upgrade?" What is being done about it? I can't even use this for gaming with stability let alone work. All I'm using this laptop for is just document and emails with some light gaming that uses the iGPU instead of the discrete card that hangs my computer every now and then!

Some questions are not directed to PCS directly but I still want to know an estimate of when this will be resolved. I can't return this laptop anyway as it's out of the 14 day period (lol, no ****).

Know your rights read below
The Consumer Rights Act states that products should be as described, of satisfactory quality and fit for purpose.
If a laptop you’ve bought develops a fault, you have the right to reject it and get your money back, or you can have it repaired or replaced.
If you buy a laptop that turns out to be faulty, you can choose to reject it and get a refund as long as you do this within a reasonable time.
If you bought your laptop before the 1 October 2015, you're covered under Sale of goods act and usually have three to four weeks to reject it if it's faulty.
If you bought your laptop after 1 October 2015 you're covered under the Consumer rights act and have 30 days to reject it and get a refund if it's faulty.
Many retailers will offer a replacement, repair or refund without question, especially if the item is relatively new.
do a search on google ( law regarding new laptop )

Tom G

 

[keynes]

Many retailers will offer a replacement, repair or refund without question

for a customised laptop/desktop?

 

[NeVMiku]

Welp, just crashed again. The laptop woke up from sleep, I went into Nvidia Geforce Experience and the whole laptop hangs. I can't do anything and nothing happens. Then after a while it will BSOD and I have to restart.

Not much I can do at this point is there? Can't even return the damn thing.


And thanks Tom G, but this is one of those things where it is way beyond the "reasonable time" period.

 

[Oussebon]

While it's not within the return period, it's surely still covered by the warranty? Pretty much everything from PCS has a 1 year parts warranty afaik. Can I ask if you've contacted PCS directly about this (phone/ email) recently and what they've had to say?

While they might ask for it to be sent back for testing/repairs/replacement if they can't establish the cause with you remotely, it's surely a better outcome overall if you get a working machine at the end of it.

 

[NeVMiku]

To be honest I haven't. I might do just that after exams. Thank you.

Fixed the context menu appearing on the wrong side (the left of cursor) in Tablet PC Settings (which doesn't seem to exist in Control Panel for some reason). Fixed everything in Chrome looked really small (page zoom permanent at 125% which is the DPI scale in Windows). Everything seems to be working fine for now.

 

[NeVMiku]

NOPE.

Just crashed again. POWER_STATE_FAILURE again. Another BSOD. Don't know what to do. This time Chrome freezes the whole laptop and then BSOD. I was just on Facebook!

By far worst laptop I've ever had.

Is this a Windows 10-related issue or is this Nvidia Optimus issue? Because if it's just Windows then I could just change to Windows 8 or 7 or something (more money spending, exciting! And not counting the W10 Pro I paid extra for!). Oh, but because I'm on NVME SSD, I'm stuck on Windows 10 because I can't install Windows 7 through UEFI because I DON'T HAVE A USB 2.0 PORT!

So even if I do that I would've spent 250 quid on an M.2 drive I use for storage! Great choice right? And my boot drive would be a SATA one (luckily I have an SSD lying around so the only spending I'll be doing is Windows. Still spending on something I totally shouldn't have to in the first place!).

AWESOME. Kill me. (or help please?)


PS. When the crash happened this time I was actively using it. It wasn't waking up from sleep or anything. And would it be a better choice to Install Windows 8.1 instead? At least it should find all the drivers for me except the two mentioned above.

 

[Oussebon]

I would again suggest phoning PC Specialist. Every PC can break or have something go wrong, that's what warranties are for. I've never had PCS fail to honour a warranty.

 

[blokeyface]

I have also been plagued with this issue also for a long time on my laptop, and what I found that fixed the issue is... ready for it? Google Chrome running on Intel HD graphics seems to conflict with Nvidia graphics so I changed Google Chrome to run on Nvidia graphics and all has been well and good for a while now. Can you try the same, NeVe12p4wNeD? I would really like to know if my workaround resolves the issue. If not, try disabling all power saving features and see if that works. But I'm fairly sure switching which graphics runs on Chrome should do the job.

 

[NeVMiku]

I have also been plagued with this issue also for a long time on my laptop, and what I found that fixed the issue is... ready for it? Google Chrome running on Intel HD graphics seems to conflict with Nvidia graphics so I changed Google Chrome to run on Nvidia graphics and all has been well and good for a while now. Can you try the same, NeVe12p4wNeD? I would really like to know if my workaround resolves the issue. If not, try disabling all power saving features and see if that works. But I'm fairly sure switching which graphics runs on Chrome should do the job.

I did that. It was one of the first things I did when messing around with Nvidia Control Panel and for the first time for me ever, Chrome hangs the laptop and I had to restart. It's been fine since then though but it's only been two days since I reinstalled Windows.

So it goes like this: Reinstalled Windows >> Changed the settings like what you said but before you said it >(one day later)> Chrome hangs and restart >(one day later)> Fine since.

To be honest Chrome might have hung for a different reason.

 

[NeVMiku]

Bump for update.