Windows 10: AMD + NVIDIA Laptop Freeze Problem

I am writing a new thread to mention an issue about AMD + NVIDIA laptops using NVIDIA Optimus technology. This seems to be a very old +8yo! bug reported first for INTEL + NVIDIA configuration, but it was partially fixed for INTEL by cooperative work between Intel and Microsoft. It doesn't seem to be fixed for AMD though.Observed issues:1. Laptops utilizing NVIDIA Optimus technology have 0.5 second stutter on integrated GPU when using particular Windows UI elements:Clicking on wifi/speaker/battery iconRight clicking on DesktopUsing "lock account" option in Start Menu / Your account nameClicki

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[Critical Bug] Intel + NVIDIA Laptop Freeze Problem

Inspiron 7577 / GTX 1060 / Win10 v.1803

Okay, I understand that it is Windows, not NVIDIA, causing the issue. But the thread is called "Intel - NVIDIA Laptop Freeze Problem" so I am just reaffirming that my NVIDIA-GPU laptop is experiencing the issue.

I want to add my name to the list of users experiencing the bug, in hopes that it will expedite the hotfix/update from Microsoft. I know that my computer is already in the affected list.

Anyways, I just installed Win10 v1803 and I still get the freezing, primarily in chrome/edge/firefox/opera etc. I'm really surprised this problem has existed for so long.

 

Fix random freeze for AMD CPU, MSI motherboard and nVidia Video Card

Windows 10 Pro 64-bit

GeForce GT 710

AMD FX-8320E CPU

MSI 970A-G46 motherboard

The system freezes randomly without trace in event viewer. Sometimes the freeze will recover. Sometimes only a hard reset will do. No clear usage pattern causing this. It can happen right after reboot or idling. Another issue was there is random buzz
during audio playback

I have done a lot research and experiment. And finally I have a stable system for over a week. Here is a quick summary. Hope this can help others.

• Clean installation of Windows 10 with network unplugged. Initially I did the upgrade from Windows 7 so was not sure if it's because of that. So I did clean installation this time but still got the random freeze.
  
• Install nVidia Driver. I tried several versions and got random freeze with each of them. So I settled with one that I used before 364.72. This is before step 3. After that, I did not go back to upgrade the driver again.
  
• nVidia driver installer will corrupt opencl.dll. I used
  
  SFC and DISM and fix it. I suspect this also causes the random buzz during audio playback but I can't confirm it since I did not play audio at this point
  
• Plug in the network and update. Freeze continues
• Upgrade SSD firmware. Freeze continues
• Upgrade motherboard BIOS. I've checked MSI website many times and it never showed an update. It turns out that you have to install MSI Live Update. It showed available update and I installed it
  
• System fails to start after BIOS update. Had to pin-reset and it rebooted fine. Went into BIOS and configured as I would normally do. Reboot, freeze continues.
• Run memtest86+ overnight. No error. Reboot, freeze continues.
• Went back into BIOS, disabled C6 State in power management (kept C1E enabled). Rebooted, no freeze in a week

I can't say everyone has the same problem. I had to spent several days to troubleshoot and had essentially 3 issues

• nVidia driver corrupts opencl.dll
• BIOS update
• Disable CS State

One thing worth note. I have 2x8 GB Patriot RAM. In BIOS, I've enabled AMP. According the manufacturer spec and CPU-Z, CAS under AMP is 10. However, CPU-Z showed the actual CAS is 9. I did notice this until the system became stable. Since memtest86+
passed overnight, I did not slow the RAM down.

I started with a Radeon video card. It had many crashes. I blamed it on the lack of updated video driver (AMD abandoned the old cards) and switched to nVidia. I did not go back to test this with Radeon card.

 

Installing amd drivers freezes my laptop

My laptop is hp Pavilion g6, i7-3632qm, 6 Gb RAM igpu is intel HD 4000 and dgpu is Radeon 7670m.

After upgrading windows 8.1 to 10, the laptop doesn't detect the AMD GPU and freezes whenever at 54% when installing the drivers.

I also did a clean reformat to windows 10 but still to no avail.

Suggestion please