Hi r/techsupport !!!
First of all, apologies if this is the wrong place to ask about this. If so, please let me know where I should go instead!
My laptop (specs at bottom) has had severe instability issues for a while, including random freeze-ups, crashes (in Windows and Linux), sudden restarts and so on. Reinstalling OS (or using a different one), updating BIOS, switching around BIOS settings etc. did little to change it.
I've tried testing the memory with 15 Memtest86+ passes, CPU stress tests (OCCT, stress-ng on linux), etc. All of them passed with no problem.
One way I found to consistently cause a crash is to boot the system plugged in on AC power, then switch it from "Performance" mode to "Power Saver" mode. On linux, the system kernel panics within a few ms of doing this, but on Windows it takes ~5 seconds before crashing.
I noticed that it is much likely to crash when it is idle (or in any case, not under heavy load). When running intensive tasks (eg. gaming) it can go for hours without even a single crash, but then idle it crashes every few minutes sometimes.
It is also more stable when plugged in than on battery.
Windows bugchecks (BSODs) most commonly use the following stopcodes:
- IRQL_NOT_LESS_OR_EQUAL
- KERNEL_BUFFER_STACK_OVERRUN
- KERNEL_AUTO_BOOST_INVALID_LOCK_RELEASE
- PAGE_FAULT_IN_NONPAGED_AREA
but a variety of others.
Most commonly the file that failed is claimed to be ntoskrnl.exe, though I have seen it being acpi.sys once or twice.
Linux kernel panics usually error out with "fatal exception in interrupt", "attempted to kill idle task", or "attempted to kill init". Reading the logs, most commonly memory or pointer related issues eg. paging issues, kernel null pointer dereferences etc. from a variety of different drivers.
Based on my debugging attempts (reading linux kernel logs, trying (but failing) to get windows traces, and general observation) I am almost confident this is a power management issue (faulty power rails, or maybe something to do with the EC?).
This pastebin has some linux kernel panic logs if it's of any help (I got them by streaming journalctl through ssh), this is an easily reproducible scenario so if necessary I can provide different logging levels etc.
Here is also a zip file containing 5 Windows minidumps, I wasn't able to get much of anything useful from it but someone with more expertise than me might get something good out of them.
Would really appreciate some pointers. Tried to figure this one out myself but it's beyond me. Thanks in advance everyone <3
Laptop specs:
Model: ROG Flow X16 (2022) GV601RM
CPU: Ryzen 9 6900HS
Dedicated GPU: RTX 3060
Integrated GPU: Radeon 680M
RAM: 16GB DDR5
OSes: Windows 11 and a variety of different linux distros (currently installed Arch Linux). The issue occurs on any OS
TL;DR:
My laptop (ROG Flow X16 GV601RM; specs above) has stability issues - lockups, freezing, crashing etc. on any OS. Reinstalls, BIOS setting changes etc. did not help.
When systems crash (BSOD/kernel panic) they usually mention memory-related errors (paging, pointer dereferencing) coming from a variety of different drivers and components.
The system is more stable on AC power than battery, and it is also more stable under heavy load than when idle.
Switching from a high-performance power mode to a power saving mode consistently causes a crash.
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Getting dump files which we need for accurate analysis of BSODs. Dump files are crash logs from BSODs.
If you can get into Windows normally or through Safe Mode could you check C:\Windows\Minidump for any dump files? If you have any dump files, copy the folder to the desktop, zip the folder and upload it. If you don't have any zip software installed, right click on the folder and select Send to → Compressed (Zipped) folder.
Upload to any easy to use file sharing site. Reddit keeps blacklisting file hosts so find something that works, currently catbox.moe or mediafire.com seems to be working.
We like to have multiple dump files to work with so if you only have one dump file, none or not a folder at all, upload the ones you have and then follow this guide to change the dump type to Small Memory Dump. The "Overwrite dump file" option will be grayed out since small memory dumps never overwrite.
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Here is also a zip file containing 5 Windows minidumps, I wasn't able to get much of anything useful from it but someone with more expertise than me might get something good out of them.
The zip file is 0kb in size. Follow the instructions posted by the bot to the letter, there's a reason why we have such specific instructions for sharing the dump files.
Uploaded to mediafire instead of catbox and that seems to have solved the issue.
It looks like memory from the dump files. Memory doesn't have to mean RAM, but it's usually the main suspect. Windows puts low priority data from RAM into the page file and loads it back in when needed so storage can look like memory (And memory can look like storage). The memory controller is in the CPU and if this fails it will just look like memory.
When it's storage about half of the dumps will usually blame storage or storage drivers, which I don't see here, so it's likely not storage.
If anything is overclocked or undervolted, remove it. Make sure nothing is overheating.
To test the RAM, use the machine normally with one stick at a time. If just one of the sticks cause crashes, faulty stick. If it crashes with either stick it's probably the CPU. Memory testers miss faulty RAM fairly often with DDR4 and newer so I don't trust them.
Thanks so much for looking into that! Really appreciate it :)
If you don't mind sharing, what tool(s) did you use to look at the minidumps? And is there anything specific that tipped you off that it's a memory issue? Would love to learn how you came to that conclusion out of curiosity!
fixed the link! thank you for letting me know
edit: still 0 kb. i followed the instructions, even the catbox upload menu showed the correct file size. this is no longer in my hands
Did you copy the folder some where else before zipping? Not just the files inside, but the actual Minidump folder? And not the desktop if you have OneDrive as that can be syncing the desktop which breaks lots of stuff, zipping being one of them. The Downloads folder should be safe.
yes, to desktop
I just edited, don't use the desktop. Because of OneDrive, the desktop might not work for zipping because it's cloud synced. So the files aren't really on your PC when on the desktop and you use OneDrive.
I checked and the files were in the zip, and the file size was 4.6 MB
Also when I uploaded the file to catbox it also showed the correct filesize
I’ve uploaded files to catbox from desktop before, this was never an issue
Regardless it shouldn’t matter, I don’t think I have OneDrive sync on
I’ll try to upload to mediafire and see if it works there
Smells like a hardware failure to me, probably memory. Can you change memory or probably best RMA it?
Making changes to your system BIOS settings or disk setup can cause you to lose data. Always test your data backups before making changes to your PC.
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