Extensa 2540 FREEZE/BSOD

vauvvauv · December 2017

Hi, I have an Acer Extensa 2540, with Intel HD Graphics 620, CPU i5-7200U and windows 10. When I use games (light) after a while 'time my PC crashes and sometimes appears bsod:' whea uncorreactable error '. At the begin I used the tool 'BlueScreenViev' and it said me that crash started from ntoskrnl.exe categorized like video driver problem. I asked to Microsoft forum Extensa 2540 Freeze e BSOD - Microsoft Community ,and I did it but the problem PERSISTS only playing games. In this moment I thought about a possible solution, the computer starts with 4 GB and my parents have added 4 more before using it, it is possible that the RAM is not compatible and that my PC crashes while I play just because only in that moment I start to use that bank of RAM? I attach a CPU_Z file (.txt) with theinformation of my RAM, the first is the original RAM and the second the bank of RAM added. As you can see RAMs have different frequencies, it can create problems?

vauvvauv · January 2018

I tryed to use only with original RAM but nothing. Please I NEED HELP

JackE · January 2018

The added RAM is OK if its voltage is the same and frequency is equal to or higher than original. However, your BSOD issue with games is more likely related to the integrated video graphics card which uses shared RAM memory, not its own dedicated RAM memory. I suggest that you open Control Panel. Search for "power". On the left side click on choose a power plan and set it for "high performance" when playing games. This uses more energy but may help the CPU regulate and better assign shared RAM with the video graphic card. Jack E/NJ

vauvvauv · January 2018

Before of ALL, I want to thank you. So, You were saying this (see image a.PNG)? I'll try to translate for you:
-Processor energy saving
-minimum processor performance level

battery power supply: 100%
power supply from electric grid: 100%
-system cooling criteria

battery power supply: active
power supply from electric grid: active
-maximum processor performance level

battery power supply: 100%
power supply from electric grid: 100%

or Image b.PNG or other?

JackE · January 2018

You want to set it to Maximum Processor Performance Level. Let us know if it works. Jack E/NJ

Image: https://us.v-cdn.net/6029997/uploads/editor/av/ysnds1sdki0d.jpg

vauvvauv · January 2018

Hi again, it doesn't work, crashes persists. I want to give you as much detail as possible. At the begin, sometimes, crashes also happened while I was watching an offline video or on youtube, so I asked Microsoft here: (ops I cannot write links .-.) and it suggested me to reinstall windows 10 with a tool. I did it and now crashes are only playing videogames (very light).

When PC stop responding (crashes), the inputs (keyboard and mouse) do not respond and the sound stops, while when BSOD happens it remains to 0% and in BOTH cases the only solution is to shut down in a forced way (by pressing the power button for 5 seconds).

I post 'Event Viewer' for more information, the main errors are:
-When I crash Kernel-Power Event ID 41-Restarting the system without a regular shutdown. This error can be caused by an interruption, a crash, or an unexpected power failure of the system.-
-Then Kernel-Processor-Power (Microsoft-Windows-Kernel-Processor-Power) Event ID 37 -The speed of processor 0/2/3 in group 0 has been released by the system firmware. The processor is in this state of performance reduced by 71 seconds after the last warning.

If you need other information tell me
Regards

JackE · January 2018

>>>Microsoft>>>it suggested me to reinstall windows 10 with a tool.>>>

Did you re-install the Win10 from an iso file? Or from the hidden ACER -specific version on the hard disk drive? There is a difference! Jack E/NJ

vauvvauv · January 2018

Hi,It is not a very reinstallation, rather it is an update. I can't write the url, but I try to attach an image (maybe you can read url) of the web page. If you cannot see the url, search on google "windows 10 software download", click on the first link called "Download software - Microsoft" and click on "Windows 10", you can see the button "Aggiorna ora" (Update now).
Regards

JackE · January 2018

>>>It is not a very reinstallation, rather it is an update.>>>

I suggest that you re-set the machine to a factory-fresh win10 state by following this video exactly.

You have the option of a partial re-set or re-freshing the machine that would save your data and personal files. This is not as good as a total re-set so you might want to consider backing up your system before a total re-set.

If your system still has the BSOD after a factory re-set, then either the graphic card isn't powerful enough to run the games you are trying to play or the machine has a hardware issue.

Jack E/NJ

vauvvauv · January 2018

Ok, First of all thanks for your time. Can you clarify me some doubts? Before doing the procedure suggested by Microsoft, as I have already told you, the pc also crashed watching videos on youtube or offline or even doing nothing.Do you think that O.S was alwaysthe problem? I have already tried a refresh keeping files so that is not an option. The game that now I am running I used them in my oldest laptop of 2011 with a pentium dual core 1.80 ghz and Intel HD Graphics.

If you think that I should do a reset to a factory of pc, I can save all my files on an external hard drive and then reset pc deleting all files, what do you say?
Regards

JackE · January 2018

I think you should fully re-set the machine to the ACER factory-fresh Win10 state. Then you'll know if the BSOD issue was due to a software driver problem or an actual hardware device deficiency. Jack E/NJ

vauvvauv · January 2018

Hi again. Ok, I have one last doubt, if I reset I'm going to install windows 10 in which I had freeze even without playing? Furthermore I found problems before updating any drivers.
I try to give you other (maybe) useful information,
1) I noticed these days that if I try to use PC with the original RAM it crashes, while using only the second module added by me it has only BSOD.
2) (This is an example) I got my pc this summer and I play a very light game and I used it for 1-2 months because it was the only game that did not crash. Now it crashes but I can use other 1-2 game that I could not before. This is why I believe it is not a problem of my video card that does not hold up games.

Anyway, In this days I'll take an external hard drive to save my personal data and try to reset pc.
Tell me if you changed your opinion based on the information that I gave you.
Regards

JackE · January 2018

>>>Furthermore I found problems before updating any drivers. >>> I got my pc this summer and I play a very light game and I used it for 1-2 months because it was the only game that did not crash.>>>

I'm referring to automatic Win10 updates which you have little or no control over, NOT driver updates that you tried. Please do a full reset to factory-fresh state. Then ***immediately*** start playing games that crashed the machine before preferrably with wifi disconnected so that no automatic Win10 updates can occur. Jack E/NJ

vauvvauv · February 2018

Hello, sorry for the delay but I was busy, I tried as you told me, for a while I went well (even played hours without problems) but after 1 week have returned the freezes and now even watching a video offline (1-2 times a week).

JackE · February 2018

Go to Control Panel. Search "restore point". Click on 'restore system and files from a restore point' or similar phrase. Do you find an automatic Win10 update restore point with a date stamp around the time that the freezing problem returned? Jack E/NJ

vauvvauv · February 2018

No, I did not found restore points.
I would try to partition the hard drive and install another OS (like openSUSE or Ubuntu), to see if it is an hardware problem or not. What do you say?

JackE · February 2018

No, at this point, it's probably safer and more informative to do another factory reset. If it fixes the problem again, then it's unlikely to be a hardware issue. Make sure that when you check for restore points that you checkmark any box that says "show more restore points" as all of them might not be listed in the initial restore point screen. Also, if the problems returns again, then immediately check for any new "restore point" since Windows 10 automatically deletes them in a short period of time. Jack E/NJ

Lazarosgeor · April 2018

Hello! I am not sure if you've managed to fix the problem, but I just wanted to say that I experience the exact same problem too... I have the same laptop (Extensa EX2540) with the same exact specs (Intel Core i5 - 7200U, Intel HD Graphics 620, 8GB RAM) and from the moment I bought this laptop last year (May of 2017) until now, this problem has not been fixed... I have tried literally everything. I have performed like 10 fresh installs of Windows 10 (all from .iso files from Microsoft) and none have fixed this. The reason I have performed so many is the following: the laptop came with a hdd but I had a new SSD that I bought and used for a little but in my old laptop, and I swapped the hard drives in the two laptops the first day I got this one. Everything seemed fine for two days but then the first crash happened while I was playing League of Legends... BSOD with the message WHEA UNCORRECTABLE ERROR... From then until October of last year, I was using the same installation of Windows 10. It was an event that would happen quite frequently in the beginning, even if I was just watching videos or browsing the web. After I updated some drivers though, the problem was reduced to only when playing games. Some times I got a BSOD, other times the laptop simply froze, the sound became a buzzing thing that was super stressful and I couldn't do anything other than hold the power button in order to reset the machine. After the Fall Creators Upgrade of windows 10 in October, I decided to do a fresh install of it and check if the problem got fixed. Of course it did not... What a waste of my time doing that clean install... The problem continued every time I played games (I only play two games, League of Legends and The Sims 4, and both games played without any such issue on my older much lower end laptop), so I am surprised that this new one that is capable of playing them crashes like this... I don't want to bother your with the rest of useless information, I tried all the tests of ram and hard disk, I tried putting back the hdd it came with the laptop instead of the ssd but of course none of these helped... I tried only with the original ram of the laptop but it crashed. I tried only with the one I added but it still crashed... I don't know what else to do.. I can't give this laptop away for "experts" to check, cause I need it for other reasons too. I study in university and some classes need homework assignments that depend on word and excel. So my only option is to find a solution this way.. Now that I found that another person with the exact same machine has this problem, I think that maybe our laptops came from a defective batch, or that all extensa 2540 laptops have these issues due to drivers and acer hasn't bothered releasing fixed drivers cause this laptop is not their most popular one... I hope someone somehow has a solution to this... Sorry for the long message

JackE · April 2018

@Lazarosgeor>>> I swapped the hard drives in the two laptops the first day I got this one>>>

How did you clone the old HDD to the SSD? I ask because the old HDD has a hidden recovery partition that has all the ACER-specific drivers necessary for your machine to run properly. Jack E/NJ

Lazarosgeor · April 2018

Unfortunately, I didn't 🙁 I did as following the first day I got it: I powered it on and finished the first boot experience, till I reached the desktop. When I got there, I checked Device Manager to see what devices this laptop has so I would know what to reinstall when I put the SSD in. After that, I shut it down, swapped the drives, and then from a usb flash drive that I had prepared earlier, I went into the windows installation. Because the SSD didn't contain any of these partitions, I had no idea at first about them. I just deleted the partition from the installation of my old laptop and then created a new one, and it automatically created 4 partitions on its own, so I assumed everything was ok. The installation finished promptly. Then I went to my old laptop, put the HDD in it and started the same procedure there. When I reached that point of the installation, I saw all of the partitions that were there from Acer, and I deleted them all in order to create a new one ... The reason I didn't check more about this is because I went to the laptop's page in Acer's site, and they provide there all the drivers so I thought that everything would be okay with just downloading them from there and installing them after the windows installation. Anyway, what I have done now and I'm testing it is, I saw online that if you update your graphics driver, some times old settings are left behind and that may be the reason for crashes etc. So I found a program called display driver uninstaller and I used it. It did as it said, uninstalled that display driver, and then I went to Intel's website and downloaded the latest version of the driver for hd graphics 620. I installed it, and it's been 4 days so far I believe and I hadn't had a crash or bsod... I can't be sure it's fixed cause it's too early, but I am hoping that it may had something to do with this, cause I can't get those partitions back now in any way ☹️ Thank you for the response!