Unknown problem with graphics card

Filip Becaver · Feb 27, 2015

Hi, my problem started about 2-3 weeks ago. It was a normal day, everything worked normally. My laptop downloaded windows updates and requiered restart. I restarted it in the evening because i had nothing to do. But then, i ran a game, and after a few minutes, it started to lag. My fps dropped from 50 to 30. I checked the driver, and everything was set as it was supposed to. So i restarted laptop again. I ran the game, worked fine for a few minutes and then again. I thought, that it might be something wrong with updates, so i did a system restore to a point before the updates. No change, problem occured. I had really no idea what happend. I have a Lenovo ThinkPad E520 with two graphics cards, Intel HD Graphics 3000 and AMD HD Radeon 6630m. That AMD is 2gb. I was checking with lenovo toolbox for a problem. And i found out, that with the INTEL card, there was a line saying that it has 2gb, and no such thing was written with AMD card. So a thought crossed my mind, that what if, somehow, the amd card transfered those 2gb to that INTEL card. I dont know, and i really doubt that something like that is possible but it would make sense, because that intel card was stronger than before. For exampe, when i played CS:GO on intel card, i had around 30-40 fps. After this thing that happend, i had around 50. And with AMD i had around 30. Ofc, graphic in game looked worse with intel card. So i tried to reinstall my windows ( i have 7 -64 bit), but after installing the driver for 2 hours, i gave it up. I restored the system to the point before reinstalling. I dont think it has something to do with the graphic card itself, because when i restart the computer, everything works fine for a few minutes. But then FPS drops and it stays down until next restart. And its not only with games, also programs demanding better graphic card have a problem. So now i am not able to play any game, and cant properly use programs like Autocad. This problem happed for no reason really, all of a sudden, one minute everything works fine, and the other everything is screwed up. I have no idea what to do, so i will appreciate every advice. Im really desperate, please someone help me. I have all drivers up to date. And im not very good in computer terminology so please respect that and write like i was a noob and knew nothing about computers.
My specs: Intel Core i5-2430M 2,40 GHz
Ram: 8 GB
Windows: windows 7 home premium 64 bit
Graphics cards: Intel HD Graphics 3000
AMD HD Radeon 6630m

Hekarizblade · Feb 28, 2015

Updates make the System SLOWER and even lag because it changes the software versions so that's why i never update my system software even im using windows 8.1

Filip Becaver · Feb 28, 2015

Hekarizblade :

So you are saying that updates might be the problem. Well i thought so too, but like i said, even when i restored the system to the point before updates, problem occured.

Hekarizblade · Feb 28, 2015

You have try Reformat the system ? try 32 bit it will help you alot

1LiquidPC · Feb 28, 2015

You would want to stick w/ 64-bit Windows. Your PC would be even slower going back to 32-bit as it will only use up to 4GB ram instead of all 8 that your laptop is equipped with. It's true that after Windows updates, third party software updates, ect. you're PC will be slower than when it was fresh out of the box. These are necessary though as they keep the system more secure, patch bugs, and add better compatibility w/ peripherals. For you actual problem though, you could try downloading the newest drivers from AMD's website, or reverting to an older version once it's determined what version you have. Also, the 2GB isn't going to be transferred from AMD to the Intel onboard 3000. The 2GB is strictly dedicated to the AMD card, where as the 3000 graphics are integrated into the CPU itself. However, since you mentioned that a system restore didn't fix the problem, it may not be a software problem. You may have to try going back further to an even older restore point to narrow down if it's software or not.

Filip Becaver · Mar 1, 2015

1LiquidPC :

I have AMD Omega driver 14.12, which is the newest one. And as for the system restore, the only older point available is the point i was given the laptop, year 2012 so i will try that. I've had more problems with this laptop, many caused by myself and i used this restore point. I will post a reply if it helped.

EDIT: For some reason i can't restore the system to that old point. It says that i have installed antivirus and that it is a problem. It can't restore system because of the antivirus. I tried to turn it off, didn't help. It worked before.

Filip Becaver · Apr 3, 2015

Today i downloaded new driver, it's beta version 15.3. It didn't help. Noone has posted anything for a month so it seems that nobody has a solution but if someone has something on mind that might help, i would appreciate it.

Suferbus · Apr 3, 2015

Have you tried disabling your anti-virus while gaming?

Filip Becaver · Apr 3, 2015

No i haven't, what does it have to do with that? I'm not an expert and i said that i appreciate every advice, but why could anti-virus be the problem?

Filip Becaver · Apr 3, 2015

I just tried it, but like i thought, no change.

Suferbus · Apr 3, 2015

Well, Anti-virus can take up a ton of resources causing lagging in games, especially games that require a lot of resources. I always disable anti-virus, or enable gaming mode in anti-viruses that offer gaming mode.

Suferbus · Apr 3, 2015

At this point you need to do a complete uninstall of GPU driver using Display Driver Uninstall. Just rolling back using windows restore or manually removing old drivers does not always work. Drivers can leave traces of themselves when all you do is uninstall or reinstall, so download display driver uninstall, remove all display drivers, and remove all display driver .exe install files. reboot, then reinstall your video driver.

Filip Becaver · Apr 3, 2015

Suferbus :

Didn't help

. This laptop is so messed up, i don't think that anything will help.

Filip Becaver · Apr 3, 2015

It seems that i found the problem. I ran speccy just to check the temperature. Right now im not doing anything, only have chrome opened, and CPU temp. is 80°. GPU temp. is 67°. Vents are running like hell and not slowing down.

1LiquidPC · Apr 3, 2015

Is the cooling fan running at high speed, or changing speed at all when this is happening? Also, it's possible your HSF is drying up, as I've had this happen when fixing a notebook 6 months ago or so. The fan was working fine, but the fluid inside the heatsink itself dried up or evaporated, so it couldn't transfer the heat properly to the fan to cool the CPU.

Filip Becaver · Apr 4, 2015

1LiquidPC :

The fan is running at high speed constantly and hot air coming out. HSF is heatsink fluid? What can i do to check it out?

1LiquidPC · Apr 4, 2015

There's really no way to "check" the fluid. Its supposed to be sealed inside the heatsink assembly. If you look up how heatpipe coolers work for CPUs, you see how they work. Basically the liquid changes to a gas, cools down and converts to liquid again. Its draws heat from your by doing this. Also, since its been running line this for awhile, you probably should remove the cooler and apply fresh thermal compound as high temp for an extended time can dry out the compound making it not work for its normal task.

Filip Becaver · Apr 15, 2015

So, i solved the problem about a week ago. I opened the laptop and cleaned it. Parts inside were covered in dust. I got that dust away and it worked. The temperature went down from 80 to 50-60. But now i have another problem, which is even worse i think. Two days ago, everything was ok. In the evening i was playing LoL, when suddenly it lagged, the screen went black, and then back to game. This happend 5 times in 10 seconds. Between the 3rd and 4th lag i pressed alt+tab, and there was an error saying that the display driver stopped responding and has recovered. After that last lag, i got BSOD. I had to restart the nb. When it turned back on, it happened again and i wasn't even playing. So i checked updates, and drivers. There was a new driver on AMD website, so i downloaded it and installed. Still got that error. Today, i got that error again, i checked updates, installed them, restarted nb, ran fifa 15. This time, the screen didn't even go black, i got BSOD immediately. So i turned nb off, and on. And i got BSOD when it was only turning on. I didn't even pass the windows loading. So i had to go to safe mode and uninstall AMD driver. And now, no matter which driver i install, whether it's an older one or a newer one, i get a small error message after installation. There is nothing in that window, only the title is InstallManagerA... When i restart nb, i get BSOD. I have no idea what the hell is going on now. I'm so mad at this laptop. It just can't work fine for very long. Something bad always happens.

1LiquidPC · Apr 17, 2015

Could be a driver issue still. Glad you got the temps down, but it is *possible* that the integrated GPU got baked a bit from the high temps until you got it cleaned out w/ the canned air. Did you do system restores, ect. trying to diagnose the problems originally? It's been awhile since I've read your post on here. I've had trouble before with graphics drivers, going back and forth between versions causing problems. Since you can't boot into windows regular and can get into safemode, have you tried using system restore. Perhaps even a factory reset might be in order to when you got it new. I would try to narrow down it being software by reinstalling Windows all together before looking into further possible hardware problems.

Filip Becaver · Apr 18, 2015

Yes i have tried system restore but i got error anyway. I've tried 2 different drivers, nothing changed. My friend had a problem with BSOD and he made a picture of it, pasted the first line into google and found a solution. Since i can't work with any AMD driver, i don't have it installed. Should i install it, restart, and when i get BSOD, make a picture of it and then paste the first line into google and perhaps find a solution? Or should i go straight for a factory reset?

Unknown problem with graphics card

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