PC suddenly started crashing when using nvidia graphics card GTX670M

[Aster321]

Hello,
first up, here's my setup:

MSI GT70 (bought in 2012)
CPU: intel i7 3610QM
GPU: Nvidia GeForce GTX 670M /3GB GDDR5
RAM: 2 x 4GB DDR3
SSD: Samsung 840 Evo 250GB
HDD: 750GB
OS: Windows 7 Home Premium


I've been having this problem since last week:

When I started a game or some program that uses my nvidia GPU, that game would run for some time then suddenly freeze and a message would pop up saying: "The Nvidia Geforce GTX 670M device is not removable and cannot be ejected or unplugged."
Then I could only end that game using the task manager, but after a few minutes to a few seconds my PC would freeze completely and I had to cut the power to restart it.

At first I thought it was the drivers so I experimented a bit with older/newer versions of drivers.
With older drivers I got rid of the '...not removable...' message, but my PC now instantly freezes on the same occasions as before.
Then suspected the GPU to be faulty, but there are no artifacts or any issues with performance otherwise.
Now I'm out of ideas what could be wrong or what I could do to fix, so I wanted to ask you guys for help.

What I've tried so far (with no different results):

-Installing different drivers over the old ones.

-Completely uninstalling all nvidia related software (using Display Driver Uninstaller) and reinstalling older versions

-check if CPU/GPU are getting too hot using HW Monitor. All temps were nominal. Still cleaned the cooling unit and applied fresh thermal paste to GPU anyways.

-Cleaned the graphics card and all contacts with alcohol

-reinstalled Windows to make sure it's not a software issue

-booted Windows from my HDD instead of the SSD to make sure the SSD wasn't faulty again

-hooked up my PC to my TV via HDMI and turned off the PCs own screen to make sure it's not the power supply

-ran furmark a few times. Sometimes it crashes after few seconds, sometimes on the second or third try.


If anyone has any idea what I could try next, help would be greatly appreciated!

 

[L0stChild]

question..
when did u get the 670? and was it used?
how come you're on windows 7 and not 10? just askin cuz i had free upgrade to windows 8 and windows 10
do u have 32 or 64 bit OS? some drivers are 32/64 bit do u have the right one installed?
do u know ur monitor/tv max resolution? is that what u have set in windows and in game config?

 

[Aster321]

I got the 670 with the Gt70 in 2012. It was all new then.
I'm still on windows 7 because I had heard a lot of bad stuff about win10 and win 8 is just annoying to use imo.
My OS is 64 bit and I made sure to only download 64bit drivers as well.
Tried installing them manually and via GeForce Experience.
Right now I'm using the preinstalled drivers (as I have just reinstalled windows), that have worked every time before.
My monitor max resolution is 1920x1080 and that's also what I've set in windows and every game I've tried.

 

[L0stChild]

I got the 670 with the Gt70 in 2012. It was all new then.
I'm still on windows 7 because I had heard a lot of bad stuff about win10 and win 8 is just annoying to use imo.
My OS is 64 bit and I made sure to only download 64bit drivers as well.
Tried installing them manually and via GeForce Experience.
Right now I'm using the preinstalled drivers (as I have just reinstalled windows), that have worked every time before.
My monitor max resolution is 1920x1080 and that's also what I've set in windows and every game I've tried.

so u had the rig for some time.. and this just started to happen?
ur gonna have to trace ur steps back. something new, maybe some kinda update is what causing it..
post a benchmark

 

[Aster321]

I didn't change anything in terms of hardware, so there's not much of backtracking I can do. Also a clean windows install should get rid of any software issues, no?
I'll try to post a benchmark once I get home tonight.

 

[L0stChild]

clean install as in disk wiped?
well if u think u did all u can do then maybe the gfx card is shot.
up to u how u want to go at it really.
u can spend another week trying to figure it out. maybe end up getting a new gfx card and turns out thats not bust.
not sure anyone here can really tell u what it is.
or depending what u use the computer for.. maybe time to invest in a new rig. only u can decide.
ur computer is still good but like i said.. what do u use it for?

 

[Aster321]

yeah, completely wiped C.
I mainly use it for gaming, so without a working gfx card it's pretty much useless to me.
Here's what furmark and novabench gave me (if that's what you were asking for):

Geeks3D
FurMark P1080 v1.18.1.0
▶Submited by Anonymous on Oct 25, 2016
Score 957
FPS 15
Fullscreen mode YES
Resolution 1920 x 1080
MSAA X0
Duration (ms) 60000
CPU Intel(R) Core(TM) i7-3610QM CPU @ 2.30GHz
Operating system Windows 7 64-bit build 7601 Service Pack 1
Graphics driver R295.62
OpenGL - GL_VERSION 4.2.0
OpenGL - GL_RENDERER GeForce GTX 670M/PCIe/SSE2
GPU 1 Quadro 5010M
Device ID NVIDIA (0x10de - 0x1213)
SubDevice ID MSI (0x1462 - 0x10cb)
GPU 2 Intel(R) HD Graphics 4000
Device ID Intel (0x8086 - 0x166)
SubDevice ID MSI (0x1462 - 0x10cb)


NovaBench:

26.10.2016 17:53:07
Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium
Intel Core i73610QM 2.30GHz @ 2294 MHz
Graphics Card: Intel(R) HD Graphics 4000

8089 MB System RAM (Score: 191)
- RAM Speed: 11177 MB/s

CPU Tests (Score: 572)
- Floating Point Operations/Second: 202993304
- Integer Operations/Second: 558762608
- MD5 Hashes Generated/Second: 796009

Graphics Tests (Score: 81)
- 3D Frames Per Second: 260

Hardware Tests (Score: 28)
- Primary Partition Capacity: 233 GB
- Drive Write Speed: 112 MB/s


I'll take the whole thing down to where I bought it tomorrow and ask if they can run a few tests to maybe locate the problem.
If not, I'll probably look into buying a new rig. This one's kinda outdated anyways...

 

[L0stChild]

http/gpu.userbenchmark.com/Software

click the green box FREE DOWNLOAD
it will dl a .exe run it and post the result link

it should look like this
http/www.userbenchmark.com/UserRun/1934541

 

[Aster321]

Don't know what to make of this, but this is what it gave me using the standard drivers:

http/www.userbenchmark.com/UserRun/1951014

And this when I installed the newest nvidia drivers:

http/www.userbenchmark.com/UserRun/1951118

 

[L0stChild]

Don't know what to make of this, but this is what it gave me using the standard drivers:

http/www.userbenchmark.com/UserRun/1951014

And this when I installed the newest nvidia drivers:

http/www.userbenchmark.com/UserRun/1951118

what do u mean u dont know what to make of it?
its right there in ur face telling u what is running under or over average



now with ur cpu. do u not have turbo boost? cuz its not being picked up.
no comment on gfx card
ssd.. its below spec. sata connection?
ram: good amount of memory, looks like its working fine but they are not quality ram.

now all this being said. u are running windows 7 like i said. 64-bit thats great. but its old o/s. that can very well be the reason why ur running below average.
my tip to u is to find an o/s nerd and go from there before u start buying things

 

[Aster321]

I didn't understand why the gfx card performance was so much worse after installing the newest drivers, that's what I was referring to.

I do have turbo boost, that is supposed to turn itself on. No idea why it doesn't.

For the SSD, I don't think there's a SATA 3 slot for it. I've tried connecting it to both slots and always got a message saying I should connect it to a different slot for full performance.

Upgrading Windows may improve performance by a bit, but I doubt that's what's causing my gfx card to fail...

 

[L0stChild]

I didn't understand why the gfx card performance was so much worse after installing the newest drivers, that's what I was referring to.

I do have turbo boost, that is supposed to turn itself on. No idea why it doesn't.

For the SSD, I don't think there's a SATA 3 slot for it. I've tried connecting it to both slots and always got a message saying I should connect it to a different slot for full performance.

Upgrading Windows may improve performance by a bit, but I doubt that's what's causing my gfx card to fail...

yea it turns off when theres little or no load.
run HW MONITOR and check ur numbers on each row. run a load test and see if the numbers change.
u have to do all this urself. im just starting u off.

if u dont want to do this then spend money.
also want to add.. there is no guarantee on anything u find.

 

[L0stChild]

google search windows 7 sata 3

http/www.sevenforums.com/installation-setup/134558-windows-7-installation-cannot-read-sata-iii-drive.html

 

[Aster321]

Checked HWMonitor, the numbers were always the same...
There is also no option to turn on turbo boost, neither in windows, nor the bios.
The guy at my local computer shop told me it was a hardware failure and I had to send it to msi to get it checked.
But that might turn out to be more expensive than what the PC is worth. So I didn't took it home again and decided to get a new one.

Thanks for all the help and ideas, though!

 

[L0stChild]

no u dont turn it on. its automatic.
its a energy efficiency

hey just curious did u see how he figured that out? or any details

 

[Aster321]

He just guessed it from my description of the problem.
Suspected some other component on the gfx card getting too hot, or just giving in after using it at full power for a short while.
And since they don't really do any repairing on the card itself he told me I had to give it to msi to check.
Would have liked to get a bit more details myself, but it just wasn't worth it for this PC...