Strange things happening to laptop (various failures/freezes)

[SolarKvlt]

I own an MSI GT80 Titan laptop, which for the past year has been behaving like it is possessed. Every so often, in the middle of browsing the internet or perusing my desktop, my screen will go blank and I will receive the "graphics driver stopped responding and has recovered" message. Sometimes it skips the driver failure altogether and restarts itself with no warning or provocation. I also experience random freezes, and the occasional black screen on startup, prompting a hard reset as the only thing that makes it go away. These issues have gone on for about a year without getting any better or worse, but never happens when I'm running a game. That is the most confusing part to me. I can run modern games on maxed out settings for hours on end without any issues whatsoever, but then I try to get on YouTube and the whole thing becomes unresponsive. It's no more than a minor annoyance to me, I'm just worried that these are signs of a significantly larger problem that I am ignoring.

Here are my specs:
CPU: Intel Core i7 4980HQ @ 2.8GHz
GPU: 2x Geforce GTX 980M SLI 16GB vRAM total
OS: Windows 10 64bit version 1511
RAM: 32GB DDR3
Storage: 2xSSD 128GB (system) 1xSSD 1TB (main storage)
1xHDD 1TB (media storage)

Any advice or feedback would be appreciated, and if you need more info, feel free to ask. Thanks!

 

[webworkings]

If it isn't happening when you are running a game, but is when ever you access regular internet sites, it makes me curious if there is something on the device that is causing the problem.

I am assuming you have run anit-virus malware, etc., detecting programs on the system? If not, be sure you do.

Next you might want to try starting the laptop in "Safe Mode with networking" to see if the problems persist. If they don't, then it is most likely something on the system and not a hardware issue. If the problem persists, even in safe mode, then it may well be hardware.

Try checking the system first. Then use the info below to get into "Safe Mode".

How to enter "Safe Mode" when booting the computer.

In Windows 8 and 10 ...

As your computer restarts, press F8 (possibly a few times) to enter "Safe Mode"

a. Press the "F4" key to Enable "Safe Mode".
(The computer will then start in "Safe Mode" with a minimal set of drivers and services.)

b. Press the "F5" key to Enable "Safe Mode" with Networking.
( Once "Safe Mode" with Networking starts, Windows is in Safe Mode, with additional network and services for accessing the Internet and other computers on your network.)

c. Press the "F6" key to Enable "Safe Mode" with Command Prompt.
(In "Safe Mode" with "Command Prompt" starts Windows in Safe Mode, with a Command Prompt window instead of the Windows interface. This option is mostly only used by IT professionals.)

Now sign in to the computer with your account name and password. (If you have one set.) When you are finished troubleshooting, you can exit "Safe Mode" restarting your computer.

 

[SolarKvlt]

If it isn't happening when you are running a game, but is when ever you access regular internet sites, it makes me curious if there is something on the device that is causing the problem.

I am assuming you have run anit-virus malware, etc., detecting programs on the system? If not, be sure you do.

Next you might want to try starting the laptop in "Safe Mode with networking" to see if the problems persist. If they don't, then it is most likely something on the system and not a hardware issue. If the problem persists, even in safe mode, then it may well be hardware.

Try checking the system first. Then use the info below to get into "Safe Mode".

How to enter "Safe Mode" when booting the computer.

In Windows 8 and 10 ...

As your computer restarts, press F8 (possibly a few times) to enter "Safe Mode"

a. Press the "F4" key to Enable "Safe Mode".
(The computer will then start in "Safe Mode" with a minimal set of drivers and services.)

b. Press the "F5" key to Enable "Safe Mode" with Networking.
( Once "Safe Mode" with Networking starts, Windows is in Safe Mode, with additional network and services for accessing the Internet and other computers on your network.)

c. Press the "F6" key to Enable "Safe Mode" with Command Prompt.
(In "Safe Mode" with "Command Prompt" starts Windows in Safe Mode, with a Command Prompt window instead of the Windows interface. This option is mostly only used by IT professionals.)

Now sign in to the computer with your account name and password. (If you have one set.) When you are finished troubleshooting, you can exit "Safe Mode" restarting your computer.

Had no problems in Safe Mode. I uninsulated Chrome today, and haven't had any issues for the past few hours. Normally I'd have to reboot my computer a handful of times by now, but so far, not a single problem. Might have been a bad extension? I'm not sure. I'd like to find out more, but for now I can live with the shame of being an Internet Explorer user.

It might be a little early to tell but I'm almost ready to call this one solved.

 

[webworkings]

You can try Firefox. It is a good browser. I.E. is well, yeah, no.