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#1
100% GPU usage spikes freeze entire system- nVidia GeForce GTX670M
The issue:
At times the GPU will spike to 100% and freeze the entire system, usually preceeded by the mouse "dragging" or slowing down and stopping. If I do not quickly stop using the mouse after the slowdown begins, the entire system will usually freeze and cannot be recovered without power cycling the PC. If I stop using the mouse in time, the system will recover to normal after a few seconds. (if playing sound or music when the slowdown starts, the sound is caught in a loop until the spike ends). This occurs often with nothing more than Outlook and a browser window open, more often with several applications running as is usually the state I work in, although not related to games or anything that heavily taxes my system. The offending process is usually csrss.exe (usually when running my ArcMap application), chrome.exe or firefox.exe (usually the only browsers I use) and occasionally dwm.exe. The firefox.exe process pic attached was just after resuming after suspend, which triggers the issue at times as well (although the browser related issue most often happens while actually browsing).
I have caught this pattern several times in the Process Explorer (see pics):
- GPU usage spiking to 98%-100% (with preceding usage only around 1%)
- The offending process appears to only be "using" 50%-70% of GPU during the spike
- At the same time or just following the usage spike, there is a sudden drop in GPU dedicated memory.
A couple of times I have been lucky and have had the offending process detail window open in the process explorer (see pics), both times reflecting:
- GPU usage spike (but not the full amount of the total GPU spike)
- Committed GPU memory spiking (sometimes right after a drop, while staying consistent just prior and just after the event)
- A sudden drop and recovery of dedicated GPU memory
- A sharp drop immediately followed by an extended rise (plateau) of system GPU memory.
In case it is related, at times when I am using ArcMap and/or Google Earth (both used extensively), the display driver crashes via an OpenGL issue (see pic).
FYI, I typically run many applications including 3D maps in one display, 2D in another without any issues whatsoever, and have never had an issue running programs that really tax my system (like 3d games).
I have had this issue for the entire year (2013) that I've had this laptop. I catch it happening 3+ times/week but as long as I let go of the mouse it usually returns to normal after a few seconds. Troubleshooting has included memory & hard drive testing, updating the BIOS, confirming no temperature issues, complete uninstalling & reinstallation of several updated nVidia drivers, ran driver verifier (no non-microsoft drivers listed). FYI, before determining that the GPU was the culprit, I had this issue in the general discussion forum in a detailed post, Random complete freezing after mouse slows down, no BSOD, to date 330 views and no replies, guess it stumped everyone! nVidia will not provide support as this is an OEM installed display adapter; ASUS support is terrible, regardless of my pleas to escalate to nVidia (or a real support engineer) they just reply with "do a complete system restore" or "RMA your computer". As the evidence seems to indicate an issue with the GPU/video driver, I'm turning to the forum hoping someone may be able to shed some light and perhaps provide better means to flesh out the issue with the GPU/video driver without going to the lengths of a full system restore or laptop replacement. Speccy system info dump also attached.
Thanks ahead for any assistance! Merry Christmas & Happy New Year!
Justin