acer swift 3 bluescreening at random times...

[shawie60]

Hi guys. Im looking at a Acer swift 3 laptop (8Gb, AMD Ryzen 7 2700U with Vega mobile GFX - that bluescreens occasionally and at random times.
I updated video drivers because it was listed in bluescreen view and there was a problem with them.
Ive run sfc - all ok. run DISM - all good, checked memory, hard drive for errors - no problems. Seemed to run for a while after that, then a random bluescreen, the last one related to the GFX problem again. Since then Ive disabled 'fast startup' updated the drivers again to a later version. Ran CPU stress tests (Intelburn ) on standard, High, and super high which all passed. I ran Furmark to test the gxf and that ran without problems.
Not sure whether to just backup and re install, (its a refurbished machine I'm told) not a problem but id like to know what the root cause is before I do that.
the bluescreens codes are as follows .. 0x000000ef,  0x00000139, 0x0000003b, 0x000000d1, 0x000001e .  Apart from the gfx drivers there doesn't seem to be an apparent link to me, but I may have missed it.  Update it seems the problem lies with an amd driver atikmdag.sys. This seems to be a common problem but as yet nobodys solved it properly.
Some people say the older drivers work ok, others a clean install.
any idea's or feedback would be appreciated ..

[Boggin]

You could try an older driver if you can get it but if you have already updated that because of the BSODs then that won't help.

A clean install will probably give you the same drivers so I'm not sure how that would help.

[shawie60]

strangely enough one of the posts said an older version had worked for them just haven't tracked it down yet.
I found out today the system has been doing this since he bought it, (not why he didn't take it back tbh..) which made me think if it hasn't been set up properly in the first place a clean install may cure it .. I can control and test at intervals ..
thanks

[Boggin]

You just can't understand some folks - that would have been the first thing I would have done.

[Boggin]

Could you try a factory reset first ?

[shawie60]

You just can't understand some folks - that would have been the first thing I would have done.

yeah me too Tom ..

[shawie60]

Could you try a factory reset first ?

I can do, have to make sure the original image partition is still available (I have a feeling this came with 8.1 which is also why id like to do a clean install ..)  . or do you mean a system reset ??

[Boggin]

You can always re-upgrade to Win 10 after a system reset but if the machine is still under warranty, then the owner could still take it back.

A clean install would void that warranty, but as you suspect it was originally a Win 8.1 machine then it probably is no longer under warranty.

When a machine is upgraded to Win 10 it usually removes the factory reset of the previous OS, but you could check that.

If that is the case then then a reset would reinstall Win 10 to its pristine condition.

As this machine has had problems since new, then I'm not sure reinstalling Win 10 by any means would resolve.

Perhaps it could be taken back to whoever refurbed it anyway ?

[shawie60]

Hi, apologies for the delay, well I reinstalled it since there was only a 30 day warranty when he got it. Ive done a clean install and everything is fine except that this issue is still occurring with just games now (it also affected Netflix he said but I saw no evidence of that when I had it. )
Ive asked him to use it for 3-4 days and make a note of the times and instances it locked (no bluescreens now also)
I will then log in and see if I can find a common denominator amidst all this. I'll keep you posted, but thanks for your input.
Glenn

[Boggin]

As this was happening from the refurb then I was wondering if it could have been a hardware problem in the way it had been assembled, but as the clean install has resolved the BSODs then perhaps it was a bad Win 10 install.

[shawie60]

Hi Tom, well its only sorted the Netflix problem. The other concern (steam - games etc) is still an issue as I mentioned. I'm going to grab the logs this weekend and see if I can delve deeper .. I also posted on the AMD site and 3DfxGuru. as yet the only reply I got was from a guy whos had similar issues but had no response for over 4 months .. hardly encouraging to say the least ..
glenn

[Boggin]

Does Event Viewer record anything of interest ?