PC Processors

[KG_Sith]

This problem has been driving me nuts since i bought Lenovo Legion 5 laptop back in 2021. It was good, but just rarely the laptop would cause browser tab or game or app to crash randomly. It could have been working perfectly fine for weeks, or could BSOD several times in a span of few hours. It was totally unpredictable. 

I blamed and diagnosed many parts of my PC:

1) RAM, which i had to completely replace, which, obviously, didn't help.

2) Trying different versions of GPU drivers, including complete reinstallation with DDU, which didn't help either.

3) Running MemTest64 for 2 days, running Driver Verifier, complete Windows wipe and reinstallation... Neither of these helped.

I was going mad, because that problem was elusive as hell, due to it's unpredictable nature. Event Viewer would show "Kernel 41" error every time my laptop BSOD, and in case of browser tab crashes or game crashes, I would usually get "ACCESS VIOLATION" type or errors. Speaking of BSODs, everytime the error was different: IRQL_LESS_NOT_EQUAL, SYSTEM_SERVICE_EXCEPTION and so on... 

Anyway, long story short, I stumbled upon some threads in internet describing problem like mine, and one of commentators mentioned that turning off turboboost helped. Which i did, and to my surprise, it has been 3 weeks and NO CRASHES at all. Not a single BSOD, not a single browser tab crash, the laptop is finally working good like a 1200$ piece of machinery should....

But, of course, it leaves me with rather underperforming machine, as my CPU clocks can't go further than 2.9Ghz, while with turboboost they can go to 4.2Ghz. 
Is there anything i can do about that? Apart from replacing entire laptop, which i cannot afford to do. At this point, I only have 2 suspects - CPU or PSU (power adapter). I suppose if PSU is faulty, it would struggle to feed enough power to turboboosting CPU, leading to instability, but is that so? Or does issue really lie in CPU? Apart from these 2 possible suspects, I've checked everything else i could. 

Thanks, and hope someone can give some advice. 

[elstaci]

The place you should be asking is not here at AMD Forums but at Lenovo Support for answers. If still under Warranty I would open a Warranty ticket to have Lenovo check out your laptop unless it had only a one year Warranty.

But even without a Warranty I would open a Lenovo Support ticket to see what they suggest or open a Thread at Lenovo Forums.

NOTE: This MS Forum thread sound like a duplicate of this thread even the troubleshooting steps you took: https://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/forum/all/legion-5-15arh05h-multiple-bsods-per-day/9b6bb...

The last reply by the MS Advisor suggested it was hardware related and " I recommend that you run a Hardware test using the Lenovo Vantage".

This very old thread about Turbo boost causing BSODs suggested fix was to "I found this post on rogforums and the guy was pretty confident that most 0x124 BSOD is caused by lack of voltage to the CPU. I bumped up my VCORE voltage and its stable now. "

Which makes sense. As you mentioned the CPU may not be getting enough power to run Turbo boost thus bumping up vcore voltage would help overcome this issue.

But most laptops you can't change the processor's parameters or there isn't any software to do with. Even though I did find a Laptop substitute for Ryzen Master called Ryzen Controller for laptops: https://ryzencontroller.com/

It might be useful to help troubleshoot your Turbo Boost issue with your processor.

[chy4egg]

Have you found a solution? I have the same problem (Legion 7). Switching off turbo boost resolves the problem but it’s more of a workaround. 

[KG_Sith]

Not yet. But honestly I haven't tried anything yet, I just ran this last month with turboboost off, just to see how worse will it run and whether the issues like crashes and BSODs will return. Good news is that these issues vanished completely, meaning turboboost was the culprit. Bad news is that 2.9Ghz CPU vs turboboosted 4.2Ghz makes a BIG difference in performance in heavier games. 

I will try ramping up voltage sometime soon, when i figure out how exactly to do that. 

[chy4egg]

Thanks for the answer. I had the same problem but after a month it started BSODing even with turbo boost off. 

I brought it to the shop where I bought it and showed them the error. They sent it to Lenovo to check. Most likely it's a hardware malfunction. That's what they told me. 

So I need to wait a couple of weeks now. 

[KG_Sith]

Hey, I actually found a solution. I managed to downclock it's turboboost mode from 4.2Ghz max to 3.8Ghz, and now it's very stable with no noticeable drops in performance. I mean, i still lose 0.4Ghz of clock speed, but i hardly noticed a difference. 

So, I went to Discord group called "Isle of Zen", and asked for help there. They did provide me with instructions, and you can find my thread in "help-n-support" channel, with thread name being "Need help adjusting voltage of Ryzen 7 4800H (laptop)". The instructions they gave me are there, and if you follow them, you will be able to change max frequency of your CPU via power plan options, and it WILL actually work once you follow the instructions. Normally that setting is hidden, and even if you make it show up via registry edits, changing it does nothing. Well, with their instructions, it will start working. 

Anyway, here's an alternative, if Lenovo ship you laptop with same problem again. 

[chy4egg]

Hi! Thanks for the solution. Just got my laptop back. They said it was a hardware problem and replaced the whole motherboard. Hope now the BSODs are gone...

[GrahamMax]

Overheating components can cause instability and crashes. Make sure your laptop is not overheating during heavy usage. Use monitoring tools to check temperatures of the CPU and GPU. Dust buildup can also affect cooling performance, so cleaning the laptop's internals might help.

[chy4egg]

This was not the case but thanks. 

[lionandsheep]

Can somepone post the complete solution please? 

I have a similiar problem. Lenovo Legion 15ARH05. AMD AMD Ryzen 7 4800 + NVIDIA GPU GTX 1650

It crashes suddenly, even just 15 minutes after boot just internet browsing, no heavy load yet. Even with GPU test program running, no crash. It is very ransom. Complete memory, CPU, GPU tested with Lenovo program, all ok. Re-installed Windows 10, upgraded to 11, could run for 1 week, then the screen of death pop up again.

If someone know an solution, great. Otherwise I have to use this laptop as a internet browsing /games only. Can't have this wile I  am 3D printing.

Hope someone can help. 

[chy4egg]

Hardware problem probably. At least in my case. No crashes after replacing motherboard. 

[birthmark]

I have the same issue, same Legion 5 on same CPU,  same random restarts.  Googling led me into discovering that some  people were able to solve it also by disabling C6 power state for the cpu.  There are however, as far as Ive found, only Linux utilities that allow you to do it.  No windows solution. Maybe some tinkering with registry would help.    
My restarts began somewhere around after I updated the BIOS of my Legion 5.  I tried downgrading it back, but it did not help so far.
Leonovo just plainly denies the very existance of the issue.  Some people say that it can be fixed with proper BIOS update, and / or AGESA fix by AMD (whatever that is, I do not understand it well )

[Mathiasmuon]

I'm not sure if this is too late, but here is the complete solution.

Step 1: Change the setting in the Windows Registry.

1. In the taskbar search box, type "regedit", then select "Registry Editor (Desktop app)" from the results.
2. Navigate to the following directory by opening the folders:   [HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Power\PowerSettings\54533251-82be-4824-96c1-47b60b740d00\be337238-0d82-4146-a960-4f3749d470c7]
3. Find the file called "Attributes”, double-click it, and change the parameter from "1" to "0”. (This will reveal a setting that needs to be changed in the "Advanced Power Setting”.)

Step 2: Limit CPU usage in Power Options.

1. Go to Power Options in the Control Panel.
2. Click on Processor Power Management.
3. Then click on Processor performance boost mode (this setting was previously hidden before we changed the registry parameter).
4. Change the setting to "Efficient Aggressive but Guaranteed".

I hope this helps anyone who is still experiencing this issue. After changing the settings over a month ago, I haven't experienced the random reboots or BSOD on my ASUS TUF Gaming A15 2020 (Ryzen 7 4800H) again. It's a huge relief after suffering for more than a year.

Reference materials:

The solution FYI, in Chinese: https://youtu.be/1MEzEQlXgeU?si=DzD7cYdfyAd2F-O_&t=224

Unhiding “Processor Performance Boost Mode”: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mCpUtqa5x4Y

How to open Power Options: https://www.auslogics.com/en/articles/make-sense-of-advanced-power-settings/#how-to-open-advanced-po...