Computer freezing

[unnecesaurus]

So, hello everyone. First of all, I'd like to say hi since this is my first time on these forums (and I made an account specifically to see if I can find help with my issue). I hope I'm posting on the right section, as I didn't see one for general help/advice.

 

So, first of all, I'll tell the story of how I got to the point where I'm asking for help online and at the end, I'll list my specs.

 

I've had this notebook (Dell Inspiron 15 Gaming 7567) for a little over a year. It's been working wonders, especially cuz I made a decision to be more conscious about the hardware I game on and instead of putting every graphics setting (especially the heavier ones) on high, I tweak games and have most of the most recent/heavier ones running at 30 FPS (I even use NVIDIA Inspector for further tweaking and it's been really helpful with that). So far so good. Unfortunately, about two to three months ago, I woke up to my GPUs (both the integrated Intel and the dedicated GeForce) not working. I didn't figure out what the problem actually was cuz I'm not too tech savvy, but as it turns out, they weren't being activated when the computer turned on (there was a yellow exclamation sign beside both in the device manager window). After I finally managed to figure that out, turning the computer on with both activated caused it to freeze in the welcome screen at random. By that, I mean that 90% of the time, it would freeze completely and the only way to get out of there was force-shutting it down.

 

I spent a few days trying to solve this with my ex and a friend (they both live far, ex in another state and friend in another country) since the warranty had expired one or two weeks prior to the problem presenting itself. By the way, the computer didn't freeze when turning it on safe mode. Anyway, it came to a point where after running stress tests, anti-virus scans (including Malwarebytes), cleaning the computer in various ways, we decided to just perform a clean install of the OS. It all worked fine until it came time to update everything, including the NVIDIA GPU. The problem from before the clean install persisted through another clean install (yeah, I tried performing two cuz I thought I didn't do it right the first time around), so after trying to get everything up to date, I decided not to shut off my computer again if I could help it. I just suspend it if I'm going to bed or something. If I do have to turn it off or reboot, I first go into the device manager window to disable the NVIDIA GPU (I'm not sure if I mentioned this, but if it boots up while that GPU is disabled, it all goes through just fine) and then I shut down or whatever. Had to do one or the other a few times now, but for the most part, the computer just remains suspended.

 

Thing is, not long after I performed the latest clean install, the computer started to freeze completely at random. I could be watching a video on YouTube, or just browsing Reddit or maybe even just looking at my desktop area and everything would just freeze. The easiest way to "fix" it is putting the lid down (which turns off the video) and then back up again. Problem is that that can cause games to crash and progress to be completely lost. These freezes started moderately, happening once or twice every other week, but it got to a point where I was getting four to five every single day. I mentioned that to my ex and he suggested I check for Windows updates. I updated it and for a while, everything seemed to work fine again until last week when I got, once again, two freezes. This week, it started to escalate and today, throughout the day, I got about five of these in total (in just one day). I already checked for OS updates, driver updates through Dell's website, and there's no visible update for the NVIDIA GPU. By the way, I'm not too keen on reverting to an older version of the GeForce cuz the one version I know works without a problem is from when Fortnite first came out and love me or hate me, I don't play that game (and yeah, I gave it a shot). I actually have some games that came out after Fortnite, including FFXV, and I have my sights on a few others slated for this year still if there are no delays.

 

So yeah. That's what I need help with. And I understand that this might be very complicated to deal with remotely—especially through a forum—but if anyone has any idea of what might be causing these issues (especially the freezing), I'd be more than happy to hear (or read...) your input. Doesn't hurt to ask if anyone's been through something similar before or if anyone knows what's happening, or even if they might have a solution. I'll also be happy to provide any more information that might help diagnose the issue so long as nothing sensitive is involved. I'm not tech savvy, but I'm not stupid either :x

 

For the record, yes—everything is up to date as of the writing of this thread and I ran a series of tests to make sure everything was just fine. I'm even running Dell's built-in optimization tool every week. On, and I also defrag manually every now and again instead of relying on the scheduled defrag, but that didn't solve the problem at all so far. Anyway, my specs:

 

Windows 10 Home Single Language x64 (latest build) 

Intel Core i7-7700HQ @ 2.80 GHz 2.80 GHz

8 GB of RAM

NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1050 Ti (latest version)

Intel HD Graphics 630 (integrated and no, I'm definitely not using it for gaming unless there's no need to bother configuring the NVIDIA GPU since sometimes I play games that don't require much power at all)

1 TB HDD

 

Relevant programs I have installed:

Steam 

iTunes 

Media Player Classic

SunsetScreen (I NEED this program since the tint of my screen is of a blinding blue. I actually used f.lux before but after one of its updates, it was just useless to me, so I found SunsetScreen and its features are perfect for everything I need)

IrfanView 

uTorrent

JDownloader 2

Discord

KeyFreeze (installed it recently, use it when I have to clean the computer without having to turn it off)

Chrome (main) and Firefox (secondary, rarely use it)

 

Here's hoping anyone has any ideas of what could be causing these problems. My ex suggested it could be a lot of things, among them the hardware itself (from the motherboard to the GPU, who knows). Anyway, thanks in advance and I'll be checking in regularly to make sure I don't miss any replies!

[STRESSMASTER]

The thing that really jumped out at me is that closing the lid temporarily fixed the issue. This sounds like a ribbon is either loose or the connector for the ribbon either one the mobo or the monitor is weak and about to break. For you to fix it you will need a soldering gun and youtube to learn how to disassemble the unit. First check the ribbon cable to be sure it is connected 100% right. Than if that don't work than usually you can very carefully reheat the solder at each pin and it will make a better connection when it cools. this is not for the weak of heart to try and honestly it maybe better to find a college and go talk to the electrical classes teacher (i.e. classes that make pcb boards for things) and have your unit be a learning on one. (much much cheaper) there is a lot less risk in that.