Laptop crashing in windows only.

[harshbarj]

I have a new Lenovo Z70-80 laptop and am having problems in windows only. I have ruled out overheating by monitoring temps, and they are all normal.

First the specs.

Windows 7 64-bit home premium (activated and updated to sp1)
Ubuntu 16.04 LTS 64-bit
Intel Core i7 5500U (dual core :-( )
16gb DDR3L
Seagate 1tb + 8gb ssd (sshd)
Nvidia 840m 2gb

I have the hard drive partitioned so Windows has about 400gb and linux about 600gb.

Now when I start windows it acts fine for a while, but will eventually shut down on it's own (typically within 10 minutes). This is a sudden shutdown, like a power failure, and not a clean shutdown. It happens on battery or on AC. I had the same problem with a clean windows 10 install, but don't like windows 10 so I went back to 7. I also have the same problems if I install a spare 500gb hard drive and install just windows (again, 10 or 7).

The point that makes this difficult to diagnose is in Linux the computer runs fine. Not one problem. It also passes MemTest86. Which is good actually as I plan on running Linux for most tasks, and windows perhaps 5% of the time, if even that.

What I have already done is to lock the graphics first to the integrated card, then to the dedicated one. In hopes that it was the switching between the two causing problems. But the system would still power down using either one.

 

[UsandThem]

Download and run this to see if it identifies the cause of the crash:

http://www.resplendence.com/whocrashed

 

[harshbarj]

Download and run this to see if it identifies the cause of the crash:

http://www.resplendence.com/whocrashed

No crash dumps to analyse. No surprise given the computer just powers off, giving no time to write to an error log or do a crash dump.

 

[UsandThem]

Did it start doing this once you upgraded to Win 10, and continues to do it when you rolled back to Win 7?

 

[harshbarj]

Did it start doing this once you upgraded to Win 10, and continues to do it when you rolled back to Win 7?

It came with windows 10 preinstalled. I dislike windows 10, so I installed windows 7 on first boot. It had problems, so I reluctantly gave 10 a try again and when it too had problems I then went back to 7. I don't know if the original 10 install was stable or not.

All installs were clean with either a ISO downloaded from Microsoft, or from a original microsoft DVD. My 7 copy is a retail copy I no longer need for my desktop as it's now fully linux. The windows 10 copy is a iso downloaded from microsoft. Both activate fine, but both also do not like this laptop.

Drivers were downloaded from lenovos website.

 

[VirtualLarry]

Hmm. I've got the opposite problem with my Brix J1900 unit. Windows 7 64-bit SP1 runs fine, but Linux Mint 17.3 (even with a 4.4-series kernel), as well as Ubuntu Mate 16.04, both freeze up solid, after some hours of operation.

Thermals are good in Windows, don't know how to monitor them in Linux.

 

[harshbarj]

Hmm. I've got the opposite problem with my Brix J1900 unit. Windows 7 64-bit SP1 runs fine, but Linux Mint 17.3 (even with a 4.4-series kernel), as well as Ubuntu Mate 16.04, both freeze up solid, after some hours of operation.

Thermals are good in Windows, don't know how to monitor them in Linux.

I use this and it works for me.

http://wpitchoune.net/blog/psensor/

 

[Ketchup]

My suggestion would be to look at the hardware topology under Ubuntu and see what hardware is not being fully detected. That is most likely the hardware that Windows IS detecting, and giving you problems.

Your laptop is under warranty, so you will want to go through Lenovo to have it fixed anyway, but at least you can have an idea about what the cause of the issue is.

 

[UsandThem]

It came with windows 10 preinstalled. I dislike windows 10, so I installed windows 7 on first boot. It had problems, so I reluctantly gave 10 a try again and when it too had problems I then went back to 7. I don't know if the original 10 install was stable or not.

All installs were clean with either a ISO downloaded from Microsoft, or from a original microsoft DVD. My 7 copy is a retail copy I no longer need for my desktop as it's now fully linux. The windows 10 copy is a iso downloaded from microsoft. Both activate fine, but both also do not like this laptop.

Drivers were downloaded from lenovos website.

Gotcha. It is most likely a software or driver issue. But since you didn't use the install that came from the factory for very long, it is tough to say if it was even totally stable when you first got it.

You can download the drivers from Lenovo and try updating your system that way, and hopefully one of them fixes the issue. You could always do a factory reset and see if your system is stable. If not, I guess it could be a hardware issue.

Windows 10 takes a little getting used to, but after a few weeks most people learn to love (tolerate) it.