Defective laptop GPU

[fuzzymillipede]

Lately I have been experiencing some issues with my laptop. When loading pages with Flash content it will frequently freeze up and then make a hardware level beep. Recently it has gotten worse, and YouTube videos freeze up and make sounds like a garbage disposal or jackhammer. A few days ago it did that a few times in a row and then bluescreened on me.

I have not had any issues in games but I'm pretty sure it's the GPU that is causing these issues (if anyone has other ideas about what might be causing the issues, please let me know). From my experience, it's only going to get worse and there is no way to fix the problem as the laptop is out of warranty and the GPU cannot be replaced.

Luckily, it looks like my CPU has integrated graphics. So I am wondering if there is a way I can disable the defective GPU and have it use that instead? I would rather have a less powerful machine than one that bluescreens while playing YouTube videos.

[DaveJB]

If you did have a major GPU fault, then it should be far more apparent during games than YouTube videos, not the other way around. It sounds like your installation of Flash may have gotten screwed up. Try using this uninstaller, then install a fresh copy of Flash and see if that clears it up.

[TronPaul]

It sounds very strange that only Flash causes this issue. I would expect games, and other online video services (Netflix, Amazon Video, Youtube's html5 content) to also cause these issues. Before declaring your GPU dead, I'd suggest updating drivers, updating Flash itself, and trying Flash on different browsers. You could be somehow under the effects of a virus, so a check up in that regard would be a good idea.

Otherwise many desktop motherboards allow you to disable the graphics card from BIOS. I'm unsure if many laptops allow the same thing, but I would check there. Otherwise I'm unsure how to completely disable it. I don't think device manager (if you're on Windows) will completely disable using a graphics card.

Edit: As an addendum, if you're on Windows 8 I've experienced extensive problems with Flash causing browsers to hang (both Firefox and Chrome). I installed all the optional Windows updates and reinstalled flash lots and it seems to have cleared up, but I'm unsure if it is completely fixed.

[fuzzymillipede]

I don't think the problem is exclusive to Flash. Disabling Flash helped a lot but I am still experiencing the YouTube video lockups. I did try updating my graphics drivers but Windows says they are up to date.

[TronPaul]

Don't update the drivers through windows. Go to the manufacturer of the card directly. Usually this should be Nvidia, or AMD.

[DaveJB]

This page should give you details on how to switch GPUs if your notebook supports it. HP doesn't give specifics on which of their notebooks support GPU switching and to what extent, but it should hopefully point you in the right direction.

If it's possible, try locking your browser to either the iGPU or the discrete card, and see if that affects what's going on. And as suggested, try a different browser or two.

[TheFeniX]

I don't think the problem is exclusive to Flash. Disabling Flash helped a lot but I am still experiencing the YouTube video lockups. I did try updating my graphics drivers but Windows says they are up to date.

Many videos are streamed through Flash player on youtube. It's mostly noticeable when viewing video in fullscreen as Flash player will open up a taskbar instance. I had some issues similar to yours (esp the "hardware beep") with youtube when my flash install was corrupted during, I assume, a bad update sent out. Reinstalling flash corrected the problem.

[fuzzymillipede]

Well I ran the Flash Player uninstall script, and Flash Player went from "2 files" to "1 file" in my list of plugins. I also installed the latest driver from AMD, which did whatever it did. I should know soon if this helped or not.

[Terralthra]

Do you surf using Chrome? What OS are you running?

[Starglider]

Usually which GPU to use when on battery vs mains power is in control panel -> power management settings (for Windows).

[fuzzymillipede]

Do you surf using Chrome? What OS are you running?

Chrome and Windows 7

[Terralthra]

Chrome has a built-in flash player, /opt/google/chrome/PepperFlash/libpepflashplayer.so. If you install Flash separately, you'll also have /usr/lib/flashplugin-installer/libflashplayer.so, or something similar. Disable one, test, disable the other, test. You can get to the control panel via putting about:plugins into your address bar.

[PeZook]

It's also not true the GPU can't be replaced - it just needs a specialized service shop and probably a few hundred bucks. But yeah, try to see if it's not the drivers that are causing the issue first

[fuzzymillipede]

Well after getting rid of the extra Flash player and upgrading my driver, the problems have gone down but not disappeared. I will look into disabling the GPU if it gets worse again.