My Thoughts, My World-View

    Category: Blog

    • SOLVED: Lenovo Ideapad Gaming 3 GTX1650ti Graphics Driver Crash

      You logged into Valorant, excited to get into a ranked game… you wait for a match to be fixed, and after a few seconds, a match has been found. You are in the Agent Selection screen, and you immediately locked into your favourite agent – for me, it is Omen, and when you heard the ‘locked in’ sound effect (a deep clacking), and then suddenly, your screen turn black… the background music is still playing. The voices and sound of messages still can be heard. Unfortunately for you… you can do nothing. There is nothing appearing on your monitor, and after a while, you get kicked back into your Windows desktop with a pop-up window “Graphics driver crashed. Make sure your graphics drivers are up to date“. (TLDR version at the bottom)

      This has been my experience for a year. I have tried EVERY available fix to address this problem. It was frustrating because I have actually lost an ‘alternate’ account for excessive AFKs (Away From Keyboard) – the penalty is 100 years. It is ridiculous. I should put the screenshot here but it is really not worth it. At this point, you SHOULD search on YouTube some of the common fixes – some of them would be as follows:

      1. Update Graphics Drivers
        Check for the latest drivers from the graphics card manufacturer’s website (e.g., NVIDIA, AMD, Intel).
        Install the latest driver version, as this can include bug fixes and optimizations for newer games.
        Consider using DDU (Display Driver Uninstaller) to completely remove old drivers before reinstalling new ones. This can help if previous driver updates left remnants that cause conflicts.
      2. Roll Back Driver Update
        If the issue started after a recent driver update, consider rolling back to a previous stable version of the driver.
        This can be done through the Device Manager:
        Open Device Manager, find your display adapter, right-click, and choose Properties.
        Go to the Driver tab and select Roll Back Driver.
      3. Adjust In-Game Settings
        Lowering graphics settings such as resolution, texture quality, or turning off features like anti-aliasing can reduce the load on your GPU.
        If the crash is due to overloading the GPU, this might stabilize the performance.
        You can also enable V-Sync to prevent the GPU from overworking by capping the frame rate to the refresh rate of your monitor.
      4. Check for Windows Updates
        Sometimes, Windows updates include important graphics driver compatibility updates.
        Go to Settings > Update & Security > Check for updates and install any pending updates.
      5. Disable Overclocking
        If you have overclocked your GPU or CPU, try returning it to its default clock speeds.
        Overclocking can cause instability in games, especially if the overclock is not perfectly stable.
      6. Check for Temperature Issues
        Monitor your GPU temperatures using tools like HWMonitor or MSI Afterburner.
        If your GPU is running hot (typically above 85°C), the driver may crash as a protective measure.
        Ensure that your PC has proper ventilation and that the GPU fans are functioning correctly.
        Clean out any dust from your GPU and case.
      7. Change Power Management Settings
        Adjust your power management settings in the graphics control panel:
        For NVIDIA: Open the NVIDIA Control Panel > Manage 3D settings > Change Power management mode to Prefer maximum performance.
        For AMD: Open the AMD Radeon Settings > Graphics > Change Power Efficiency settings.
      8. Verify Game Files / Reinstall the Game
        Corrupted game files can sometimes cause crashes. Use the game client’s verify integrity feature (e.g., Steam, Epic Games).
        If verifying does not work, try reinstalling the game.
      9. Update DirectX and Visual C++ Redistributables
        Ensure that DirectX and Microsoft Visual C++ Redistributables are up-to-date, as these are critical for game functionality.
        You can download the latest versions directly from the Microsoft website.
      10. Reinstall Graphics Drivers in Safe Mode
        If regular driver installation doesn’t work, you can use Safe Mode to install drivers.
        Boot into Safe Mode, uninstall current drivers using DDU, then install the latest drivers.

      I actually tried all of these and more – watched all types of Youtube videos that specifically names Valorant as the main game where crashes happen. And nothing works.

      One thing did work: The funny thing is – a random comment on Reddit said that the problem was resolved when the user unplugged the charger from the laptop. And you know what? For the first time in months, I did not crashed at the “Agent Select” screen! However, here is the problem – I have already lowered all the graphic settings to the lowest possible and yet running on battery would only allow me to play a full match before I needed to charge the laptop again. It was not good enough for me. Whenever I start charging the laptop, there is a 50-50 chance of crashing! I tried limiting the charge level to 50-55% (a feature that Lenovo Vantage allows). But that did not help much as well. There was a time when I could actually go through a day’s gaming without a single crash (very, very rare) but the unpredictability was really traumatic. Whenever there was a crash, it would take me 2 full minutes to restart the laptop (force shutdown) and to login into the Riot Servers. I blamed Riot for this at first – as there were just so many players having such a problem – and there was a season in the previous Acts where the number of players who suddenly went AFK or had connection problems at the start of matches were ridiculously high. But as time went on – I suspected the problem was in the graphics card… specifically the laptop model.

      I did more research and found that this specific model – Ideapad Gaming 3 with GTX1650ti had many overheating problems. The unplugging of the power adapter confirmed this. Even though I have adjusted the power plan from Windows and from NVIDIA’s driver app, the problem was not software but hardware. It had no ability to run its original clock speed without overheating and forcing a crash. The only way I could verify this is to lower down the graphics card core clocks. And here is the wonderful software that allows for that – MSI AFTERBURNER! This free app is a MUST HAVE. I tested lowering the core clocks by 300Mhz and memory clock by 100Mhz and voila… it worked! I hit the sweet spot for my machine. No more crashes AT ALL.

      Things to note: every machine problem is different even though it may have the same hardware within. This is just how things are in the computer world. I tried a soft 100Mhz underclocking and it still crashed. Tune it until you have a good balance of performance and stability. The best thing about MSI Afterburner is the ability to apply these profile at startup. I had two crashes that were caused by my own mistakes – after hibernation you need to reapply the underclock profiles as it resets to default after waking up. Yes… set Afterburner to auto start.

      TLDR: Lenovo Ideapad Gaming 3 with GTX1650ti is prone to graphics card problems/defects after some time. If the common fixes doesn’t work in preventing graphics driver crashes, try MSI AFTERBURNER and underclock your core clock by multiples of 100Mhz. Problem Solved!

    • Teaching, Studying and Lecturing

      This is a random post. A friend of mine commented, when will I be writing something here. Well… life has been busy. Work has been busy and … that’s all I can say about it. This is not about my work. But it is interesting to consider the whole topic of education. It is changing and it is one industry that will constantly have a steady demand. The problem is its changing nature – it just has to change as external conditions continue to change. At this moment in 2024, the world is undergoing some economic decline. This is not only in Malaysia, but everywhere. Inflation is not just our problem – it is just everywhere.

      Having said that, teaching is challenging as the new generation has evolved. Exposure to the Internet and mobile devices have changed the way “the generation” thinks. Many do not believe thinking is important – they value the ability to emote. In a world that is so “loud” on visuals, it is also “loud” in “messaging” in its various forms. This makes it is rare to find students (high school to tertiary) able to have a conversation that is longer than 5 minutes. Actually, I would dare anyone to have an actual intellectual conversation for more than 3 minutes with a teenager. Out of respect they may “listen” but they would not reply (perhaps with a “yawn”, maybe). This is the reason why many ‘new’ teachers are using ‘new’ methods to communicate to this new generation – they use social media, catch phrases, visuals, anything to illicit an emotional response from them. They know that emotions is the means to engagement for this new generation. However, the subject matter that is still in-demand and needed is intellectual. It is “academic”. And this disparity between what they “want”, versus what they “need” is driving teachers crazy.

      For myself, I am an old-school teacher. Certainly I am aware of the changes. But I am also aware of the future that these young people will be facing. The commercial aspect of life – when one reaches adulthood – does not change much. “Hard work”, “Interesting ideas”, “Value for money” are the main tenets of any consumer markets regardless of generation. You may capture the young people’s market with all the “emotive” approaches – but to get them to pay for that is difficult. The accounting industry is not going to be hiring that new person who has 20,000 followers on Instagram, and has a very charming personality – the junior auditor/accountant will need to learn accuracy, hard work and a lot of people-skills (soft skills). That is why I still “lecture” in my classes. It is what college students will be met with. Trust me… no tertiary student is going to be put into a Montessori-like environment where they will be ‘learning’ through playing. Assigning many coursework to students is what one will commonly expect. Why? Because that is how “research” is communicated to the public. The mere existence of scientific journals where every finding is peer-reviewed demands that the originators of these research will “present” their findings to the people. They are not to “put on a show”. They are to “spill the beans” and “state the facts”. This is unavoidable. Which is why I am shocked to see not many secondary school teachers are “lecturing”… instead, they are doing a lot of “active learning” (nothing wrong by itself) and trying to get the students involved so that they will have a passion (which is an emotion) in the subject.

      The truth is: the market needs “strong” workers that you (as founders, bosses) can rely on. They do not want workers that question every single decision made, nor workers that provides opportunities for their comfort. No, they want workers that can do the work and do it well. They need workers that are “problem solvers”, not “problem publishers”. This is something that I believe education must recover. Yes, we have a lot of new technology and new expressions, but never forget that we are in the business of preparing these young minds for the reality of a competitive work life. If you cannot survive school and tertiary studies academically, you will struggle with the work life, regardless of your emotional state or affinity to which subject.

      I am still finding students who will be able to hold a decent conversations for more than 20 minutes. Have yet to find them. Perhaps you can help me?

    • Re-aligning the Mind and Heart

      We live in a world that has a “broken” default state. This is the Christian point of view, if one were to align our view with the Bible. There are (of course) many Christian believers who may not believe in this – but if one is to source their belief from the authority of Scriptures, this is a conclusion that cannot be denied. The practical evidence of “broken” world is the inability to achieve bliss, peace and happiness that is continuous. Even the most ignorant (positive-compelling, negative-denying) person would admit that it is impossible to remain in a happy state or to expect things to go our way for periods of time; we certainly can have snippets of happiness and enjoyment, but these cannot last for long because the world is in a state where the little good that exist will quickly be overwhelmed by uncertainties, human sin, selfishness and calamities that often are beyond our control. If one would hedge on something certain for their business, it would be a safe bet on human suffering, a good example of such would be the news media business – can you imagine if everything was peaceful and going perfectly without any problems? There would be nothing to publish.

      “For to set the mind on the flesh is death, but to set the mind on the Spirit is life and peace.” – Romans 8:6

      This verse provides a timely reminder (to me) that it is always a necessity to re-align both our mind and heart to God’s vision. Man-made visions will always be plagued with the simple problem being narrow-minded and short-sighted. It is boastful to think that we have the capacity to see beyond our given limits (we have limits). Thus, it makes sense to subscribe to God’s view and vision – because His thoughts are not ours, His views expand vastly to the infinite canvas that we cannot hope to even comprehend. And it is true, our thoughts fold within us when we see things from our own human logic, and data that is confined to our senses and experience! How pitiful that we allow ourselves to be dictated by the ‘flesh’ in that manner. We end up majoring on the minors and minoring on the majors. The opposite can be true as well – our thoughts inflate our feelings to assume that things will be great… only to be confronted with the unknowns of time.

      Paul, the writer of the verse, was not delusional: he knew that God will not explain or detail out the future for him. He is not told the manner of his death. He was not told the path that will end his ministry and his life. And yet, he is assured that to set the mind on the flesh is death – not physical death, but spiritual death! The death of a thousand death – for we cannot allow ourselves to be united with the world/flesh – to do so is to disown the “spiritual adoption” that belongs to Christian believers. The life of the Christian is not liberty for sinful, selfish decisions and living, but liberty to submit to the Greater King who loves and saves. There is just no “grey” area in this. The Roman soldiers who have cast their lot with Christ, remain soldiers who are faithful to Rome, but ultimately greater obedience rendered to the Invisible, Omnipotent Ruler who dwells in the heavenly places. These soldiers are dutiful to their earthly king, but more so to their eternal King above – they gladly defy the evil commands of their earthly masters and suffer under the lashes meted against them. They are ostracized but not alone in the universal family of adopted sons and daughters of God.

      When man (flesh) has nothing to threaten, the Christian is invincible. The picture that often comes to mind is the scene from the famous Christopher Nolan film “The Dark Knight” when Batman brutally beats up the Joker in order to get information of the whereabouts of his childhood friend: the Joker rightly laughs/cries out to Batman – “you have no power, nothing to threaten me!” What can the flesh, the world, threaten the Christian believer? With our families? With our jobs? With our health? Nothing actually lasts. Nothing can last.

      This is something that hits me harder as each year pass by and time flies. Be prepared for things to pass. It will happen. But look for the eternal things instead. It is like the childhood that we will never get back – it is gone. We have the memories and the lessons and that’s it. We cannot wish for it (it does not change anything). Instead, enjoy the present, and the future before those begin to pass as well. Prepare for what the Spirit has in store for Christian believers – these will guard both our heart and mind. This is eternal hope that cannot be destroyed. I needed this re-alignment. It is just so easy to be caught up by the emotions, the events, the incidences, the troubles, the problems, the pain, the uncertainty – but fix our mind (notice, it is with our thoughts FIRST), and then the “life” and “peace” will be in us.

    • A Teenager and A Pre-teen

      Teenagers and pre-teens of the 21st Century are a different breed.

      Twenty years have passed when I returned from overseas. Looking back, I was an idealistic young man who was ready for work life and for family life. I had experienced a tremendous conversion and spiritual awakening in me – ready to show the world this new-found spirituality that was absent for most of my life then. If you had interviewed me at that time, the young man would have smiled while giving assurance of the eagerness to raise a family that would be God-glorifying. There was fire in the eyes, passion to tackle the big, bad horrible world, and not compromise in an often preached world full of compromising believers and worldly unregenerated men and women.

      Fast forward to twenty years, to now… (my, how time has flown in an instant). The young man has now visibly aged. Though he may not look it outwardly, but the weariness is apparent in the lines on the forehead, in the downward smile that finds it difficult to lift the often disappointed cheek muscles. In a blink of the eye, I have a teenager and a pre-teen with me. The sudden realisation often causes a slight panic – have I spent sufficient time to prepare them for this world? Have I shielded them like a helicopter hovering over them at every turn? Are they ready to face up to an unrelenting world that is full of noise and “glamour” – promising excitement (always), but never delivering anything that is lasting? Am I ready to have them fall down, make mistakes, err in their judgment or (gasp!) fail in the things of life? These are the things that keep me worried, and the lines on the forehead are getting deeper as a result.

      Life as a teenager and a pre-teen in the 21st century is certainly a different landscape than it was for the late 20th century Gen-Xers and Millennials. At the heart of it – the challenges ARE the same: fitting in the society, the culture – discovering your own identity. But the trappings of the external has made it so alien: TikTok videos, Instagram photos, long-repetitive and often nonsensical chat on Discords… and this is just the surface. “Ideas”, “visions”, “membership”, “success”, “friendship”, “love”… all constantly bombarding the young person’s mind – forcing them to pledge allegiance to this side or that. Pity the one who is not seen among the noisy “digital marketplace” of the “present” and “now” – these are the pariah, outcast… unreasonably brought up by conservative and outdated parents who are living in-denial (they claim).

      This is where I am, at the moment. At the crossroads of major clashes in ideology, culture and belief. We want the best for our children – but the world wants something different, and often times (from my observation), the monster wins – like the Pied Piper who leads unassuming children away from their parents – the feeling is the same. I do not see a decisive victory. Not yet. The battle seems to prolong. We are left with prayer and hope.

    • Silence is Golden

      There are times when silence is golden, and the past few years have been something like that. Were there significant insights gained during these past few years? Absolutely. But the busyness of work and family life has taken away the joy of putting those thoughts into written text. Hence the online silence of this blog.

      Spiritually, there has been a lot of insight gleaned personally and corporately, as a family. The chief of which is that God is gracious to His children and allows them to go through life on earth as a type of trial that all true believers must go through. The “wilderness” living is real – one that most entrenched in a particular religious system tend to miss out. It is very dangerous to be perpetually living in an echo chamber with those who espouse the same religious belief system – why? It puts you into a comfort zone of your own making, and fixes your system (interpretation, convictions) as absolute. Thus, one can live within their own bubble, unaware of how to interact with others. The end result is always dominion of man-made rules and laws that chains one to intolerance, pride and selfishness; using God’s Word as a cudgel and a control mechanism to flex a person’s own views. Certainly there is a difference between core fundamental values that cannot be compromised – but these are not about the core belief system – but an overarching system that brings one into a system no different than the Pharisees of the Lord Jesus’ time.

      On the subject of the “world” and “work” – the pandemic and the post-pandemic landscape has challenged the rules and regulations of many man-made belief systems. We see it with the whole Work From Home movement, there was an unconditional acceptance of the ability for most office-work to be done from home, some with even greater productivity. But with it also came the inevitable backlash of it when the world is forced to go back to what it was, pre-pandemic. The biggest perceived challenge as the world is waking up from the crushing pandemic blow: economic recession and downturn globally. Retrenchment is not uncommon at the moment – it is affecting nearly all industry; very few are resilient against this. Coupled with a worldwide inflation, we have a recipe of uneasiness that is affecting the bottom and middle class around the world.

      Something I have observed recently is the ever increasing “harshness” and “emotive” responses in people. This is likely due to the restraint that had to be shown during a prolonged period of isolation, but it is disturbing – particularly on the road – people seem to be rushing and not caring about people around them. Thus, in the virtual world this observation holds. Social media and the World Wide Web is a huge pot of negativity – people are constantly portraying two extremes – “fake goodness” or “unrestrained anger”. Logic does not matter – diplomacy is no longer valued – rationale is seen as irrational: the key thing is – do you join them in what they are espousing. This is disturbing because in the span of a few years – we WILL see a real clash of worldviews, whether it is political, religious, environmental, cultural, etc. With the way things are going – it will most certainly end in violence – physical violence.

      In the midst of all these things – it is so easy to give in to dissent, and join the mass of voices “fighting” for their own beliefs. Which is why it is better to just be silent. Noise will always be there, but it is our own decision whether to add to the noise, or to just move away from it. This blog has always been focused on dispensing thoughts that would help my own two sons, when they come of age, and value the ramblings of their “old man” – to have something to think about (not necessarily agree on).

      Am I back at blogging? Perhaps.

    • 2021 Came and…

      It came like a hurricane and it swept us all in the pandemic blitz leaving many of us with cabin-fever and isolated in our houses. Fortunately for me and the family, we are born introverts who are more than contented with the country-wide isolation.

      In terms of blame and future prospects, I am glad that God is still sovereign and is in control over the lives of His people. We are blessed. But 2021 has not ended. The full implications of the lockdown is going to hit the country’s economy very hard soon… although it is ALREADY bleak, we have not seen the full repercussions of a prolonged restricted movement.

      So many issues to deal with this year: the pandemic, the virus, the various factions in responding to it, the uncertainties, the irrationalities, the selfishness, the rise of worldliness and the destruction of self-righteous religious zealots. On the Christian-front, this has been MOST disappointing; many are either focusing on the minor things, or ignoring the basics of what the Gospel is – all for the sake of human selfishness. Aim should be pointed especially to the evangelical, reformed circles – their responses has been very discouraging and disappointing. Instead of applying the Gospel to the practical and necessities of the flock, many of their leaders are too inward focused (on their dwindling circles) or laying the blame game on nonsensical cabals and imaginary authoritarian forces – the boogey-man to avert the attention to their own weak responses.

      2021 is going down as the most depressing year for most people around the world. And the calamities has not even started to subside… yet. God’s blessings on you.

    • Welcome World! #helloworld

      In the midst of busyness… there is always time for reflection and contemplation.

      Welcome to my digital abode away from the clutter of everyday life. This is a place for reflection and contemplation of things around us – not confined to any one genre. It is a place to express, share and discuss matters that may not necessarily have any immediate pertinence to personal matters. At times, it just might.

      Feel free to browse through the many subjects that interest me, and my friends. From technology to business, to politics, to design, to art and even to the spiritual, there are many things that I hope will interest and encourage you. Contributors are most welcomed. This is not solely about me.

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