i9-14900HX: Applications crash under High Performance powe mode

[Mike_2S]

I have a Lenovo laptop with an Intel i9-14900HX CPU.

When I use the Windows “High Performance” power mode, applications begin crashing after some time. The longer the laptop stays on, the more frequent the crashes become.

Symptoms include:

• Firefox tab crashes: “Gah. Your tab just crashed”. Crash info: type=EXCEPTION_ACCESS_VIOLATION_READ,  address=0xffffffffffffffff
• Microsoft Edge tab crashes: STATUS_ACCESS_VIOLATION
• Paint.NET crashes: System.AccessViolationException: Attempted to read or write protected memory
• When OpenOffice becomes slow at opening .odt files, it means an imminent crash follows (.odt files are ZIP-based containers that must be decompressed)
• DirectX installer reports corrupted CAB files and ends prematurely
• Even Notepad crashed once.
• Occasional BSODs: SYSTEM_SERVICE_EXCEPTION, IRQL_NOT_LESS_OR_EQUAL, PAGE_FAULT_IN_NONPAGED_AREA

Firefox is especially affected. Sometimes a tab crashes, I restore it, and it immediately crashes again 2–3 more times. 

I tried these actions before I realized that "High Performance" power mode was causing this behavior:

• Disabled browsers hardware acceleration
• Reset BIOS to factory defaults
• Updated drivers and firmware using Lenovo Vantage
• Reinstalled Intel and NVIDIA drivers
• Ran: chkdsk /scan, sfc /scannow, DISM /Online /Cleanup-Image /RestoreHealth (No errors reported)
• Reinstalled Windows 11: (factory recovery image and clean install from Microsoft ISO)
• Windows Memory Test and MemTest86 (4 passes) passed successfully
• Lenovo diagnostics for processor, memory, and motherboard all passed successfully
  
  

In "High Performance" power mode HWInfo reports Thermal throttling and that temperatures of CPU Pagacke and Core Max briefly hit 100°C, whereas in "Balanced" power mode they drop to 71° and 64°.

The system works fine in "Balanced" power mode (also in Window safe mode and Linux).

Now, Lenovo Vantage has a configuration option for GPU Acceleration that explicitly warns it can cause failures to the system, data loss, and unstability. I wonder if this warning also applies to the "High Performance" power mode, and thus in certain way the unstable behavior is expected.

Or, if given the similarity to reports involving Intel 13th/14th gen instability under aggressive boost conditions, could this behavior be related to Vmin Shift Instability issue on the i9-14900 platform?

Thanks for your attention.

[CM_Intel]

Hello Mike,

Thank you for posting your query on the Intel Community Forum!

Thank you for reaching out and for providing such a detailed description of the issue along with the extensive troubleshooting you have already performed we truly appreciate your effort and patience.

We understand that the system is experiencing instability specifically under the High Performance power mode, while operating normally under Balanced mode. To assist you further and investigate this behavior more effectively, we kindly request you to provide the following information:

• SSU (System Support Utility) report

You can download the SSU tool using the link below:

https://www.intel.com/content/www/us/en/support/articles/000057926/memory-and-storage.html

Please note: While generating the SSU report, kindly uncheck the “Networking” option.

• Could you please confirm since when this issue has been occurring?
• Were there any recent hardware or software changes made prior to the issue being observed?
• Kindly confirm the BIOS version currently installed on your system.
• Please share the event logs captured from the system at the time of the crash.

Thank you for your cooperation. We look forward to your response.

Best regards,

CM

Intel Customer Support Technician

[Mike_2S]

Hi, CM!

Thanks for your kind response. 

The issue started around February 2026  (about 1.5 years after I bought the laptop). Previously I did apply BIOS updates recommended by Lenovo Vantage, but I can't say how long it took from the last update to the first occurrence or if any of them caused the problem because I switched the energy plan from "balanced" to "high performance" by that time. 

I did not make hardware or software changes before, except for Windows automatic updates and downgraded Firefox to a previous working version. BIOS version:  LENOVO NSCN41WW , 05/01/2026

I included SSU report,  system event logs for 2 crashes, and also the 2 crash reports of Firefox .  They happened about at 19:48:42 and 00:27:55 (timestamps of crash files)

I would also like to emphasize that the crashes generally occur only after the laptop has been running for several hours in “High Performance” mode, suggesting a possible relation to gradual thermal accumulation or sustained high-performance operation.

Thanks for your attention.

[CM_Intel]

Hello Mike,

I hope you are doing great.

Thank you for your detailed update and for providing the system logs, crash reports, and BIOS information. I truly appreciate the effort you’ve taken to gather and share these details, they are very helpful for our investigation.

I also understand your observation regarding the issue occurring after prolonged use in “High Performance” mode and the possible link to sustained load or thermal conditions. This is a valuable insight and will certainly be taken into account during the analysis.

I will now review the information you’ve shared in detail and investigate this further. I will reach out to you as soon as I have more findings or the next steps to help move forward.

Thank you for your patience and cooperation.

Best regards,

CM

Intel Customer Support Technician

[CM_Intel]

Hello Mike,

I hope you’re doing good.

Thank you for your continued patience. As a next step, we kindly request you to update all system drivers and firmware from your system manufacturer’s (OEM) official website. This will ensure that your system is running on the latest optimized versions specific to your platform.

If the issue persists even after performing these updates, we recommend reaching out to the OEM support team for further assistance, as they will have the necessary resources and knowledge to help you with your device's specific configurations. 

If you have any further queries or need assistance, please feel free to reach out—we’re always happy to help.

Thank you for your understanding and cooperation.

Best regards,

CM

Intel Customer Support Technician

[Mike_2S]

Hi CM!!

I already installed all available drivers and updates from Lenovo and Microsoft. The problem is still there.

I contacted Lenovo support before seeking help in this forum. They said it was probably a windows problem, so they reinstalled windows, but that did not solve the problem.

For now all I can do is work in "balanced" power plan.  Maybe adjusting advanced power settings to less aggressive values could fix the problem but I would have to try it.

Thanks for your support!!