I've been having a frustrating issue with my laptop freezing completely whenever I try to open an emulator. I have an older machine (about 7-8 years old) with an Intel i5-8250U processor, NVIDIA MX110 graphics, and 12GB of RAM. I've been using emulators to play Arknights, and I've switched between a few different ones, finding GooglePlay to work the best. Recently, after resetting my laptop in March 2026 and reinstalling the GooglePlay emulator, it started freezing my entire system as soon as I tried to run it. I've been following some guidance from Gemini for the last few days, but nothing seems to help.
Sometimes, I can't move my cursor at all; other times, I can move it, but nothing is clickable. The freezing occurs with all the emulators I've tried. Once, I disabled the GPU driver, and then the emulator worked (though it crashed in heavier stages). I'm really puzzled about whether this is a hardware issue with my GPU or motherboard or if it could just be a specific setting I need to tweak. Can anyone help me figure this out?
3 Answers
You might want to check your BIOS settings for virtualization. On some laptops, if virtualization isn't enabled, it can cause issues with emulators starting up properly. That could prevent them from running smoothly and might be the culprit behind the freezes you're experiencing.
It sounds like your NVIDIA MX110 is having trouble under load, which could be causing those hard freezes. Emulators stress the GPU differently than standard games, and when an older GPU starts failing, that's often one of the first signs. Disabling the NVIDIA GPU forces everything to use your Intel UHD 620, which is likely stable enough to run the emulator without freezing. Unfortunately, there's really no software fix for a failing GPU. If the Intel GPU works for you, I'd just stick with that and keep the NVIDIA disabled. It's not worth trying to fix a chip that's on its way out, especially with a laptop this old.
That's tough to hear, but I guess it makes sense. Time to focus on my studies to persuade my parents to get me a new laptop!
Also, you might want to look into upgrading your RAM. Having a mix of a 4GB and an 8GB stick isn't ideal. If possible, try to get two matching 8GB sticks for better performance.
I checked and the VM is enabled, so that's not it.