Windows 10 Recurring Hang-Crash-Freeze - nVidia or Intel or Microsoft

I have been given a ASUS, Q551LN Laptop to fix. It that has been locking up, or freezing. The interesting thing it is not like most hangs as the mouse moves, windows explorer is still working but no new applications can be opened. Before I saw this type of freezing issue I assumed it was a overheating or hard drive issue.
I finally got it to boot to safe mode after skipping the chkdsk operation; I saw that it would run great in safe mode; no crash/freeze.
I ran Seatools on the hard drive - passed.
I ran SFC /SCANNOW, no problems or missing Windows files.
I had read many forums indicating that this could be a driver issue after upgrading to Windows 10.
I reinstall all drivers with current OEM drivers; still freezing.
I restored OS, no luck.
I reset windows back to windows 8.1; still freezes during OS install setup.
I did not install updates and was able to get to the desktop before it froze.
I checked box in MSCONFIG for base video, restarted and windows runs fine, NO FREEZING!!!!!

At this point, I am starting to realize it is display adapter problem. This particular ASUS has a Ge-force 840M and Intel integrated graphics as well; hmm. I searched the forums for GPU problems most did not apply but fortunately the topic of one thread was about games freezing randomly due to problems with NVIDIA GPU's. One post indicated that settings for NVIDIA Physx could be the problem.

I check the NVIDIA control panel and found that Physx was using the integrated GPU by default.
I changed this setting to use the Ge-Force GPU. Laptop FROZE.
I decided to disable Intel(R) HD Graphics Family completely through the device manager(in Safe Mode).
I change BIOS settings to only use minimal memory for integrated graphics.

Rebooted laptop and everything is working great! No Crash, No Freeze, No partial hang.
The lesson I learned and will hopefully help others is to:
Determine what type of hang the computer is experiencing. If mouse moves but no HD activity and no new windows will open check the Display Adapters/GPU software settings.

Physx and 3D settings along with the upgrade to windows 10 contributed to this problem. I'm not sure what the long term fix should be but hopefully this post saves someone else the days I've worked on this.

Download "Whocrashed" to give you a simple way of reading the Dump log. This explains how to read BSOD logs. How to Debug Kernel Mode Blue Screen Crashes (for beginners) | Ask the Core Team You can get WhoCrashed from here. Before You Download or Visit External Websites... • Raymond.CC