Laptop strange crashing issue

[Khetagurov]

Hello friends, I turn to you in my hour of great need. I have an infuriating issue with my gaming laptop that I can't seem to get my head around, and Acer's official forums haven't been any help at all. I'll try to explain the issue, though I apologise in advance for any dearth of info.

I have an Acer Predator gaming laptop, I've had it since early 2018, and it's largely been fine. It hasn't really taken a beating, since I don't play anything overly graphically or CPU intense, and I haven't overclocked it. At the moment I'm pretty much purely playing Classic WoW, on the graphic setting 3 out of 10, which a modern laptop really shouldn't struggle with. A couple of months ago it started suffering strange mini-crashes, 99% of the time during games, but sometimes not (it just did it now as I write this, with nothing more than Firefox open).

What is basically happening is that it seems like it's losing power for a couple of seconds - screen goes black, keyboard backlight goes off, fans stop. USB cooling pad keeps on going. After about 5 seconds I press a key or click the mouse - straight back into the Windows lock screen, once I get through that, the game is still running in the background, and after a lag spike (and occasional DC) I can get back to playing. Until it crashes again. And that brings me to another point. It seems to be random as to when it happens. I played for 6 hours the other day with no issues, then suddenly it started crashing every minute or so, to the point that I ragequit. Today someone suggested I take the battery out of the laptop, which I did, and managed to get 2 hours of uninterrupted grinding out of Feralas. I turned the laptop off, walked my dog, had something to eat, and it's been unplayable since.

I've tried opening the laptop up to check for loose connections and damage to components, everything seemed fine. I've taken out the battery also at someone's suggestion, to no avail. It's not an overheating issue, Classic doesn't heat it up beyond 65 degrees, and even that's excessive. Plus, it's happened when there's nothing but Firefox open and the fans are barely turning.

Specs are as follows:

• CPU: Intel Core i7-7700HQ 2.80 GHz
• Motherboard: KBL Sienta KLS V1.10 (Acer's own?)
• RAM: 16GB DDR4
• GPU: NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1060
• OS: Windows 10 Home 64 bit
• 256GB SSD, no HDD

I don't know what kind of PSU it has, or how to find out. If there's any more spec info required, let me know.

A thought: as I've sat here typing this, it's happened 5 or 6 times. It never normally happens outside games. I have a fiance who is currently living away from me, and we skype every other night with video for several hours - we've never had any issues. I also watch Netflix and Youtube without any problems, and play DnD on Roll20 with my irl friends, also without any problems. The common linkage here seems to be.... typing? Could it be keyboard related? Could a keyboard issue even cause this kind of problem on a laptop?

Anyway, any help is appreciated. Thank you. Again, apologies if there isn't enough info.

[Knaar]

If it always happen when keyboard is used, it is possible the problem might be it. Dont ask why/how, it's the mysteries ways of laptop xD
(I mean, i have a faulty network card in my laptop.... but it doesnt fuck up internet, it only fuck up sounds. How can it do that, nobody was ever able to answer that xD. Purchased a 8$ wifi dongle and never had an issue since)

Do you have an external keyboard you can plug in and use that for a while see if anything happen?

Also check the power setting of the laptop and make sure it's on "maximum performance when plugged", even tho im 99.9% sure it wont do anything to your issue... but cant hurt

[Thunderball]

Acer doesnt make it's own laptop motherboards. What you got is a Compal-made proprietary board that is used only by Acer. That platform doesnt have any issues like that typically, but those kinds of issues are caused by either keyboard itself, keyboard connector or SMC, which is responsible for handling keyboard inputs. The cause is likely liquid damage. What you're getting sounds a whole lot like your laptop is entering sleep mode, which could indicate a problem with Hall sensor - sensor that is responsible for detecting that you closed your laptop.

[Khetagurov]

If it always happen when keyboard is used, it is possible the problem might be it. Dont ask why/how, it's the mysteries ways of laptop xD
(I mean, i have a faulty network card in my laptop.... but it doesnt fuck up internet, it only fuck up sounds. How can it do that, nobody was ever able to answer that xD. Purchased a 8$ wifi dongle and never had an issue since)

Do you have an external keyboard you can plug in and use that for a while see if anything happen?

Also check the power setting of the laptop and make sure it's on "maximum performance when plugged", even tho im 99.9% sure it wont do anything to your issue... but cant hurt

I do actually have an old mechanical keyboard I'm gonna try later and see how it goes. I wish I'd stuck with desktop PCs, tbh.

Acer doesnt make it's own laptop motherboards. What you got is a Compal-made proprietary board that is used only by Acer. That platform doesnt have any issues like that typically, but those kinds of issues are caused by either keyboard itself, keyboard connector or SMC, which is responsible for handling keyboard inputs. The cause is likely liquid damage. What you're getting sounds a whole lot like your laptop is entering sleep mode, which could indicate a problem with Hall sensor - sensor that is responsible for detecting that you closed your laptop.

I dunno where liquid damage would come from, I've never spilt anything on it, and there's no one else using the laptop that would have done that.

Is there anything I can actually do if there's an issue like you've suggested? Can you replace a Hall sensor or any of the other keyboard components?

[Thunderball]

I do actually have an old mechanical keyboard I'm gonna try later and see how it goes. I wish I'd stuck with desktop PCs, tbh.



I dunno where liquid damage would come from, I've never spilt anything on it, and there's no one else using the laptop that would have done that.

Is there anything I can actually do if there's an issue like you've suggested? Can you replace a Hall sensor or any of the other keyboard components?

Yes, typically you can repair them all pretty easily. Keyboard is likely replaced as a unit though.

[Knaar]

Replacing component of a laptop is slightly more complicated compared to a desktop, but there is always plenty of videos on youtube showing exactly all the steps required for every single laptop made. Like desktop, make sure you have no static electricity on you and dont use magnetic screwdriver

[Thunderball]

Replacing component of a laptop is slightly more complicated compared to a desktop, but there is always plenty of videos on youtube showing exactly all the steps required for every single laptop made. Like desktop, make sure you have no static electricity on you and dont use magnetic screwdriver

Same with desktop - dont try this at home, take it to a pro. I would recommend that people do it every time they need to open their laptop up, including cleaning. I get a shitload of cases where people just ruin their laptops beyond repair by trying to do that stuff themselves.

[Khetagurov]

Same with desktop - dont try this at home, take it to a pro. I would recommend that people do it every time they need to open their laptop up, including cleaning. I get a shitload of cases where people just ruin their laptops beyond repair by trying to do that stuff themselves.

I've built and repaired my own desktop a bunch of times, but when it comes to laptops I'm not overly clued up, although I've had this one open like 3 or 4 times now, including to clean it out. I'm relatively confident I can fix most basic things without destroying them, if need be.

Anyway, I've been playing for a few days with the USB keyboard, and I've had absolutely zero crashes so far, so I presume it's a keyboard issue. I'm actually quite happy playing with my mechanical keyboard, so I don't know if I'll even bother to try and fix it at this point.

Cheers for the help, gents.

[Thunderball]

I've built and repaired my own desktop a bunch of times, but when it comes to laptops I'm not overly clued up, although I've had this one open like 3 or 4 times now, including to clean it out. I'm relatively confident I can fix most basic things without destroying them, if need be.

Anyway, I've been playing for a few days with the USB keyboard, and I've had absolutely zero crashes so far, so I presume it's a keyboard issue. I'm actually quite happy playing with my mechanical keyboard, so I don't know if I'll even bother to try and fix it at this point.

Cheers for the help, gents.

That's good to hear. If you end up having to replace the kb eventually it's pretty straightforward on Acer, just make sure to order one with the correct layout. Good luck.