Jump to content

Why does my friend's laptop randomly shut off?

My friend recently purchased a used Razer Blade Pro 2014. The person who used it before did not treat it very well. It has a cracked screen, the battery is completely shot (the laptop has to be plugged in constantly), and the keyboard and trackpad don't work. He is also experiencing an issue where the laptop randomly powers off in the middle of games, forcing him to restart windows. He asked Razer what the cost would be to completely fix all the problems and they said it would be $1450 for the repairs. He plans on replacing the battery to fix these problems. I believe that the reason the keyboard doesn't work is because the previous owner may have spilled liquid on the laptop, and that could be causing issues. Other than the random shutdowns, software-wise the machine seems fine. Any suggestions?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Link to post
Share on other sites

What does AIDA64 or HWMonitor say about system temps?

[FS][US] Corsair H115i 280mm AIO-AMD $60+shipping

 

 

System specs:
Asus Prime X370 Pro - Custom EKWB CPU/GPU 2x360 1x240 soft loop - Ryzen 1700X - Corsair Vengeance RGB 2x16GB - Plextor 512 NVMe + 2TB SU800 - EVGA GTX1080ti - LianLi PC11 Dynamic
 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Link to post
Share on other sites

Just now, knightslugger said:

What does AIDA64 or HWMonitor say about system temps?

system temps are consistently under 60C while playing Fallout 4

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Link to post
Share on other sites

Try using msi afterburner to measure things like temps, that might give you a good idea of what is happening. Maybe try and clean out the fans? They might be dusty

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Link to post
Share on other sites

1 minute ago, likeaboz2002 said:

system temps are consistently under 60C while playing Fallout 4

and i suspect that it is plugged in under these conditions. with physical damage to the screen, i wonder if there is a loose battery connection or some sort of thermal protection going on.

[FS][US] Corsair H115i 280mm AIO-AMD $60+shipping

 

 

System specs:
Asus Prime X370 Pro - Custom EKWB CPU/GPU 2x360 1x240 soft loop - Ryzen 1700X - Corsair Vengeance RGB 2x16GB - Plextor 512 NVMe + 2TB SU800 - EVGA GTX1080ti - LianLi PC11 Dynamic
 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Link to post
Share on other sites

1 minute ago, myspeakersaremuffled said:

Try using msi afterburner to measure things like temps, that might give you a good idea of what is happening. Maybe try and clean out the fans? They might be dusty

yeah that's what he's using. The guy he bought it from says he cleaned the fans .My friend is gonna do it again

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Link to post
Share on other sites

5 minutes ago, likeaboz2002 said:

My friend recently purchased a used Razer Blade Pro 2014. The person who used it before did not treat it very well. It has a cracked screen, the battery is completely shot (the laptop has to be plugged in constantly), and the keyboard and trackpad don't work. He is also experiencing an issue where the laptop randomly powers off in the middle of games, forcing him to restart windows.

why did your friend buy it in this condition? how much did it cost?

6 minutes ago, likeaboz2002 said:

Any suggestions?

take apart, clean it up a bit and look on ebay for parts 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Link to post
Share on other sites

Just now, knightslugger said:

and i suspect that it is plugged in under these conditions. with physical damage to the screen, i wonder if there is a loose battery connection or some sort of thermal protection going on.

it is plugged in and there is physical screen damage. How could I tell if there is a loose connection or thermal protection

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Link to post
Share on other sites

1 minute ago, nerdslayer1 said:

why did your friend buy it in this condition? how much did it cost?

take apart, clean it up a bit and look on ebay for parts 

ok. Would buying a battery off of Ebay be a good idea? Also, my friend said he isn't too comfortable replacing things by himself. I'm sure I could convince him to replace a battery, but a motherboard or other component may be harder

 

he traded it for an iphone 6s

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Link to post
Share on other sites

Just now, likeaboz2002 said:

ok. Would buying a battery off of Ebay be a good idea?

it will depend, make sure the seller is trustworthy. 

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Link to post
Share on other sites

3 hours ago, myspeakersaremuffled said:

Try using msi afterburner to measure things like temps, that might give you a good idea of what is happening. Maybe try and clean out the fans? They might be dusty

 

3 hours ago, knightslugger said:

and i suspect that it is plugged in under these conditions. with physical damage to the screen, i wonder if there is a loose battery connection or some sort of thermal protection going on.

 

3 hours ago, nerdslayer1 said:

why did your friend buy it in this condition? how much did it cost?

take apart, clean it up a bit and look on ebay for parts 

guys I think I figured it out. The laptop is plugged in and the battery completely doesn't work. This means that it is running entirely off power from the charger. Normally, if the power draw of the laptop is too high for the charger to support it, it draws from the battery as well. This laptop cannot, therefore it shuts down. That explains why it's only happening in games! Any temporary fixes to this while my friend orders a new battery?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Link to post
Share on other sites

On 7/20/2017 at 8:58 PM, myspeakersaremuffled said:

Don't play games I guess?

use a bigger power supply and pray to the PCMR that the on-board power module can handle the extra amperage.

[FS][US] Corsair H115i 280mm AIO-AMD $60+shipping

 

 

System specs:
Asus Prime X370 Pro - Custom EKWB CPU/GPU 2x360 1x240 soft loop - Ryzen 1700X - Corsair Vengeance RGB 2x16GB - Plextor 512 NVMe + 2TB SU800 - EVGA GTX1080ti - LianLi PC11 Dynamic
 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Link to post
Share on other sites

  • 2 weeks later...
On 7/20/2017 at 8:27 PM, likeaboz2002 said:

 

 

guys I think I figured it out. The laptop is plugged in and the battery completely doesn't work. This means that it is running entirely off power from the charger. Normally, if the power draw of the laptop is too high for the charger to support it, it draws from the battery as well. This laptop cannot, therefore it shuts down. That explains why it's only happening in games! Any temporary fixes to this while my friend orders a new battery?

This is actually an extremely common problem on the blade 14 2014, not sure of the pro model however. With what you specifically describe, normally if its just on AC with no battery, it still shouldn't shut down. So in this case i would be willing to bet that the issue is with the charge circuitry itself rather than the battery. It is smart and if working properly it will usually limit the power draw of the gpu/cpu and throttle way down into a low performance state rather than completely shut off, even with a bad battery. However if there is a defect in the charge circuitry, it may not due this and will instead just completely shut off. There are many things that can cause this in the charge circuitry and its impossible to say one thing in particular is causing it. Please keep in mind i'm basing these conclusions off of the blade 14 2014, on the assumption that the blade pro 2014 is similar.

Let me ask you this to potentially help further narrow it down,

1. does it detect the battery? or say no battery present? If the battery is not detected or says no batt present -the issue is either a bad thermal fuse or bad thermal resistor on the battery pcb itself(ie bad battery) , or a bad clock/data line for battery on the motherboard.

2. does it say plugged in not charging? plugged in charging but not actually charging? If this is the case its more likley to be motherboard issue in charge circuitry.

 

As for keybosrd and trackpad both not working...its most likely a motherboard issue. Trackpad and keyboard both show up as usb devices. the altera max v cpld is the direct matrix of the keyboard and what forwards the trackpad as usb device through the LPC. There may be a problem there. If this is the case(failure of cpld for example) you will have a hard time getting it fixed because you cant just order one, it would need to be programmed. Only option is pulling one off of a same model donor board. It could just be a simple data line issue there as well.  of the I'd be willing to bet that if both of them are completely unresponsive that you are looking at motherboard repair. however, if its just some keys, and the trackpad doesnt work, its possible its just bad keyboard and bad trackpad cable.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Link to post
Share on other sites

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now

×