Razer Blade 14 2014 power issues?

[Blucyrik]

Hey guys,

 

So I've had my Razer Blade 2014 since about June last year, and I love the way it performs, the experience, etc... All that snaz about it. But I've been searching to find a solution to some of the power issues with the Blade.

 

For example, if I play games like PlanetSide 2 or Skyrim for 2+ hours, eventually the laptop will just shut off without warning.

 

I've looked into this and from what I can tell the Blade takes too much power from the power supply, so to get the power it needs it starts to drain the battery, despite being plugged in.

 

I've tried re-calibrating the battery sensor, disabling turbo mode, but the only thing that seems to make a difference is limiting the framerate in a game to either 30 or 60fps (which makes sense considering the GTX 870M consumes a massive 100 watts under load) and even then the laptop will again, eventually shut off. It just takes a lot longer. I must note: limiting the framerate for now seems to be the best solution since it's pretty uncommon for me to use my blade for more than a couple hours at a time anyway.

 

If anybody else has had a similar issue, is there a fix? Should I send my Blade in for some sort of repair or something? Thanks!

 

 

 

[don_svetlio]

The power is not the issue, the laptop overheats. That's what shutting off means

[exercutor5]

More likely to be overheating than lack of power.

[don_svetlio]

2 minutes ago, exercutor5 said:

More likely to be overheating than lack of power.

Yep. Were it a power issue the GPU would just throttle due to TDP. Blades need be cleaned every month as by default they run at 85-90*C

[exercutor5]

Just now, don_svetlio said:

Yep. Were it a power issue the GPU would just throttle due to TDP.

This is what I thought as I read this.

[don_svetlio]

Just now, exercutor5 said:

This is what I thought as I read this.

The other option would be a dying SSD but then it should be random

[Blucyrik]

2 hours ago, don_svetlio said:

The power is not the issue, the laptop overheats. That's what shutting off means

Sorry for the late reply.

 

Yes, that makes sense that it turns off due to overheating (the whole unit is VERY warm when it turns off) but that doesn't explain why the battery is dead after I turn it back on a few minutes later.

 

[don_svetlio]

Just now, Blucyrik said:

Sorry for the late reply.

 

Yes, that makes sense that it turns off due to overheating (the whole unit is VERY warm when it turns off) but that doesn't explain why the battery is dead after I turn it back on a few minutes later.

 

Probably going bad. If the issue was Power, it would throttle. That's how the firmware is designed

[Blucyrik]

Just now, don_svetlio said:

Probably going bad. If the issue was Power, it would throttle. That's how the firmware is designed

But that's not what I'm seeing... I've loaded up a game in windowed mode and saw the battery icon on the desktop change to (for example): "80% remaining (plugged in, not charging)". It slowly drains til it hits 0%, then shuts off.

 

Do you think it could be the power brick being the issue?

[don_svetlio]

Just now, Blucyrik said:

But that's not what I'm seeing... I've loaded up a game in windowed mode and saw the battery icon on the desktop change to (for example): "80% remaining (plugged in, not charging)". It slowly drains til it hits 0%, then shuts off.

 

Do you think it could be the power brick being the issue?

Possible - check settings. If you've accidentally set some power option preventing charging while in use it could be the cause

[Blucyrik]

Just now, don_svetlio said:

Possible - check settings. If you've accidentally set some power option preventing charging while in use it could be the cause

I will, thanks for the help.

 

I'll keep this thread updated and see what I can find. I've looked around on other forums and I know I'm not the only person with this issue.

[OldFart]

5 minutes ago, Blucyrik said:

But that's not what I'm seeing... I've loaded up a game in windowed mode and saw the battery icon on the desktop change to (for example): "80% remaining (plugged in, not charging)". It slowly drains til it hits 0%, then shuts off.

 

Do you think it could be the power brick being the issue?

Are you seeing anything in the windows event viewer logs;  if its not configured for anything to the informational level, you may want to turn it on -- it's really the transition point of being on power to being plugged-in and on battery you're looking for an alert or information event on.  

[Blucyrik]

15 minutes ago, OldFart said:

Are you seeing anything in the windows event viewer logs;  if its not configured for anything to the informational level, you may want to turn it on -- it's really the transition point of being on power to being plugged-in and on battery you're looking for an alert or information event on.  

I just checked and couldn't find anything specific regarding the actual power drain or overheating; However I did see the log where the system completely turned off:

 

 

[don_svetlio]

It may be time for an RMA

[Blucyrik]

5 minutes ago, don_svetlio said:

It may be time for an RMA

I'm still under warranty but since I purchased this back in June do you think I actually could do an RMA? Plus this may be really difficult because I'm in college and I NEED this laptop (I'm a computer science major).

 

I must also note this laptop works perfectly fine, other than the problem with gaming on the thing for more than a few hours.

 

Here's something else I found:

 

[don_svetlio]

I'd say an RMA is the safest bet. You are risking quite a lot like this as it may decide to die at the worst time imaginable

[Blucyrik]

1 minute ago, don_svetlio said:

I'd say an RMA is the safest bet. You are risking quite a lot like this as it may decide to die at the worst time imaginable

Please read this again:

3 minutes ago, Blucyrik said:

 this may be really difficult because I'm in college and I NEED this laptop.

I'm serious about this. For some of my classes if I don't have my own laptop I will literally fail my classes. No exceptions. Afaik an RMA can easily take up to 2 weeks.

 

I'm sorry this just isn't an option. I do appreciate the help though. I feel like I'm shooting down all your ideas lol.

[don_svetlio]

11 minutes ago, Blucyrik said:

Please read this again:

I'm serious about this. For some of my classes if I don't have my own laptop I will literally fail my classes. No exceptions. Afaik an RMA can easily take up to 2 weeks.

 

I'm sorry this just isn't an option. I do appreciate the help though. I feel like I'm shooting down all your ideas lol.

Change the adapter, change the battery, change the motherboard - all could be the issue

[Donut417]

So let me get this right. When in use under heavy load the battery drains when its plugged in. What about under normal use? Also, this would seem to imply that it charges the battery. So im guessing if you turned the machine off and plugged it in, it will charge the battery fine? 

 

Im almost thinking it is a power issue. Maybe the adapter, or something on the motherboard. I have had several laptops where the battery had failed, but as long as its plugged in it worked fine. Even under full load, the hardware should not be able to exceed the power restrictions set by the power adapter. 

[VinsinityKT]

9 hours ago, Blucyrik said:

Please read this again:

I'm serious about this. For some of my classes if I don't have my own laptop I will literally fail my classes. No exceptions. Afaik an RMA can easily take up to 2 weeks.

 

I'm sorry this just isn't an option. I do appreciate the help though. I feel like I'm shooting down all your ideas lol.

If it usable to your standard than keep using it if you need it for classes. If it not even doing the basic tasks for your classes, then you have no choice. This is the kind of reason why I have a backup laptop.

[OldFart]

22 hours ago, Blucyrik said:

Please read this again:

I'm serious about this. For some of my classes if I don't have my own laptop I will literally fail my classes. No exceptions. Afaik an RMA can easily take up to 2 weeks.

 

I'm sorry this just isn't an option. I do appreciate the help though. I feel like I'm shooting down all your ideas lol.

Check with your department - many carry loaner laptops good for anywhere from a single day to a full quarter of classes.  They have to know and understand that circumstances will exist where systems fail and students need a gap until they have a replacement or correction.

 

Else, I guess the real solution is to stop using the laptop for gaming and dedicate it solely to collegiate work; until that is whatever part that is having issues fails entirely and you buy a new one.

 

Good luck

[Blucyrik]

Alright guys, here's and update.

 

I contacted Razer support yesterday and here's what they said:

 

"Hello Richard, 

We apologize for the issues you are having with your System. The issue you are experiencing is typically a bug within Windows and not necessarily an issue with the Blade itself.  To resolve the issue, please open device manager and find the batteries section and expand it.  From there, find the device with "ACPI" in the name and right click and uninstall it.  Then turn off the Blade and let it sit and charge for about 4 hours.  After about 4 hours, remove the AC adapter from the Blade and try to turn the Blade on, let it get into Windows or until it turns off and then plug the Blade in and let it continue to charge for a while longer.  If it makes it into Windows, let it charge until 100%.  Please let us know if you have any further issues after performing these steps.  Thank you very much."

 

This is actually really satisfying to hear, since I won't need to send my Blade in if this works. I'll do this once I get the chance.

 

Thank you all for helping me out in this thread!!!

[don_svetlio]

@Blucyrik In all my time I've spent around tech this is the first time hearing something of the sorts. I remain extremely skeptical.

[Blucyrik]

Ok, final update.

 

Looks like the problem was resolved. I had to perform their instructions multiple times, but I got it working! The battery continues to charge when I played Skyrim a few minutes ago.

 

To all in the future that have this issue with their Blades: Perform the method above multiple times to get the charging working again. Hope this helps!

[RyeCatcher]

On 2016/2/18 at 8:42 AM, Blucyrik said:

Ok, final update.

 

Looks like the problem was resolved. I had to perform their instructions multiple times, but I got it working! The battery continues to charge when I played Skyrim a few minutes ago.

 

To all in the future that have this issue with their Blades: Perform the method above multiple times to get the charging working again. Hope this helps!

I'm almost the same situation as you.

1. May I ask how many times you've done the instructions Razer provided ? Razer just provide the same method to me yesterday.

2. If I uninstall the "microsoft acpi compliant control method battery" ..Do I need to re-install the "microsoft acpi compliant control method battery" again?