Lenovo Y40 Crashes Without Warning (And Without a BSOD)

[Tezla]

Hello people of Tom's Hardware!

I have a broken Lenovo Y40 laptop that completely crashes without a BSOD, and so far the cause of the crashes have eluded me. Below is a list of details of my problem and the ways I've already tried to fix it. Thank you so much!

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Issue Details:

- Specs
Lenovo Y40
Windows 64-bit, I've tried both 8.1 and 10
i7 4510U
8GB RAM
R9 M275 (crashes whether this is being used or not)
- Intermittent crashes with no noticeable predictor of crash
- Sometimes takes over an hour to crash, other times a half an hour, and other times it crashes during boot
- No blue screen and no crash dump that I could find
- Crashes are independent of what I'm doing. AKA it seems equally likely to crash while running Chrome as it is running Prime95 or games
- Crashes in Safe Mode
- Crashed sitting in BIOS
- Kernel 41 Error in Event Viewer with the following EventData
BugcheckCode 0
BugcheckParameter1 0x0
BugcheckParameter2 0x0
BugcheckParameter3 0x0
BugcheckParameter4 0x0
SleepInProgress false
PowerButtonTimestamp 0
- [strike]Noticeable *clink* sound from the hard drive each time the computer fails, the exact same sound has been made in the past the few times I had to perform a hard shutdown by holding the power button before the computer stopped working[/strike]

EDIT: see the edit below, the sound is an effect of the shutdown not the cause

- Even though I have the computer set NOT to restart after a crash, it still does anyways 90% of the time
- Most of the time after getting it to fully boot and use it for a while it will crash, and that crash is followed by a restart, crash during boot, restart, crash during boot, restart, and crash during boot process that repeats a few times until it doesnt restart again
- Occasionally a crash is accompanied by a "Windows Didn't Load Correctly" message upon the next startup
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Things I've Tried:

- Sending it in for Warranty Repair: The first thing I tried. Supposedly they replaced the motherboard but that didn't help at all if they did
- Clean installs of both Windows 8.1 and Windows 10
- Tried a cooling mat, didn't stop the crashes and did barely anything to temps
- Repasting the CPU
- HWMonitor shows normal temps (hovering around 55-60C running Prime95)
- Crashes happen no matter if I am plugged in, running on battery, or have the battery completely removed and plugged in
- Tested the power brick with a multimeter, normal voltage
- Reseating the RAM
- Windows RAM diagnostic
- Windows Hard Drive diagnostic
- Command Prompt S.M.A.R.T. check, "Status OK"
[strike]- Removed the hard drive and let it sit on its startup error screen with configurable boot options, computer happily chugged along for hours[/strike]

EDIT: it turns out I just got lucky the one time I tried removing the hard drive. I was messing around with some other stuff and it died on me while the hard drive was disconnected so that's not it

- Took it all apart and put it back together again (for the heck of it)
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That's everything I can remember trying off the top of my head, if there's anything else you guys want let me know. I'm baffled, thanks so much for any help!

 

[Laptop_Nerd]

Hi,

Wow you've pretty much done all the possible troubleshooting steps that should have identify the issue. Here are some more that may help.
- First is to try the laptop without it's battery and just connect it directly to it's AC adapter.
- If that will not work try doing a test with the RAM's, if there are 2 RAM remove one then see if it will crash or not, try the other RAM as well and the RAM slot just to make sure.
- And lastly, try changing the CMOS battery.

Hopefully one of this steps will help.

 

[Tezla]

Hi,

Wow you've pretty much done all the possible troubleshooting steps that should have identify the issue. Here are some more that may help.
- First is to try the laptop without it's battery and just connect it directly to it's AC adapter.
- If that will not work try doing a test with the RAM's, if there are 2 RAM remove one then see if it will crash or not, try the other RAM as well and the RAM slot just to make sure.
- And lastly, try changing the CMOS battery.

Hopefully one of this steps will help.

Sadly no luck. I actually already tried your first solution but my wording in the original post was a little wonky so my bad. There's only one RAM stick so I can't do that, but I DID move the RAM to the secondary RAM slot that wasn't in use. No luck there either. I tested the CMOS battery with a multimeter and nothing out of the ordinary.

My only two other thoughts are these:
- Could the actual physical power button be broken? I know there's the "PowerButtonTimestamp 0" thing but is there any way to check this?
- Would attempting to boot from a live CD/USB to run tests do me any good? I've never used one so I'm not entirely sure what they're even for

Otherwise excellent suggestions, keep 'em coming!

 

[Lucho_]

Hi, I have exactly the same problem with the Lenovo Y40 and have tried many of the things you did.

Did you finally found the source of the problem? I suspect it is the motherboard, because before the crashes some of the other components started crashing silently (e.g. ethernet, HDMI output, etc.).

 

[Tezla]

Hi, I have exactly the same problem with the Lenovo Y40 and have tried many of the things you did.

Did you finally found the source of the problem? I suspect it is the motherboard, because before the crashes some of the other components started crashing silently (e.g. ethernet, HDMI output, etc.).

Well I sort of have a "solution" (with generous air quotes). I discovered my problem is something to do with the power switch, so I ordered a used replacement off of eBay and installed it. The computer worked fine for about 2-3 months, everything was perfect! Sadly it started crashing again (though on no fault of the eBay seller, the part was in great condition and with free shipping to boot).

Now my "solution" is to turn the computer on, remove the back cover, unplug the power switch's ribbon cable, and put the back cover on again. If I do this the Y40 never crashes at all, proving again it's something crazy happening with the power button.

I realize that that's jankiest solution humanly possible but it's what works for me. I'm currently ordering some appropriately sized ribbon cables off of Amazon in the hopes of being able to use my high school's 3D printer to make a button/switch I can rig with the cables so I don't have to remove the back cover every time. Might even be able to stick the 3D printed button out of the Kensington lock slot, who knows.

I have no idea if that's you're problem or not but that's what works for me, good luck!