Question The laptop is randomly shutting down - no overheating

[reeson46]

Hello,

About two years ago I bought Aorus x7 DT v8. One month ago, I had to remove and dispose of the battery since it has inflated and I've been running directly on the power adapter ever since.

Recently, the laptop started randomly shutting down, while gaming or just watching Youtube or just basically doing regular stuff, and the weird thing is, I cannot power it back on unless I disconnect the power cable and wait 2-3 minutes. Just yesterday, it shut down twice.

The laptop is not overheating, since I'm constantly monitoring the temperatures and cleaning the fans and heatsinks on a regular basis. The CPU and GPU are not overclocked.

It's very hard to tell what could be causing these sudden shutdowns since there is no message or anything. It could be the power adapter itself, but I did measure the output voltage and it seems fine.

I would gladly test with another adapter, but the one that came with this laptop is 250 watts, and not a single store in my country sells such adapter. I only found the same one on Gigabyte US store, but they don't ship into my country (Slovenia).

It almost looks like the laptop tries to switch power over to the battery, and since there is none, it turns off. Even if that is true, why start doing that now, and not when I removed the battery over a month ago?

At this point, I'm not sure what to do. Even buying a new, legit battery is hardly an option for me, since no one here is selling such a battery...

Any thoughts?

 

[AlHuneke]

Two years of battery life is pretty short unless you were running the battery down frequently. Having the battery swell up is also not good. That shouldn't happen with a quality battery unless it got pretty hot on a regular basis. Did it sit in a closed car on hot days? Also, a 250W supply is unusual but this machine is really a beast.

I saw that the warranty on this machine is two years. Is it still in warranty? That may not cover the battery, but it appears something else is wrong. From what you describe, I doubt it is something you can fix yourself. The really puzzling symptom is having to unplug it for minutes. There is nothing inside the machine that would normally hold up that long. The internal caps would discharge in a few seconds. Since you have a voltmeter, you might try monitoring the voltage while the system is operating. I would do this by removing some insulation around the cable and connecting that way. Messy, but you can tape it up after. The thing you won't see is if there are quick changes that your meter can't respond to (you would need an oscilloscope for that). Sorry I can't be more helpful.

 

[reeson46]

I rarely ran the laptop on battery, and even when I did, it was only when I had to move from one room to another. Unfortunately, the warranty expired in September. I had this laptop shipped from the US (I live in EU), and to send back and all that it would take too long, and I need this laptop for work...

Now that you mentioned it, the battery was hot, but I always running on the adapter.

Just moments ago, I was having dinner and when I came back, the laptop was turned off, which means, even in idle, it shuts down...

 

[BadAssTech]

I have 3 best solution for that
1.)look for the shorted capacitor remove/replace
2.)flash bios update
3.)dance for joy thumbs up!

 

[reeson46]

I have 3 best solution for that
1.)look for the shorted capacitor remove/replace
2.)flash bios update
3.)dance for joy thumbs up!

I've opened the AC adaptor the other day and none of the capacitors were swollen on top. I also order a new battery, and I will test it when it comes, and if the laptop will still keep shutting off, then it's either the AC adaptor's fault or the main board, which sadly I cannot get a replacement for it since they don't make the replacement parts for this model anymore.

Can't update bios either, bacasue I'm already running on the latest version.

 

[AlHuneke]

A shorted filter cap would take out the power supply. They may open however a short would be dramatic. Swelling would certainly indicate a capacitor that is about to fail (sometimes by exploding!).

A couple of long shots you can try (I still can't explain the needing to unplug and wait).

• Trying running diagnostic test software (don't need to test the hard drive I don't think). Let them run over night.
• Type "Event Viewer" in the search box and open that as administrator. Do this soon after it shuts done. You may find a Critical Error that provides some insight. You can look for error within the last hour to narrow your search. There will probably not be any error as you are not getting the BSOD. Might get lucky however.

 

[reeson46]

I checked the Event Viewer the other day after the shout down, and the only critical error that I found was "Kernel power id 41", which doesn't tell me anything.

Another thing that I noticed recently (it happed in the morning), I plugged the AC adapted into the laptop and then immediately turned it on, and the laptop top shut down within 2 seconds. This happed 3 times in a row as I tried to power it up. Only after I left it plugged in for like a couple of minutes and tried to power it up again, the laptop turned on and booted into windows without failing.

So now, basically what I do every morning, I plug the AC adaptor into the laptop, have breakfast, and afterward I turn it on. But the laptop still randomly shuts down. Most recently was while I was watching YT.

 

[AlHuneke]

Yeah--That error just says that the machine shut down unexpectedly but provides no information as to why. I'm an EE with 40 years of experience and can tell you that these types of problems are devilishly hard to track down. The fact that you had a problem when it was "cold" is interesting. You can confirm this by putting the machine in the fridge for a few hours and then trying to start it. It would be good to wrap in plastic wrap so you can still push buttons but don't get condensation inside until is warms up. Follow that with a test in a warm oven, being very careful that you can still touch the parts inside the oven. If that shows that it always starts, you may have a clue. This however does not explain why it shuts down during use.... Now get a can of Freeze Mist, take the back off (using ESD precautions!) and gently spray part by part. This stuff is really cold so don't get carried away. Light misting. You may find a thermally sensitive component. It has worked for me on other types of electronics.

 

[reeson46]

Honestly, I would rather not put the laptop into the fridge or the oven... But hopefully it's just the AC adapter that needs to "warm" up...

 

[reeson46]

Update:
So today I received the new battery, and it didn't fix the problem. Here's what happened:

As I turned on the laptop, the battery was at 13% and it said 2h to fully charged. I went on with my work, and after 20 minutes, the laptop stuttered for a second while I was in the middle of some audio rendering, and the charging stopped (and if it wasn't for the battery to take over, the laptop would've turned off). I had to unplug and reconnected power cable in order to start the charging process, but this time it said 4h to fully charged .... what the hell is happening?