Acer Nitro VN7-592G-747C randomly reboots when on battery

Dundy

Hi,

 

My 3 month old Acer VN7-592G-747C notebook running Windows 10 randomly reboots from time to time.

 

I have only recently experienced it but I have not installed any new drivers in the recent past. I am not stating this as a fact but I assume that the reason why I only now (after 3 months of using the notebook) I came across this issue is that until now the notebook was always plugged in. 

 

When it's on battery what happens is that Windows loads while I do regular tasks (nothing demanding, web browsing, opening Word, etc.) after a few minutes it reboots with no advance warning of any kind.

 

Windows 10 and all the drivers of the notebook including the BIOS firmware are fully up-to-date.

 

Any idea what can be causing this?

 

Thanks!

IronFly

Reboots or shutdown and boot?

Do you see windows clearly displaying, restart?

 

Battery was fully charged or it happens at various battery percentage charge?

Dundy

The battery was at 30-40% when it happened 3-4 times.

It's an instant reboot like when on PCs you hit the reset button and the Acer logo that's displayed upon booting up comes up in a second or two.

As for seeing windows clearly displaying, not sure what you mean.

IronFly

so it's more like going out of power and then reboot.

 

as displaying, i mean if there's something as the windows message when you choose to restart your system.

IronFly

have you already checked on windows power options about batttery percentage state?

 

Please also check all your laptop bottom screws, sometimes one comes loose and trigger a microswitch that cuts power to the mainboard.

Dundy

When it reboots there is no Windows message with any options, it just boots straight into Windows like it would after a restart.

 

Power settings while on battery:

 

Turn off screen after 10 mins

Sleep after 15 mins

 

Battery saver is set on 20% and I am not sure if the level went below that or not. Probably it did, it had 30-35 mins of estimated battery power left when this occured.

 

I'll check the screws but if that was causing the reboot, then it would do it while plugged in as well, no?

 

Thanks for trying to help me resolve this!

IronFly

Ok, next time keep an eye on battery charge, going from 30% to 20% can be faster than you expect.

Yes, it may happen when connected too (screw issue) but it's worth checking it.

Dundy

I have checked, there were no loose screws.

 

Also, started using the battery on 100% charged state and so far it has not rebooted. I suspect it will have to do something with the actions once it reaches 20%. I'll let you know when I reach that. Is there a logger program that I should be using that would help see what action was taken last before the reboot happened?

 

Thanks.

IronFly

windows logo key + x

Event viewer

then click on Windows logs - System or Application

Dundy

So it rebooted again. When it restarted it was showing 34% / 45 mins left of battery power. Hence I believe this has nothing to do with Windows 10's battery saver as that only kicks in at 20%.

 

I took a note of the time of the sudden reboot and then I looked at the logs you suggested.

 

WIndows logs / System:

 

(As for timing, this I believe must have happened at the exact same moment when it rebooted. Though the last even before this was logged approximately half hour before - so nothing in between..)

 

- The operating system started at system time ‎2016‎-‎04‎-‎12T07:36:48.484517200Z.

- There are 0x1 boot options on this system.

- The bootmgr spent 0 ms waiting for user input.

- Information 4/12/2016 11:36:48 AM Kernel-Boot 20 None

- The boot type was 0x0.

- The boot menu policy was 0x1.

- Information 4/12/2016 11:36:48 AM Kernel-Boot 30 None

- File System Filter 'FileInfo' (10.0, ‎2015‎-‎10‎-‎30T06:37:17.000000000Z) has successfully loaded and registered with Filter Manager.

- File System Filter 'Wof' (10.0, ‎2015‎-‎10‎-‎30T06:38:16.000000000Z) has successfully loaded and registered with Filter Manager.

-Volume C: (\Device\HarddiskVolume3) is healthy.  No action is needed.

 

(and the list goes on as it boots up)

 

Windows logs / Application:

 

(timing is after the reboot - last even logged before the reboot was 7 minutes earlier)

 

- The User Profile Service has started successfully.  

- The description for Event ID 0 from source igfxCUIService2.0.0.0 cannot be found. Either the component that raises this event is not installed on your local computer or the installation is corrupted. You can install or repair the component on the local computer.

If the event originated on another computer, the display information had to be saved with the event.

The following information was included with the event:

Service started/resumed

- Windows Management Instrumentation Service started sucessfully

 

I have tried to go through the rest of the tabs under Windows logs but I was unable to find anything that could have triggered the reboot. Though to experienced eyes it may very well show something that I missed.

 

I look forward to hearing your thoughts. What else can I check? Thank you again.

 

IronFly

ok, let's start with a BIOS update:

http://global-download.acer.com/GDFiles/BIOS/BIOS/BIOS_Acer_1.07_A_A.zip?acerid=635888639477863937&Step1=NOTEBOOK&Step2=ASPIRE&Step3=ASPIRE%20VN7-592G&OS=ALL&LC=en&BC=ACER&SC=PA_6

 

as suggestion (not to fix your issue) never let the battery drop below 30%, it's better if you charge your battery when around 50%.

 

Do a firmware touchpad too:

http://global-download.acer.com/GDFiles/BIOS/Firmware/Firmware_Acer_1.17_A_A.zip?acerid=635926742737390857&Step1=NOTEBOOK&Step2=ASPIRE&Step3=ASPIRE%20VN7-592G&OS=ALL&LC=en&BC=ACER&SC=PA_6

Dundy

The BIOS and the touchpad were already updated to the latest versions - same as the ones mentioned in your reply.

 

Also, recently - after the reboot issues started occuring - the Chipset driver was updated to 10.1.1.13. 

 

The only driver that I have not updated to the latest is the bluetooth driver. On the Acer driver's page there are the following two and I can't tell which one I would need. Though the Acer Care Center does not list any possible updates for bluetooth hence I didn't manually install either one:

 

Bluetooth	Atheros	Bluetooth Driver (NFA344A HAI)	10.0.0.191	87.0 MB	2016/04/08	Download
Bluetooth	Atheros	Bluetooth Driver (NFA344A Liteon)	10.0.0.191	87.0 MB	2016/04/08	Download

 

 

Recharging the battery at 50% is unacceptable for a 3-month old notebook as I am sure you agree with me. It almost ruins the purpose of the battery.

 

I really would like to avoid taking this notebook back to where I bought it as it would result in probably weeks of not getting it back and I can also imagine they would reinstall Windows which would get rid of all the additional software I had installed.

 

Again, I can't help thinking that this is a hardware issue. I double checked once again, no screws are loose.

 

Thanks.

 

IronFly

The BT driver is the same (even if names are different).
The 50% battery suggestion is just to have the best performance from it, you don't need to discharge it like the old ones.

You can try a windows refresh, this will take your data and just switch drivers and windows files to factory.

IronFly

another thing to try is to uninstall from Device Manager the Microsoft ACPI Compliant Control Method Battery with your laptop connected to the AC charger, then shut down your laptop and do a power reset.

 

http://acer.custhelp.com/app/answers/detail/a_id/13677/~/how-do-i-perform-a-power-reset-on-my-notebook%3F

 

and reboot on battery only, the next battery charge please do it with your laptop shutdown.

 

before trying a windows refresh, you can perform a system file check.

 

windows logo key + x

command prompt (admin)

type

sfc /scannow

 

it will take some minutes to perform it, check if any files corruption is reported.

Dundy

Thanks for the suggestions. Right now I am allowing WIndows update to install not only the critical but the suggested updates such as 

 

Intel graphics adapter March 16, 2016

Nvidia graphics adapter March 24, 2016

Synaptics Pointing Drawing HID April 12, 2016

 

These updates were not listed in the Acer Care Center hence I assume they'll be different from the driver's Acer has available for download. I'll see if that gets rid of this issue. If not, I'll go through the steps you recommended.

Dundy

On a separate note, do you know of a logger software that logs the battery level every minutely basis and then I could trace back what level it was at at the time of the reboot. 

 

Right now I am waiting for the level to drop, got quite a bit to go.

IronFly

http://www.windowscentral.com/generate-battery-report-windows-10

Dundy

Thanks, I was just reading that before I asked you.

 

I ran the system file check which resulted in zero errors ("did not find any integrity violations").

 

Let's see if the previously written driver updates helped the situation or it will reboot at around 30%.

Dundy

So here is what happened:

 

Yesterday I ran the battery from 100% down to 7% with no issues even though I was running all kinds of CPU/HDD/RAM demanding software on purpose to drain the battery asap. It did not reboot, battery saving mode kicked in as it should, everything worked fine. I was happy thinking that the problem has been solved. 

 

Today I figured I will give it another try. The battery was on 69% when it rebooted again.... 

 

I generated the battery report:

 

2016-04-1410:15:16	Active	Battery	99 %	51,460 mWh
11:03:50	Suspended		72 %	37,301 mWh
11:45:37	Active	Battery	69 %	35,682 mWh
11:46:02	Active	AC	69 %	35,500 mWh

 

The reboot happened at around 11:45:00 and when it booted up, I plugged it in again.

 

I am becoming seriously disappointed with this issue of sudden reboots. Basically I cannot afford to run the notebook on battery or I risk loosing my work.

 

I have not done the Windows refresh you had mentioned as I obviously prefer not to lose all my data and installed software that would take me a day to reinstall.

 

Now, what do you suggest the next step of action should be,  uninstalling Microsoft ACPI Compliant Control Method Battery and then Power Reset?

 

I really don't want to hassle you too much but if you don't mind taking a look at my saved Event Viewer (system/application) files, I would greatly appreciate it. Maybe you taking a look would help?

 

Thank you.

IronFly

Try this first:

download this tool, whocrashed:
http://www.resplendence.com/download/whocrashedSetup.exe

before running it, browse to C:\windows\minidump
delete all files apart the first 2-3 files (newest)
then install whocrashed and run it
click on Analyze
report here the result.

Dundy

There is only one single dump file dated Feb 24th, 2016. 

 

I assume because of this there is no point installing Whocrashed, right?

 

Ps: automatic memory dump is enabled to %SystemRoot%\MEMORY.DMP. There is only one such file in the Windows directory, dated Feb 24th - I take it it's the same.