F5-F73G unexpectedly shuts down

eisoJ

My laptop is fairly new (bought in September 2016) and has started randomly shutting down even if I am only running Netflix or a news site on google chrome. The screen suddenly goes black and everything cuts out all at once like when a house loses power. When I turn it on again, it turns on as it normally does -without any message saying it wasn't shut down properly. This has happened about 5 times in the past week and I'm not sure why as this is only a recent problem. The laptop has not overheated any of the 5 times it has randomly shutdown, so could it be an issue with the software or hardware?

 

It just shut down again as I was typing this up!!!!! 

brummyfan2

Hi,

Is it shutting down only in battery or with AC adapter connected as well? If you haven't tried without the AC adapter connected, try it. You could try a battery reset, instructions are here:http://acer.custhelp.com/app/answers/detail/a_id/34843/~/acer-internal-battery-reset

You could also check the memory sticks are seated properly.

If that doesn't help, you need to get in touch with Acer Service centre in your region, as it's a new laptop could be a faulty hardware.

eisoJ

It does seem to be shutting down only when it's not plugged into the AC adapter. When I turn it back on, there's no error message and the battery doesn't seem to be at a lower level than before it shut down. It shut down again as I was writing this. I've started logging when it shuts down so that I can give the support people a better overview of the situation. 

I don't really want to pull apart my laptop just yet in case it voids warranty. 

brummyfan2

Hi,

It looks like the faulty battery, try the battery reset, if that doesn't fix the problem, get in touch with Acer Service centre and get a new battery under warranty.

eisoJ

I called Acer support yesterday and they said exactly what you did -try a battery reset, claiming that it would most likely solve the issue, but alas it still persists. On the 28th of Dec (before the battery reset), it shut down at 11:30am and I turned it back on and it was at 83% battery, then 8 minutes later it shut down again, but this time when I turned it back on it had jumped down to 57%. When it shut down the first time, I was only running the Microsoft photos app, so we have completely ruled out temperature issues. Today it shut down again.

I have noticed that it does seem to happen more often when I move the laptop while it's still on. For two days I had it resting on my desk practically untouched and it ran fine, but when it shut down yesterday I had just lifted and rotated the laptop to show someone something and it crashed. I will call Acer again tomorrow and update them on the situation. 

 

Does this sound like a battery connection issue?

brummyfan2

Hi,

Yes, it sounds like a loose connection but without opening it's difficult to suggest anything, could be the battery cable has become loose or a manufacturing fault, as it's a brand new laptop it's better to get it done by Acer.

eisoJ

Okay, we are back again with the same issue. My laptop has been back to Acer repair centre 4 times since January and the team has done two factory resets, reseated the lcd cable, and replaced the screen, but the problem has returned this past week. It was going well from June until the end of October, but now that the warranty has run out, the problem has returned. So far, it's happened twice (21st Oct, 3rd Nov), and the exact same thing occurs -- unexpectedly shuts down, not overheating, resets did nothing to help. I contacted support and they said the hard drive might need replacing. I'm so sick of sending this laptop back and forth seeing that the problem is never actually fixed. Last time it happened, we requested a new or replacement laptop because this one is continuously faulty, but that didn't happen. I don't know what to do. 

brummyfan2

Hi,
Sorry to hear about the problems you have, could you please go to device manager, expand System devices, scroll down to Intel Management Engine Interface, highlight and right click, click Properties and go to Driver tab, please post the snip of it(like mine).

eisoJ

It won't let me upload the snip but it says:
Driver date: 04/02/2016
Driver version: 11.0.0.1181
Digital signer: Microsoft Windows Hardware Compatibility Publisher

brummyfan2

Hi,
Right click the driver, uninstall in Driver tab, reboot to let Windows install the driver, let us know which version it installs.

eisoJ

It installed the same version. 

brummyfan2

Hi,
How about a fresh install of Windows OS? Are you willing to try that?