Nvidia GTX 1070 hardware issues on Acer Predator 17 G9 793

RaduRusu

I have a 1 year old Acer Predator 17 G9 793.  About a week  ago it started bluescreening about once per day, which was annoying but I could put up with it since it rebooted ok.  The last bluescreen was stranger, the laptop's display had a lot of horizontal grey lines (or rather "zebra" patterns of intermittent white dots, that on a 4k display appear as grey).  

 

Upon rebooting, things were not ok this time.  First off, the boot process appeared to take a bit longer than usual before anything showed up on the screen. But more important:

  - the grey lines stayed on, even in the BIOS boot screen (which comes up when pressing F2), like a "zebra" pattern; one can make out the UI with considerable effort (moving a little the windows to avoid the obstructions for each line), so something still works with it, but far from usable

 - the HDMI connector for external monitor no longer transmits any signal; I had to dig up a USB to HDMI external video adapter, that works fine at 4k resolution, enables me to work in a pinch

 - Device Manager in Windows 10 shows the generic "code 43" error, in effect saying that Windows stopped the GTX 1070 due to the video card informing the OS of a hardware failure

 - the laptops’s display does still appear to work somewhat, at least the 75% of the pixels that aren’t covered by grey lines 

 - trying to change the resolution to a lower one (than the native 3 840x2160) is greyed out, and the driver used is “microsoft basic display driver 64hz”.  The 64Hz is a weird refresh rate, but that is greyed out too (I’d be happy with a lower rate)

 - getting the latest Nvidia GTX 1070 drivers didn’t help at all, nor did rebooting on my other partition (where I have Win 10 Pro instead of Home, with a different version of the GTX 1070 drivers), nor a live Linux CD, so I am pretty sure at this point that it is not a driver issue, but hardware

 - I have also downloaded and applied the latest BIOS updates as well as chipset drivers and video drivers from Acer's site, no difference

This hardware failure is very unexpected 1 year into using this laptop, never overclocking it or even opening the case, never having ventilation issues (or even pushing the graphics—have only used it for programming, not games), so I haven’t put it in thermal stress, nor were there many power cycles (just a daily on/off for about 350 days).  I can have it serviced under warranty, though that would be a hassle for me since it is my work laptop, and would only do it as a last resort.  I don't play any games in it, if it were possible to just disable the GTX 1070 and use instead the built-in Intel graphics, I would do that in a heartbeat.  Or any other change that could be done, e.g. to force the graphics card into a lower performance mode (all I care about is the resolution of 3840x2160).  Lastly, if the 1070 is toast, I could replace it with something else that can drive  3840x2160 and have the compatible hardware interfaces and physical dimensions, does anyone have any suggestions for a cheap video card that could work as a replacement?  I'd just pay for a cheaper option out of pocket, but if the  GTX 1070 can only be replaced by another pricey GTX 1070, I'll bite the bullet and send it in for warranty service.

ven98

Unfortunately, the GTX 1070 can't be replaced, as it is soldered to the motherboard. There is no way to enable the Intel HD graphics as it is disabled from BIOS, plus the internal display is directly connected to the GTX1070. The only way to get your laptop back fully working, you have to send it to Acer for warranty repair. They will replace the motherboard with a new one.

You didn't mention whether you performed a battery reset, so I suggest you do that as a last hope. You need a paperclip or equally thin object. Disconnect the laptop from charger and turn it off. There is a battery reset pinhole located on the bottom case.

You need to insert the paperclip inside the pinhole and press the reset switch. You should feel a click when doing so. After resetting the battery leave the laptop to rest for about 30 minutes and then plug it to the charger and power it on.

RaduRusu

Thank you for the advice.  The paper clip reset didn't do the trick, I'll just have to figure out when it is best to have the warranty service done. 

Clarifying that the GTX 1070 is soldered in is very helpful, I won't even open the case then.  That's a pity, with the whole motherboard needing replacement...  Even the video card itself seems like it could be salvageable for non-gaming use (which is all I need, really), if only its driver (or perhaps windows) wouldn't just disable it with code 43, but I won't take the time to figure out hacks or take the risk of things getting even worse.   That's the way technology goes, the trend with everything is to just replace the whole board.  At least it isn't an Apple with soldered in RAM/SSD   

touchnova

I highly recommend just calling Acer to have them create a Case ID for you to send your device in for repairs.  While you have that person on the phone, request a shipping label and get that thing sent in.  Many of us with this same device are experiencing issues at around the 1-year mark...not all the same issue, but it's clear this laptop, as amazing as it can be, has some things that need to be addressed.

Skooter

I’m also having this issue. I purchased this laptop about a week ago, installed a bunch of games and then went out of town for the weekend. I haven’t even had this thing a week and I just drop a s*** ton of money into buying it Toto play a game tonight and then get blue screened and when it finally restarts I’ve got a bunch of blue lines.the thing is brand new and hasn’t been put under any stress. Updated the drives reset and I keep getting error code 43 uninstalled and reinstalled the drivers. Still getting the issue. I haven’t had it over a week yet and already having issues... super frustrating any help or do I send it in a week after recieving it back to Acer?

ven98

I suggest you to send the laptop back to Acer.