Unexpected Game Crashes and Frozen Laptop: Predator Helios 300 G3-572

Sushant_
Sushant_ Member Posts: 73 Devotee WiFi Icon
edited March 2018 in Predator Laptops
Very recently, I've been facing this annoying problem that I can't find a solution to, or even know why it is happening.
I was playing Assassin's Creed Syndicate (at pretty high graphics, smoothly) when suddenly, the game shut down. There wasn't an error message.
This happened few more times, and then one day, it shut the game but the laptop froze. Not even Windows OS was accessible. I had to manually reset the laptop by cutting off the power through the pinhole on the bottom.
It happened again, and again, and again. I am having to pinhole reset quite frequently.
The same happened when playing GTA5 and Watchdogs (At high graphics, No lag). Unexpected shut down.

The temperatures were around 86 degrees celsius, tops.
Another strange thing that used to happen when the games crashed was, my Nvidia Geforce 1050Ti graphics seemed to get automatically disabled. (I say that because when I right clicked, I couldn't see Nvidia control panel. But it appears back on restart)

I have no problem playing Assassin's creed black flag, The Witcher 3, FIFA 15, NFS Most Wanted 2013, etc. I wonder why only those games shut down.

Questions: 
- is the temperature normal? I mean, sometimes it gets unbearably hot when not running coolboost.
- are the game crashes related to the high temperature?
- will I always have this problem?
- is there a quick fix?



<3 ...Just another overly curious guy.

Answers

  • ven98
    ven98 ACE Posts: 4,073 Pathfinder
    Is this temperature of 86C of the CPU or GPU? If the GPU's temperature is 86C, then the issue could be because of the high temperature.

    There might be a fix for your problem, but if it a hardware fault, then you should contact Acer and send your device to the repair centre.
    Always post the following characterisitcs of the device:
    -Model number
    -Part number(not required, but helpful)
    -CPU
    -GPU
    -Operating system

    Helios 300 and Nitro 5 users DO NOT update the BIOS to version 1.22 if you don't want the keyboard's backlight to turn off after 30 seconds even when the device is plugged in.


    Hit 'Like' if you find the answer helpful!   
    Click on 'Yes' if the comment answers your question!

  • Sushant_
    Sushant_ Member Posts: 73 Devotee WiFi Icon
    ven98 said:
    Is this temperature of 86C of the CPU or GPU? If the GPU's temperature is 86C, then the issue could be because of the high temperature.

    There might be a fix for your problem, but if it a hardware fault, then you should contact Acer and send your device to the repair centre.
    @ven98
    The temperature I mentioned was CPU temperature.
    How am I to know if it is a hardware anomaly and not normal?

    PS:
    Model: Acer Predator Helios 300 G3-572
    CPU: Intel i5 7th Gen
    GPU: NVIDIA GEFORCE GTX 1050Ti (4GB)
    RAM: 7.89 GB Usable
    OS: Windows 10

    <3 ...Just another overly curious guy.
  • ven98
    ven98 ACE Posts: 4,073 Pathfinder
    86C for the CPU isn't high enough to cause a system freeze or restart. Go to C drive/windows and find a folder called minidump. Delete all files from the folder except the 3 most recent ones. Download whocrashed and click on analyze after you run it.

    I suggest you to update the nvidia driver to latest version(390.77) from nvidia.com and update the intel hd driver from Acer's driver page

    Have you done any undervolting to the CPU?

    Always post the following characterisitcs of the device:
    -Model number
    -Part number(not required, but helpful)
    -CPU
    -GPU
    -Operating system

    Helios 300 and Nitro 5 users DO NOT update the BIOS to version 1.22 if you don't want the keyboard's backlight to turn off after 30 seconds even when the device is plugged in.


    Hit 'Like' if you find the answer helpful!   
    Click on 'Yes' if the comment answers your question!

  • Sushant_
    Sushant_ Member Posts: 73 Devotee WiFi Icon
    edited February 2018
    @ven98
    I'll try updating the drivers and share the progress.
    The C:/Windows/Minidump folder is empty.
    No, I haven't undervolted the CPU.
    <3 ...Just another overly curious guy.
  • ven98
    ven98 ACE Posts: 4,073 Pathfinder
    Sushant_ said:
    @ven98
    I'll try updating the drivers and share the progress.
    The C:/Windows/Minidump folder is empty.
    This unexpected restart is not related to the OS.

    I suggest you to update the BIOS to latest version 1.13. If your BIOS is 1.13 already, don't update it.
    Always post the following characterisitcs of the device:
    -Model number
    -Part number(not required, but helpful)
    -CPU
    -GPU
    -Operating system

    Helios 300 and Nitro 5 users DO NOT update the BIOS to version 1.22 if you don't want the keyboard's backlight to turn off after 30 seconds even when the device is plugged in.


    Hit 'Like' if you find the answer helpful!   
    Click on 'Yes' if the comment answers your question!

  • Sushant_
    Sushant_ Member Posts: 73 Devotee WiFi Icon
    @ven98
    I also at times get this error message saying "Display Driver Failed to Start" when the games crash. It is after this when I have to restart for the GPU to work again. Any idea what might be causing it?
    <3 ...Just another overly curious guy.
  • ven98
    ven98 ACE Posts: 4,073 Pathfinder
    It is likely to be the graphics driver that is causing this. Make sure you are running the latest version. which is 390.77 and if it still freezes, install 388.71. Also update the BIOS to latest version.
    Always post the following characterisitcs of the device:
    -Model number
    -Part number(not required, but helpful)
    -CPU
    -GPU
    -Operating system

    Helios 300 and Nitro 5 users DO NOT update the BIOS to version 1.22 if you don't want the keyboard's backlight to turn off after 30 seconds even when the device is plugged in.


    Hit 'Like' if you find the answer helpful!   
    Click on 'Yes' if the comment answers your question!

  • Sushant_
    Sushant_ Member Posts: 73 Devotee WiFi Icon
    @ven98
    I've tried every solution you suggested, but the problems don't seem to go away.

    The 'display device failed to start' error is no longer persisting, thanks to your suggestions. But the game crashes still occur. I checked the CPU temp immediately after the crash and it was at 67 degrees Celsius.
    I've also tried undervolting the CPU with Throttlestop by -100mV as well. Can't really say it helped with the problem.
    <3 ...Just another overly curious guy.
  • ven98
    ven98 ACE Posts: 4,073 Pathfinder
    If even after updating bios the issue still persists, then I am left without more ideas. 

    Is the GPU overclocked, while this occurs? Sometimes this type of behaviour appears when the GPU is being overclocked.
    Always post the following characterisitcs of the device:
    -Model number
    -Part number(not required, but helpful)
    -CPU
    -GPU
    -Operating system

    Helios 300 and Nitro 5 users DO NOT update the BIOS to version 1.22 if you don't want the keyboard's backlight to turn off after 30 seconds even when the device is plugged in.


    Hit 'Like' if you find the answer helpful!   
    Click on 'Yes' if the comment answers your question!

  • Sushant_
    Sushant_ Member Posts: 73 Devotee WiFi Icon
    GPU overclocking, according to my observations, has no effect on the crashes. No matter what, the games crash.
    I'm starting to doubt the genuineness of the hardware. 

    <3 ...Just another overly curious guy.
  • sohail179
    sohail179 Member Posts: 21 Networker
    Did you find any solutions, it too face similar problems