Screen freezes and audio stops on PO3-630-uw91

Hello! I’ve noticed that my screen seems to freeze and my audio cuts out. The fans are still spinning and the rgb is just fine. The only way I’ve found to fix this temporarily is to hold down the power button till it turns off then turning it on again. I’ve replaced the ram but it’s still not fully out of the equation. The ram stick that came installed was a single 8gb Cl22 3200Mhz ram stick. While searching for a ram upgrade I found out the motherboard doesn’t support XMP so I figured I’d get a ram set that was automatically set to 3200mhz. They are both CL22 btw. I’ve tried updating all my drivers but the problem seems to keep happening. This problem can happen from 30 min of use to 6h+ of use. There could be a multitude of problems but I can’t replace parts bc I don’t have a donor. I’m not sure if the problem is with the hardware or software. Also not important to this problem is that when I plug in a M.2 into my second slot it cause a blue screen which says “DRIVER_POWER_STATE_FAILER” I’ve disconnected it for now.

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billsey

When it's frozen, can you move the mouse pointer? Does it recover from the freeze after some time? Can you show us a link to the memory that's installed now? Did you replace the original stick or just add another? What drive are you trying to put into the second M.2 slot?

MisterMan295

I can not move my mouse while frozen. I haven’t seen it recover from being tfrozen without me restarting. https://www.amazon.com/dp/B08XQ75SMW/ref=cm_sw_r_sms_api_glt_i_9BDGKG1BJENBH8GKM14J?_encoding=UTF8&psc=1 . Replaced the original stick with a new kit of ram. I’m trying to add a secondary Nvme m.2 drive. The ssd I have is from my my old laptop (used a a secondary ssd, not boot drive)

billsey

Well, they certainly don't make it easy to see the full specs on the ram, but they do say it supports XMP, so it might be that it is one of the types that only gets full speed with XMP enabled and the base speed is too low to work reliably on your system. Try putting the original memory back in to verify the freezes go away before getting into the SSD upgrade. Once we have the system stable we'll take the upgrades one step at a time...

MisterMan295

Sadly this problem happened even with the og stick of ram, I’ll try to switch it back. Both kits of ram (og & new) are in the correct slots.

billsey

Did you loosen anything else as part of the ram work? Maybe the GPU isn't fully seated or ...

MisterMan295

I haven’t loosened anything since I got it. Should I try pushing every connection in a bit farther? To ensure it’s not a problem with loose cords?

billsey

Yeah, something sure sounds like it's not fully seated...

MisterMan295

Well… not sure if it was the connection on the cables but it seems to be working fine. I’m obviously going to keep monitoring the pc and if it freezes or not. I pushed all the cables and the graphics card into its slots, while I was down their I also cleared the CMOS which might have fixed it aswell. Hopefully the problem doesn’t return. I’ll keep you updated on the testing. Ssd blue screen still needs to be fixed (not sure if its working or not ).

billsey

The BIOS clear is pretty unlikely to have been a cause, reseating likely was what made the difference.

MisterMan295

Once I get home I’ll slot in the ssd and see what happens. Hopefully I won’t need to get a sata ssd to have more storage. Nvme are way better.

MisterMan295

First time booting up after installing M.2 nvme this happens.

MisterMan295

Dammit, thought I fixed it

. The problem is back. Screen freezes and audio stops. I also forgot to mention it never happens when I’m playing a game.

William_mk2

MisterMan295

We need to determine whether it is a hardware or software issue..

If it is still not working then we have to do a refresh and reset

click on start - settings - update and security - recovery - reset this pc - get started

or

on start - type here to search - type reset this pc - click on reset this pc on the top - click on get started

It will show you keep my files and remove everything

chose keep my files

chose the account - type the password - click on local reinstall - click on reset

It will be in progress..

login to computer and start using the computer.

If it is still not working

click on start - settings - update and security - recovery - reset this pc - get started

chose remove everything

click on local reinstall - just remove my files - click on reset

It will be in progress

Note:

If you do refresh ( keep my files ) - all your personal files like pictures, music , documents , videos will still be intact. Only the applications will be lost

If you do reset ( remove everything ) - you are doing a factory default. It will become like a day one computer. It will wipe out everything and take your computer to day one like a new computer.

You can also do the recovery in an alternative way..

There are two alt keys on the keyboard. If you look at the bottom row of keyboard you can see the one on the left side of space bar and the other on the right side of space bar. The alt key on the right side will be looking like alt, alt gr or alt car. Turn off the computer. Hold the alt key on the left and tap f10 continuously. It will go to repair mode. It will show you chose an option, continue, troubleshoot. If it is not going to repair mode, turn off the computer. Turn on the computer. Hold the right alt key ( alt gr or alt car or alt ) and then tap f10 continuously. It will go to chose an option continue and troubleshoot..

It will show you chose an option, continue, troubleshoot

Go to troubleshoot - click on reset this pc

click on keep my files ( only applications will be lost ) chose your account and type your password - click on local reinstall - click on reset

It will be in progress

If the keep my files option is not working

Go to troubleshoot - click on reset this pc – click on remove everything – click on local reinstall – just remove my files – click on reset

It will reinstall windows.

If the just remove my files is not working..

Go to troubleshoot - click on reset this pc – click on remove everything – click on local reinstall – Fully clean the drive – click on reset

It will reinstall windows.

Note: You can also go to chose an option , continue , troubleshoot by holding the alt key + tapping f10 or alt gr + tapping f10 on the keyboard while turning on the computer. Once you see the troubleshoot option, you can stop tapping the f10 and stop holding the alt key. Then you can try the keep my files and remove everything ( just remove by files and fully clean the drive ) by following the steps which was mentioned above.

It should work fine now after the factory reset... If you are facing the same issue after the factory reset then it might be a hardware issue.

Pippino

I had a similar issue. The problem lies in the Acer software that controls fans speed, colors etc.
When I started to kill it after setting the speed I need I never experienced those freezes.
Worth a try.

MisterMan295

@William_mk2 I factory reset everything and problem still persists.
@Pippino didn’t open the app once and problem still occurred.

billsey

That SMART error might be the indication we need. Do you have any of the SMART decode utilities? They would say which drive was throwing the errors...

MisterMan295

It seems to only happen when the second drive is installed, also I’m not sure what a SMART decoder is. Is there a way to download it?

billsey

Try Crystal Disk Info, it's free and should work.

MisterMan295

The bad drive (secondary) isnt in my computer when original problem occurred.

Image: https://us.v-cdn.net/6029997/uploads/editor/dz/sxhcj51rr0nm.png

Image: https://us.v-cdn.net/6029997/uploads/editor/1q/qq107w1uvum3.png

billsey

Well, pull the bad one out and let's try to do diagnosis without that problem getting in the way. Your Critical Warning is set to 2 (10 in binary) and that is an indication it has overheated and failed.