Acer tech support failure, inexcusable Cp713-2w-311 Chromebook

aarwdc

Several months ago I send my Cp713-2w-311 Chromebook in for service because it was repeatedly crashing. I had chatted with a support person, stating that the problem seemed to start when chrome updated and that it was likely a software problem. They had no suggestions.    

After almost a month, I received a message that there were liquid stains and therefore it was assumed that there was liquid damage that voided warranty. They sent the computer back to me, to use as a doorstop. When I plugged the computer in and tried using it, however, it was generally ok, only rarely crashing, but sometimes it would get worse for a number of hours.  
 

I recently got to trouble shooting it again, and saw that the CPU activity was always near 100%. I investigated further, and found a report that Google Play might be malfunctioning, or functioning normally but using too many resources. I disabled Google Play, and immediately the CPU usage went down to 25-50% and has stayed there since. There has not been a single crash, and the computer is much more responsive. 

This is a documented issue affecting Acer computers since 2020. https://www.techradar.com/news/new-google-chromeos-updates-cause-100-cpu-usage-could-set-you-on-fire Any competent tech support person should have caught it

Despite liquid stains, the computer is apparently not damaged and the warranty should still be honored. 

{ edited the title to add model name } 
 

billsey

The article you cite references ChromeOS 85, the current version is something like 99 or 100, so it's unlikely Google hasn't got it fixed. Typically when a technician see evidence of something like a liquid spill, they are supposed to stop right there and not do any other diagnostics until permission from the owner has been received to continue with a potentially chargeable repair. My guess is when you declined to pay for a repair they didn't go any farther. I would expect high CPU usage to cause a slow system, not crashes. But if you were running that old of an OS version it's quite possible there were other bugs you were running into. Try to check regularly for updates...