A515-45G randomly rebooting. No bluescreens or anything. Just freezing and rebooting.

Hello,

I'm experiencing random reboots of my laptop. No bluescreens or anything, just freezing and rebooting. The only thing that comes in Event viewer is that Windows did not shut down properly. It happened 3-4 times in the last week or two.

Here's quick info about my model:

CPU: AMD Ryzen 3 5300 U w/ Radeon Graphics
GPU: AMD RADEON 550X
RAM: 8GB onboard + 8GB upgrade (Transcend 8GB JM 3200 1Rx16 1Gx16)
with Installed 1TB 2,5" HDD

It has the latest BIOS(v1.10) and drivers installed at the time of writing.

Is there a way to see what failed with more detail and fix the issue?
Thanks in advance.

[Edited the thread update issue in detail]

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JackE

Usually means it's overheating. Have you checked CPU/GPU temperatures?

toni15538

JackE said:

Usually means it's overheating. Have you checked CPU/GPU temperatures?

I will run a temperature monitoring software while I'm working and I will write back soon.

JackE

OK. We'll await your report.

StevenGen

toni15538 said:

Hello,

I'm experiencing random reboots of my laptop. No bluescreens or anything, just freezing and rebooting. The only thing that comes in Event viewer is that Windows did not shut down properly. It happened 3-4 times in the last week or two.

Here's quick info about my model:

CPU: AMD Ryzen 3 5300 U w/ Radeon Graphics
GPU: AMD RADEON 550X
RAM: 8GB onboard + 8GB upgrade (Transcend 8GB JM 3200 1Rx16 1Gx16)
with Installed 1TB 2,5" HDD

It has the latest BIOS(v1.10) and drivers installed at the time of writing.

Is there a way to see what failed with more detail and fix the issue?
Thanks in advance.

This happened to me with a brand new 2022 Nitro AN laptop that I’m using now and what I found (after it was driving me crazy) was that it was a faulty Zalman tablet coolers USB hub that was connected to the Nitro was faulty and shortening the laptop out through the laptops USB making it “randomly rebooting the laptop” and once I disconnected the USB hub USB cord to the laptop hub, this never ever had further problems. So check that as that is a main cause, if not then it could be an internal power circuitry issue so have it checked by an experienced tech or check some of these techs site like Sorin from Electronics repair school - YouTube or Alex from NorthridgeFix who are experts on fixing your kind of faults

toni15538

JackE said:

Usually means it's overheating. Have you checked CPU/GPU temperatures?

I've run the monitoring program and the temperatures are normal, 50-65C while heavy multitasking(Video and photo editing + chrome and discord), and it doesn't go above 81C when stressed.

StevenGen said:

This happened to me with a brand new 2022 Nitro AN laptop that I’m using now and what I found (after it was driving me crazy) was that it was a faulty Zalman tablet coolers USB hub that was connected to the Nitro was faulty and shortening the laptop out through the laptops USB making it “randomly rebooting the laptop” and once I disconnected the USB hub USB cord to the laptop hub, this never ever had further problems. So check that as that is a main cause, if not then it could be an internal power circuitry issue so have it checked by an experienced tech or check some of these techs site like Sorin from Electronics repair school - YouTube or Alex from NorthridgeFix who are experts on fixing your kind of faults

I sometimes use a generic laptop cooling pad + hub, but it still happens even with the cooling pad disconnected. About the power circuitry, I might try to do a hard reset(pressing the power button with the main and CMOS battery disconnected) and then see if that reboot is gone.

The issue is that this reboot typically happens once or twice a month, but it happened more frequently last week.

Thanks for the responses so far.

JackE

>>>The issue is that this reboot typically happens once or twice a month, but it happened more frequently last week.>>>

JackE said:

Usually means it's overheating. Have you checked CPU/GPU temperatures?

I've run the monitoring program and the temperatures are normal, 50-65C while heavy multitasking(Video and photo editing + chrome and discord), and it doesn't go above 81C when stressed.>>>

That's not what I meant. Have you been monitoring the temps regularly so that you can verify they're still low but just before it happens. It doesn't mean anything if it's 50-65*C under heavy multitasking if nothing happens and it doesn't reboot by itself.

toni15538

JackE said:

>>>The issue is that this reboot typically happens once or twice a month, but it happened more frequently last week.>>>

JackE said:

Usually means it's overheating. Have you checked CPU/GPU temperatures?

I've run the monitoring program and the temperatures are normal, 50-65C while heavy multitasking(Video and photo editing + chrome and discord), and it doesn't go above 81C when stressed.>>>

That's not what I meant. Have you been monitoring the temps regularly so that you can verify they're still low but just before it happens. It doesn't mean anything if it's 50-65*C under heavy multitasking if nothing happens and it doesn't reboot by itself.

Sorry for the late reply.

I'm still monitoring the temps for 1 week (avg 2-3 hours per day) and under heavy load, it shows 70C max.

But I don't think that it's happening from overheating. One of the cases was just when I was scrolling through chats in discord(no heavy apps opened) and it restarted after opening one of the channels. I'm using this laptop for around 10 months and when I opened the laptop 2 weeks ago, the fan system and the motherboard were clean.

I'll do a hard reset (with the main and CMOS battery removed) and hope that this fixes my issue.

Thanks again.

JackE

OK. Try this first before messing with a hard reset or the CMOS cell. Start with a fully charged battery plugged in. Then go about your business on it as usual but keeping an eye on the battery charge level to make sure it stays above 50% plugged in. The event viewer results suggest a sudden power loss or voltage reduction which can happen if the battery drops below 50% level and the charger can't keep up with the load for some reason.

toni15538

JackE said:

OK. Try this first before messing with a hard reset or the CMOS cell. Start with a fully charged battery plugged in. Then go about your business on it as usual but keeping an eye on the battery charge level to make sure it stays above 50% plugged in. The event viewer results suggest a sudden power loss or voltage reduction which can happen if the battery drops below 50% level and the charger can't keep up with the load for some reason.

Thanks for the suggestion, since I'm using the 80% charge restriction in Acer Care, I'll turn it off and do what you've written.

Thankfully that reboot problem did not happen since starting this post, but nobody knows when it will reboot again. If this happens again I'll post an update.

JackE

>>> since I'm using the 80% charge restriction in Acer Care, I'll turn it off and do what you've written.>>>

Yes, good idea. The 80% charge limiter can be a contributing factor to this problem. The limiter primarily makes users feel better but does little or nothing for battery longevity despite anecdotal internet reports to the contrary. But the limiter can raise havoc under heavy loads even when plugged in when battery charge levels drop below 50%. All the 80% limiter seems to accomplish is increasing the risk of dropping below the 50% charge level quicker than if the battery had been allowed to fully charge to 100%.

Sergey34

We have the same situation with 5 (five) new laptops Acer Aspire A515-45G; SNID: xxxxxxxxxxxxxx. :-\
Randomly reboots... LAN\Wifi\No net, low\full battery, on power\battery, antivirus\no antivirus. Latest bios\drivers. Windows 11 (updated). :-(

[Edited comment to delete sensitive information]

toni15538

It happened again.

This time I was browsing chrome with the video editor, discord, and a music player idling in the background. After I clicked the back button in chrome, the Laptop froze for a second and rebooted.

This reboot happens after I click on something with the trackpad in every program.

Here's detailed data based on previous responses:
- the laptop is connected only to an external monitor via HDMI
- the laptop is plugged in and the battery is fully charged. The 80% restriction in Acer Care is disabled.
- ran the sensor program immediately after the reboot. The CPU temperature was 78C.

I've updated some drivers and hope that does something.

JackE

>>>This time I was browsing chrome with the video editor, >>>

Please try FireFox. Chrome and its derivative Edge browser are notorious troublemakers so far. Meaning their bugs aren't worked out yet.

toni15538

JackE said:

>>>This time I was browsing chrome with the video editor, >>>

Please try FireFox. Chrome and its derivative Edge browser are notorious troublemakers so far. Meaning their bugs aren't worked out yet.

Ok. I'll try it, but I don't think that Chrome and its chromium-based browsers are causing these hardware-related reboots.

And with that, another reboot, on battery, 58% with no heavy multitasking. Same error in Event Viewer "Windows did not shut down properly".

I'll stop writing here if this happens again. I'll write to Acer Customer support and might consider taking it to service since it's still in warranty.

JackE

>>>And with that, another reboot, on battery, 58% with no heavy multitasking. Same error in Event Viewer "Windows did not shut down properly".>>>

Does this ever happen plugged in when battery is above 50% charge level?

Thejus

experiencing high temperature on cpu or gpu

JackE

>>>And with that, another reboot, on battery, 58% with no heavy multitasking. Same error in Event Viewer "Windows did not shut down properly".>>>

Does this ever happen plugged in when battery is above 50% charge level?

toni15538

Hello, here's the story from my last update.

I've contacted Acer support and they said it might be from my OS. I've upgraded to Windows 11 and then reinstalled it due to the failed upgrade.

It was OK, no annoying reboots for a while, using with the same programs, no battery restrictions from the acer care center. Until recently when 3 reboots happened the previous month, one of them happening with the newest BIOS update. I've contacted my seller for a warranty repair and I've sent it to my local authorized repair shop.

These weeks in the repair shop all the components were put under high load for long time. No reboots or shutdowns due to overheating. This excludes the overheating and any other hardware issue as the reason for these reboots.

This makes me think. If it's not hardware or Windows related issue, maybe it's coming from the UEFI/BIOS or some program that communicates with the UEFI?

For sure I will use another laptop for my critical tasks, and experiment with this one. When I receive my laptop back, I will uninstall the Acer Care Center and see if that solves these annoying reboots...

I will keep you posted if another reboot happens even after removing the Acer Care center.

JackE

OK thanks. But still check to see if this reboot behavior ever happens plugged in when battery is WELL ABOVE 50% charge level.

toni15538

After long testing and stressing from my local authorised service, I got the laptop back in the begining of november. I've installed a fully fresh copy of Windows 11 from a usb flash drive. reinstalled most of my old programs, did NOT installed Acer center or any software communicating directly with the UEFI.

I was doing my typical multitasking, Premiere pro, photoshop, chrome, discord, deezer... until i got another reboot. Again with "The system has rebooted without cleanly shutting down first" ! Just 10-12 days after a fresh reinstall and check from my service.

So lastly i'll just assume it's a defect from the hardware, specifically for this model, likely with the power delivery.

So let me sum up all the common causes/solutions:

It's not from overheating. I got this laptop for 18 months now and I clean it regularly. Also my service literally stressed the laptop for 24/7 for around a month, so overheating is not the cause at all.

It's not from Windows OS too, I regularly run the DISM and SFC commands and I don't use old and legacy drivers. I've even freshly reinstalled Windows 11 and it did restart just after 10 days, without Acer Care Center.

It's not RAM or HDD related. All components on this laptop were tested by my local authorised service and there were no errors. I've also tested it with different HDDs and RAM. still rebooting even with changed parts.

It's not happening only when running on battery power. This restart happens even when the laptop is plugged in, as you can see in my older replies.

Well, these are all my tries. It keeps restarting. Even if i don't use this laptop often, It is really important for me to be reliable, especially when I do really important and critical work like university, online exams, etc.

The only fix is a UEFI update addressing this issue or full new motherboard revision. Acer should really address and fix this issue, however it is really hard to address, since it gives no information about the issue and the random frequency that this happens(sometimes 1-2 times a month, sometimes 3-4 times a week).