Predator PH315-52-72EV will not boot

To start off, I have building computers for almost 30 years so I am not new to the hobby.

My son was playing a game on our Predator PH315-52-72EV (9750h / RTX 2060) when the computer screen froze, then turned black. He tried to reboot it and all it does now is get to the windows spinning logo and then the screen freezes. I have tried to reinstall windows, tried to boot a live version of linux, yet the issue persists. It seems to me like the GPU is finished. I can boot and get into the bios with no issues, run memory tests and have no issues at all. It seems when it tries to initiate the gpu, it hard locks. I also removed all hardware/tried different memory sticks (in each slot/using only one etc), tested different nvme drives, removed the battery. The system seems to be responding (fans still spinning, keyboard lights up when pushed/darkens when not touched) during this state as well as responds to power on/off as expected, yet will not boot into an OS. I did not see any obvious burns/damage to the board, and all the hardware seems to be running correctly (fans spinning, drives/cpu warm to the touch.

Has anyone else run into any issues like this? I did contact acer and they want $1300 for a 3 year old laptop repair, not realistic. Or does anyone know of any good laptop repair shops?

Thanks everyone for your support!

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StevenGen

https://community.acer.com/en/discussion/689704/predator-ph315-52-72ev-will-not-boot

The symptoms that you are experiencing could be from a faulty eDP cable, so check this cable and its plugs first, as this cables and its plugs that are at the mainboard and screen could be causing those symptoms and might need replacing? Also, and if its a GPU fault, the integrated GPU then the laptop should be firing on the RTX2060 and vice versa, so this laptop could have CPU/GPU vcore or their power supply circuitry fault issues, that need diagnosing and appropriate circuitries replaced and fixed.

When you say, "Or does anyone know of any good laptop repair shops?" as I don't know what part of the world you are in, but I can strongly recommend these repair shops as I've recommended both of them to friends and they did an excellent job, if you are in America, get in contact with NorthridgeFix (you can see Alex the owner on You Tube and his work) who would be more than capable of fixing this mainboard issue or in the UK you have Sorin Electronics | UK Electronics Repair Services (you can also look at his You Tube channel called Electronic Computer Repair School) who is a master at diagnosing, repairing and fixing these sorts of problems, so try these sorts of repair shops out, as taking your laptop for a mainboard repair at Acer support, the repair costs will be so expensive is because Acer does not repair mainboards, they replace them with new boards hence and why the quote that you got was at $1300.00 for this repair.

Also be aware, I don't know if fixing your current mainboard is the way to go as if its a GPU or its VCore or a CPU the board can't be repaired and getting a new mainboard would be cheaper, quicker and the best repair, as seeing that you have 30 years' experience, it wouldn't be any problem for you to swap this laptops board with a replacement board. See the mainboards' part number below that are all suitable for the Predator Helios 300 PH315-52 laptop and search on the web for a replacement board or if you want the i5 9300H/GTX1650 then those boards are also a replacement board for this laptop and allot cheaper. Good luck and hope this helps you out.