Issues with Predator Helios Neo 16 PHN16 crashing and BSOD after having laptop for a month

Hello, I bought a Predator Helios Neo 16 laptop back in April of this year. its a GeForce RTX 4060 GPU with a i9-14900HX intel core processor and 16 gb of RAM. Everything was great with it until the end of May when games would start crashing to desktop and I would occasionally BSOD. while crashing would only happen around once every 1-2 hours, it's now to the point where my games crash every 15 minutes if I can even get them to start. 3 months ago I could play cyberpunk for 5 hours straight with no issues, now I can't even get the sims 4 to launch to its main menu without crashing half the time.

I have done everything I can think of to fix this issue and none have worked. I reinstalled windows 11, updated my drivers, run ram tests (came back fine), ran scf scannow, ran diagnostic after diagnostic. I took it to a local computer repair store and they couldn't find anything wrong with it. I'm at my wits end and I'm contemplating contacting Acer to see if I can get a replacement because I'm almost 80% certain this thing is defective. I'm hesitating though because I'm afraid Acer support is going to run me around and be unhelpful or claim I did something that violated my warranty and refuse to replace my laptop.

I've never posted on forums before, but I'm holding out hope that just maybe someone will have an answer for my problems. If anyone has a solution, please help!

[Edited the thread to add model number to the title]

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Puraw

https://community.acer.com/en/discussion/726822/issues-with-phn16-crashing-and-bsod-after-having-laptop-for-a-month

🛠️ Predator PHN16 BSODs & Game Crashes – Warranty vs Recovery

Hi ChexG41388, thanks for sharing your situation. Based on your post, it sounds like you performed a clean Windows reinstall, which unfortunately skips the newer System Recovery method that Acer and Microsoft recommend for diagnosing OS-level or firmware-related issues.

📌 Why this matters:

The “Reinstall while keeping files” option (found under Settings > System > Recovery) repairs Windows while preserving logs and telemetry that Acer support uses to validate hardware faults.
A full clean install wipes those traces, making it harder for Acer to confirm a defect—especially if the issue is intermittent or tied to power delivery.

🔍 Before considering a return, try this first:

Go to Settings > System > Recovery
Select Fix problems using Windows Update
Choose Reinstall current version of Windows
Confirm that Keep my files is selected

This method repairs the OS shell, registry, and power stack without erasing your data—and it’s the one Acer support will ask about first.

💬 Why contact Acer directly?

You’re still within the 1-year warranty, and under U.S. consumer protection norms, faults discovered within 6 months are presumed to be factory defects unless proven otherwise.
Acer USA offers 24/7 support via phone, chat, and SMS. They won’t void your warranty unless the unit was physically tampered with or serviced by unauthorized personnel.

📎 Helpful links:

Acer USA Warranty Info: https://www.acer.com/us-en/support/warranty/warranty-information
Warranty Lookup Tool: https://service.acer.com/warranty/en/US
Contact Acer USA Support: https://www.acer.com/us-en/support/contact-acer/contact-acer.html
Microsoft Recovery Guide (English): https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/deployment/upgrade/reinstall-windows-keep-files

If the issue persists after recovery and BIOS v1.16 is already installed, then yes—contact Acer support and escalate. A local shop can’t validate firmware-level faults, and delaying official service may complicate your claim.

Let us know how it goes—your experience could help others with PHN16 models facing similar instability.

Mashed_Botato

Hey there, hope you are well.

Guess what? I have the same exact issue like you, and to be honest - it's not the laptop - its WINDOWS 11.

Try checking the Windows 11 version, while Windows auto-updates, it might have pushed an experimental build or a beta version of an unreleased update. That is why all these BSOD and crashes are happening. I don't know how to stop it because Windows 11 is extremely persistant no matter what, it keeps reinstalling the beta version somehow. All I could do to get rid of it was by installing the Windows 10 version through a bootable USB. But, think extremely before downloading Windows 10 because it comes with certain restrictions. I did that because I gave up. I got tired of redownloading the whole Windows and tweaking my laptop settings again and again. Well I hope you get a solution to it, if you do please do let me know too, I'll be happy to consider it.

Have an amazing day.

Puraw

Hey all,

Just to clarify for anyone reading—BSODs on brand-new systems like the PHN16 Predator series aren't caused by Windows 11 being "too new" or experimental. These machines are designed with Windows 11 as the baseline, and certified for it by both Microsoft and Intel.

💡 Important distinction: Windows issues like random crashes or BSODs typically stem from driver conflicts, firmware bugs, or faulty installs—not because the OS itself is incompatible with the hardware. In fact, rolling back to Windows 10 on newer Gen HX systems can introduce thermal and driver mismatches.

If you're troubleshooting, I’d recommend the In-Place Recovery method first (see link). It keeps your files intact while refreshing the OS shell and registry. Guide here: Microsoft’s recovery walkthrough.

New systems like the PHN16 already come optimized for 24H2 or later—this isn’t a legacy compatibility battle. 😊

https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/fix-issues-by-reinstalling-the-current-version-of-windows-497ac6da-7cac-4641-82a5-f50398d879a0

StevenGen

https://community.acer.com/en/discussion/726822/issues-with-predator-helios-neo-16-phn16-crashing-and-bsod-after-having-laptop-for-a-month

Some additional advice for you, make sure that you have the PHN16-72 bios > advance set using the NVidia gpu only and the same in Predator Sense, as that is essential, do not use the Intel graphics only if you are going to use the laptop on battery and in a mobile way. Then also make sure that you have the latest bios version 1.17 installed and the NVidia app and the latest RTX4060 game ready driver and you play the Cyberpunk game and all supported games through the NVidia app. Try all these settings as it works for my PHN16-71 in gaming as I've never ever got a BSOD with this laptop with those settings and using the NVidia app. Good luck and hope this assists you further.

If this answers your question and solved your query please "Click on Yes" or "Click on Like" if you find my answer useful👍

aryangosavi31

I have ended up with multiple BSODs roughly from the month of May. I have the i7-14700HX and RTX 4060 - 8GB variant. A lot of my work is put on hold because apps I use specifically the Adobe apps like Photoshop and Lightroom (Subscribed and not pirated) just crash at random times.
Errors like Hypervisor, nvlddmkm.sys, ntoskrnl.exe, fltmgr.sys, driver overran stack buffer, win32kbase.sys and many more.
Did a clean reset but the issue did not change. Even kept old driver from the months where I had no issues but no change.
Do help me if you find a fix or a reason for claim. I cannot be stuck with a machine that halts my work.

StevenGen

https://community.acer.com/en/discussion/comment/1350595#Comment_1350595

The BSODs that you are getting is because of the software and incompatibility or driver errors of the Adobe Photoshop and Lightroom, so consult Adobe support for a solution or your PHN16-72 is lacking the memory to operate these high memory demanding software's.

You need to make sure that Win-11 version 24H2 installed and updated to its last OS build: 26100.4770 is installed, and you also have updated your PHN16-72 to its last bios version 1.17 which has the cpu microcode fix for the 14th Gen cpu issues, and what I also suggest for these high end demanding graphics software, is to set the PHN16-72 BIOS at Advanced > Display mode > Nvidia GPU only as and if you have it set to Auto Select which demands the laptop to switch the graphics between the Intel® UHD Graphics to the NVidia RTX graphics, then this might not work and could be giving the BSODs, setting the bios to only run on the NVidia RTX graphics could be a solution to your BSODs,

Just as an example and as a solution to this problem, as I'm using an earlier model of a similar model the 13th Gen PHN16-71 model and I've been using the bios setting of NVidia gpu only setting for this laptops RTX4050 gpu since day one, and I also use Photoshop and do allot of high end video editing and do gaming also and I've never ever experienced BSODs with this laptop, but then again, I've updated the ram for this laptop from its Acer fitted oem 16GB to 64GB at 2x 32GB DDR5-4800MT/s CL40 type ram which these laptops need as a minimum if you are going to use such high demanding memory software.

What I suggest that you do is this, upgrade your PHN16-72 laptop to 64GB at 2x 32GB DDR5-5600MT/s CL46 type ram (Crucial ram have these kits) as this is the minimum ram that you should be operating your PHN16-72 or even preferably at 96GB at 2x 48GB DDR5-5600MT/s CL46 type ram (Crucial ram also have these kits) as I'm sure that you will not be experiencing BSODs anymore with either 64GB or 96GB size ram with these Adobe software's. so maybe that could be a solution of what you should do with your PHN16-72 laptop. Good luck and hope this has given you some solutions to the problems that you are experiencing.

If this answers your question and solved your query please "Click on Yes" or "Click on Like" if you find my answer useful👍

miguelpablo

Were you able find a fix to this?

I have the same issue. Mine is the predator with i7-13700hx and 4060 as well, 16gb Ram. This laptop from acer is pure trash it cant even run the sims 4 anymore like a cheap low spec laptop would. Terrible decision getting this laptop and even Autocad.

Things I did:
Reinstalled Windows 11
Installed nvidia driver from January 2024 which worked with Autocad but the Sims 4 keeps on crashing, I keep on getting 0xc0000005 error mid game.

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