Many consecutive issues with my Acer Aspire 5 A514-54

CosmoApple
CosmoApple Member Posts: 17 Troubleshooter
Hello! So I have owned this laptop for just over a week now, I have installed everything and it all went well, until my first crash occured.

Before I continue:
i5-1135G7
Intel(R) Xe(R)
8GB RAM
256GB Storage SSD

Now the crash occured the day I unboxed it, I was running Zoom and was running a meeting when I left the room and came back,
The laptop made this awful loud buzzing noise, supposedly from the fan or speakers. I took it down and after a while it rebooted.
Not sure what this was but it hasn't happened again to the present day.

The next crash occured on Zoom again. This time the display had bugged out with white squares and lines, i could see the display functioning with the UI of zoom etc. But the mouse was unresponsive and it was all very annoying. I decided to force shut it at the time and held the power key for 8 seconds. The display worked again and I got really confused. I used that opportunity to shut it down.

The next day I did some testing and it blue screened: IRQL_NOT_LESS_OR_EQUAL

I did some research and wanted to fix this, so what I did at that time was update Acer's BIOS from 1.12 to 1.17.

While I was playing some light games like Minecraft, the pixelated display thing came back, this time I couldn't see any display other than black and white squares and lines. At this stage it is unresponsive.

I'm not so sure if the IRQL crash was first or this display crash was...

Apparently it was a driver fault and I should try updating the driver, so I did this and updated from 27.---- to the Non-Beta 30.---- from intel's download center.

The day after this driver update I try running minecraft again and after around 30m it blue screens again: PAGE_FAULT_IN_NONPAGED_AREA

I'm pretty annoyed at this point, can someone please explain a fix and if so a reason why it crashed for each situation?

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Comments

  • JackE
    JackE ACE Posts: 44,869 Trailblazer
    You should not be loading generic Intel drivers for your ACER proprietary mainboard. You should be using the most recent ACER OEM update at this download link.  At this point if it were mine, I'd immediately do an ALT+F10 erase everything factory reset, make sure Control Panel's restore point app is turned on and test the system again. If it still exhibits this behavior, I'd return the machine ASAP to the vendor/seller as defective for a refund or exchange. Do so before the seller's return merchandise policy period expires, usually only a few weeks.

    Jack E/NJ

  • CosmoApple
    CosmoApple Member Posts: 17 Troubleshooter
    edited October 2021

    Ok. So is it possible to roll back the drivers and install from Acer’s website?

    Also what is the driver I have to install, the name.

    I have considered replacing it.

    Thank you for helping me.
  • ttttt
    ttttt Member Posts: 1,947 Community Aficionado WiFi Icon
    @CosmoApple

    I think it is most likely the Iris Xe problem for your case.
    Go to the Intel site download and run the Intel Driver and Support Assistant program. This will get the appropriate driver for you and ask to download and install it.

    If problem persist, return the laptop for refund before return period expire.
  • CosmoApple
    CosmoApple Member Posts: 17 Troubleshooter
    edited October 2021
    I did the rollback and restarted

    What on earth??? My driver version is 27.—— that came with the computer?

    That link you posted is 26?

    @JackE
  • CosmoApple
    CosmoApple Member Posts: 17 Troubleshooter
    Ok so my driver is up to date, just checked acer’s website and the versions matched after the rollback,

    should i install acers driver software is it safe?

    and plus if my gpu xe is integrated how come there is a separate gpu tab in performance on task manager

    I looked up my model and there is a chance it has a geforce card but i dont know how to check this?
  • CosmoApple
    CosmoApple Member Posts: 17 Troubleshooter
    @JackE @ttttt

    Can you just check this?

    Sorry for the triple-post just keeping whatever i do up-to-date on here
  • JackE
    JackE ACE Posts: 44,869 Trailblazer
    Use the ACER OEM driver. Your model A514-54 does not have a discrete GPU. The A514-54G model has the discrete GPU. Task manager should indeed show the integrated GPU. And if you had the G model it would also show the discrete GPU chip.

    Jack E/NJ

  • CosmoApple
    CosmoApple Member Posts: 17 Troubleshooter
    edited October 2021
    Thanks @JackE !

    Will let you know if I encounter any problems. Should I download the automatic driver software on the acer website?


  • CosmoApple
    CosmoApple Member Posts: 17 Troubleshooter
    I mean the automatic software which auto-checks for driver updates?

    Plus the link you sent is for the A515 not A514, I checked the driver for A514 and its now up to date
  • CosmoApple
    CosmoApple Member Posts: 17 Troubleshooter
    @JackE

    Please can you read the message above, sorry im a little impatient at times.
  • JackE
    JackE ACE Posts: 44,869 Trailblazer
    Sorry for the 514 v 515 mixup. As for updates, I prefer manual checking but only if the machine develops a problem that I suspect a new driver might fix. I even meter my Win10 updates. It's a trust thing or lack thereof. I've had better luck scanning with driver tools like iobit's DriverBooster freeware when apparent driver-related problems happen.   

    Jack E/NJ

  • CosmoApple
    CosmoApple Member Posts: 17 Troubleshooter
    Im back! @JackE

    It took two days! Two days!!
    Was running fine!

    Then while playing minecraft screen freezes with buggy black squares and lines with colours in the middle

    I think this was after 3hrs of minecraft 
    I did everything you recommended! Help!
  • JackE
    JackE ACE Posts: 44,869 Trailblazer
    >>>I think this was after 3hrs of minecraft >>>

    Sounds about right if the battery was near 100% charged and plugged in BEFORE you started heavy gaming loads. You see, the battery drains under heavy power demand loads to supplement charger power even though it's plugged in. When the battery drops below about the 50% level, charging it takes precedent over CPU/GPU power demands and throttling begins. The solution? Stop gaming and let the battery charge back up to 100%.

    Jack E/NJ

  • CosmoApple
    CosmoApple Member Posts: 17 Troubleshooter
    So I did some research @JackE based on your comment

    Would adding a high performance power plan work? Its possible using the command prompt and it apparently stops the throttling, let me know what you think of this.
  • JackE
    JackE ACE Posts: 44,869 Trailblazer
    You can try it. But no need for the command prompt. Just right click the battery icon in the tray. Click 'power options'. Click 'create a power plan' in left pane.

    Jack E/NJ

  • CosmoApple
    CosmoApple Member Posts: 17 Troubleshooter
    @JackE

    I tried that, however there was no option that said “High Performance” as ‘choose a power plan as a base to edit’

    It seems like the new windows update removed the command to add it so

    Im pretty stuck, really want to fix this fast



  • CosmoApple
    CosmoApple Member Posts: 17 Troubleshooter
    I also want to do this so I can find the processor power management, i can manage the fans not sounding like jet engines this way. But its mainly to not make it throttle

    The default power options are missing this.
  • JackE
    JackE ACE Posts: 44,869 Trailblazer
    Please do this exactly as described earlier. So follow these steps exactly.

    (1) Right click the battery icon in the tray.
    (2) Click 'power options'.
    (3) Click 'create a power plan' in left pane. (Not choose a power plan to edit)
    (4) In the box thet pops up, choose the default hi performance plan
    (5) Then click 'change plan settings' on the right
    (6) In the next box that pops up, choose advanced power setting below the timer
    (7) In the next box that pops up, scroll down and choose processor power management

    Jack E/NJ