Predator PT515-51 won't boot after sudden crash Is there any help someone can offer

userbean
userbean Member Posts: 7

Tinkerer

edited December 2022 in Predator Laptops

I had a sudden crash this morning, and my predator has since been stuck in a boot loop. All combinations of resetting the power button, removing SSDs and boot, USB Keys, safe mode boots, etc., have not allowed me any success. I have used my friend's windows laptop to make a USB recovery key (from microsoft), which also will not boot. This is with secure boot disabled, and F12 enabled, i do successfully select the USB recovery key, however as soon as i see the 'loading circles' the boot cycle begins again. Alt+f10 offers no help, and there is no way i can seem to get to the automatic recovery (it tries, but also crashes).


Is there any help someone can offer, perhaps there is something I have forgotten? Or is the laptop cooked (graphics card, etc), and there is no saving it except for a repair?

[Edited the thread to add issue detail]

Best Answer

  • userbean
    userbean Member Posts: 7

    Tinkerer

    Answer ✓

    This will be my final comment on the matter... thank you @XdxD for trying to help me along I do appreciate your time. I went to clean the laptop incase this could be the issue and spotted the fault. There is an exploded resistor near the heat pipe next to the CPU (see white circle and closeup image, also sorry for the closeup quality). Perhaps anyone else with a similar issue can look here before spending too many hours on a magic fix.


Answers

  • XdxD
    XdxD Member Posts: 1,584 Community Aficionado WiFi Icon
    edited November 2022

    What happens when Secure Boot is on?

    Trying to do my best here - Your happy Predator owner =)!
  • userbean
    userbean Member Posts: 7

    Tinkerer

    With our without secure boot, i am stuck in a boot loop which alt+f10, f8, shift+start will not fix.

  • XdxD
    XdxD Member Posts: 1,584 Community Aficionado WiFi Icon

    Instead of making USB recovery key, try making a bootable USB drive (Windows 10/11 Media Creation Tool can help you with that) and then try installing Windows again.

    Trying to do my best here - Your happy Predator owner =)!
  • userbean
    userbean Member Posts: 7

    Tinkerer

    (Since your comment) I have download/made a USB image from media creation tool, for windows 10 x64 (as was installed). I booted to the usb key (f12 spam, select usb, enter), and again when the Predator logo pops up, when the loading circles come up the system boot-loops again.

  • XdxD
    XdxD Member Posts: 1,584 Community Aficionado WiFi Icon

    Ugh. i am out of ideas. Maybe get it checked by Acer Support. Do know that since it just bootloops, motherboard is fine.

    Trying to do my best here - Your happy Predator owner =)!
  • userbean
    userbean Member Posts: 7

    Tinkerer

    Thank you for trying! It’s not my first rodeo with troubleshooting something so I am also stumped. It crashed (while playing a game) with no blue screen. Its good to hear you think the motherboard is fine, i cant help but shake the feeling (based on when it crashes and cycles) that it gives up as soon as it tries to read anything from anywhere, and im not sure what could possibly allow me to reset/flash this all. Is there some other boot-to-utility i could use to identify problems? Is there a way to get the Acer recovery tools without having a working Acer lap top?

  • XdxD
    XdxD Member Posts: 1,584 Community Aficionado WiFi Icon

    Maybe someone else knowledgeable in these things can help you.

    Trying to do my best here - Your happy Predator owner =)!
  • userbean
    userbean Member Posts: 7

    Tinkerer

    Thinking about it, could it be that one or both of my sticks of RAM died and this is the cause? (No recovery, no usb boot, etc). In BIOS i see the full amount of RAM I have, however, does already reaching the bios mean that the RAM is working?

  • XdxD
    XdxD Member Posts: 1,584 Community Aficionado WiFi Icon
    edited November 2022

    Try removing one of the RAM sticks and then try booting?

    "could it be that one or both of my sticks of RAM died and this is the cause?" - Your BIOS is detetcting both though meaning they are working fine.

    Trying to do my best here - Your happy Predator owner =)!
  • XdxD
    XdxD Member Posts: 1,584 Community Aficionado WiFi Icon

    @egydiocoelho can you chime in here?

    Trying to do my best here - Your happy Predator owner =)!
  • userbean
    userbean Member Posts: 7

    Tinkerer

    I tried removing one stick, and swapped both trying to boot (also to USB) one at a time to no success. The boot loop/crash really seems to occur at a specific time on loading. If i reach the BIOS does this mean that the CPU or GPU can be broken?

  • XdxD
    XdxD Member Posts: 1,584 Community Aficionado WiFi Icon

    Maybe/maybe not. Still, get it checked by Acer Support.

    Trying to do my best here - Your happy Predator owner =)!
  • userbean
    userbean Member Posts: 7

    Tinkerer

    Answer ✓

    This will be my final comment on the matter... thank you @XdxD for trying to help me along I do appreciate your time. I went to clean the laptop incase this could be the issue and spotted the fault. There is an exploded resistor near the heat pipe next to the CPU (see white circle and closeup image, also sorry for the closeup quality). Perhaps anyone else with a similar issue can look here before spending too many hours on a magic fix.


  • Have you replaced the resistors yet?

    Oi! Eu não sou sou a cortana! Mas estou aqui para ajudar! Hi! I'm not the cortana! But I'm here to help!
    Se você gostou da minha resposta, marque como solução clicando em sim! If you liked my answer, mark it as a solution by clicking on yes!
    Aceite somente a resposta que ajudou a solucionar o seu problema! Please accept only the response that helped to solve your problem!
    Detection tool click here to find the serial number or partnumber of your model!                                                          
                                                      
                                                     egydiocoelho Trailblazer
     
    ProductKey clique aqui para descobrir o serial do windows! click here to discover the windows serial!
    Para usuários da comunidade inglesa, espanhola, francesa e alemã, usarei o google tradutor! :)
    For users of the English, Spanish, French and German community, I will be using google translator! :) 
  • VictorNW281
    VictorNW281 Member Posts: 1 New User

    @userbean Any luck? Mine has been having the same issue. I did contact Acer and waiting to hear back from them. I have not taken out the mother board to check on it just yet. Do you advise I should do so? The pin for the battery didnt work either. Also mine wont boot from USB either and boot loops on automatic windows repair. I have built and fixed computers but haven't done a laptop. That's why i haven't opened it up just yet. Would greatly appreciate your and anyone else's input. Thank you.