acer A514-52K-30NA keeps freezing / locking up even after reinstall.

Worht
Worht Member Posts: 4 New User
edited December 2023 in Aspire Laptops

I have an acer aspire 5 a514-54 that keeps freezing and need to a hard reboot every time. I have reinstalled the OS numerous times. Swapped the hard drive with a mechanical and SSD, same thing. Drivers are from ACER and tried windows provided drivers via windows update, same thing. Had another memory stick in it but with or without it same thing. If I leave it alone, it will freeze and lock up. Funny thing is in safe mode, i have left it alone for almost the whole day and it did not lock up. One thing that can recreate the lock up consistently is exporting a video project from capcut but the lock ups happen any time even when not in use (like downloading files, simple browsing, watching youtube videos, etc). Event logs do not point to anything but a critical messages saying that the computer was not shut down correctly. Some DCOM errors. Temperature readings do not indicate over heating and I have also replaced the thermal paste. Any help or suggestions would be helpful. Using windows 10 as this laptop cannot run on windows 11.

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

Answers

  • StevenGen
    StevenGen ACE Posts: 12,390 Trailblazer

    Have you tried to update the bios to the last bios version as that could stop the freezing. As those freezes happen for a reason and it could come from a driver not being installed, install the IRST (Intel® Rapid Storage Technology) Driver version 18.6.1.1016 for your A514-54 laptop as your boot OS drive should be running on the PCIe3x4 M.2 SSD drive and this Intel driver could rectify your drive problems.

    Also and if the basic drive installation that you should have doesn't solve that freezing problem, then you could have a faulty IO chip or even a bios chip which can be reprogrammed or changed but if its the Chipset chip then you need a new mainboard as they are virtually impossible to find and change. Also, this Aspire A514-54 should be running on Win-11 as all its Acer drivers are for Win-11, so be aware of that also and running Win-10 could contribute to the laptop freezing.

  • Worht
    Worht Member Posts: 4 New User

    Thanks for the response StevenGen. Sorry the model number is an A514-52K-30NA. The bios version is the latest as per the ACER website. The IRST drivers have been all installed via win update and ACER drivers via the site. Although there is a generic software component that I could not identify and install the drivers from, other than that, all drivers have been installed correctly or have been updated by windows. Should I check around the Intel site for IRST drivers and install them instead?

  • Puraw
    Puraw ACE, Member Posts: 13,882 Trailblazer
    edited December 2023

    Are you perhaps running Windows10 in S mode: https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/windows-10-and-windows-11-in-s-mode-faq-851057d6-1ee9-b9e5-c30b-93baebeebc85#WindowsVersion=Windows_10?
    Open the Problem reports in Reliability History that will tell you what Kernel issues you had when crashing. I would boot to Safe Mode and see if that hangs, if OK it is probably a display driver problem. To find out what driver/service is hanging run Safe (Clean) Boot with MSconfig.exe, google how to debug BSOD/hanging with Clean Boot in MSconfig.exe.

  • Worht
    Worht Member Posts: 4 New User

    Thanks for the reply Puraw. No, the laptop is not in S mode. I have run it in safe mode and i have not run into any lock up issues. I have tried running the native windows, ACER provided and Windows updated display drivers and all crashed at some point in my using the laptop. In testing all, I have reinstalled the OS every TS step so as to isolate 3rd party programs.

  • Puraw
    Puraw ACE, Member Posts: 13,882 Trailblazer

    Acer states that this model comes pre-installed with Windows10 in S mode, that's why I asked. Did you open the Problem Reports in Reliability History, copy the last one at the time of freezing to Notepad and paste it in your reply, type @Puraw at the top or click on Quote. You may have a mismatch of drivers swapping the mechanical HHD and SSD drives. The fact that Windows10 updates all crash indicates a driver or BIOS problem: If this is a 2020 laptop, consider bringing it to Acer Services in your country to reset the system to factory defaults for a small service fee ($25 in the Philippines). 😉

  • Worht
    Worht Member Posts: 4 New User

    Hi Puraw, I have already used 3 HDs (1 SSD). and when putting in an HD, I reinstall the OS.

    Here is one before the Crash but it also occurred 3 other times during the day. This is a new one for today.

    Source
    IntelAudioService

    Summary
    Stopped working

    Date
    ‎12/‎2/‎2023 9:46 AM

    Status
    Report sent

    Description
    Faulting Application Path: C:\Windows\System32\cAVS\Intel(R) Audio Service\IntelAudioService.exe

    Problem signature
    Problem Event Name: APPCRASH
    Application Name: IntelAudioService.exe
    Application Version: 1.0.152.0
    Application Timestamp: 5bd0d480
    Fault Module Name: StackHash_c1c2
    Fault Module Version: 0.0.0.0
    Fault Module Timestamp: 00000000
    Exception Code: c0000005
    Exception Offset: PCH_C2_FROM_ntdll+0x000000000009DB34
    OS Version: 10.0.19045.2.0.0.768.100
    Locale ID: 1033
    Additional Information 1: c1c2
    Additional Information 2: c1c2e544768f004e2ce093ab4a718788
    Additional Information 3: 5d4f
    Additional Information 4: 5d4feef1186613d859d278874b1bd4bd

    Extra information about the problem
    Bucket ID: c7ff4ccb2e2e065d4febbd9c46a26dea (2300140513600368106)

    and here is the message after the crash

    The previous system shutdown at 8:11:16 AM on ‎12/‎2/‎2023 was unexpected.

  • Puraw
    Puraw ACE, Member Posts: 13,882 Trailblazer
    edited December 2023

    You can do 2 things, try to debug the system hanging yourself or bring the laptop to Acer Services in your country.
    Debugging is tedious requiring systematic procedures with a lot of patience, if you think you are up to it read this:
    https://www.guidingtech.com/a-complete-guide-to-using-system-configuration-tool-on-windows-11/ Skip the Advanced Boot option that tweaks RAM and the kernel. The idea is that you first disable all the non-Windows services and Apply that, reboot; this will be similar to Safe Mode only that the settings remain permanent even if you reboot till you disable Safe boot and click on Apply. Then enable one-by-one or more services at the time, if you know what services won't cause the issue, and click on Apply. Reboot each time till a program hangs/freezes and then in Windows Services you either disable the problem driver/service or change it to Manual start.

  • joeroot75
    joeroot75 Member Posts: 4 New User

    I'm also encountering this issue right now with my Acer Aspire 5. I've tried similar troubleshooting steps, including reinstalling the OS and updating drivers, but nothing seems to resolve the random freezing. Like you mentioned, Safe Mode seems to be more stable, which makes it even harder to pinpoint the cause. Exporting videos with CapCut or even light browsing seems to trigger the freezes, and event logs don't show anything helpful. If anyone has found a solution or can suggest additional troubleshooting steps, it would be greatly appreciated!