Acer Predator Triton PT314-51s-71YP-charging light and display light flashing and laptop shuts down

MatthewWille123
MatthewWille123 Member Posts: 5

Tinkerer

edited September 5 in Predator Laptops

Hi there

I have had this laptop for about 2 years without any problems. Recently I have an issue when I open a game (e.g. Elden Ring/Dota). After about 5 seconds the charging light (orange) and the display light (blue) start flashing and then the laptop shuts down with the orange light still flashing. I am then able to hold the power button down to stop the orange charging light from flashing and then I can reboot the laptop and it functions fine again (until I open up a video game and the same issue repeats).

I first thought this is an issue with the charger so I ordered another charger but this gave the same issue. I then thought the battery must be the issue so I disconnected the battery and tried to play the game but the same issue occured again.

I have read on a thread that this issue happens when heavy gaming loads require the laptop to draw from the battery to help the charger meet the power demand. I am therefore thinking that the issue is that my battery health is very poor (this is true - my laptop only lasts like 20 min on low performance when not plugged in) and so the battery is crashing as soon as the laptop tries to draw from the battery to help the charger with gaming.

I have ordered a new battery and hope this fixes my issue but would appreciate it greatly if somebody could either confirm/deny my theory or give me other possible solutions in the meantime?

Thank you very much and I appreciate any input.

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

Answers

  • StevenGen
    StevenGen ACE Posts: 12,180 Trailblazer

    Which Predator Triton 300 SE model do you have (it should be something like PT31x-xx?), as a 2-year-old laptop battery should not be affecting the laptops gaming performance especially on a high-end specialist gaming laptop like a Predator Triton 300 SE model. This problem could be that your laptop has a faulty power/charging main rail and the laptop is not getting adequate power for high-end games and it turns off.

    Do a command prompt battery report and see the health of your battery:

    • Open the Command Prompt as an administrator:
    • Enter the below command fully:

    powercfg /batteryreport /output "C:\battery_report.html"

    Then go to C:\battery_report.html and open the webpage for the battery report and see “what is the current charge of your battery compared to its design capacity” if its too low then it means that the battery is either faulty or the battery is not being charged properly due to your laptop having a faulty power/charging rail that needs to be inspected by either Acer or an experience technician and fixed. Good luck and hope this helps you out.

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

  • Puraw
    Puraw ACE, Member Posts: 13,458 Trailblazer

    After 3 years the battery should still have 50% capacity left, 20 minutes battery life without the power adapter plugged in on idle is normal for this model (dGPU). Therefore, you should leave the power adapter plugged in 24/7 so the battery is always 100% charged and don't use Acer Care Center battery Calibration/80% charge limiter. I hope I am wrong but don't expect miracles from a new battery. If these issues persist I recommend bringing the laptop to Acer Services in your country to check the DC port and the power adapter if it has the correct plug.

  • MatthewWille123
    MatthewWille123 Member Posts: 5

    Tinkerer

    edited September 4

    @StevenGen Thank you for the response. The model is PT314-51s-71YP. I tried to do the battery report but can't find the file output in my c drive location to access this report…

    An update on the issue is that I recently bought a brand new battery for this laptop (could only find locally for $200 🙄), only to see that the issue persists. The only option in my mind now is that "the battery is not being charged properly due to [my] laptop having a faulty power/charging rail" as you pointed out. The issue began shortely after a power surge occured while my laptop was plugged in (which left a distinct burning smell and a spark noise), so I fear this charging rail got fried. I'm not really sure what my options are now, other than to get a new laptop? Very expensive purchase for it to only last 3 years…

    I can try locate an Acer Services to have a look, not sure if these exist in my country (South Africa). Guess I need to try find a technician who can fix this…

  • StevenGen
    StevenGen ACE Posts: 12,180 Trailblazer
    edited September 4

    No you don't need a new laptop as these power and charging rails issues are easily fixed and if your laptop had a burning smell then the circuit can be found much easier and fixed by a tech, it could be that the tech will have to repair the mainboard too but even that is doable, so take your laptop to a technician and get your laptop fixed as its much cheaper than buying a new one.

    There are allot of techs on the web that do this type of work, I don't know what country you are in but if you are in the UK or Europe there is a guy outside of London Britain called Sorin Electronics who specializes in laptops that have burned and welded on circuitries and damaged mainboards, as he can virtually fix anything (see his work on YouTube) so write him an email and send him a caption of the burned area of your laptop, as and if you smelled a burning smell then a circuit must have shorted and burned and it will be visible. Good luck and hope this helps you out some more!

    With the battery report, this is a step-by-step guide of how to generate a battery report on Windows 10 or Windows 11, follow these steps:

    • Open the Command Prompt as an administrator:

    You can do this by searching for “cmd” in the Windows search bar, right-clicking the top result, and selecting “Run as administrator.”

    • Enter the following command fully:

    powercfg /batteryreport /output "C:\battery_report.html"

    This command will create a battery report and save it as an HTML file named “battery_report.html” in the root of your primary drive (usually the *C:* drive).

    • Access the battery report:

    Open File Explorer.

    Click on This PC in the left navigation pane.

    Under the “Devices and drives” section, double-click the “C” drive.

    Double-click to open the “battery_report.html” file in your browser.

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

  • MatthewWille123
    MatthewWille123 Member Posts: 5

    Tinkerer

    Thank you for all the advice. Took the laptop to a quality technician and turns out I had a faulty mosfet - replaced it and all is working now.