Aspire Nitro VN7-591g-54WZ in-game freezes

bakjoul
bakjoul Member Posts: 3 New User
in 2016 Archives

Hello,

 

While playing games (SCII and CS:GO), computer randomly freezes 2-3 seconds. I noticed that at times while playing, some of the clocks drop to 0 MHz (Core #0, Bus, Uncore and PCIe). I'm not sure whether it's related or not. Drivers are up-to-date and computer runs on high performance mode.

I play with the default medium settings on SCII, only the texture quality is to high. On CS:GO, all settings are set to the lowest. On both games i play on 1920x1080.

This is very annoying and i don't know what to do. Hoping that someone can actually help me.

 

hw.png

(Check the minimum values. On this screenshot, i had switched back to the balanced mode, hence the lower current clocks values.)

Answers

  • Marker192
    Marker192 Member Posts: 1 New User

    Hey,

     

    Its been a while since this post but I have the same problem without a solution. Could someone acctually provide any information about this. The constant freezing doesn't make it gaming capable unfortunately.

     

    PS: Hoping for a solution which doesnt include switching laptops.

     

    Best regards,

     

    Mark

  • LoadSmacker
    LoadSmacker Member Posts: 1 New User

    Hello,

     I'd also like to "bump" this subject into existence again, as I too have this problem. Very often do I experience these random stutters of lag on just about any game that my previous systems that have poorer specs never experienced. I have tried playing Warcraft 3 which was made in 2002 and has flat, underdeveloped textures and qualities and yet the game experiences these lag issues as though it was too hardcore for the system. Which I find hard to believe. On top of this, I play many other games and they all experience this problem. 

     

     A solution or even a possible cause would be greatly appreciated at this point so that I can at least have some kind of means to try and fix it.

  • bakjoul
    bakjoul Member Posts: 3 New User
    Hi,
    A few weeks ago, someone actually came up with a solution on one of my threads about this online. I'll post it shortly. Got to look into my mails.
  • bakjoul
    bakjoul Member Posts: 3 New User

    So here it is. I tried translating it from French. Sorry for my English.

    Someone posted this on another website. It was in the comments section of a review. It basically consists of reducing the CPU voltage. I haven't tried it.

     

    Original post :
    "D’après
    tous les benchmarks que j’ai pu voir, il ne dépasse pas 94° grand max,
    au niveau du processeur, même au bout de 2h de jeu. En revanche il a
    tendance à se mettre en sécurité, et à provoquer des mini-freeze. En
    fait, il existe une solution toute *****. Il suffit, avec un soft, de
    réduire la tension du processeur de 75mV. C’est vraiment infime, mais la
    totalité de cette énergie est perdue, et transformée en chaleur par
    effet joule (Merci à Acer d’avoir prévu une alim trop puissante !). En
    réduisant cette tension, on n’affecte en rien les performances du proco,
    même en mode turbo. En revanche, on gagne presque une dizaine de degrés
    (11° exactement pour pas mal de testeurs) sur la température max, ce
    qui limite fortement voire fait disparaître les micro-freezes. Je cite
    le message explicatif :

    »
    Pas de tuto necessaire, c’est simple, tu telecharge juste Intel XTU,
    puis tu va dans le menu Manual et tu règle ton offset à -75mv. Tu apply
    et sauvegarde. Faudra juste le relancer à chaque reboot (tu peux le
    mettre dans les taches planifiées) » (Source : forum.hardware.fr)"

     

    Cheap translation :

    "According to all the reviews i could see, the CPU temp doesn't exceed 94°C max, even after 2 hours of gaming. However, it tends to put itself in a "safety mode", and induces some small freezes. Actually, a simple solution exists. You only need, thanks to a software, to decrease the CPU voltage of 75mV. It's really minor, but the totality of this energy is lost, and converted into heat by "Joule effect" (Thanks to Acer for providing a power supply too powerful !). By reducing the voltage, the CPU performance is not affected at all, even in turbo mode. Howerver, we almost gain 10°C (exactly 11° for a lot of testers) on the max temperature, which highly limits nay makes disappear the micro-freezes. I'll quote the explicative post : "No tutorial needed, it's simple, you just have to download Intel XTU, then you go into the Manual menu and you set the offset to -75mV. Then Apply and Save. You will just have to relaunch it at every boot (you can put it in the scheduled tasks)" (Source : forum.hardware.fr)"

     

    By the way, have you tried updating the bios to its latest version ? Some people say that it solved, or at least reduced drastically the freezing problems. I have updated it myself but haven't tried playing any game since then. You should try updating it first if you haven't done it yet.

  • Cory-Acer
    Cory-Acer Administrator Posts: 1,449 Community Administrator

    Hi All,

     

    I don't have a better solution that the one bakjoul has provided so far, but I don't think that this should be a proper fix. I actually played some SC2 and LoL on a VN7-791 (same basic unit, just bigger) on max without issue over a weekend as that was all the time I had to toy around with the system.

     

    We'll include this thread in a document to be reviewed, if something comes back I'll gladly share that information. For the others that have come to this thread, could you please clarify what model you have? Unfortunately, we see a lotof times where users relate symptoms to models that don't have the same equipment. It will help us lead to a faster resolution if possible.

     

    Lastly, let us know what isn't stock, are you runing the OEM Operating System? Have you removed applications, if so which? I would highly recommend running the Acer Quick Access as it can help take care of updates and run software that is dependent on that application. There is also a BIOS available that improves overall system performance. If you haven't updated to this BIOS, I would suggest doing it first.

     

    BIOS Acer Release Note: Improve System Performance 1.13 4.9 MB 2015/03/25

    Download

     

    Thanks,
    Cory

  • Perka
    Perka Member Posts: 1 New User

    Hi Cory,

     

    same problem with my acer, short freezes when playing games. My BIOS (1.13) and graphic drivers are updated, I've swapped between balanced and high performance settings, set all games on "high performance" in the nvidia settings. I even manually adjusted the fans to be on 100% power when playing games, but to no avail the freezes still keep happening.

     

    Since I started researching this problem on the internet I noticed that quite a lot of people with this laptop have the same problem. Are there any updates on possible fixes?

     

    Specs:

    Aspire Vn7-591g

    i7-4720hq

    GT 960m

    Windows 8.1 (64 bit)

    128GB SSD + 500GB HDD

    *NEWLY BOUGHT*

  • Lombax
    Lombax Member Posts: 4 New User

    Hey guys I too recently started having this issue. Most likely going to chat up support and ask kindly for new laptop, maybe one with that new 960m. ;D

    More info: http://community.acer.com/t5/V-and-VN-Series/Acer-VN7-591G-74LK-random-2-3-second-freezes-across-all-games/m-p/378741

  • blackice55
    blackice55 Member Posts: 11 New User

    I am 100% sure that that your game keep freezing because your cpu is trottling himself when turbo boost is activated. I did several test by monitoring the temperature of the cpu in game and I was able to see that it was trottling himself. As you can see on this screnshot the Yes and no in the bottom is indicating if the cpu is trottling himself or not. The Yes mean that the core is getting trottle and the game will start freezing.

     

    https://goo.gl/photos/EvdC751iJD1qQkVBA

     

    How to fix this? Go in the power plan avanced setting in windows and set your cpu utilisation to 99% and this will prevent your cpu from going in turbo mode and over heating. I actualy recomend to put it at 80% for better result. It is not the best solution but it do not seem to affect the performance in game. The real question is why the laptop can not support the heat when turbo boost is activated? The post before may have found the reason. the power supply is probably giving to much voltage to the cpu. Smiley Surprised

     

  • pjenoy
    pjenoy Member Posts: 42 New User

    go to power options go to advance options and set your maximum cpu usage on 99%. That usually fixes the problem, and also try to connect the adaptor if you want to exploit the full potential of your laptop. After updating bios and doing some research and tinkering i was able to fix the thermal throttling. My solutions are

     

    1. Go to an authorized service center and reapply the thermal paste, i would highyl suggest getting it cleaned thoroughly because the stock thermal paste application sucked. I would suggest using IC DIAMOND

    2. Try undervolting your cpu and download the intel xtu application set offset its core volate to -75mv

    3. Try underclocking your cpu, go to power options and go to advance options. Set it to 99%for maximum cpu usage. It will turn off the turbo boost.

    4. Try to download rw everything and read this link.

    https://forum.lowyat.net/topic/3489863

     

    Currently having no thermal throttle issues.  Even though  i turned on the turbo boost and no thermal throttling, aside from high gaming temperatures, i usually set it to balanced mode. Idle temps around 50-53 celsuis. Gaming max at 85 celsius. 

    I hope i had helpend in someway 

  • Bozzy
    Bozzy Member Posts: 44

    Tinkerer

    Throttling is one problem, but the platter hard disk can be another.

     

    If your game is freezing for around 2 seconds every now an then, and you have an SSD and a standard storage drive, this should fix it.

     

    Basically, Acer are using Western Digital Blue drives, and these have a BIOS driven spindle power down after 8-15 seconds. Windows periodically calls on the drive, and this hangs the PC while the drive spins up. the HDD power down time in power oprions is ignored.

     

    Download CrystalDiskInfo, and in the AAM / APM settings, set the APM to 80h on the platter drive and enable is.

     

    Run the game and see if it helps. If it does, then extract the files (I would put them in program files) and set the program to run at start-up, and enable auto AAM / APM. 

     

    Unfortunately, the BIOS can't be overwritten, and the default HD options are loaded on a power cycle.

  • Captain_WD
    Captain_WD Member Posts: 39 New User

    Hey guys Smiley Happy

    Just a note from me: if you suspect that your drive is causing a problem with the computer's performance it is a good idea to check the drive's health with the manufacturer's tool. For WD drives that would be WD Data Lifeguard Diagnostic. Run it and see if the drive passes both the quick and the extended tests. Here's a link: http://products.wdc.com/support/kb.ashx?id=Xmu5HM

    Generally games rely on the storage's performance only for their initial loading times, autosaves and in-game load screens. FPS and graphics are not affected by the storage's performance unless the game specifically needs to load a huge texture file (usually MMO and open-world games).

    Feel free to ask if you have questions Smiley Happy

    Captain_WD.

  • yarken
    yarken Member Posts: 4 New User

    Does this also applies to VN7-791G?

  • Bozzy
    Bozzy Member Posts: 44

    Tinkerer

    @ Captain_WD

     

    Unfortunaltly, the throughput isn't the issue, and MMO games call on textures on the fly al the time forcing the HD not to spin down.

    What you will find is that static games that load levels in one (crysis for example) load up near most of the textures at the start, but then call on audio files on the fly. As these are few and far between, you will get a 2 second freeze just before a sentence or new sound effect.

     

    Tried and tested on mine and now fixed.

     

    @ Yarken

     

    If you have an SSD and a secondary data drive, this will more than likely work for you. Give it a whirl, you can't cause any problems doing it.

     

  • Captain_WD
    Captain_WD Member Posts: 39 New User

    That is correct. Fortunately most modern drives don't have problems with that and can keep up with games' demands.
    You may try tools from the manufacturer that increase the time to spin down significantly and avoid such problems. Smiley Happy
    Post back if you need help with anything,

    Captain_WD.

  • emop
    emop Member Posts: 1 New User

    Solution! At least for windows 10, I see no reason why it wont work for other version.

    As many have pointed out, the throttle is caused by overheating the CPU. I tried all the possible solution without seeing any inprovment. Reducing the voltage delivered to the CPU and increasing fan speed didnt work out. I also ran a few stress test without getting any throttle at all, and the CPU never exceeded more than 61*C.

     

    I realised it was only when I played games I had installed at my WDC hard drive I experienced throttling. I search up the hard drive:

     

    https://support.wdc.com/knowledgebase/answer.aspx?ID=958

     

    As the link describes, the hard drive comes with a power managment function. This means the hard drive will spin down after a period if its not writen too. As you play you dont interact with the hard drive, except when loading audio files( in my experience). So after x-min of gametime the hard drive spins down, and needs to spin up again. This is what causing the throttle. The producer of the hard drive says the power management is disabled as standard, they also dont recommend it for desktops. So I wonder why its enabled at all.

     

    Someone suggested CrystalDiskInfo. Which is the solution for me. However I had to give CrystalDiskInfo full premisson in order for it to work. Just right click the shortcut and go into properties, under security just allow everything. Then go into CrystalDiskInfo, "function" --> "advanced features" --> "AMM/APM controll" and disabel the power management for the WDC hard drive. I have to disable the power management everytime i turn on the computer, which is a minor bummer compared to getting freezed in-game.

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