System issues only when charger is plugged in

swizzy
swizzy Member Posts: 6 New User
edited November 2023 in 2019 Archives
Good afternoon,

After a couple dozen hours of testing and troubleshooting I am now at a loss on how to properly diagnose and fix my problem. About a week ago my laptop crashed while playing a game and I had nonstop BSOD errors before and during startup ranging from PAGE_FAULTS, IRQL_LESS_OR_NOT_EQUAL, and several others. I tried installing/reinstalling Windows 10, updating and uninstalling various drivers, and using the system utilities (sfc /scannow, dism.exe, memtest86 (4 passes), and hardware tools from Intel, SKHynix (SSD), etc.) but everything comes up clean. I finally realized that when I am running on battery my laptop works well with no errors observable in the Event Viewer. Every application I test works, however, streaming video seems to stutter at regular intervals. YouTube videos are fine.

But when I plug my charger in, several issues occur immediately such as applications not opening at all or working improperly, browsers not being able to load pages, and several Windows apps like SearchUI, NVContainer.exe (Nvidia) crashing repeatedly, slow retrieval of system information from the "About My Computer," etc. If I leave the charger in a PAGE_FAULT BSOD will eventually occur, but if I take my charger back out everything works again. I'm thinking this may be a hardware issue regarding voltage levels when the charger is plugged in, or possibly bad RAM, but I wanted to know if there was a way to verify this through software first.

Thank you for your help.

Answers

  • swizzy
    swizzy Member Posts: 6 New User
    System Info:
    Acer Model: Acer Predator Helios 300 G3-571
    Proc: Intel Kaby Lake i7-7700HQ @ 2.8GHz
    RAM: 16.0GB DDR4-2666 Dual Channel
    Graphics: Intel HD 630/Nvidia GTX 1060
    OS: Windows 10 Home
  • ven98
    ven98 ACE Posts: 4,073 Pathfinder
    If the page fault error that you experience is page fault in non paged area that means there is not enough virtual memory(don't confuse with VRAM). Go to control panel>small large icons>system>advanced system settings>advanced>virtual memory change disable automatically manage paging file size for all drives and select custom size.
    Set
    Initial size(MB):24576
    Maximum size(MB):49152

    Have you done anything specific that you may think is causing the issue, for example undervolting or overclocking a component?
    Always post the following characterisitcs of the device:
    -Model number
    -Part number(not required, but helpful)
    -CPU
    -GPU
    -Operating system

    Helios 300 and Nitro 5 users DO NOT update the BIOS to version 1.22 if you don't want the keyboard's backlight to turn off after 30 seconds even when the device is plugged in.


    Hit 'Like' if you find the answer helpful!   
    Click on 'Yes' if the comment answers your question!

  • swizzy
    swizzy Member Posts: 6 New User
    edited February 2019
    ven98 said:
    If the page fault error that you experience is page fault in non paged area that means there is not enough virtual memory(don't confuse with VRAM). Go to control panel>small large icons>system>advanced system settings>advanced>virtual memory change disable automatically manage paging file size for all drives and select custom size.
    Set
    Initial size(MB):24576
    Maximum size(MB):49152

    Have you done anything specific that you may think is causing the issue, for example undervolting or overclocking a component?

    Thanks for your reply - I tried that and it didn't work, though the tray icons were disappearing/reinitializing instead of just being gone.

    So, problems did initially begin about a few weeks back when I tried to rollback a Realtek HD Audio driver because the latest was causing alot of static. The rollback worked but Windows 10 kept reinstalling the latest driver so I changed the "Device Installation Settings" to not automatically download the drivers. The next restart resulted in a BSOD to which I just reverted everything back and things seemed fine.

    Before my laptop crashed my audio was bugging out quite a bit as well. Nothing else was really done to the computer, I've changed the CMOS battery and I've opened up the laptop and have no reason to believe there is any physical damage.

  • ven98
    ven98 ACE Posts: 4,073 Pathfinder
    I take it that you haven't done any undervolting to the CPU.

    Have you tried entering in safe mode to check if the BSOD appears then?
    Always post the following characterisitcs of the device:
    -Model number
    -Part number(not required, but helpful)
    -CPU
    -GPU
    -Operating system

    Helios 300 and Nitro 5 users DO NOT update the BIOS to version 1.22 if you don't want the keyboard's backlight to turn off after 30 seconds even when the device is plugged in.


    Hit 'Like' if you find the answer helpful!   
    Click on 'Yes' if the comment answers your question!

  • swizzy
    swizzy Member Posts: 6 New User
    edited February 2019
    ven98 said:
    I take it that you haven't done any undervolting to the CPU.

    Have you tried entering in safe mode to check if the BSOD appears then?
    Sorry for late reply. The BSOD doesn't occur but programs like SearchUI.exe (the search function on the home taskbar) still crash when in use. I do see several events occurring in event viewer regarding igfxCUIService2.0.0 not being found. Any ideas for specific diagnostics I can run? I'm close to just taking it in to a repair shop at this point.. :(
  • ven98
    ven98 ACE Posts: 4,073 Pathfinder
    It appears the windows is corrupted.

    Go to control panel>small large icons>troubleshooting>system and security>fix problems with windows update

    If that doesn't help I would just return the laptop back to the store and get a new one.
    Always post the following characterisitcs of the device:
    -Model number
    -Part number(not required, but helpful)
    -CPU
    -GPU
    -Operating system

    Helios 300 and Nitro 5 users DO NOT update the BIOS to version 1.22 if you don't want the keyboard's backlight to turn off after 30 seconds even when the device is plugged in.


    Hit 'Like' if you find the answer helpful!   
    Click on 'Yes' if the comment answers your question!

  • xapim
    xapim ACE Posts: 7,253 Pathfinder
    edited February 2019
    Run cmd in administrator mode and run sfc /scannow see if you have any error fixed after or nothing found if that doesnt help backup all your data and perform a fresh install acer factory recovery ALT+F10 if after u have the same issue just return it ask for a replacement


    https://www.userbenchmark.com/UserRun/11532543

    UserBenchmarks: Game 43%, Desk 61%, Work 40%
    CPU: Intel Core i5-7300HQ - 63.5%
    GPU: Nvidia GTX 1050-Ti (Mobile) - 41.9%
    SSD: WDC WDS200T2B0B-00YS70 2TB - 71.4%
    HDD: WD WD10SPZX-00HKTT0 1TB - 93.7%
    RAM: Kingston HyperX DDR4 2666 C15 2x16GB - 76.8%
    MBD: Acer Predator G3-572

    I'm not an Acer employee. (just here to help in the best way i can)
    If my answer fixed you issue please accept it for any other users who search for it would find it quickly thanks :)
    If you want to learn more about undervolting/optimizing windows join the Predator fb group and youtube channel:

    Owner/Admin (HOTEL HERO/Red-Sand/Opoka Opoka)
    https://www.facebook.com/groups/PredatorHelios300
    https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCNJwGUHxSJ8FKqAhnOqQuAw
    Acer support:
    https://www.acer.com/ac/en/US/content/service-contact
    http://www.acer.com/worldwide/support/