Acer Swift 5 SF514-54GT problem when booting after being powered off

Flexor · March 2020

I have a brand new Acer Swift 5 SF514-54GT, but ever since I bought it it's had a problem with booting. Every_single_time_ I start it after a power off (or after it turns itself off completlely when on battery power) it gets either a BSOD or a black screen and long pause (the same thing I think, but without showing the actual blue screen). Then it re-starts itself, and it works perfectly.

This problem happens when it's starting to boot into Windows, with the Acer logo showing and the little white dots are spinning (very briefly).
It never ever happens on a re-start. This only happens after a power-off.

I have the latest drivers for everything. I have the latest BIOS (1.13). I did a complete re-installation of Windows (not just a Reset) - two times. I ran chkdsk. I ran the other Windows cleanup tools. I did an error detection in the boot recovery menus. Everything shows as ok.

On the rare occasions when it does give a BSOD (actually showing the blue sccreen, rather than a black one), the error message is often different. These are the errors I've taken note of so far: SYSTEM_SERVICE_EXCEPTION, or KERNEL_DATA_INPAGE_ERROR with failure of mouclass.sys, or KERNEL_DATA_INPAGE_ERROR with failure of kbdclass.sys. SYSTEM_SERVICE_EXCEPTION seems to be the most frequent one.

The only thing I can think of, is that this is some sort of hardware fault. Perhaps with the M.2 SSD? But there doesn't seem to be any app to scan that.

Any suggestions?

Commodore_1995# · March 2020

Are you sure that fast startup is disabled?
The Pros and Cons of Windows 10s Fast Startup Mode

Commodore_1995# · March 2020

What happens when you disable fast start up in power options? It is important to remember that ssds are not benefited when this function is activated, since the ssd's useful life depends a lot on the amount of reading and writing.

Flexor · March 2020

egydiocoelho said:

What happens when you disable fast start up in power options? It is important to remember that ssds are not benefited when this function is activated, since the ssd's useful life depends a lot on the amount of reading and writing.

Same result

Commodore_1995# · March 2020

The drivers mouclass.sys and kbclass.sys refer to the touchpad and keyboard drivers. What happens when you install these drivers?

DRIVER IO
TOUCHPAD

AIRPLANE MODE

Flexor · March 2020

egydiocoelho said:

The drivers mouclass.sys and kbclass.sys refer to the touchpad and keyboard drivers. What happens when you install these drivers?
DRIVER IO
TOUCHPAD
AIRPLANE MODE

No, I'm afraid no change. Even when I do a completly clean install of Windows (using the downloaded boot disk directly from Microsoft) with no drivers installed, it's the same result.
The BSOD errors aren't really consistent, and mostly you don't even see the BSOD message. When you do see it, it's more often showing the SYSTEM_SERVICE_EXCEPTION fault. But none of the MS scans discover any problem. Also very strange that it only happens from a cold boot and never when restarting. That, and the varying errors, make me think it's maybe a hardware problem.

Commodore_1995# · March 2020

These problems may be occurring because of a problem driver. I suggest that you try to install those drivers that I mentioned. Then try to update the drivers to the latest version here: https://www.intel.com.br/content/www/br/pt/support/intel-driver-support-assistant.html

If you think the ssd is in trouble, download the crystaldiskinfo program and check the health of the ssd:

Image: https://us.v-cdn.net/6029997/uploads/editor/ez/887fpjw4grg6.png

Flexor · March 2020

egydiocoelho said:

These problems may be occurring because of a problem driver. I suggest that you try to install those drivers that I mentioned. Then try to update the drivers to the latest version here: https://www.intel.com.br/content/www/br/pt/support/intel-driver-support-assistant.html
If you think the ssd is in trouble, download the crystaldiskinfo program and check the health of the ssd:

Thanks again egydiocoelho, I tried updating the drivers and using that utility. Utility shows that everything's ok, and all the drivers are up to date. Still the same result though

Any other suggestions, or should I take it back to Acer?

Commodore_1995# · March 2020

Have you tried to update windows by windows update? Can you still replace the laptop with the dealer?

Flexor · March 2020

egydiocoelho said:

Have you tried to update windows by windows update? Can you still replace the laptop with the dealer?

Yes, everything’s fully updated but no luck. There’s an Acer service centre not far from where I’m working, so I guess I’ll try there. The dealer is about 6000km away. I was hoping to avoid this, but I guess I’ll need to take it back

Commodore_1995# · March 2020

The problem remains, when you reinstall windows, pressing alt + f10 before the acer logo?

Flexor · March 2020

egydiocoelho said:

The problem remains, when you reinstall windows, pressing alt + f10 before the acer logo?

I didn't reinstall Windows that way before - I did it first from within Windows by doing a full Reset (which didn't make any difference) and again from a clean Win10 download from MS (also the same).

Interestingly enough, when I went into alt+f10 and then selected Continue to Windows 10 it didn't have any BSOD or any other problems...

Commodore_1995# · March 2020

Can you still replace the laptop with the seller? What happens when you reinstall windows like that?

https://youtu.be/NfhgnxUJoZo

Flexor · March 2020

egydiocoelho said:

Can you still replace the laptop with the seller? What happens when you reinstall windows like that?
https://youtu.be/NfhgnxUJoZo

I don't actually know how to reinstall windows this way, sorry. Using the battery reset didn't make any difference. Not sure about being able to take it back to the seller - they're about 6000km away, so I'll probably have to take it to a service centre instead.

Commodore_1995# · March 2020

Pardon! I posted the battery reset video. What happens when you reinstall windows like that?

https://youtu.be/cpzLJRAZldA

Flexor · March 2020

egydiocoelho said:

Pardon! I posted the battery reset video. What happens when you reinstall windows like that?
https://youtu.be/cpzLJRAZldA

I just did this full reset, removing all files and settings. After booting to Windows the first time, and before it was able to download new drivers etc, I tried and still the same problem.

I've been trying something else though: when I boot it into Safe Mode, it works every time. When I boot it into Selective Startup or Diagnostic Startup, with the minimum of Microsoft services/drivers and no other services/drivers it has the boot problem...

Commodore_1995# · March 2020

Are you sure that fast startup is disabled?
The Pros and Cons of Windows 10s Fast Startup Mode

Flexor · March 2020

OMG, this is embarrassing! I changed the setting in the UEFI Bios, but not this setting! (I didn't know about this setting before actually)

Yes, it fixed the problem completely! Thank you so much egydiocoelho

Commodore_1995# · March 2020

It is very likely that there is a compatibility issue between ssd and windows. Although it is recommended to disable SSD quick boot, have you tried to update the driver and firmware?

Flexor · March 2020

egydiocoelho said:

It is very likely that there is a compatibility issue between ssd and windows. Although it is recommended to disable SSD quick boot, have you tried to update the driver and firmware?

I've tried to find updated driver and firmware, but nothing seems to be available. It's identified as a Kingston RBUSNS8154P3412GJ1. Firmware E8FK12.3. It's not on the Kingston web site though, and I can't seem to find it anywhere else

Commodore_1995# · March 2020

Try updating the firmware through this program: https://media.kingston.com/support/downloads/KSM_setup_1.1.2.5.exe
Check this link https://www.kingston.com/en/support/technical/ssdmanager

Flexor · March 2020

egydiocoelho said:

Try updating the firmware through this program: https://media.kingston.com/support/downloads/KSM_setup_1.1.2.5.exe
Check this link https://www.kingston.com/en/support/technical/ssdmanager

Tried it, but it doesn't recognise the drive. It's not on the supported drives list either.

I agree that it completely looks like some sort of compatibility problem. It would be VERY handy if Acer provides an update or asks Kingston to add it to their supported drives list. Obviously it must be an OEM-only drive.