Aspire E 15 E5-511-P34X Randomly freezing have any ideas how to fix it?

Maersi
Maersi Member Posts: 16 Troubleshooter
edited January 2023 in Aspire Laptops
I have an old E 15, which freezes randomly. This can happen at any time, even when the laptop is not being used. Initially, I thought it was a Windows issue, but the laptop is dual boot, and it also happens on Ubuntu. This can happen several times in a day, or run for weeks with no issues.
When it freezes, nothing happens for just over 30 seconds, then the fan starts at full power for a little over 10 seconds, then 30 seconds of silence, the 10 seconds of fan. It will continue like this for hours. I have tried updating the BIOS but that made no difference. This has been happening for years, but when It started, I was blaming Microsoft, and I no longer lived in the country where I bought it. 
Has anyone else experienced this, or have any ideas how to fix it?
I'm not sure if this is relevant, but the only other issue I have is that the HDMI port ceased to function following a driver update. I manage to fix that by reverting to the old driver, but every windows update kills it again. I don't really need it now, so it doesn't cause me any problems.
 [Edited the thread to add issue detail]

«1

Answers

  • How long have you owned the notebook? Have you checked the temperatures and also cleaned the fans and changed the thermal paste?
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    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=toppC-ixgmY
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  • Maersi
    Maersi Member Posts: 16 Troubleshooter
    Thanks for the reply. I bought it new about 5 years ago, before Windows 10 was released. I do not believe that it is a heat or fan issue. The problem can occur while the CPU is doing nothing - or rather as little as Microsoft allows. The problem is not triggered by high CPU usage - even over many hours. It can occur with or without an internet connection, and began while it was still new, (unfortunately after I had left the UK where it was purchased) but only after Win 10 was installed and before sneaky coin miners became popular. It is not predictable, and there is nothing I can do to trigger the problem. It could be weeks before it strikes again, or it could happen 2 or 3 times this evening. 
    A few weeks ago, I ran a cross compilation for ARM which took 4 hours to complete - no problems at all, but it can freeze when playing spider solitaire offline.
    Apart from this issue, HDMI driver issues, and the death of my USB 2 ports, the laptop has performed admirably. The original battery is still good for several hours, and it probably averages more that 6 hours powered up every day.
  • Can you still check the temperatures with the hwmonitor? It is possible that it is necessary to clean the fans and change the thermal paste, as overheating also causes crashes.
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  • Maersi
    Maersi Member Posts: 16 Troubleshooter
    Sorry for the delay in replying. I installed hwmonitor and watched the temperatures over several days. Under normal use, the 4 cores run from 45 to 61, GT (don't know what that is) is similar, but shows a max of 57, and assembly has a max of 31. 
    I installed an old FPS game and played that for a while - cores got up in the high 80s but no problems.
    Coincidentally, the laptop has crashed twice over the last few days, first crashes for weeks. On both occasions, I was not using the laptop. It was on with a browser open, but nothing running. I walked back into the room and heard the 10 seconds worth of  full power fan. I felt all around the case, above and below. No unusual heat.

    I am sure that the clue must be in the fan noise. A pattern of 10 seconds of maximum power, then 30 seconds of silence, which repeats. The only activity that the machine recognises is a long press of the power button.
  • can you send a screenshot of hwmonitor?
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  • Maersi
    Maersi Member Posts: 16 Troubleshooter

    Spooky, your comment arrived on my phone while it was still in my hand from taking this after it died. Obviously, I cannot take a real screenshot, because my laptop is frozen, and on previous crashes, HWmonitor was not in the foreground. 
    I hope this is useful, but to my untrained eye, everything looks normal. 
  • These temperatures when the processor was idle or on demand? Have you tested the rams memories?
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  • Maersi
    Maersi Member Posts: 16 Troubleshooter
    I had left hwmonitor running. These temperatures were those at the time the laptop froze and crashed. Fortunately, in the foreground. The machine was idle at the time of the crash. This seems to prove that the problem is not related to temperature.

    "The Windows Memory Diagnostic tested the computer's memory and detected no errors"

    When the next crash happens, I will take accurate timings of the fan. I had done this previously, but cannot find the figures. I think it was something like 10.5 seconds of fan on maximum, followed by 31.5 seconds of silence. This cycle repeats. I have tried leaving the computer running like this for hours to see if it could find it's own way out of the loop, but it didn't.
  • Did the windows event viewer register any specific errors?
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  • Maersi
    Maersi Member Posts: 16 Troubleshooter
    I've checked every log I could find, and nothing. Everything seems to stop instantly, as if there was a total power failure, but the screen remains on, there is still power to the USB ports, and of course the fan still functions. I don't know enough about what goes on inside to really speculate. Could it be that there is a temporary loss of power only to the cpu. It always starts again without issues. Am I the only one to ever experience this issue?

  • Have you checked your hard drive with crystaldiskinfo?
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  • Maersi
    Maersi Member Posts: 16 Troubleshooter
    The timings for the fan are 9.6 seconds at maximum, followed by 22.4 seconds of silence. This will repeat for hours without change.

    I am sorry for the delay. It seems that I didn't click the post comment button. 
    The CrystalDisk data below is from 1 week ago. Oops.

    Just checked - all seems fine.

  • Oi! Eu não sou sou a cortana! Mas estou aqui para ajudar! Hi! I'm not the cortana! But I'm here to help!
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  • Maersi
    Maersi Member Posts: 16 Troubleshooter

    --- IPDT64 - Revision: 4.1.4.36
    --- IPDT64 - Start Time: 08/07/2020 06:54:40

    ----------------------------------------------
    -- Testing
    ----------------------------------------------
    CPU 1 - Genuine Intel - Pass.
    CPU 1 - BrandString - Pass.
    CPU 1 - Cache - Pass.
    CPU 1 - MMXSSE - Pass.
    CPU 1 - IMC - Pass.
    CPU 1 - Prime Number - Pass.
    CPU 1 - Floating Point - Pass.
    CPU 1 - Math - Pass.
    CPU 1 - GPUStressW - Pass.
    CPU 1 - CPULoad - Pass.
    CPU 1 - CPUFreq - Pass.

    IPDT64 Passed
    --- IPDT64 - Revision: 4.1.4.36
    --- IPDT64 - End Time: 08/07/2020 06:58:09

    ----------------------------------------------
    PASS

    As far as I can ascertain from these results, there is no detectable problem. I have saved the full log in case it could be useful, but having scanned through it (without really understanding much) the only thing I noticed was that the GPUStress test is marked as passed, but ..      

           ..GPUStressW not supported on this product..

            Module GPUStressW.exe Completed - Pass

  • OK! now, can you check the health of your hard drive with crystaldiskinfo?
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  • Maersi
    Maersi Member Posts: 16 Troubleshooter

    Here it is
  • Can you test with another ram?
    Oi! Eu não sou sou a cortana! Mas estou aqui para ajudar! Hi! I'm not the cortana! But I'm here to help!
    Se você gostou da minha resposta, marque como solução clicando em sim! If you liked my answer, mark it as a solution by clicking on yes!
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    ProductKey clique aqui para descobrir o serial do windows! click here to discover the windows serial!
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  • Maersi
    Maersi Member Posts: 16 Troubleshooter
    I don't have one, or know anywhere to borrow. I would have to go and buy some, and there is nowhere close to me. I could order some from ebay, but no ebay or amazon where I live so it would be international postage and take at least 1 week to arrive - maybe longer in these times. If you believe that RAM is the problem, then I could try, but bear in mind that the timing is random, and unpredictable. It may not occur again for months or it could crash 3 times today - (4 times in a day is the record) and maybe 6 moths is the longest time without incident.
  • If the problem is random, I would start by cleaning the fans first and changing the thermal paste.
    Oi! Eu não sou sou a cortana! Mas estou aqui para ajudar! Hi! I'm not the cortana! But I'm here to help!
    Se você gostou da minha resposta, marque como solução clicando em sim! If you liked my answer, mark it as a solution by clicking on yes!
    Aceite somente a resposta que ajudou a solucionar o seu problema! Please accept only the response that helped to solve your problem!
    Detection tool click here to find the serial number or partnumber of your model!                                                          
                                                      
                                                     egydiocoelho Trailblazer
     
    ProductKey clique aqui para descobrir o serial do windows! click here to discover the windows serial!
    Para usuários da comunidade inglesa, espanhola, francesa e alemã, usarei o google tradutor! :)
    For users of the English, Spanish, French and German community, I will be using google translator! :) 
  • Maersi
    Maersi Member Posts: 16 Troubleshooter
    Even though as we have established, there is no evidence of overheating, but there is evidence of normal temperature at the point everything locks up? Cleaning the fan should be straight forward, but I know nothing about thermal paste. Is it all the same or are there different types? If there are different types, what type should I use? I will probably have to get it on ebay, no shops nearby