NP8173 / P670RS-G weird random restart issue

Hey Guys, long time lurker but first time poster. These forums have been really helpful to gain info about clevo machines. Thanks much.

I seem to have an weird issue with my laptop. Its Sager NP8173 / P670RS-G with a 6700hq and GTX 1070. My laptop randomly restarts with no rhyme or reason. Sometimes on Windows welcome screen, mostly (almost always) when playing / starting less GPU intensive games (CS GO, Fortnite, etc.) but strangely rarely when playing GPU intensive games or running gpu benchmarks. I have done a few things to try to figure out what could be wrong and I think it is the Nvidia GPU but not certain due to the varying behavior. Any thoughts on the possible cause or what I should check next ?

This is what I have done so far and these restarts persist:
1. Reinstalled windows – fresh install with fully updated drivers.
2. Loaded bios defaults, disabled hyper threading, removed all undervolts on CPU, disabled all audio devices, removed peripherals, with monitor, without monitor, etc. changing one variable at the time.
3. Used discrete mode and MS hybrid mode
4. Ran a ram diagnostics test with 10 passes, all good.

What has worked:
1. Running on battery, no restarts during games
2. Running on MS hybrid, then disabling nvidia gpu from device manager. No restarts at all, irrespective of what I am running.

Thanks a lot for your help!

 

Pretty sure your GPU is faulty, warranting a motherboard repair/replacement. Have you already touched base with your reseller?

 

Thanks for your reply. I have not yet talked with the reseller. Sending for RMA, is likely to take 3 to 4 weeks. Wanted to see if I was missing something / if something was fixable at home, before sending.

 

Fortnite is GPU intensive. Did you check your temperatures? I suspect the CPU is out of control.

 

For Fortnite, as soon as the welcome / loading screen is over, laptop restarts....

But I did check the temps when running DOOM, after 30 mins, GPU was about 85C and CPU was in the low 70s. Same as it has been since I had this laptop.

Too high ? Anything there?

 

So you ran afterburner and checked everything?

 

Yes, I did. Its all good. The randomness is what is baffling. When it works, it works flawlessly for hours at a time. Other times, just restarts randomly.

 

Check Windows Reliability Tool for more info.

 

We've seen similar behavior (on different models), and have had to replace the GPU or the board. You might be the exception, but then that makes this all the more difficult to troubleshoot. Considering you've reinstalled Windows & drivers, I'm leaning towards idiosyncratic hardware.

 

I check it once I get home. Did not know there was such a thing. Thx.

 

Damn.
Difficult to troubleshoot part is what I am worried about. What if I request for a repair and the laptop does not show the symptoms that one time...

 

You will need to trust your reseller.

 

If they have your best interest in mind and are willing to help out, maybe they can replace the motherboard even in that situation. If you can catch the problem on video before you send it out, that might help your case.

 

Thanks a lot guys for your help! I will do as you have suggested and put in a repair request.

 

Good luck, if you have any other questions then let us know.

 

Hey OP, any updates? My laptop (same model as yours) are having the same issues as well. Every time I fire up a game, my laptop just shut downs immediately then after a while after many restarts and such, it goes back to normal without restarts. Additionally, mine never boots up normally now as it always boots up with a blank screen and the default blue keyboard. I have to manually restart it via the power button to have a normal boot-up.

 

Usually that would relate to perhaps a poor solder joint in the power circuitry that's ok when it is warmed up.

 

Is it covered by warrantly? My warrantly is two years so it's still active.

 

Is it covered by warrantly? My warrantly is two years so it's still active.

 

Such a failure would be yes, best to get it checked out. Be as detailed as possible on how to reproduce the issue when sending it in.

 

Do I contact y'all or GenTech? Bought my laptop off GenTech.

 

Contact them in the first instance.