Sager np9873 / Clevo 9870 Hard shut down

Hi all, just sent my clevo 9870 into service, I’ve noticed a few people have had this issue where the laptop just shuts off whilst gaming.

Obviously this has been happening to me, 2 months ago, I’ve sent it back for RMA and the technician mentioned it’s due to their previous service where they put “too little”
thermal paste (Grizzly Kyronaut or something ) hence it was due to heat issue that the laptop shuts off.

Fast forward 2 months after, this problem just happened again and I’ve just sent it for another RMA session, wonder what reason will they give now. Laptop is 1 years of age.

Using GTX1080 , i7-7700 ( Non K )

Funny thing is every time this happens, the PSU / charger’s light turn off, the laptop hard shuts down without any loading screen etc. The charger’s light will only go up and actually charge is once I plug in and out of the socket.

Anyone got any idea why? MOBO issue ? I’m just very bothered by this and patience running thin cuz it’s my working and gaming set up as I move around a lot.

Thanks !

 

The thermal paste explanation was a load of crap and incompetence by the techs who tested it. Even if you have zero thermal paste heat conduction will still be good enough for the CPU to throttle and avoid shutdown.

What you have is a sign of a short circuit. I assume you have the battery plugged in and it does not just switch to battery? If it was just a PSU issue it would just switch to battery.

If the PSU had a mild overcurrent situation it turns off, then back on after about 5s. Only if there is a major short will it turn off, and not turn back on until it's unplugged and replugged.

Have you ever disassembled the laptop or done any modification? I have found that on reassembly it is not uncommon for me to do something stupid that results in a short.

If the above is not the case then it sounds like you have a motherboard or GPU issue that is causing the short.

 

Hi Khenglish,

Agree on the incompetence part, hence I’m going to see what they have to say about the Diagnosis, if it’s heat again I will just let them have a piece of my mind, because various research that ive been doing, its’s all down to either PSU issue or board issue. You can check our the brand of the reseller here, it’s quite a well known brand in Malaysia, which is where I’m located currently, (Illegear.com)

Yes I’ve not dissembled anything per se, I just took out the bottom cover to blow some dust out of my fan and vents that’s all....

By any chance, might there an issue with my socket ? But other stuff that are plugged in it’s fine. Even as we speak, my laptop charger is plugged in and the light has been on the whole time, so I think it might be the board issue. MOBO perhaps ?

Also to add on, before my first RMA, when it first happened, before I went to bed, my laptop which is already shut off from then hard shut off, was still plugged into the laptop, light was on, I woke up the next day, the light was off.....it even happens when the laptop is shut down....which I thought might be PSU issue, and I bought a replacement PSU after my RMA and the thermal replacement service.

And now it happens again. Such a headache.

Edit : forgot to mention, there’s one time before my first RMA, during the period of the hard shut down, I was playing Tomb Raider and the screen just goes crazy, all the pixels turned to pink, rainbow and stuff. They mention it’s the heat issue, hence the thermal reapplication. Also I just recalled, before the first RMA, a month ago just sent my laptop back for my annual cleaning and service LOL! What an Effing joke

 

Yeah I just immediately void all my warranties and do my own debugging and repair. Sending parts in is a headache.

It's strange that the shutdowns are intermittent. It also makes it harder to debug.

The inconsistance of it makes me think you have a screw or some other piece of metal rattling around inside causing a short. Cables like the eDP cable are also electrically conductive and can cause a short, so if that is not properly in its track you can have a problem.

Additionally, if you could I would try a different graphics card. That and the motherboard are the two components most prone to failure and short issues.

This is about all I can say without personally seeing the system.

 

I like how you mention about the screws, yes the night that it happened for the second time, there was a screw that came out and got into the boards, I can’t get it out, also it was the night that I upgraded my HDD, the HDD bay’s scree are all there but there’s one screw of the internal chasis that some how came out, so I hope it is that which caused the issue ? Fingers crossed, assuming that’s the culprit that caused the short, does it have any damage to my mobo? It shuts down twice and then I completely plug out my laptop afterwards till the next day when I sent it for service immediately.

 

If it can turn back on after then there is no damage.

Your main concern is if you directly short out a high voltage ceramic cap. This will make the cap die and the system will be permanently shorted until the cap is removed. There are many of these caps on the board, and you'll never find which cap it is unless the screw is still touching it.

 

I would monitor die temps of the CPU/GPU. Next suspect if they look normal is the VRM.

 

Absolutely VRM maybe the problem last days I had a similar problem. My GPU was overheating and shutting down after opening a game in 5 seconds. Then I realized I put two thermal pad on GPU VRM and it is twisted and not touching with heatsink. I removed one and I pressured on VRM when screwing heatsink. It worked. If you hear a voice like beeap and dark screen then it is VRAM overheating you can change your thermal pads and make sure the contact is good with heatsink, this is important.

 

Check the temps first to get an idea of what is going on though.

 

No form of overheating will cause the issue you are having. Overheating will never cause the PSU to turn off.

Like DM_g had at worst a GPU overheat will cause the GPU to power down and a black screen, but the system will remain on. Any kind of CPU power FET overheat (there is a sensor for this) will just result in turbo boost being enabled and disabled every few seconds while the CPU is under load. VRMs never overheat. Only their associated power FETs do.

You have a short. You need to find and remove your loose screws no matter how much disassembly is required.

 

I can not agree with that. Overheating can cause short circuit, because MOSFETs in VRM are in half-bridge configuration - they directly connect supply rails. With rising temperature, threshold voltage of MOSFET falls lower and lower, which can lead to false switch opening and cause shot through.
Can you tell me what PWM controller drives VRM on current Clevo cards?

My GTX1070 under full load reaches 135°C on its VRM, when core sits around 73°C. And it has the most solid VRM i've ever seen.

 

135? What card do you have?

 

Hi everyone,

Really loving the engagement and I really appreciate eveyone’s 2 cents. I’m awaiting for the technician to get back to me.

Currently both the VRAM and Loose screw short circuit kinda did play their part in this issue.

As what DM_g mentioned the technical team also mentioned it might be the VRAM overheating, since the thermal pad has dried off and they’ve recplaced it with fresh ones.

And the loose screw was also found to be lodged in between the boards since the chasis is kinda packed.

They are currently stress testing it, but so far so good. Will post an update ones I get it back, should be today and have a round of R6 Siege on it.

Thanks guys and gals, if there is, loving the engagement so far, keep the thoughts coming!

 

Also how do I check the PWM controllers ? Sorry I’m not that versed in electronical parts, can it be checked thru software or ?

 

You would have to physically look at the chips.

 

MSI GTX1070, from Vortex, with cooling for GTX980M. Some measurements (not under full load) on the photos.

You can't determine if this exactly behavior causes your problems without measuring equipment. I am lucky that the company I work for has Flir One - it gave me a new look at a few issues.

 

Hi everyone,

Just an update, has been quite sometime since I collected my laptop from service. Everything is fine now, thermals are normal, nothing wrong for now, perhaps the VRM thermal pad and the removal of the loose screw, either 1 seems to have fixed the issue. I hope anyone who have this issue now or the future could benefit a little from this thread, will update if there's any problem. But so far so good.

 

Plus that's case temp, that likely could have a better fit.

 

It was same, VRM overheating main problem I guess if it is happen again
pressure to the VRM area when screwing heatsink that is the key.
Also you can check power limit in msi after burner rts.

 

I always put pressure on any laptop heatsink and screwing it down.