[SOLVED] Laptop not getting enough power

[OFA_Wolffe]

Hello everyone


I've had a Gigabyte Aero 14 (with the i7 8750h and the 1050ti) for a year and a half and I've been quite happy with it.

However, for the past 2 days I've been experiencing big frame drops in games (down to 10-15 fps instead of 60-70), after some investigation it seems to be caused by the CPU alternating between the usual 3.6/3.7GHz and the minimum 0.7Ghz. At first I thought my CPU was faulty but it looks more like a power problem as in CPUID I can see the battery going down to 99% during the frame drop then going up again to 100% and then the CPU going back to normal speeds.

I don't know much about the science of electricity (never really understood that ^^') but maybe it has something to do with the voltage as CPUID is displaying around 16.8v as current voltage while the power brick is supposed to deliver 19.5v. I tried plugging it in another outlet but it doesn't solve the problem.

Also, when I'm setting the power mode to "normal" instead of "performance", the CPU is locked at 2.7GHz but is stable. I found it to be a good solution on less demanding games but it really is a problem for more CPU intense games.

I remember having a similar problem last summer (I think, but maybe it was something different) and it resolved by itself so I believe it may be a software problem but who knows.



Anyway, thanks for reading, I hope someone will be able to help me

 

[onespeedbiker]

It sounds like the laptop is dropping down the voltage trying to charge a battery which could be failing. Have you tried running the laptop without the battery? Either that or the power supply could also be failing. Does the power supply get too hot to touch?

Edit. With further thought it more likely your power supply is overheating/failing.

 

[OFA_Wolffe]

It sounds like the laptop is dropping down the voltage trying to charge a battery which could be failing. Have you tried running the laptop without the battery? Either that or the power supply could also be failing. Does the power supply get too hot to touch?

Edit. With further thought it more likely your power supply is overheating/failing.

Thanks for your reply !!

I don't have the screwdrivers to open the laptop, I'll try to find the right ones.
Maybe it could be the power supply, it was nearly always plugged in since I have this computer so maybe it is damaged but I don't understand why it happened so suddenly.

I have seen some post where they advise on reinstalling "microsoft acpi compliant control method battery", is it safe to do?

 

[onespeedbiker]

You will not damage your PC reinstalling "microsoft acpi compliant control method battery \" driver. What is possible is the AC adapter voltage is dropping and the battery is making up the difference, so when the battery is charging, the voltage to the CPU drops. Put a volt meter on the AC adapter, you may have to run your computer until the AC Adapter heats up to get an accurate reading. As a stop gap, if heat of the AC adapter is the issue, you could sit it on top a laptop cooler or direct a small fan to blow over it.

 

[OFA_Wolffe]

It may be a voltage drop as I saw in CPUID the current voltage going down to 15.7v when the clock speed dropped.

I'll try to find a voltmeter too.

I tried to run a game with my AC Adapter lying on my laptop cooler, it didn't get that hot but it still dropped.

 

[onespeedbiker]

Yes, it does sound like your AC adapter is going bad. As far as happening so quickly, that is the nature of solid state devices, they don't slowly wear out, instead they work until they fail.

 

[OFA_Wolffe]

I'll try to go to an IT store in the coming days and borrow them another AC adapter, I'll come back to you to give you the results