Question Laptop randomly reboots

[arcreng435]

I'm sorry if this is the wrong subforum for this, since I think it's a hardware problem, but to me it looks like the tech support one.
I have an Acer Aspire 7(NH.QBFET.002) that randomly reboots. In the Event Viewer an event with ID 41 shows up every time it happens, sometimes with Bugcheck code 159 and sometimes 0.
I initially had Windows 10, did a clean install after some time and another clean install to get Windows 11, but nothing changed. It can be fine for a month or more, or it can happen twice a day. I don't know if it's been like this since I bought it because at first I didn't put too much focus on the fact that I had to login again. I know I'm dumb. The laptop is now a bit more than an year old and probably did this for the majority of its life. After a week of usage I added a stick of RAM, disconnecting the battery before doing so. I'm 100% sure that it happens when plugged in, but I'm not sure if it happens when on battery, since I usually use it plugged in. Should I check anything or just remove the new RAM stick and RMA it? Any tips for troubleshooting?

 

[Lutfij]

Welcome to the forums, newcomer!

Did you check and see if your laptop has any BIOS updates pending? Also, where did you source the installers for both OSes?

I added a stick of RAM
Are you working with identical sticks of ram or are you mixing and matching?

 

[arcreng435]

Thank you for the welcome!
I checked and it seems that there are BIOS updates, one of which mentions stability improvements. Should I install this one?
I sourced the installers from the Microsoft website. For the ram, I bought a Crucial stick with matching frequency and memory size from Amazon.

 

[arcreng435]

Are there maybe any tests that I can run to understand if the ram is the problem?
Edit: I don't know if it's related, but I noticed that in the settings app I have the usual 3 levels of power management, while in the control panel I can choose between Acer(that has 0% minimum cpu power, but keep in mind that the laptop rebooted even while gaming) and Balanced. Is that normal?
Edit2: for now I updated the BIOS to the 1.04 version that should introduce stability improvements. I found out about memtest86(though I'm not sure whether it can be of any use in my case) and I will update this edit once I run it.
Another edit: still didn't run memtest but I got an error on the event viewer when I turned on the laptop. I suppose that something happened during the normal shutdown this night.

Passed memtest, for whatever it's worth.

 

[arcreng435]

Ok, so I read the rules and I know that I'm not supposed to bump but I've got an update, so I think that it's fine, right? It's been a week or so since I updated the bios and the laptop just rebooted while I was browsing with Firefox. I was wondering if it's possible that I didn't reconnect the battery properly even if it appears to be fully working.

 

[Lutfij]

I was wondering if it's possible that I didn't reconnect the battery properly even if it appears to be fully working.
Power down the laptop(after disconnecting from the wall) and then inspect the connection from the battery to your laptop's motherboard.

Does the issue crop up with any other browser?

I checked and it seems that there are BIOS updates, one of which mentions stability improvements. Should I install this one?
You're advised to gradually work your way to the latest version.

For the ram, I bought a Crucial stick with matching frequency and memory size from Amazon.
Are you mixing and matching rams? Pass on a link to the rams you're working with.

 

[arcreng435]

Ok, I will unplug the battery and plug it in again, I guess. Is there something that I should know in order to do it right?

The issue happens even while not using the browser.

For the BIOS, I checked on the Acer forums and the consensus seems to be that the updates are cumulative. I updated to v1.04 because the newer ones seem to just introduce things that I don't need. Is it possible that something is not mentioned? Should I try regardless? There is a brand new version that mentions support for Windows SV2, but the issue happened even with Windows 10. Here is a list of the BIOS versions

This is the stick that I added on Amazon.
This one is the stick that was already installed according to Speccy.

 

[Lutfij]

If there's a BIOS update and there's nothing adverse found about them across the www, then I'd update to the latest.

As for your ram, remove the Crucial stick of memory and see if the issue persists, likewise, if the issue does come back, replace the SK Hynix stick of ram with the Crucial stick of ram. If you were going for a ram upgrade you should've looked into a 2x8GB ram kit, that came matched from the factory. Anomalies mentioned in your thread can happen with bad ram or even the mixing of different brands of ram.

You should treat ram upgrades like you would with a pair of shoes. You can wear two different sized shoes on both your feet but all it'll do is make you look awkward.

 

[arcreng435]

Update. I tried both sticks of RAM on their own, and after some time the laptop crashed with both. Is there anything else that I can do to troubleshoot? If I decide to send it to RMA, is it a problem if I do a factory reset first? Do they need to see events or something to check that the problem exists?

 

[Lutfij]

While you're able to get into the OS GUI, I'd suggest that you backup your data if possible before sending it out for an RMA. So you didn't update the BIOS on your laptop to the latest version?

 

[arcreng435]

I did update the BIOS and the problem persists. I guess that I will just perform a factory reset and send it, unless there is an easy way to check whether the power brick is the problem.