spazecake

Honorable
Nov 30, 2014
5
0
10,510
Hi guys,

I'm looking for help on getting an older laptop working. I'm donating this laptop for kids who need devices to do remote learning.

Basically, I have a Lenovo G50-45 Type 80E3. Here are the specs:

CPU: AMD A6-6310 APU with AMD Radeon R4 Graphics 1.80 GHz
RAM: 4 GB (3.46 usable) DDR3 800 GHz
SDD: 480 GB Team Group GX1
BIOS: LENOVO A2CN45WW(v2.13) 8/4/2016
Motherboard: LENOVO Lancer 5b2
Screen resolution: 1366 x 768
https://www.lenovo.com/za/en/laptops/lenovo/g-series/G50-45/p/88LG80G0570

The device is in good shape and I just replaced the HDD for an SSD. However, after installing Windows 10 the device keeps shutting down on me. I don't know why. I've tried to look at the Event Viewer but I haven’t been able to figure out what the root cause of the issue is. This is same issue that was already happening to the device, prior to my intervention. I thought it might just have been a botched Windows installation or incorrect drivers, so I decided to start fresh. Here is what I initially did:

-Clean install Windows 10 (2004 build 19041.630)
-Flash BIOS to latest version available on OEM's website.
-Installed latest drivers for video, sound, network, touchpad, camera, Bluetooth from OEM’s website.

After completing these steps, I left the computer on or 3+ hours to test if the behavior persisted. The computer didn’t shut down. I then tried installing some programs and transferring some files. I had no issue with the installation of the first couple of programs. Then I installed the third one and the machine shut down. It restarted and then I finished installing the same program successfully. Then I tried transferring some random files from an external hard drive. I transferred around 200 GB worth of random files. When the transfer was about half way done it shut down again. When it rebooted I transferred the same files, this time the device shut down almost at the beginning. When it rebooted after that I tried to transfer the files again and this time it transferred everything successfully. I left the laptop on for another 3 hours and nothing happened. I then flipped through some of the wallpaper images on Windows and the device shut down again, after 3 hours of not shutting down on it’s own. I decided to start fresh again.

-Clean install Windows 10 (2004 build 19041.630)
-Used all native Windows drivers.

I decided to go this route, as I thought maybe the drivers from Lenovo were the issue. I tried the same thing I did before. I installed all the same programs, there was no issue. I transferred all the same files, there was no issue. I flipped through images on Windows, there was no issue. I was convinced that I had figured it out. Then I opened Chrome and it launched and I downloaded some stuff but then I opened a new tab (there was only one opened at the time) and it crashed again. When it rebooted, I decided to go to the Event viewer and once I opened it, it also crashed. Then next time it rebooted I was able to take a look at the Event viewer but was not able to figure out what was happening. I let the device on for a few hours whilst I worked on something else and it crashed at some point as when I came back, it was on the sign in screen. At this point I though it might have been a battery issue, so I had made sure that the device never went to sleep or shutdown the screen.

After all of this testing and Googling, I thought it might have been a bad RAM module. So I purchased a new one from Amazon and a few days later started a new test. Here is what I did:

-Reseated OG RAM stick.
-Changed OG RAM stick to 2nd DIMM slot.
-Tried new RAM on 1st DIMM slot.
-Tried new RAM on 2nd DIMM slot.
-Tried both RAM sticks at the same time changing DIMM slots.

In between each change, I tried multiple things to make the device crash. Common things like opening Chrome tabs, flipping through picture, install/uninstall programs, opening system tools, etc. After one, two or a few of these tests, the device crashed. All of these tests have been run with the device connected to the charger. At this point I though I should run some stress tests on the device to see if it is a component failure. So I ran a myriad of stress tests on all core components and the device never shut down while I was running them. As a longshot, even though I had done two clean installations, I tried to “fix” Windows so I did the following:

-Ran sfc commands
-Ran DISM commands
-Clean boot
-In place upgrade
-Used Safe mode
-Used Safe mode with networking (Ethernet)
-Created new Windows user.
-Disabled Windows features (Cortana, issue reporting, tracking, Defender)

Of course, the device still shuts down at what appears to be random triggers. Please note that the programs I installed were O365 (trial), 7Zip, Revo Uninstaller, Chrome and Adobe Acrobat. The device has the same issue whether it is connected or not to a network. Only Windows Defender is installed on the device. My network is unrestricted and there is VPN or Proxy either. At some point, I completely disassembled the device and gave it a thorough cleaning but the problem still occurred. And according to the manufacturer’s website the device is compatible with Windows 10 even though it originally came with Windows 8.1.

I know it’s long but I’m writing over here because I don’t know what else to do. I’ll try to reproduce the issue and collect any logs that are needed. If you have any ideas, let me know.

Thanks.
 
With testing the RAM, a different drive and clean OS, only thing really left is the motherboard is failing. Can happen to systems over time as things flex, heat, expand, contract. Lots of delicate tiny contacts that need to be solid for it to work, if something shifts a fraction of a mm, system goes down.