Octane series locking up while gaming.

[Whatthehell337]

So I have had my octane series laptop from PCS since Feb 2019 now and for a little while I have been experiencing a annoying issue but tonight it has become unusable.

When I am playing a game the laptop will just freeze, no warning no errors it'll just lockup and not let me do anything only way to regain control is to force it to power off (hold powerbutton) and power it back up.

Up in till tonight this issue would only happen once per session and once I had completed the reboot it would be fine almost like once it was at temperature it would be fine, tonight however it is continuous while I am playing ark some times I can get a hr of playtime before it happens other times it happens while joining the server, this issue never comes up when I am not gaming.

Video rendering or 3D modeling and animation do not cause this issue even tho they use just as much system resources. I have also ran the benchmark in intel extreme tuning utility and disabled turbo boost to try and eliminate the issue but this has not worked.

I have tried checking the event monitor and the reliability history and neither of them show anything other than the system not shutting down correctly so I am at a loss for what to try. Any help is appreciated.

Spec:
Chassis & Display
Octane Series: 17.3" Matte 4K LED 60Hz 72% NTSC Widescreen (3840x2160) (No G-Sync)
Processor (CPU)
Intel® Core™ i9 Eight Core Processor i9-9900K (3.6GHz) 16MB Cache
Memory (RAM)
32GB Corsair 2133MHz SODIMM DDR4 (2 x 16GB)
Graphics Card
NVIDIA® GeForce® RTX 2080 - 8.0GB GDDR6 Video RAM - DirectX® 12.1
1st Storage Drive
1TB SEAGATE 7mm SERIAL ATA III 2.5" HARD DRIVE WITH 128MB CACHE (7,200rpm)
1st Storage Drive
1TB SEAGATE 7mm SERIAL ATA III 2.5" HARD DRIVE WITH 128MB CACHE (7,200rpm)
1st M.2 SSD Drive
512GB INTEL® 660p M.2 NVMe PCIe SSD (up to 1500MB/sR | 1000MB/sW)
Memory Card Reader
Integrated 6 in 1 Card Reader (SD /Mini SD/ SDHC / SDXC / MMC / RSMMC)
AC Adaptor
1 x 330W AC Adaptor
Power Cable
1 x 1 Metre UK Power Cable (Kettle Lead)
Battery
Octane Series 8 Cell Lithium Ion Battery (82WH)
Thermal Paste
COOLER MASTER MASTERGEL MAKER THERMAL COMPOUND
Sound Card
Intel 2 Channel High Definition Audio + MIC/Headphone Jack
Wireless Network Card
GIGABIT LAN & KILLER™ WIRELESS-AC 1550 M.2 GAMING 802.11AC + BLUETOOTH 5.0
USB/Thunderbolt Options
4 x USB 3.0 Ports + 2 x USB 3.1 Type C Ports
Keyboard Language
OCTANE SERIES BACKLIT UK KEYBOARD WITH NUMBER PAD
Operating System
Windows 10 Home 64 Bit - inc. Single Licence [KUK-00001]
Operating System Language
United Kingdom - English Language
Windows Recovery Media
Windows 10 Multi-Language Recovery Image - Supplied on USB Drive
Office Software
FREE 30 Day Trial of Microsoft 365® (Operating System Required)
Anti-Virus
NO ANTI-VIRUS SOFTWARE
Browser
Google Chrome™
Keyboard & Mouse
INTEGRATED 2 BUTTON TOUCHPAD MOUSE
Webcam
INTEGRATED 2.0 MP FULL HD WEBCAM
Warranty
3 Year Silver Warranty (1 Year Collect & Return, 1 Year Parts, 3 Year Labour)
Delivery
STANDARD INSURED DELIVERY TO UK MAINLAND (MON-FRI)
Build Time
FAST TRACK 3 WORKING DAY DISPATCH
Promotional Item
Get Just Cause 4, PUBG & More w/ select Intel CPUs!
Welcome Book
PCSpecialist Welcome Book - United Kingdom & Republic of Ireland

 

[DarkPaladin]

I have the same laptop with a very similar build to you. I had an issue about 2 months ago that constantly resulted in my laptop freezing, also requiring the power button to be used to switch off the laptop. To fix my issue, I followed the advice of long-term forum members who recommended I reinstall Windows 10 using the Windows Creation Tool. Before doing that however, I would potentially look trying one of the following:

• Download either HWMonitor or HWInfo and check your temperatures. It could be an overheating issue. If this is the case, consider cleaning out the laptop and doing a re-paste (especially if you bought it in 2019)
• It could be a driver issue. It might be worth using DDU to fully remove your graphics card drivers, then downloading the latest drivers directly from NVIDIA's website
• Check task manager to see if there's any applications or programmes running in the background before your laptop crashes
• (Last resort) Use Windows Media Creation Tool to install Windows 10 from a USB, then let Windows download and update your system automatically

Hope one of these helps you out!

 

[Whatthehell337]

Thanks for the advice, I will work my way through them testing as I go along, the difficult part is sometimes I can go hours before this happens other times its literally minutes, I have already ordered some thermal compound for a repaste so will get that done this weekend.

 

[Whatthehell337]

Not sure if this will help uncover the issue but when turning the graphics settings down from 4k max to 720p low the issue stopped. So guessing this is a graphics issue have updated drivers which did not solve, will try repasting and see what difference that makes.

 

[DarkPaladin]

Not sure if this will help uncover the issue but when turning the graphics settings down from 4k max to 720p low the issue stopped. So guessing this is a graphics issue have updated drivers which did not solve, will try repasting and see what difference that makes.

Does this only happen on Ark? I forgot to ask that in the initial response. I figured it might be worth asking since other applications using your GPU don't have the crashing error. Sometimes drivers cause issues for certain games (e.g. Gears of War 4 notoriously suffered crashing issues for years on NVIDIA GPU's after a driver update) which requires you to either roll back to previous drivers etc.

Also, because you're using 4K graphics, I imagine it might actually just be a thermal issue. Rendering games at 4K takes its toll on your GPU, resulting in higher temperatures. Since the issue doesn't happen in 720p, it's less demanding on the GPU and thus lower temperatures.

I'd definitely consider opening up the laptop and doing a repaste if you haven't already. I'd be happy to write up a step-by-step guide on cleaning the inside of your laptop since I've just done that again myself today and have seen massive improvements to my temperatures.

 

[Whatthehell337]

Does this only happen on Ark? I forgot to ask that in the initial response. I figured it might be worth asking since other applications using your GPU don't have the crashing error. Sometimes drivers cause issues for certain games (e.g. Gears of War 4 notoriously suffered crashing issues for years on NVIDIA GPU's after a driver update) which requires you to either roll back to previous drivers etc.

Hi,

No this issue is present in every game including the last release of cod, rimworld, ark and a handful of other titles but it is most common on ark I don't know why. Sadly didn't have time to repaste on the weekend so hoping to find a bit of downtime in work tomorrow to do it 🤞. Do you know of any programs that record things like temps and save them to a file in real time so I can look after crashing? Trouble with hwinfo is after the crash I can't see what the situation was in the buildup to it as I never know when it's coming.

 

[DarkPaladin]

Not sure about any applications that can do that in real-time. It might be worth running a game in Window mode so you can monitor the temps yourself in real-time without having to keep minimising it

 

[Whatthehell337]

Not sure about any applications that can do that in real-time. It might be worth running a game in Window mode so you can monitor the temps yourself in real-time without having to keep minimising it

I know you said you had to restore your laptop to fix the issue, did this actually solve the problem when you done it? Will have to consider it as a last resort is repasting does not work

 

[DarkPaladin]

I know you said you had to restore your laptop to fix the issue, did this actually solve the problem when you done it? Will have to consider it as a last resort is repasting does not work

Yes. My laptop suddenly (and without any indication of having issues) randomly started to freeze frequently, stutter in games, and sometimes just outright crash. After following the advice of a few experienced forum members, it was suggested to completely re-install Windows 10 from a USB using Windows Media Creation Tool: https://www.microsoft.com/en-gb/software-download/windows10

I (like yourself) only resorted to doing this after all other attempts to fix the issue didn't work. It would also be recommended to buy an external hard drive and back up your files before doing any of this: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Seagate-Ex...955548&sprefix=seagate+ex,aps,165&sr=8-3&th=1

I also wrote down the main applications and usernames + passwords before doing any of this so I knew what to install after Windows automatically downloaded the updates for me.

 

[Whatthehell337]

Yes. My laptop suddenly (and without any indication of having issues) randomly started to freeze frequently, stutter in games, and sometimes just outright crash. After following the advice of a few experienced forum members, it was suggested to completely re-install Windows 10 from a USB using Windows Media Creation Tool: https://www.microsoft.com/en-gb/software-download/windows10

I (like yourself) only resorted to doing this after all other attempts to fix the issue didn't work. It would also be recommended to buy an external hard drive and back up your files before doing any of this: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Seagate-Expansion-Portable-PlayStation-STGX1000400/dp/B07DQ91XNK/ref=sr_1_3?crid=3TSBB60NF6Z1F&dchild=1&keywords=seagate+external+hardrive&qid=1613955548&sprefix=seagate+ex,aps,165&sr=8-3&th=1

I also wrote down the main applications and usernames + passwords before doing any of this so I knew what to install after Windows automatically downloaded the updates for me.

Okay thankyou, if the issue persists then I will have to try this.
I have a backup server running so files are not an issue. Should I also wipe every non Windows drive while doing this? Redownloading 1.5tb of games would be rather painful but if reccomended I will have to.

 

[Stephen M]

Just a clean install on the Windows drive is fine, you do not need to worry about other drives.

 

[Macco26]

Consider repasting both CPU and GPU and verify proper cooling of its VRMs.
I had my old Clevo died due to thermal degradation of its VRMs.

 

[Whatthehell337]

Consider repasting both CPU and GPU and verify proper cooling of its VRMs.
I had my old Clevo died due to thermal degradation of its VRMs.

How would I know for sure if the VRMs are getting cooled properly? Very close to taking a hot knife to the chassis and putting a noctua fan in 😂

 

[Macco26]

Eh, it's hard to tell. My Clevo died 4 times due to GPU VRM degradation (all GPU was on MXM module, easy swappabale at the least). When they die, high voltage passes to the GPU die, killing it entirely.
You should check if VRMs are padded or thermal pasted as the rest of the high temperature parts. It's not easy to tell.
I've never done anything like that, but if I were you (aka a laptop still functioning owner) my best bet would be:
- buy another thermal paste (MX-4 for example)
- open the chassis and unscrew the heatpipe block
- check if VRMs are covered by pads (if yes, in which condition, do they touch the heat pipes, need replacements? take dimensions and buy them and replace)
- check if VRMs are covered istead with thermal paste as like CPU and GPU. If yes apply to them as well as per the following paragraph
- apply thermal paste to GPU / CPU (+ VRMs if applicable) and screw back the heatpipes.

How to apply thermal paste? Google or search on YouTube for it.
You might save a laptop to the end mine had prematurely.

 

[Whatthehell337]

So I haven't got around to reapplying thermal paste yet but iv cleaned out all dudt. After this I managed to get a 6hour session in but when I checked hwinfo afterwards my cpu temps maxed out at 101 on 3 cores and atleast 99 on every other core. The gpu only hit 80 tho so that's good news I guess, will hopefully remember to pack the alcohol to repaste tomorrow forgot it 2 nights in a row now 😣.

Any other suggestions to try? Do higher performance fans exist that would work in this chassis? Noise is of no concern to me as I wear a headset anyway.

Thankyou for all the advice already given.

 

[SpyderTracks]

So I haven't got around to reapplying thermal paste yet but iv cleaned out all dudt. After this I managed to get a 6hour session in but when I checked hwinfo afterwards my cpu temps maxed out at 101 on 3 cores and atleast 99 on every other core. The gpu only hit 80 tho so that's good news I guess, will hopefully remember to pack the alcohol to repaste tomorrow forgot it 2 nights in a row now 😣.

Any other suggestions to try? Do higher performance fans exist that would work in this chassis? Noise is of no concern to me as I wear a headset anyway.

Thankyou for all the advice already given.

It's definitely a paste issue.

Laptops aren't the same as desktops, the fans are particular to the chassis, they're not modular.

 

[DarkPaladin]

So I haven't got around to reapplying thermal paste yet but iv cleaned out all dudt. After this I managed to get a 6hour session in but when I checked hwinfo afterwards my cpu temps maxed out at 101 on 3 cores and atleast 99 on every other core. The gpu only hit 80 tho so that's good news I guess, will hopefully remember to pack the alcohol to repaste tomorrow forgot it 2 nights in a row now 😣.

Any other suggestions to try? Do higher performance fans exist that would work in this chassis? Noise is of no concern to me as I wear a headset anyway.

Thankyou for all the advice already given.

Agreed with Spyder. The paste on the CPU has likely dried out over time, resulting in crazy hot temperatures.

I'd recommend using these to remove the paste: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Arctic-Silver-ArctiClean-Material-Purifier/dp/B000BKP306/ref=sr_1_3?crid=84UWFFLBLW7O&dchild=1&keywords=thermal+paste+remover&qid=1614177046&sprefix=thermal+paste+remo,aps,295&sr=8-3

You use the thermal paste remover (2 drops ideally), leave it for about 30 seconds, then wipe off all the thermal paste from the components. Then you'd apply the purifier and repeat the same process.

As for thermal paste, I'd personally recommend either Thermal Grizzly Kyronaut or Noctua NT-H2. Both pastes are fantastic but have their pros and cons.

Thermal Grizzly Kyronaut:

• Arguably the best thermal paste on the market
• Can be expensive
• Primarily used in desktops
• Can dry out the paste if temps exceed 80 degrees (requiring another repaste)
• Keeps temps low all the time
• Can be difficult to spread the paste

Noctua NT-H2:

• Spreads very well
• Easy to apply
• Keeps temps low but slightly less effective than Kyronaut
• Can be difficult to purchase at the moment due to high demand
• Doesn't dry out as easily, meaning the paste will last longer in your laptop

Edit: Another point to make is that the Octane has a shared heatsink across the CPU + GPU. While this means the temperatures get spread across the other pipes if one component gets too hot, it unfortunately means that you'll have to repaste both components every time you take off the heatsink.

 

[Stephen M]

Good points. At least the size and lay out of the Octane make repasting quite simple.

Not sure how much difference this makes but was advised ages ago to give the heatsink a good clean as well as bits of dust and stuff on it can reduce its effect. I use an alcohol wipe and that works well, although have a good free supply of those as they come with my self injection medication.

 

[Whatthehell337]

So iv disassembled the laptop properly now about to redo the thermal compound, sadly its using thermal pads on all the little chips. I will measure these up now for sizes but can anyone reccomend a good brand to replace them with?

Also on the fan topic I'm am going to attempt to model up the shroud used and purchase a better fan to replace these with all I gotta do is figure out how many amps the connector they are connected to is rated for, if I am successful I will share the stl file for others to use.

Thankyou

 

[Whatthehell337]

So quick update,

Repasting is complete - Ran Prime95 and Furmark stress tests for half hr and temperatures averaged out much better around the mid 70s on CPU and just shy of 80 on the GPU.

Once I have decided on a brand of thermal pad I will order some up and change these as well, once these arrive I will take plenty of photos and make a short guide on how to carry out this procedure for anyone searching the forums with a similar problem.

Now its time to start playing a few games and see if it is stable.

On a side note I noticed nothing is soldered does this mean that in theory parts are replaceable if someone was to manufacture say a updated GPU? Wouldn't mind me a 3090 .

In all seriousness tho the port the GPU is going into, is this an adapted x16 slot which could potentially be used for another better GPU say in an external enclosure?