Recoil 18 not working correctly out the box

[Kain6622]

Just received my new Recoil 18 today, was super excited but on turning it on was slower than I expected, I put it down to the windows setup and updates, got past the setup to the desktop and had a look around... No control centre? But it is listed in the programs list (add remove programs) but no proper icon (maybe corrupt, if you search for it from the startup menu it does not show), I had this same problem with my previous laptop but I thought I would deal with that later. From there I first checked windows update to make sure everything was updated and a few updates still needed to be done so got that going and went to restart, the system is now stuck in the updates are underway screen for over an hour now. PCSpecialist will now be closed for the night and a bit disappointed at this as I said this exact same thing happened with my last laptop, I put that down to me paying for a rush job on the build but this time I chose standard build time so they could make sure it was fine but not the case.

Has anyone else had similar problems after getting a new system and any advice prior to me calling them up tomorrow?

Update:- it eventually restarted and now control center is showing so must of needed a certain update for it to work properly... Patience was never a strong point for me, especially after the problems I had with the last laptop. My apologies for this post.

My specs are as follows:

Chassis & Display
Recoil Series: 18" Matte UHD+ 200Hz DCI-P3 100% LED Widescreen (3840x2400)
Processor (CPU)
Intel® Core™ Ultra 9 24 Core Processor 275HX (Up to 5.4 GHz) 36MB Cache
Memory (RAM)
[96GB Corsair 5600MHz SODIMM DDR5 (2 x 48GB)
Graphics Card
NVIDIA® GeForce® RTX 5090 - 24GB GDDR7 Video RAM - DirectX® 12.2
1st M.2 SSD Drive
2TB SAMSUNG 990 PRO M.2, PCIe 4.0 NVMe (up to 7450MB/R, 6900MB/W)
1st M.2 SSD Drive
4TB SAMSUNG 990 PRO M.2, PCIe 4.0 NVMe (up to 7450MB/R, 6900MB/W)
1st M.2 SSD Drive
4TB SAMSUNG 990 PRO M.2, PCIe 4.0 NVMe (up to 7450MB/R, 6900MB/W)
Memory Card Reader
Integrated SD Memory Card Reader
AC Adaptor
1 x 330W AC Adaptor
Power Cable
1 x 1.5 Metre UK Power Cable (Kettle Lead)
Battery
Recoil Series Integrated 98WH Lithium Ion Battery
Thermal Paste
LIQUID METAL PERFORMANCE COOLING
Sound Card
Nahimic by SteelSeries 2 Channel HD Audio
Wireless Network Card
GIGABIT LAN & WIRELESS INTEL® Tri-Band Wi-Fi 7 BE200 + BT 5.4
USB/Thunderbolt Options
1 x THUNDERBOLT 4 PORT + 3 x USB 3.2 PORTS
Keyboard Language
RECOIL 18 SERIES RGB BACKLIT UK KEYBOARD
Operating System
Windows 11 Professional 64 Bit - inc. Single Licence
Operating System Language
United Kingdom - English Language
Windows Recovery Media
Windows 11 Professional Multi-Language Recovery Image - Supplied on USB Drive
Browser
Google Chrome™
Keyboard & Mouse
INTEGRATED 2 BUTTON TOUCHPAD MOUSE
Webcam
INTEGRATED IR+FHD Hybrid Webcam
Warranty
3 Year Gold Warranty (2 Year Collect & Return, 2 Year Parts, 3 Year Labour)
Dead Pixel Guarantee
1 Year Dead Pixel Guarantee Inc. Labour & Carriage Costs
Delivery
TIMED DELIVERY TO UK MAINLAND - MON-FRI (BEFORE 2PM)
Build Time
Standard Build - Approximately 4 to 6 work

 

[Kain6622]

Unfortunately I am still running into issues with windows update, both updates

2025-04 Cumulative Update for .NET Framework 3.5 and 4.8.1 for Windows 11, version 24H2 for x64 (KB5054979)
2025-04 Cumulative Update for Windows 11 Version 24H2 for x64-based Systems (KB5055523)

seems to fail to install. I have run the troubleshooter (which doesn't help), I tried stopping the update service and deleting the softwaredisbribution folder (renamed it with prefix bkup) and restarting it but again, it downloads the .net update first and get stuck trying to install it and the other update get stuck downloading. My network connection is fine, disk space has plenty. Other than doing a clean install (Which I should not have to do on a brand new system which should already be up-to-date) I'm not sure if there is anything else I can try? Any advice would be appreciated.

further info on the fails to install are as follows:
2025-04 Cumulative Update for .NET Framework 3.5 and 4.8.1 for Windows 11, version 24H2 for x64 (KB5054979) : Failed to install on ‎4/‎10/‎2025 - 0x80240035

2025-04 Cumulative Update for Windows 11 Version 24H2 for x64-based Systems (KB5055523) (2) : Failed to install on ‎4/‎10/‎2025 - 0x8024001e

 

[Paul1964]

Have a chat with PCS. They will help you.

 

[TonyCarter]

I had both of those updates on my PC yesterday, and whilst the .net one installed fine, I took 5 attempts with restarts each time and a final manual WSUS download of the KB5055523 update to get it to install.

The troubleshooter wouldn’t even run for me as it needed to download a tool that it also failed to download 😤

 

[Kain6622]

I Contacted PCSpecialist and did a full clean install, update went fine after and system seems more stable now. Crazy how updates can cause such problems.

 

[SpyderTracks]

I Contacted PCSpecialist and did a full clean install, update went fine after and system seems more stable now. Crazy how updates can cause such problems.

24H2 is a hot mess, it completely broke 2 customers domains, we had to rebuild a but tonne of end user devices back to 23h2

Its fundamentally flawed and still has loads of significant outstanding issues over 6 months after first release.

 

[TonyCarter]

24H2 is a hot mess, it completely broke 2 customers domains, we had to rebuild a but tonne of end user devices back to 23h2

Its fundamentally flawed and still has loads of significant outstanding issues over 6 months after first release.

Looks like in their attempts to force AI into every part of the system, that they forget that every part of the system would be 'infected' by that hot garbage.

Gone are the days of 'fixing' things to make them better - now it's just add more features (Apple is the same, as they used to cycle between feature-adding builds and user-experience builds).

 

[Webster023]

@Kain6622 Would be very interested to know what kind of temperatures you get on the CPU/GPU when you do some demanding gaming, plus how it benchmarks!

Also, do you know what speed your memory is running at on your system? It's not the full 5600MHz is it?

Oh, and enjoy your new laptop, amazing specs!

 

[SpyderTracks]

Looks like in their attempts to force AI into every part of the system, that they forget that every part of the system would be 'infected' by that hot garbage.

Gone are the days of 'fixing' things to make them better - now it's just add more features (Apple is the same, as they used to cycle between feature-adding builds and user-experience builds).

I do fully blame copilot integration for windows but also in Azure, look at the timeline of azure outages related to copilot rollouts and how it’s been since then, it’s an absolute travesty

 

[SpyderTracks]

Looks like in their attempts to force AI into every part of the system, that they forget that every part of the system would be 'infected' by that hot garbage.

Gone are the days of 'fixing' things to make them better - now it's just add more features (Apple is the same, as they used to cycle between feature-adding builds and user-experience builds).

🤣 Went to look at the timeline, you can’t make this up, when one of the biggest IT infrastructure suppliers in the world can’t even keep certificates legit on their security suite portal even though THEY ARE THE ISSUER!!!

https://health.atp.azure.com/en-us/status/history/

 

[Kain6622]

@Kain6622 Would be very interested to know what kind of temperatures you get on the CPU/GPU when you do some demanding gaming, plus how it benchmarks!

Also, do you know what speed your memory is running at on your system? It's not the full 5600MHz is it?

Oh, and enjoy your new laptop, amazing specs!

to your enquiry about the laptop performance, firstly Ram is running about around 5600Mhz, CPU-Z works it out to be around 5586MHz and task manager lists it as 5600 in the performance tab.

Benchmarks lets look, Port royal benchmark result is 14,833, max cpu temp 84c, max GPU temp 67c
Time Spy Extreme 4K is 11,527, , max cpu temp 86c, max GPU temp 69c
(note this is with CPU power max percentage set to 99%, just a safe measure from previous intel cpu's and cooling pad fan set to lowest speed of 300rpm)

demanding gaming performance, not sure what game best suits that as that a subjective matter.
Playing Last of us part 2 on max settings results in the follows temps for CPU = 97,GPU = 72, fps stable around 90fps +-12

I'm sure if I knew which settings to adjust I could squeeze more out of this machine (not overclocking) but I currently lack the knowhow.

 

[Webster023]

to your enquiry about the laptop performance, firstly Ram is running about around 5600Mhz, CPU-Z works it out to be around 5586MHz and task manager lists it as 5600 in the performance tab.

Benchmarks lets look, Port royal benchmark result is 14,833, max cpu temp 84c, max GPU temp 67c
Time Spy Extreme 4K is 11,527, , max cpu temp 86c, max GPU temp 69c
(note this is with CPU power max percentage set to 99%, just a safe measure from previous intel cpu's and cooling fan set to lowest speed of 300rpm)

demanding gaming performance, not sure what game best suits that as that a subjective matter.
Playing Last of us part 2 on max settings results in the follows temps for CPU = 97,GPU = 72, fps stable around 90fps +-12

I'm sure if I knew which settings to adjust I could squeeze more out of this machine (not overclocking) but I currently lack the knowhow.

Thanks for that!

Have you looked into Throttlestop yet? Undervolting the CPU might help with not only getting temps but also squeezing a little bit more performance out.

 

[Kain6622]

Thanks for that!

Have you looked into Throttlestop yet? Undervolting the CPU might help with not only getting temps but also squeezing a little bit more performance out.

I had a look but on trying to open it it tells me CPU not supported (possibly as I've not disabled certain things blocking access to that bios information). Managed to get a slight gain in performance from just setting control centre, power plan and intel control centre to performance mode whilst plugged in and adjusted the fan speed settings so that the fans are always running at a minimum of 20% to allow for constant cooling even when under little load.

 

[james11m]

to your enquiry about the laptop performance, firstly Ram is running about around 5600Mhz, CPU-Z works it out to be around 5586MHz and task manager lists it as 5600 in the performance tab.

Benchmarks lets look, Port royal benchmark result is 14,833, max cpu temp 84c, max GPU temp 67c
Time Spy Extreme 4K is 11,527, , max cpu temp 86c, max GPU temp 69c
(note this is with CPU power max percentage set to 99%, just a safe measure from previous intel cpu's and cooling pad fan set to lowest speed of 300rpm)

demanding gaming performance, not sure what game best suits that as that a subjective matter.
Playing Last of us part 2 on max settings results in the follows temps for CPU = 97,GPU = 72, fps stable around 90fps +-12

I'm sure if I knew which settings to adjust I could squeeze more out of this machine (not overclocking) but I currently lack the knowhow.

It may be different with the PCS recoil compared to Schenker/XMGs 18 inch model, but they (Schenker) today put out a document to confirm things about the ram speeds in the 18inch chassis. In this, they say 5600mhz in 2x48gb caused boot / stress test stability failures and only validate going to 5000mhz. May just be them being extra cautious, but thought it’s worth mentioning.

 

[Webster023]

It may be different with the PCS recoil compared to Schenker/XMGs 18 inch model, but they (Schenker) today put out a document to confirm things about the ram speeds in the 18inch chassis. In this, they say 5600mhz in 2x48gb caused boot / stress test stability failures and only validate going to 5000mhz. May just be them being extra cautious, but thought it’s worth mentioning.

Don't suppose you have a link to that document, would be interested in having a look?

Ignore the above, found it here - https://download.schenker-tech.de/m...25/key-18-pro-e25_memory-guide_2025-04-11.pdf

 

[Kain6622]

It may be different with the PCS recoil compared to Schenker/XMGs 18 inch model, but they (Schenker) today put out a document to confirm things about the ram speeds in the 18inch chassis. In this, they say 5600mhz in 2x48gb caused boot / stress test stability failures and only validate going to 5000mhz. May just be them being extra cautious, but thought it’s worth mentioning.

Funnily enough I have notices a few stability issues (random temporary freezes even in low utilisation like mouse/apps/games stops responding for a few seconds) not often though but had last of us part two randomly close down twice after extended play and system settings set to high performance, Might need to look into running some memory tests to see if the clock speed is the issues but need to find out what tests first as I have never thought that ram speed could cause stability issues before.

 

[SpyderTracks]

Funnily enough I have notices a few stability issues (random temporary freezes even in low utilisation like mouse/apps/games stops responding for a few seconds) not often though but had last of us part two randomly close down twice after extended play and system settings set to high performance, Might need to look into running some memory tests to see if the clock speed is the issues but need to find out what tests first as I have never thought that ram speed could cause stability issues before.

There are still bugs with Nvidia drivers on 5000 and previous cards

 

[james11m]

Funnily enough I have notices a few stability issues (random temporary freezes even in low utilisation like mouse/apps/games stops responding for a few seconds) not often though but had last of us part two randomly close down twice after extended play and system settings set to high performance, Might need to look into running some memory tests to see if the clock speed is the issues but need to find out what tests first as I have never thought that ram speed could cause stability issues before.

If you’re having any issues with such an expensive bit of kit (that laptop spec is no joke hahah) then I would definitely run some tests to make sure you get it running perfectly. Trying different memory speeds to see if you get any more luck sounds like a good start, but as the other guy mentioned there are still a lot of teething problems with the 50xx cards, and new laptops in general, so could be plenty of factors causing instability.

 

[Kain6622]

I have OCCT on my system so I'll run some if the stress tests on that and see if any errors occur, will also see if I can find a crash dump from when the game closed (it gave me the ability to report it so must be a fil with info as to what went wrong)

 

[james11m]

Sounds like a good idea, let us know how you get on!