Still unstable laptop after RMA

J

josejl1987

Member
Hello, I got my laptop back from RMA a few days ago, but issues are still present.
The laptop shuts down suddenly once in a while.

I had to send it because I was provided a BIOS update that completely bricked the laptop, although to be specific, the laptop bricked with EC update.

However, the BIOS version of the replacement motherboard is from February 2023, that seems to predate the BIOS update issued for the RTX 4080/4090 freezes
mentioned here https://www.pcspecialist.co.uk/forums/threads/notice-for-owners-of-the-16-and-17-recoil.92502/

Embedded Controller Version 1.01
BIOS Version/Date American Megatrends International, LLC. N.1.15A04, 2/1/2023




Chassis and Screen
Recoil Series: 16-inch QHD matte widescreen 100% LED display,
240Hz sRGB (2560x1600)

Processor (CPU)
24-core Intel® Core™ i9 13900HX Processor (5.4 GHz Turbo)

Memory (RAM)
64 GB PCS PRO SODIMM DDR5 4800 MHz (2 x 32 GB)

Graphics Card
NVIDIA® GeForce® RTX 4080 - 12.0GB GDDR6 Video RAM - DirectX® 12.1

Laptop Cooling
PCS Liquid Series® Laptop Cooler

1st M.2 SSD Drive
1 TB SAMSUNG 990 PRO M.2, PCIe 4.0 NVMe (up to 7450 MB/s Read, 6900 MB/s Write)

2nd M.2 SSD Drive
2 TB CORSAIR FORCE MP600 NVMe PCIe M.2 SSD (up to 4950 MB/s Read, 4000 MB/s Write)

Memory Card Reader
Integrated SD memory card reader

Power Adapter
1 x 330 W Power Supply

Power Cable
1.5-meter European power cable (C13)

Battery
Integrated 99 Wh Lithium-ion battery, Recoil Series

Thermal Paste
LIQUID METAL PERFORMANCE COOLING

Sound Card
SteelSeries Nahimic High-Definition 2-Channel Audio

Bluetooth & Wireless
GIGABIT LAN AND WIRELESS INTEL® Wi-Fi 6E AX211 (2.4 Gbps) + BT 5.3

USB/Thunderbolt Options
1 THUNDERBOLT 4 PORT + 3 USB 3.2 PORTS

Keyboard Language
SPANISH RGB BACKLIT KEYBOARD, RECOIL 16 SERIES

Operating System
NO OPERATING SYSTEM REQUIRED

Operating System Language
United Kingdom - English

Windows Recovery Media
NO RECOVERY MEDIA REQUIRED

Office Software
FREE 30-day trial of Microsoft 365® (Operating system required)

Antivirus
NO ANTIVIRUS SOFTWARE

Browser
Firefox™

Carrying Case
Wenger/Swissgear iBex 17" Backpack

Mouse
Integrated 2-button touchpad mouse

Webcam
Integrated 1 MP HD Webcam

Warranty
Gold Warranty 3 years (3 years collect and return, 3 years parts, 3 years labor)

Delivery
3-DAY DELIVERY TO SPAIN

Build Time
Standard build - Approximately 4 to 6 working days

Welcome Guide
PCSpecialist Welcome Guide - Spain
 
steaky360

steaky360

Moderator
Moderator
Hey, sorry to hear you're having issues.

Firstly, if you've been through a RMA already and have not done so I'd definitely be giving PCS another call to log the repeated/continued fault, this will help to confirm that your original issue is logged as being present.

I appreciate you'll potentially not want to send it back for another RMA (given I presume from the above you're in Spain so collect/return likely takes a while) but that might be the best solution depending on what the problem/s is/are.

Just so we get a clearer picture here;,
  • What issues were you having originally
  • What happened then (what fault finding did you do, what did you try to correct the issues etc.)
  • What did PCS recommend after you contacted them
  • What did they say they did when they had the laptop with them?
Appreciate thats a lot of info to get out but good to gather the facts first where possible :) there are some very knowledgeable folk here so with the info there's a fair chance someone may be able to help.
 
J

josejl1987

Member
Basically, I was getting these random shutdowns once per day. I did some research on my own, and I saw some reports that Intel 13th series have certain stability issues due to the voltage regulator, and that they released some microcode update to alleviate the issue.
So I contacted the Spanish branch of PCS, and although they told me that the HX series isn't affected by these issues, they gave me a BIOS/EC update.

I followed the instructions, and all I got was a completely bricked laptop after doing the EC update. So I sent it for RMA, and due to holidays, it basically took 3 weeks to get it back, so yeah, I don't want to be without the laptop for that long.
Anyway, when they got the laptop, they confirmed it was bricked, so the motherboard was replaced, and the system booted up just fine.

They did some stress testing, and they found out that the RAM was faulty, so they replaced it, and they did so, some further stress testing overnight, and no issues were found, so they sent it back.

Other than these random shutdowns, the only thing that stands out is that I get some issues (crackling/popping noises) on my USB audio interface, that don't happen with my older laptop. Again, I saw that some people with these Intel processors have similar issues, but it doesn't seem to be that common of an issue.
 
SpyderTracks

SpyderTracks

We love you Ukraine
josejl1987 said:
Other than these random shutdowns, the only thing that stands out is that I get some issues (crackling/popping noises) on my USB audio interface, that don't happen with my older laptop. Again, I saw that some people with these Intel processors have similar issues, but it doesn't seem to be that common of an issue.
Click to expand...
That's likely due to latency, you can confirm with latencymon

Resplendence Software - LatencyMon: suitability checker for real-time audio and other tasks

LatencyMon: suitability checker for real-time audio and other tasks
www.resplendence.com

Latency is very common on Intel 13th and 14th gen due to the issues on the ring bus between e cores and p cores. For most audio use, you'd have to manage the cores and OS to reduce latency which generally means disabling e cores
 
SpyderTracks

SpyderTracks

We love you Ukraine
Just also worth highlighting, I'd be very surprised if this was related to USB issue, latencymon will tell you conclusively, but worth highlighting just in case

Recoil 2023 13th Gen USB Issues

Hi all, Relating to the 2023 Core i9 13th Gen Recoil model, I'm experiencing a USB irregularity and I wanted to start a thread to see if anyone else was having the same problem. Note that this issue was experienced prior to the BIOS update posted here and has not been solved in the update...
www.pcspecialist.co.uk www.pcspecialist.co.uk
 
J

josejl1987

Member
SpyderTracks said:
Just also worth highlighting, I'd be very surprised if this was related to USB issue, latencymon will tell you conclusively, but worth highlighting just in case

Recoil 2023 13th Gen USB Issues

Hi all, Relating to the 2023 Core i9 13th Gen Recoil model, I'm experiencing a USB irregularity and I wanted to start a thread to see if anyone else was having the same problem. Note that this issue was experienced prior to the BIOS update posted here and has not been solved in the update...
www.pcspecialist.co.uk www.pcspecialist.co.uk
Click to expand...
Indeed, just saying because it's the only thing that isn't working perfectly regularly (although it does work fine sometimes, still haven't figured out how). Anyhow, indeed, latencymon shows that there are some spikes.
I did contact Spanish PCS branch meanwhile to let them know as well.
 
J

josejl1987

Member
Still waiting from PCS to answer my email.
I don't have access to the laptop right now, will post the latencymon report later.
I observed something really unsettling though.
SPD hub temperature sensor reads 60ºC on idle, and when putting some workload, I got a 122ºC reading..., is that even possible?
Thermal throttling on processor and GPU are kicking in as they are supposed to.
Also, the Intel PCH temperature reading from HWINFO is always at 108ºC, regardless the workload.



Now the computer is also freezing when idle, I suppose that's caused by the Feb 2023 BIOS.
Edit:
They told me to create another RMA.
 
Last edited:
J

josejl1987

Member
By the way, I have been reading the forum, and I read that Control Center should allow for undervolting in Recoil models. I never had that option. Same with XTU, everything is BIOS locked. Am I missing something?
 
SpyderTracks

SpyderTracks

We love you Ukraine
josejl1987 said:
By the way, I have been reading the forum, and I read that Control Center should allow for undervolting in Recoil models. I never had that option. Same with XTU, everything is BIOS locked. Am I missing something?
Click to expand...
If You’re on an outdated BIOS those options won’t be available
 
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