This has not been my week.

Fawkon

Active member
Some of you may have read my post about my 10 month old Vortex 3 Battery dying on me. Well now I wake up today and try to use my laptop only to hear a weird beeping sound. I log on and find my second hard drive isn't recognised in my computer or the bios. From what I'm reading online this = dead hard drive...

So here it is from start to finish.

Bought the laptop in November:
-From the get go the performance of the two graphics cards was ridiculously poor. (Not PCs's fault this was due to terrible driver support).
-The heat from both my graphics card and my CPU have been bad from day one. After 3 CPU repastes and 2 Gfx Card repastes I regularly see my CPU temp hit 103oC and just yesterday saw one of my 7970m cards hit 101oC.
-One of the screws holding in the heatsink for graphics card two was stripped upon opening the laptop to attempt a repaste on it meaning I haven't been able to get at it at all since buying the Laptop.
-This week I turn on the laptop to be told by windows that I need to replace my battery, it now only charges as far as 74% and the second I disconnect the power cable it switches off even with 74% indicated remaining.
-Today I start the laptop only to hear a faint beeping sound that I initially thought was coming from outside my window. Turns out my second 750GB Hybrid drive is not longer recognised and would seem to be dead.

Up until last week I had decided to put up with the temperatures, I had hoped that it wouldn't be too detrimental to my laptops longevity. But now I am seriously regretting not sending it back after week one as I have a strong suspicion the heat dissipation from the bottom of the laptop has helped to kill my laptop battery and my hard drive.

Yes, I have contacted PCS about these issues in the past with very little useful information. I honestly wished someone in technical support had advised me to RMA it and let them sort it out but I'm guessing that wouldn't be encouraged on their part due to costs incurred by them.

"Dear PC Specialist

I would like to direct your attention to this thread

https://www.pcspecialist.co.uk/forums/showthread.php?21557-Big-difference-between-Crossfired-temps.

Basically there is a 20 Degree difference between the two GPU's and I am also concerned about one of them reaching 96 Degrees while gaming. Could you give me any info on what I can do to rectify this and if temperatures that high are safe for the laptop? I understand you guys are i'm sure quite busy at this time of year so would it be possible for me to do any work on the laptop myself?

Kind Regards

Ronan"


Response:

"Dear Ronan

Normally during crossfire one of the GPU's is much higher than the other, as it is being used a lot more.

96 degrees is a lot higher than we would expect however, and it may be worth checking the idle temps when the GPU is not being used?

If we can assist you any further, please do not hesitate to contact us.

Many Thanks"


All in all 5 messages were sent by myself between November and February of this year in relation the heat issues from my laptop with my last message not even getting a response. It was at that time that I had given up and just presumed that they didn't feel it was a serious issue and I resigned myself to believing that the Laptop would run as expected for years to come with few problems.

This Laptop has broken my spirit to be honest, I had read so much fantastic things about PCS on this forums and had saved long and hard to purchase a portable gaming machine that would last me a long time. I have recently moved to Brazil which puts me about as far away RE: sending things back as possible, making it all the more likely that I have paid 2000 euro for an item which is slowly becoming a door stop.

Many of you who have made it this far will advise : Contact PCS. And say what? My battery isn't covered by warranty so they won't do anything about that. They replace the hard drive and then what? It burns out in another few months again from the heat.

Sorry if this is more of a rant than a question but I really have no idea where to go from here.
 

vanthus

Member Resting in Peace
Well,I'm going to advise you to contact PCS again,I'm sure they will arrange an RMA if they can't sort it out over the phone.
 

ubuysa

The BSOD Doctor
I've just skimmed through the other thread you linked to and I didn't see anywhere in there, or here, about whether you use a fan-assisted cooling pad? How you use the laptop has a big impact on the cooling. Using it on your lap or on soft or fluffy surfaces blocks the vents, wood and hard plastic desks hold their heat which reduces the cooling ability, and lots of stuff around the laptop blocks the smooth flow of air. A fan-assisted cooling pad solves all of these problems, and you don't need a terribly expensive one either. Mine is aluminium (it dissipates heat better than plastic) with 3 small fans in it. Currently on Crete it's still peaking at 35deg C during the day, yet none of my temperatures exceed 70deg C even when working the laptop hard (I don't game).

Apologies if you know this stuff already but overheating on a laptop is often a positive feedback loop, the hotter the laptop gets the hotter the cooling air around it becomes and the less effective the cooling, so it keeps getting hotter. You may well have a paste problem or even a GPU problem, but you need to be sure you're providing the best cooling environment you can.

:)
 

keynes

Multiverse Poster
I have recently moved to Brazil which puts me about as far away RE: sending things back as possible,
That is unlucky. I didn't think the battery will not be covered by the warranty, good to know. Arranging an RMA will take weeks if you are still in Brazil as well as incurring more expenses with the shipping cost. For the meantime if I were you I will try to get a battery from a local clevo reseller.
 

Fawkon

Active member
I bought a Zalmac (sp?) cooling pad along with the laptop which did very little to reduce the heat output of the laptop. My laptop averages 50-60 degree even when not in use and goes as high as 105 when under hard use. Trust me I have tried everything to reduce has worked. And in my opinion this heat has now caused both a battery failure and a hard drive failure.
 
Top