Vyper stops charging under heavy load

[StevenSmith842]

Hi all,

I have submitted a technical support request, but I wondered if anyone else had seen this behaviour.

I have been using my Vyper laptop to run Meshroom, a photogrammetry application, which is causing heavy CPU and GPU load (expected behaviour for the task). However, when the CPU and GPU load has been high for a period and the temperature rises, because the fans can't get rid of the heat quick enough even with a laptop tray with fans in (probably not a huge help though), the laptop disconnects from charging. This means the battery begin to drain and the laptop switches off, I can unplug the power supply and plug it back in, it will be immediately recognised charge for a period and then disconnect again. This means my task is failing.

Has anyone else seen this behaviour? Even if you haven't do you know of anything I can do to stop it from disconnecting the charge? I don't mind CPU and GPU throttling (I get this is a lot of processing in a compact device, so heat is inevitable) in order to prolong the life of the device.

Regards,
Steven

 

[ubuysa]

Can you post the full spec from your order please, especially the power rating of the charger.

One would hope that the charger is rated high enough to power the laptop at full load with all fans running and still be able to charge the battery from near flat. It would seem that it's not however? Perhaps it's designed (like a lot of kit these days) for the average expected usage pattern and not necessarily the absolute full possible load?

A call to PCS would be your best option. They can tell you whether the charger should be able to cope or whether you have a faulty or flaky charger....

 

[Whirly123]

And do please report back on what they tell you.

 

[StevenSmith842]

Can you post the full spec from your order please, especially the power rating of the charger.

One would hope that the charger is rated high enough to power the laptop at full load with all fans running and still be able to charge the battery from near flat. It would seem that it's not however? Perhaps it's designed (like a lot of kit these days) for the average expected usage pattern and not necessarily the absolute full possible load?

A call to PCS would be your best option. They can tell you whether the charger should be able to cope or whether you have a faulty or flaky charger....

PC Specification:

Chassis & Display Vyper Series: 17.3" Matte Full HD 144Hz 72% NTSC LED Widescreen
(1920x1080)
Processor (CPU) Intel® Core™ i7 Eight Core Processor 10875H (2.3GHz, 5.1GHz Turbo)
Memory (RAM) 32GB Corsair 2666MHz SODIMM DDR4 (2 x 16GB)
Graphics Card NVIDIA® GeForce® RTX 2070 - 8.0GB GDDR6 Video RAM - DirectX® 12.1
1st M.2 SSD Drive 250GB SAMSUNG 970 EVO PLUS M.2, PCIe NVMe (up to 3500MB/R,
2300MB/W)
2nd M.2 SSD Drive 512GB PCS PCIe M.2 SSD (2000 MB/R, 1100 MB/W)
Memory Card Reader Integrated Micro-SD Memory Card Reader
AC Adaptor 1 x 230W AC Adaptor
Power Cable 1 x 1 Metre UK Power Cable (Kettle Lead)
Battery Vyper Series Integrated 91WH Lithium Ion Battery
Thermal Paste ARCTIC MX-4 EXTREME THERMAL CONDUCTIVITY COMPOUND
Sound Card 2 Channel High Definition Audio + MIC/Headphone Jack
Bluetooth & Wireless GIGABIT LAN & WIRELESS INTEL® Wi-Fi 6 AX201 (2.4 Gbps) + BT 5.0
USB/Thunderbolt Options 1 x THUNDERBOLT 3 PORT + 3 x USB 3.1 PORTS
Keyboard Language VYPER 17 SERIES RGB BACKLIT UK KEYBOARD
Operating System NO OPERATING SYSTEM REQUIRED
Operating System Language United Kingdom - English Language
Windows Recovery Media NO RECOVERY MEDIA REQUIRED
Office Software FREE 30 Day Trial of Microsoft 365® (Operating System Required)
Anti-Virus NO ANTI-VIRUS SOFTWARE
Browser Microsoft® Edge (Windows 10 Only)
Notebook Mouse INTEGRATED 2 BUTTON TOUCHPAD MOUSE
Webcam INTEGRATED 1MP HD WEBCAM

Charger can output 19.5V @ 11.8A, it's the Chicony A17-230P1A.

As a bit of an update also, I switched the performance mode down to "Office" and it ran fine (but I know this limits the CPU anyway).

 

[ubuysa]

PC Specification:

Charger can output 19.5V @ 11.8A, it's the Chicony A17-230P1A.

As a bit of an update also, I switched the performance mode down to "Office" and it ran fine (but I know this limits the CPU anyway).

That's around 230 Watts I think. That sounds pretty decent.

It's interesting that it's OK with the CPU throttled, it does suggest that it's a power issue.

Try fully charging the battery and then run at max performance and full load and see whether it's OK. With the battery fully charged the charger will have an easier time powering just the laptop.

Then try it with the battery nearly flat and run it at max performance and see whether it's different then. In that case the charger will be working hard to charge the battery and run the laptop flat out.

 

[StevenSmith842]

That's around 230 Watts I think. That sounds pretty decent.

It's interesting that it's OK with the CPU throttled, it does suggest that it's a power issue.

Try fully charging the battery and then run at max performance and full load and see whether it's OK. With the battery fully charged the charger will have an easier time powering just the laptop.

Then try it with the battery nearly flat and run it at max performance and see whether it's different then. In that case the charger will be working hard to charge the battery and run the laptop flat out.

Funnily I have actually already tried something similar by chance. I started the first attempt with a half battery and it kept disconnecting. I then left it to see if it would complete before the battery died and it didn't. So I charged overnight and tried again, still plugged in, but as soon as the CPU maxes out for a minute or so and the temperature rises the charging stops and the battery begins to drain (at a rate which suggests no power is coming from the mains).

I have put in a technical support request, and I am awaiting a response. Personally I think this is a heat issue, as the keyboard is very warm when the battery stops charging, I think the laptop is trying everything it can to get the heat down, but cutting off charge is stupid as it doesn't restart charging unless I unplug somewhere in the chain and plug back in, which obviously if I leave something to process for a few hours is no use as it dies.

 

[ubuysa]

It does sound as though something isn't right there. I wasn't even aware that battery charging would stop under load it just doesn't sound right somehow.

I would phone PCS, and put up with the wait, and get someone you can talk this through with. I think I'd want to RMA it, it does seem easy to reproduce the problem.

 

[StevenSmith842]

It does sound as though something isn't right there. I wasn't even aware that battery charging would stop under load it just doesn't sound right somehow.

I would phone PCS, and put up with the wait, and get someone you can talk this through with. I think I'd want to RMA it, it does seem easy to reproduce the problem.

So PCSpecialist have offered to RMA the laptop, if I pay the couriers fees. I just don't know what they will be able to do, and I think I might just be wasting money sending it back. Also they require 15-20 "labour" days, I assume this means working days (i.e Monday to Friday), so I am also likely to be without my device for a month including shipping.

Upon further investigation I believe the battery is getting hot, due to everything getting hot, and then stopping charging due to this (seems to be an issue other devices have suffered from online also). As the battery isn't removable, I can't try running on mains alone and seeing what happens. I don't think there is anything which can be done to keep the battery cool, so sending it back seems pointless.

Any suggestions? Or, am I really stuck between living with it and sending it back.

 

[ubuysa]

So PCSpecialist have offered to RMA the laptop, if I pay the couriers fees. I just don't know what they will be able to do, and I think I might just be wasting money sending it back. Also they require 15-20 "labour" days, I assume this means working days (i.e Monday to Friday), so I am also likely to be without my device for a month including shipping.

Upon further investigation I believe the battery is getting hot, due to everything getting hot, and then stopping charging due to this (seems to be an issue other devices have suffered from online also). As the battery isn't removable, I can't try running on mains alone and seeing what happens. I don't think there is anything which can be done to keep the battery cool, so sending it back seems pointless.

Any suggestions? Or, am I really stuck between living with it and sending it back.

It sounds like a battery issue if its getting hot. PCS can probably replace it for you.

 

[Martinr36]

Could they not RMA a battery

 

[StevenSmith842]

It sounds like a battery issue if its getting hot. PCS can probably replace it for you.

Could they not RMA a battery

Yes they could replace the battery, but if it's getting hot from being close to the CPU and GPU which are causing the heat then that won't do much, the battery health is still perfect too.

The only things I could think is some kind of battery heatsink to help cool it with everything else, or a software fix which throttles the CPU/GPU when battery temp gets too high just like it would if their own temp was too high.

 

[ubuysa]

Yes they could replace the battery, but if it's getting hot from being close to the CPU and GPU which are causing the heat then that won't do much, the battery health is still perfect too.

The only things I could think is some kind of battery heatsink to help cool it with everything else, or a software fix which throttles the CPU/GPU when battery temp gets too high just like it would if their own temp was too high.

TBH you can't be sure the battery isn't faulty. I would let PCS look at it.

 

[SpyderTracks]

Just to stress, this is not a common issue, it’s a one off, worst comes to the worst they’ll just replace the motherboard.

It would be mad to “bodge” it rather than having a professional RMA

 

[FerrariVie]

Have you tried unplugging the battery cable and running it only on power to see if the issue persists? If it shuts down without a battery, then it is not a battery problem and more likely to be a power supply issue, right?

 

[Macarov]

Hi
I have the same specs as yours and starting to have the same problem. Have you sorted it yet? What was the problem? I've just email PCS about the problem, hope is an easy fix as I don't realy want to send my laptop to them

Cheers

 

[StevenSmith842]

Hi
I have the same specs as yours and starting to have the same problem. Have you sorted it yet? What was the problem? I've just email PCS about the problem, hope is an easy fix as I don't realy want to send my laptop to them

Cheers

I was offered an RMA, so I tried to replicate the problem again before I sent it back to ensure it would happen again. This however proved fruitless, and I was unable to get the problem to happen again; so I ended up not doing anything about it and it hasn't happened again since.

I have however since updated my BIOS, and changed my main SSD. I noticed the battery is as far from the hot components as possible, so I don't know if it would have got that hot anyway (which leaves me completely in the dark as to the cause).