Spectre x360 crashing while gaming PLEASE HELP

[CJ2514]

Hi guys, I have owned a HP Spectre x360 for over 3 years now and I use it for gaming and graphic design, but mostly gaming nowadays. Last night, in the middle of a gaming session, I quit Call of Duty and switched to World of Warcraft. While I was loading into WoW the laptop crashed to a black screen with no error message but the screen is backlit as well were the keys, the only thing responsive at this point is the power button and the keyboard backlight button. After some troubleshooting I've found that my BIOS, Windows 10, and graphics drivers are all up to date, that Call of Duty still runs fine with seemingly no error, in addition to World of Warcraft, Overwatch crashes the same way, and I do use  an external SSD but I disconnected that, installed WoW onto my PC and still had the same error. 

Thanks in advance, I'm eager to fix this issue and will be responsive to this thread so please don't hesitate to reach out with questions.

[old_geekster]

@CJ2514 , welcome to the forum.

The first thing that comes to mind is heat!  I suggest that you clean the laptop thoroughly.  If you feel comfortable opening the case, you could clean the fan.  If you have a small fan you could sit it where it is aimed at the air intake as a test.

Next, you should check for patches for the games.  If you are playing on Steam or other such site, this will be done automatically when you sign-in.  If not, a patch may solve your problem.

[CJ2514]

Hi @Old_geekster, thanks for your response.

So I kind of left it alone for the past few days as I was hoping I could find more information before I hurt my device more. I have not opened a laptop before but I might feel comfortable doing so if it comes down to it. 

 I ended up running a System Extensive Test twice which was stopped immediately both times with the following information:

Battery Check: Primary -Replace (40)

Primary: Logic State - Bad Cell (40), Charge State - Blown Fuse (42)

FAILURE ID: U4XPTW-911AAP-MFPW21-C0FL03

PRODUCT ID: 2FW61AV

Current Version: 7.5.1.0

Now to a layman, this obviously means that my battery is shot, but do I replace the whole battery? or just part of it?

This also makes me wonder if this is my only problem, would a dead battery still be the culprit for my computer crashing the way it has been even if the laptop is plugged in/charging the entire time? and is it normal for the PC to work fine in this dead battery state when I'm browsing the internet and listening to music, but crashes when playing a graphics heavy game?

Also, I'm no expert, but the PC hasn't felt more warm to the touch than what I'm used to, and there were at least 2 instances that the PC has crashed when it was cold, coming off a night of rest, only being on for a maximum of 5 minutes each time.

I'm not ruling out the heat problem, like I said I'm no expert, but I'm just trying to be aware of the other problems that may be occurring based on what I see. I also like to think that I keep my computer/computer space pretty clean and dust free and I see no debris when I shined a light into the air vents, but I do live with 2 long haired dogs.

[CJ2514]

ps, is it normal for a device to freeze on the extensive test screen as soon as it encounters a problem? happened both times.

[CJ2514]

pss, EVERYTHING should be up to date, I even uninstalled the games from the SSD I use and tried running the game off of the computers storage, same problems occurred. 

[old_geekster]

You are welcome, @CJ2514!

When diagnosing a situation, I always begin with the easiest solutions.  In your situation it was a possible heat problem.  Not always true, however.

If the battery is failing it could definitely cause the crashing that you are experiencing.  When the computer is not getting enough power it will simply crash.  You would have to replace the entire battery.

If you haven't done so, you can plug the laptop into a outlet to see if that makes a difference.  This way it would be getting plenty of power.

[old_geekster]

@CJ2514, I don't know if it is normal for the test to quit the minute it gets a negative test.  However, since it is a battery problem this wouldn't be surprising.  Again, try plugging it into an outlet to see what happens.

[CJ2514]

@Old_geekster thanks for you help again and the prompt response,

I should have been more clear, the laptop is always plugged in while I'm gaming. The only time it's really unplugged is when I take it out of the room, which is rare. But, since my problems have started, I haven't been able to unplug the power/charging cord without the PC immediately dying (no power), which obviously is happening because the battery is shot. 

At this point would it be right to assume that the issues I'm experiencing are probably correlating and my main problem is the battery and I will have to replace the battery to troubleshoot any other problems that may be occurring?

Also, I'm not exactly sure how to order a new battery for my device.

[old_geekster]

Again, you are welcome, @CJ2514!

I definitely believe that your problems are caused by the failed battery; especially since it dies immediately upon disconnecting it from the power.  The fact is you have to replace the battery anyway.  So, it is not like you are wasting money if there is another problem.  If so, we will do our best to figure it out!

Something that I learned recently about laptops is, it is not good to leave them plugged in all of the time without disconnection them periodically.  It will lessen the life of the battery.  We leave my wife's Spectre unplugged when in use, but plug it back in when she is done.  She even runs the battery completely down at times which is good, also.

[CJ2514]

@Old_geekster Good to hear from you again, I'm glad we're reaching somewhat of a conclusion.

I think I'll go ahead and order myself a new battery then. Could you give me your recommendation on the best way to do that?

Thanks again!