Boot issues - not powering up on hitting power button

[Adz617]

Hey PCS Forum folk,

Having an issue with my primary laptop that I bought back in July'22. No idea if it's a boot issue or maybe something to do with power supply (CMOS or main battery)... hoping you might be able to offer some advice.

The issue:

• 8 out of 10 times that I power up the laptop, the power indicator flashes to suggest it's powering up but then stops and cuts out. The power button is then unresponsive for a short period.
• Sometimes you can hear the laptop firing up and then cut out, sometimes the lights just flash to suggest it's booting but nothing happens and they go out.
• This problem repeats whether it is plugged into power or powered up just on battery, with or without external monitor connected.
• When this happens, I have to wait for a little while to let the laptop sort itself out and try power on again, often taking multiple rounds before it works.

Additional issue: I have noticed that Windows is no longer keeping the correct time on bootup, often taking a few moments to update itself once connected. This is why I'm pondering that the problem may be to do with the CMOS (or whatever it's called in this type of laptop) battery... would this tie into the primary issue?

Before anyone asks... my laptop spec:

Chassis & Display
Fusion Studio Series: 14" Matte WQXGA 90Hz sRGB 95% LED Widescreen (2880x1800)
Processor (CPU)
Intel® Core™ i5 Quad Core Processor 11300H (3.1GHz, 4.4GHz Turbo)
Memory (RAM)
32GB Corsair 2933MHz SODIMM DDR4 (2 x 16GB)
Graphics Card
Integrated Intel® Iris® Xe Graphics (DUAL CHANNEL RAM) OR Intel® UHD Graphics (SINGLE CHANNEL RAM)
1st M.2 SSD Drive
500GB SAMSUNG 970 EVO PLUS M.2, PCIe NVMe (up to 3500MB/R, 3200MB/
AC Adaptor
1 x 90W AC Adaptor
Battery
Fusion Series Integrated 53WH Lithium Ion Battery
Sound Card
2 Channel High Def. Audio + THX Spatial Audio
Wireless Network Card
GIGABIT LAN & WIRELESS INTEL® Wi-Fi 6 AX201 (2.4 Gbps) + BT 5.0
USB/Thunderbolt Options
1 x THUNDERBOLT 4 + 1 x USB 3.2 (TYPE C) + 2 x USB 3.2
Keyboard Language
14" FUSION STUDIO SERIES SINGLE COLOUR BACKLIT UK KEYBOARD
Operating System
Windows 11 Professional 64 Bit - inc. Single Licence

Thank you in advance for your time.
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[ubuysa]

Can you remove the battery, plug the mains power in and see whether it boots normally then?

 

[Adz617]

Hey Ubuysa, thank you for taking the time to read and reply... I have considered this but the laptop is in an aluminium slimline case with no detachable battery, it's encased within the unit.

I had hoped there might be a remedy without taking it to bits... I take it that's unlikely?

 

[ubuysa]

When the battery is fully charged (24 hours switched off and unused whilst charging) and you get it to boot, how long will it run for before the critical battery level shuts it down?

 

[Adz617]

I can easily get a full working day's use out of it. Mostly emails, spreadsheets and web based stuff. Nothing overly demanding.

Hard to test it exactly as you've suggested because I have to use it daily for work but I will make sure it's 100% charged before I turn it on in the morning and leave it on until it shuts down. Lemme come back to you on this one, thanks.

Have you heard of the CMOS/motherboard battery running down and causing such issues? I will do a little web searching this evening to see if I can find any forums with similar reported issues.

Also, will remove the back of the laptop and see what happens when I remove the battery and boot on power alone.

Thanks.

 

[ubuysa]

That's OK. I was wondering whether you had a faulty battery that was drawing so much power at boot that there was none left to actually start the laptop. Clearly that's not the case. But if you can try without the battery that will confirm this (or not).

I suggest you contact PCS because this looks to be 100% a hardware problem. I doubt it's as simple as the CMOS battery, I've never heard of that shutting the PC down on boot.

 

[Paul1964]

... I have to use it daily for work but I will make sure it's 100% charged before I turn it on in the morning and leave it on until it shuts down. .

Lithium batteries really do not like being treated like this. For the old NiCAD battery technology it was ideal but for lithium it counts as abuse.

The optimum usage for lithium batteries for longevity is to be kept within 20% to 80% of their capacity with maybe a weekly top up to 100% but this is hardly ever convenient or even practical for anyone.

Is there any reason you can't run it on AC during the day to prevent the full drain from happening, then do a proper shut down rather than letting it just die?

 

[Adz617]

Morning Ubuysa,

I really appreciate your time and imput on this, thanks for responding to my post. Yep, will get in touch with PCS and see what they suggest.

I did take the underside cover off to take a look at the battery and it isn't something that I can easily remove. My computer building knowledge is about 10 years out of date so my tinkering stopped right there.

I have had the laptop powered up on just the battery for 2hrs, set on balanced power mode with no sleep timeouts or lid closure settings on.

Fully charged overnight and has gone from 100% to 77% with 4hr current usage time remaining. Not as long as I was expecting but I've been doing a lot on Chrome this morning with various programs open in the background.

I'll see how long it lasts and use it in my report to PCS.

I doubt it's as simple as the CMOS battery, I've never heard of that shutting the PC down on boot.

It wasn't shutting down on boot, just failing to boot or cutting out (although I suppose that's technically shutting down)... it wasn't a case of it just taking its time to boot either, sometimes the white 'power on' light would remain for a substantial amount of time and then just go out.

This morning, I powered on without the power lead plugged in and it took about 60seconds to go from white light (black screen) to visible boot/PCS logo.

Anyway, will see what PCS say and I'll come back to let you know... the least I can do to try help keep the number of things you don't know about to a minimum

 

[Adz617]

Lithium batteries really do not like being treated like this. For the old NiCAD battery technology it was ideal but for lithium it counts as abuse.

The optimum usage for lithium batteries for longevity is to be kept within 20% to 80% of their capacity with maybe a weekly top up to 100% but this is hardly ever convenient or even practical for anyone.

Is there any reason you can't run it on AC during the day to prevent the full drain from happening, then do a proper shut down rather than letting it just die?

Hey Paul,

Thanks for chiming in.

I get what you're saying but I've never used a work laptop without AC-in during working hours, not unless working on the move or travelling.
What was being discussed with Ubuysa was specifically for testing the battery life of the one built into my lappy.

Typically, my machine is getting an AC/power supply whenever in use. Whenever it's not in use for an extended period i.e. if I know I'm tied up in meetings or it's evenings/weekends, then the laptop has no external power supply... typically unplugged completely.

I assumed that modern laptops had power balancing software to ensure a decent battery life?

 

[Paul1964]

I assumed that modern laptops had power balancing software to ensure a decent battery life?

Yes, some manufacturers are better at this than others though. Not had my laptop long enough to make this assessment for PCS laptops but since it's a power hungry beast it usually just stays connected to AC power anyway.

 

[ubuysa]

I assumed that modern laptops had power balancing software to ensure a decent battery life?

They do, but critically some of this technology depends on the drivers in use. Laptops typically use customised drivers, especially for graphics drivers but sometimes for other devices too, that cooperate to ensure battery longevity. That's why it's important with laptops to use the drivers supplied by the vendor - especially graphics drivers (where this sort of customisation is common). Generic drivers, from Intel or Nvidia for example, don't contain these customisations and so should be avoided. Windows Update is smart enough (generally) to select the correct customised drivers on laptops and so it's safe to install drivers from Windows Update.