Brand New Voyager a1600 Hotspot temps at 104 resulting to shutdowns

[Langlache]

As title says. I purchased the laptop 1 month ago.

I've opened a ticket literally 4 days later. Cannot run any game without having system shutdowns. First it was random restarts, now it's shutdowns. 

Support used to respond once per week but with 0 knowledge on the laptop. The rep was like an intern at best, providng answers that were from the manual or with no depth at all. He did not take the time to even read my comments on the issue and responded with almost automated messages. Now the rep does not respond at all. It's a ticket where I just post messages and screenshots and trying to troubleshoot myself... 

Ticket ID: #2006695573, Rep name: Tyler.

What I've found so far:

Even though the temps seem normal, the HOTSPOT temps seem way off. 6800M Hotspot temps reach 104C which triggers a shutdown to prevent thermal damage. This took me a month because it was hiding behind the normal "GPU Temps" which sit at around 80C. At first it was suspected as a power issue because while gaming AND PLUGGED IN, the laptop loses battery, but a second power supply did nothing.

I have a cooler pad below my laptop and the room temp is literally at 16C. I have optimized defaults in bios, did numerous clean installations of GPU Drivers and Chipset using DDU. No Overclock at all.  Happens in Extreme and Balanced profile. Happens using dGPU and Hybrid mode. Happens using the laptop standalone and when connected to external display. 

I am confused as to if this is a faulty unit, driver issue, wrong installation, missing thermal pad or uneven screwing that resulted in messed up thermal paste.

In event viewer the Event ID is 41: "The system has rebooted without cleanly shutting down first. This error could be caused if the system stopped responding, crashed, or lost power unexpectedly."

In the Corsair Diagnostics Events Calendar, the event ID is 24414 and the event code is 6008: "The previous system shutdown was unexpected."

I see other people having shutdowns that mention these in other threads that's why I am worried it might be a driver issue and not hardware.

Pictures to see for yourself.

Please Corsair employees, @Corsair Albert, PLEASE provide some actual help, support is literally non existant and I cannot undestand why. I am not going to complain about how support is handling this, this is self evident and self explanatory. I just want my really expensive purchase to WORK.

Edited February 8 by Langlache
Spelling

[Langlache]

Edit: Corsair GPU drivers are used and the BIOS is updated to 1.38.

[User3]

Honestly at this point I would try repasting. If that does not work try to send it back. Could be a faulty GPU.

[Langlache]

1 hour ago, User3 said:

Honestly at this point I would try repasting. If that does not work try to send it back. Could be a faulty GPU.

That is what I am thinking exactly. I will try to open it tonight but I am afraid to mess around with the vapor chamber 😕 Support gave me the greenlight to do so.

[elytscha]

the screws for the vapor chamber are different sizes, they should be labled with colours, keep that in mind if you try top open it.

but what i can say that its pretty normal what happens, even for me, mostly when i play diablo4 with settings on extreme, i can only play diablo4 without getting thermal crash after around 1-2h if i set usermode in bios with lowest possible wattage settings.

staying always on newest amd stock driver has helped a lot for me., you could try that before messing with the vapor chamber

also the cooler pad could be an issue, basically if the cooler pad blows the air up its good, if the cooler pad blows the air down its bad

Edited February 9 by elytscha

[Langlache]

1 hour ago, elytscha said:

the screws for the vapor chamber are different sizes, they should be labled with colours, keep that in mind if you try top open it.

but what i can say that its pretty normal what happens, even for me, mostly when i play diablo4 with settings on extreme, i can only play diablo4 without getting thermal crash after around 1-2h if i set usermode in bios with lowest possible wattage settings.

staying always on newest amd stock driver has helped a lot for me., you could try that before messing with the vapor chamber

also the cooler pad could be an issue, basically if the cooler pad blows the air up its good, if the cooler pad blows the air down its bad

I thoroughly repasted it. Thank you for helping me. It was really self explanatory apart from the 2 side screws which I though were for the fans. Good job for providing really easy user access for maintenance.

Unfortunately this did not change a thing. I get better overall temps but the hotspot temps again reach 104 and after 3 minutes into ANY game, the complete shutdown happens.

My crashes happen in 2 - 3 minutes into the game. Keep in mind they are not game crashes but complete system crashes - shutdown.

The cooler blows air into the laptop. It blows air up. It's a pretty good cooler from CoolerMaster. It happens on a hardsurface too.

I tested using both Corsair and AMD drivers. I even uninstalled everything drivers wise.

[User3]

7 hours ago, Langlache said:

I thoroughly repasted it. Thank you for helping me. It was really self explanatory apart from the 2 side screws which I though were for the fans. Good job for providing really easy user access for maintenance.

Unfortunately this did not change a thing. I get better overall temps but the hotspot temps again reach 104 and after 3 minutes into ANY game, the complete shutdown happens.

My crashes happen in 2 - 3 minutes into the game. Keep in mind they are not game crashes but complete system crashes - shutdown.

The cooler blows air into the laptop. It blows air up. It's a pretty good cooler from CoolerMaster. It happens on a hardsurface too.

I tested using both Corsair and AMD drivers. I even uninstalled everything drivers wise.

Mmmmm.... I just played for a very long session, no issues at all, granted I didn't max out the graphical settings although I tested the limits of it while sitting optimal visual fidelity and performance. (The finals and Helldivers 2). Keep in mind, I was getting hot spot temps reaching the higher 90s and sometimes hitting 100 which I would consider ok?? I guess?

If you still have chance try to replace it, if not try to use 3dmark and let's see the performance and look for any issues, maybe you could limit the throttle to a specific temperature.

Edited February 10 by User3

[elytscha]

7 hours ago, User3 said:

Mmmmm.... I just played for a very long session, no issues at all, granted I didn't max out the graphical settings although I tested the limits of it while sitting optimal visual fidelity and performance. (The finals and Helldivers 2). Keep in mind, I was getting hot spot temps reaching the higher 90s and sometimes hitting 100 which I would consider ok?? I guess?

If you still have chance try to replace it, if not try to use 3dmark and let's see the performance and look for any issues, maybe you could limit the throttle to a specific temperature.

(hotspot) temps between 90-100 degrees i see as problem, 95 degrees is the thermal throttle limit, (even if corsair is not seeing this as problem and titleing this as normal), temps between 90-100 degrees constant will someday break one of your components near the heat, even if its just a small transistor/capacitor which will mostly render your device unusable (until replacment).

temps on a tower should stay at max 65 degrees,
temps on laptops should stay at max 85 degrees

if you want to use your device longer then 2 years.

[Langlache]

8 hours ago, User3 said:

Mmmmm.... I just played for a very long session, no issues at all, granted I didn't max out the graphical settings although I tested the limits of it while sitting optimal visual fidelity and performance. (The finals and Helldivers 2). Keep in mind, I was getting hot spot temps reaching the higher 90s and sometimes hitting 100 which I would consider ok?? I guess?

If you still have chance try to replace it, if not try to use 3dmark and let's see the performance and look for any issues, maybe you could limit the throttle to a specific temperature.

3DMark Time Spy gives me an above average result, something like 16000 If i recall. I contacted support with the issues 3 days after delivery, so It should be covered under RMA DOA. The fact that they responded 1 per week is a bit infuriating, but now a new specialist took my case which seems promising.

1 hour ago, elytscha said:

(hotspot) temps between 90-100 degrees i see as problem, 95 degrees is the thermal throttle limit, (even if corsair is not seeing this as problem and titleing this as normal), temps between 90-100 degrees constant will someday break one of your components near the heat, even if its just a small transistor/capacitor which will mostly render your device unusable (until replacment).

temps on a tower should stay at max 65 degrees,
temps on laptops should stay at max 85 degrees

if you want to use your device longer then 2 years.

I agreethat 90-100 is the absolute limit, and that only with liquid metal Like Asus does (BTW coming from Asus Strix Scar 17 2021 edition). Funny thing is that the actual GPU temps sit around 80. Only the hotspot temps reach 105.

I am suspecting:

a) Either a false sensonr reporting wrong temps resulting in system crash

b) A faulty module going haywire temperature wise resulting in hotspot temps of 105 

c) Something power related internally ( since I tested 2 different power supplies by Corsair), like a power regulator or something that cannot handle high wattages. Keep in mind my first issues started with the laptop dropping to like 50-60% of battery when playing Battlefield or other games for 2-3 hours WHILE plugged in.

Limiting the Maximum W from Bios using User Mode does absolutely nothing. 

They also asked me if I am willing to test the new drivers that they will soon release in the upcoming weeks. I doubt this will change anything since this happens with any driver I tested.

[Langlache]

An interesting find: 

I noticed the fans do not spin at full speed when the shutdown is about to happen. At first I was curious, but then it hit me. The fan speed curve is tied to the GPU / CPU temp which in this case GPU temp is reported as 80c.  At the same time, the hotspot is at 102c. The fan Curve takes into consideration the normal temp reporting not the hotspot temps. If the fan curve took into consideration the hotspot temps they would kick in faster.

But that does not solve the issue of why do I have such high hotspot temps. In any case, Despite me having abnormal hotspot temps, this needs to be fixed in a future update ASAP.

Edited February 10 by Langlache

[User3]

 

@Langlache16K !?!!?!?? that's 60% more than the average how in earth you managed to get there? Maximum score I have got is 10700 which is above the average. Could that be the reason for such behavior?? A boost on the CPU and GPU?

Ps: please tell me how you got there hahahaha

Edited February 10 by User3

[Langlache]

5 minutes ago, User3 said:

 

@Langlache16K !?!!?!?? that's 60% more than the average how in earth you managed to get there? Maximum score I have got is 10700 which is above the average. Could that be the reason for such behavior?? A boost on the CPU and GPU?

Ps: please tell me how you got there hahahaha

Apologies, meant to type 10600 🤣

Now I get 8400 at Extreme profile. So clearly something is VERY WRONG...

[User3]

2 hours ago, elytscha said:

(hotspot) temps between 90-100 degrees i see as problem, 95 degrees is the thermal throttle limit, (even if corsair is not seeing this as problem and titleing this as normal), temps between 90-100 degrees constant will someday break one of your components near the heat, even if its just a small transistor/capacitor which will mostly render your device unusable (until replacment).

temps on a tower should stay at max 65 degrees,
temps on laptops should stay at max 85 degrees

if you want to use your device longer then 2 years.

I do agree on that take but isn't the hotspot usually hotter?? I mean, the average always stays at the 80s and hot spot usually takes the hottest recorded temperature on the die. considering that it does not fluctuate at all could be an indication that there's no throttle occurring?? (I also do not get performance drops).

While I would prefer to keep temps between 70s and 80s I do believe hotspot tend to get a bit higher.

[User3]

10 minutes ago, Langlache said:

Apologies, meant to type 10600 🤣

Now I get 8400 at Extreme profile. So clearly something is VERY WRONG...

Hahahaha no worries I was hoping it was true so you could share those gains. Either way I wanted to ask. Are you running the latest AMD drivers or the official drivers from Corsair. I want to ask because I do have an experience with the temps while changing drivers. First if you installed the newer drivers there could be the error because usually it does update the chipset driver to, so what happened to me is that when I tested the latest drivers I did record hotter temps than usual, not to the point of turning itself off but a bit hotter. Either way, when I rolled back to the official ones I was having the same problems, so I did a clean reinstall, after setting up I cleaned the drivers that come with the device after the reset and reinstalled chipset and driver from Corsair (fully install) after that my temps were always lower (one of the reasons I still use the older drivers). Maybe you could try this too? Of course if you haven't tried it yet.

[Langlache]

6 minutes ago, User3 said:

I do agree on that take but isn't the hotspot usually hotter?? I mean, the average always stays at the 80s and hot spot usually takes the hottest recorded temperature on the die. considering that it does not fluctuate at all could be an indication that there's no throttle occurring?? (I also do not get performance drops).

While I would prefer to keep temps between 70s and 80s I do believe hotspot tend to get a bit higher.

Support mentioned the following and I quote:

• Can you confirm that the system crashes when spot temperatures reach 105C? Or the system continues to run but experiencing thermal throttling. The junction temperature ranges at MAX TDP is around 100-115C so it is not outside the realm of possibility, but I agree it its uncomfortably too hot.

TBH I am lost. I thought repasting would solve the issue. That is why I am again thinking of a power issue since it all started with the laptop loosing battery power while plugged in and gaming.

[Langlache]

2 minutes ago, User3 said:

Hahahaha no worries I was hoping it was true so you could share those gains. Either way I wanted to ask. Are you running the latest AMD drivers or the official drivers from Corsair. I want to ask because I do have an experience with the temps while changing drivers. First if you installed the newer drivers there could be the error because usually it does update the chipset driver to, so what happened to me is that when I tested the latest drivers I did record hotter temps than usual, not to the point of turning itself off but a bit hotter. Either way, when I rolled back to the official ones I was having the same problems, so I did a clean reinstall, after setting up I cleaned the drivers that come with the device after the reset and reinstalled chipset and driver from Corsair (fully install) after that my temps were always lower (one of the reasons I still use the older drivers). Maybe you could try this too? Of course if you haven't tried it yet.

I wish I had 16000, maybe with a watercooling jerryrig thing? hahah

I hear you.. I tried wiping everything and did all the combos. I am troubleshooting for a month now..

Corsair GPU Drivers and Corsair Chipset

AMD GPU Drivers and AMD Chipset

Corsair GPU Drivers and AMD Chipset

AMD GPU Drivers and Corsair Chipset..

I also uninstalled every single driver from the system, even the wireless ones. I will try a windows reset as a last option tonight. But at this point I already requested a replacement and waiting for a reply. I hope it does not take too long since I also run my business from this laptop.

[User3]

2 minutes ago, Langlache said:

Support mentioned the following and I quote:

• Can you confirm that the system crashes when spot temperatures reach 105C? Or the system continues to run but experiencing thermal throttling. The junction temperature ranges at MAX TDP is around 100-115C so it is not outside the realm of possibility, but I agree it its uncomfortably too hot.

TBH I am lost. I thought repasting would solve the issue. That is why I am again thinking of a power issue since it all started with the laptop loosing battery power while plugged in and gaming.

Do you have another 230W brick? Maybe its getting hotter because of the supply?

I also was thinking if you could try to reinstall the update of the bios to see if the fans do start to run properly.

[User3]

1 minute ago, Langlache said:

I wish I had 16000, maybe with a watercooling jerryrig thing? hahah

I hear you.. I tried wiping everything and did all the combos. I am troubleshooting for a month now..

Corsair GPU Drivers and Corsair Chipset

AMD GPU Drivers and AMD Chipset

Corsair GPU Drivers and AMD Chipset

AMD GPU Drivers and Corsair Chipset..

I also uninstalled every single driver from the system, even the wireless ones. I will try a windows reset as a last option tonight. But at this point I already requested a replacement and waiting for a reply. I hope it does not take too long since I also run my business from this laptop.

Yeah if you haven't reset give it a go, that's how I solved it after the update of newer drivers.

[Langlache]

5 minutes ago, User3 said:

Do you have another 230W brick? Maybe its getting hotter because of the supply?

I also was thinking if you could try to reinstall the update of the bios to see if the fans do start to run properly.

Corsair sent another power supply for the battery drop thing and TBH the issue happened the same day I plugged in the new power supply they sent. But now it happens with both power supplies since again I tested it. That is why I am suspecting an internal power modulator or similar component having an issue..

I flashed the BIOS so many times in hopes it fixes the issue...  it's like I am asking for a bricked system 🥲

[Langlache]

Gonna reset Windows now... 🥴 I expected to run into some issues since it was their first laptop but not like this...

[User3]

Just now, Langlache said:

Gonna reset Windows now... 🥴 I expected to run into some issues since it was their first laptop but not like this...

Give it a go, remember. Reinstall, then clean the drivers that are there, not necessarily using DDU, just the AMD cleaning tool. Then download both chipset and GPU drivers. Reinstall and test. If not, try to get a replacement. Maybe it could be a faulty unit.

Good luck!!! I'll wait for your response in any case.

[Langlache]

Thank you for sticking around, I'm loosing my mind here! Will update here as soon as I finish. I chose to completely wipe everything and download the windows just to be safe that all drivers are wiped

[TherinWhitten]

I'm thinking faulty GPU. 

The vapor chamber is more than capable of keeping temps from going that high, even on cyberpunk. 

After trying fresh drivers, RMA for a new laptop. Software can't fix hardware issues. 

[Langlache]

Format done, now waiting for some games to download. Sensors have gone completely nuts, Both in iCue and Gpu-z. No temperature reporting at all.. I will download HW Monitor as well to check. Maybe it was a faulty sensor and they gave up after all? All Corsair official drivers are installed, Nothing else.

[User3]

5 hours ago, Langlache said:

Format done, now waiting for some games to download. Sensors have gone completely nuts, Both in iCue and Gpu-z. No temperature reporting at all.. I will download HW Monitor as well to check. Maybe it was a faulty sensor and they gave up after all? All Corsair official drivers are installed, Nothing else.

Ok great, now uninstall the ICUE software and reinstall it through the Corsair downloads page. Also update it.