Recoil IV serious doubts

[Travers]

Hello all,

Just wondering if you could give me some advice or sensible expectations of what to expect from my new laptop.

I got my Recoil IV 15.6" a few days ago. I chose the 2070 and a ridiculous 64GB ram.

For work it is running absolutely fine, but I thought I would do a little gaming for the first time in ages and I'm far from impressed.
It played football manager 2021 flawlessly the first evening (albeit very loudly, even on very low graphics settings), the next day it crashed Windows entirely after ~45 minutes, somehow destroying the drivers in the process. The GPU disappeared until I reinstalled them.
This evening I tried Sniper Elite v2. Should be well within its capabilities.
It manages around the same ~45 minutes before Sniper Elite crashes. At least it wasn't the whole OS I suppose.

Also, until I rebooted, for a short while I was having intermittent issues with my headphones plugged into the thunderbolt port. That would be a serious issue for work if that came back.

I'm not expecting too much of this laptop am I?

Thanks for any advice and replies

 

[steaky360]

Nope you're not expecting too much, as much as its a pain if it was me I'd probably immediately go for a re-install of windows just to make sure there's nothing weird going on.

Sounds daft really, but I had a similar (ish?) issue, likely entirely unrelated, but basically crashes to desktop during gaming - even ended up swapping out the GPU but it didn't fix it, a reinstall of windows later and my PC runs like a dream.

Now your mileage may vary here, but if you do that at least you're 100% certain you're starting 'from a clean slate' so to speak.

 

[Travers]

Thank you for your reply Steaky.
I will try this now.
I've never had a laptop with a discrete GPU before so really not sure what to expect from it.
But overall I'm not happy to have to fiddle with a 2 grand laptop to get it working properly!

 

[steaky360]

Thank you for your reply Steaky.
I will try this now.
I've never had a laptop with a discrete GPU before so really not sure what to expect from it.
But overall I'm not happy to have to fiddle with a 2 grand laptop to get it working properly!

It could be the case that the laptop isn't switching to use the discrete GPU automatically. There are more fault finding steps to follow but for my money, I'd suggest a fresh windows install as a starter for 10 (its potentially 'not needed') but gives us a level playing field to start with for further fault finding if neccessary.

Unfortunately, it doesn't matter if you spent £500 or £5000 on the item, these things (as with most things in life) do just happen on occasion

Fortunately we can at least talk you through any fault finding steps and try as best as we can to help you out. There's also PCS tech support to consider if we/you get stuck.

 

[Travers]

You are an absolute star.

Unfortunately it's not going great.

Every download from PCS download page > 1GB is failing. Not just on my PC but on my Thinkpad too.
So I got the windows ISO from Microsoft, installed fine. Installed everything PCS would let me download that was < 1GB and got Nvidia
drivers from Nvidia, however they can't locate my 2070 at all...

Under Device Manager I have: MS Basic display adapter, Base System Device and PCI Device that my system is flagging as not correct/unknown.

I would have posted a screenshot instead of typing that but my print screen key no longer works

Any ideas?

Thank you again

 

[steaky360]

Keep running windows update until it doesn't find anymore updates at all, the nvidia drivers are probably served through windows update too

 

[Bhuna50]

Have you opened up the machine and carefully checked to ensure that nothing has come loose during transit, memory, drives etc.

If you are having problems downloading from another machine have you checked there are no faults reported with your ISP.

Have you run every single windows update possible? Might be if internet issue that some are still downloading or trying to and failing.

Post your full spec as well.

Finally have you got anything else running like an AV program at all?


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[ubuysa]

Every download from PCS download page > 1GB is failing. Not just on my PC but on my Thinkpad too.

That it's not confined to the PC points to something external, the router perhaps?

So I got the windows ISO from Microsoft, installed fine. Installed everything PCS would let me download that was < 1GB and got Nvidia
drivers from Nvidia, however they can't locate my 2070 at all...

Knowing that there is a download issue means that you can't properly troubleshoot anything else until that problem is resolved.

Under Device Manager I have: MS Basic display adapter, Base System Device and PCI Device that my system is flagging as not correct/unknown.

As above. The download issue means you may not have the right drivers yet.

I would have posted a screenshot instead of typing that but my print screen key no longer works

That too could be driver related.

IMO you need to isolate and fix the download issue before doing any additional troubleshooting.

 

[Travers]

Thanks all.

I am able to download large files from other sites with no issue. I have downloaded both W10 recovery media from MS and Ubuntu 18.04 iso.

I unfortunately don't have the correct screwdriver to open the back.

Full machine spec:

Chassis & Display	Recoil Series: 15.6" Matte Full HD 240Hz 72% NTSC LED Widescreen (1920x1080)
Processor (CPU)	Intel® Core™ i7 Eight Core Processor 10875H (2.3GHz, 5.1GHz Turbo)
Memory (RAM)	64GB Corsair 2666MHz SODIMM DDR4 (2 x 32GB)
Graphics Card	NVIDIA® GeForce® RTX 2070 - 8.0GB GDDR6 Video RAM - DirectX® 12.1
1st M.2 SSD Drive	500GB SAMSUNG 970 EVO PLUS M.2, PCIe NVMe (up to 3500MB/R, 3200MB/W)
2nd M.2 SSD Drive	500GB SAMSUNG 970 EVO PLUS M.2, PCIe NVMe (up to 3500MB/R, 3200MB/W)
Memory Card Reader	Integrated 3 in 1 Card Reader (Full Size SD / SDHC / SDXC)
AC Adaptor	1 x 230W AC Adaptor
Power Cable	1 x 1 Metre UK Power Cable (Kettle Lead)
Battery	Recoil Series Integrated 94WH Lithium Ion Battery
Thermal Paste	ARCTIC MX-4 EXTREME THERMAL CONDUCTIVITY COMPOUND
Sound Card	2 Channel High Def. Audio + THX Spatial Audio
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	PER-KEY RGB BACKLIT UK MECHANICAL KEYBOARD
Operating System	Windows 10 Professional 64 Bit - inc. Single Licence

Windows is up to date

 

[ubuysa]

Are you able to download all Windows Updates?

 

[Travers]

Yes, Windows is fully up to date.

OK after following an old thread in a different forum and redownloading the driver I got the Nvidia installer to find the card and install the drivers. Advice included disabling Intel's gpu drivers and restarting. Not sure why it worked but there we go!

Still got a 'Base System Device' floating around in device manager and my print screen key not working then see if there's any difference in performance.

Thanks everyone for your input!

 

[Travers]

Just wanted to say thanks again everyone.

Laptop is now running far, far better. Fans don't even come on with the relatively light gaming that I do, and the temperature remains at a stead 50ish degrees. That is much more in line with what I was expecting.

This forum is great!

 

[ubuysa]

Yes, Windows is fully up to date.

OK after following an old thread in a different forum and redownloading the driver I got the Nvidia installer to find the card and install the drivers. Advice included disabling Intel's gpu drivers and restarting. Not sure why it worked but there we go!

Still got a 'Base System Device' floating around in device manager and my print screen key not working then see if there's any difference in performance.

Thanks everyone for your input!

For this 'base system device' please right-click on it and select Properties. In the dialog box that opens, click the Details tab. On the Property pull-down menu click on Hardware IDs. Post a screenshot of that output and I should be able to tell you what that device is and (hopefully) where you can get a driver for it.

 

[barlew]

This was a problem that cropped up quite frequently a few months ago with the Vyper. The base system device turned out to the be the ThunderBolt driver and people weren't installing it properly.

I posted how to fix it at the bottom of the thread here: https://www.pcspecialist.co.uk/forums/threads/vyper-17-missing-drivers.72343/#post-507941

I appreciate this is a different chassis however I bet its the same concept you just need to identify which driver it is that's missing.

*edit spelling*

 

[Travers]

Apologies for not getting back to you guys, I've had a hell of a few days where my dad accidentally drove his car through my living room wall and me, my wife and two kids having to live in a hotel. Ridiculous!

Barlew, that is exactly what the base system device was!

However, after running perfectly fine for a few days it's now gone to pot again. I was just watching a program with my headphones in and it started to get all stutter. Went to open task manager and the whole chassis was boiling hot. Took my headphones out and zero fan noise. Switched it off, let it cool down.
Tried a few times switching it on and fan noise is normal until I get to the bootloader to choose my OS, then the fans just stop and stay off! I'm definitely running out of patience with it now.

 

[ubuysa]

Apologies for not getting back to you guys, I've had a hell of a few days where my dad accidentally drove his car through my living room wall and me, my wife and two kids having to live in a hotel. Ridiculous!

Barlew, that is exactly what the base system device was!

However, after running perfectly fine for a few days it's now gone to pot again. I was just watching a program with my headphones in and it started to get all stutter. Went to open task manager and the whole chassis was boiling hot. Took my headphones out and zero fan noise. Switched it off, let it cool down.
Tried a few times switching it on and fan noise is normal until I get to the bootloader to choose my OS, then the fans just stop and stay off! I'm definitely running out of patience with it now.

Wow! I hope everyone is ok? Hopefully (for your kids mainly) you'll be back home in time for Christmas? I can't imagine what that must be like, but you've got a bunch of people here wishing you well.

 

[Travers]

Wow! I hope everyone is ok? Hopefully (for your kids mainly) you'll be back home in time for Christmas? I can't imagine what that must be like, but you've got a bunch of people here wishing you well.

Thank you, ubuysa, that's very kind.
Yes everyone is OK physically. The only thing hurt was my Dad's pride!
Looking like another two weeks out of the house barring any holdups. Its cutting it very close to Christmas!

 

[Martinr36]

Thank you, ubuysa, that's very kind.
Yes everyone is OK physically. The only thing hurt was my Dad's pride!
Looking like another two weeks out of the house barring any holdups. Its cutting it very close to Christmas!

good to hear all ok, fingers crossed you can get back in for christmas

 

[richardjones397]

Hi Everyone. I had a similar problem with my Vyper 15.6 back in October where the GPU just disappeared during gaming after getting very hot. I sent it back to PCS but between them and DPD couriers it hasn’t been seen since.
I managed to get credit for the Vyper and upgraded to the Recoil exactly the same as the above spec but with the RTX 2070 Super. All was well until I booted up yesterday only to find my RTX was missing from the display adapter page in device manager. I thought I was going to lose my sh** but found a thread saying if you unplug the laptop turn it off then press and hold the power on button for 60 seconds it would bring it back, which it did!
during gaming my GPU temp is 60-80 degrees but my CPU is generally hovering in the 80-92 degree area. I’ve used a cooling pad since day one with the recoil after what happened with the Vyper.
Do any of you guys know the answer to this:-
If I do a fresh install of windows using a usb what order do I install all the components in? My main concern is getting the chipset right. Is it best to just use windows update to do everything automatically? Or should I be using the drivers from the downloads page on the PCS account page? I know stuff like gaming centre has to be from there but I mean all the base stuff like chipset. Will windows grab all that stuff automatically?

 

[Martinr36]

Yes let windows do everything, follow this and you'll be ok:

Download a new copy of Windows using the Media Creation Tool to an 8GB (min) USB.
Boot that USB and choose a Custom Install.
Delete all UEFI partitions on the system drive (EFI System, Recovery, MSR Reserved, Primary).
Select the unallocated space that results and click the Next button. The installer will create the correct partitions and install Windows.
Run Windows Update repeatedly, even across reboots, until no more updates are found.
You may need/want to download and install the latest graphics driver from the Nvidia website (they change so regularly the latest version isn't always in the Windows libraries).