Acer laptop RTX 4080 stuck at 210mhz core clock, pulling 593watts

[contaldi08]

I bought the new Acer Predator Helios 18 with an RTX 4080 for my 9 month deployment to Lithuania. Laptops been working great up until I got here about 2 days ago. Plugged into the wall and the laptop says it’s stuck at 593w, 100% gpu usage, and 210mhz clock speed. If I switch to Nvidia GPU only it is able to show a display on the screen and I can use the laptop as I normally would with a little bit of lag and stutter when watching a video on YouTube. but as soon as i load into a game it locks at 5 fps and won’t move from 210 mhz. It also says it pulling 593w. I contacted Acer and they said I would have to ship and pay for the laptop since I’m in Lithuania even though it was purchased in the United States and I’m only here for deployment.

• I have done clean installs of newest graphics drivers and OEM driver from acer website using DDU in safe mode.
• I have factory reset the laptop and the installed a fresh copy of windows 11 with usb, figured out out to install without internet and then installed all OEM driver from the manufacturers website from a usb stick while in offline mode
• I have force-reset the bios by holding down the power button for about 1 minute and removing cmos and battery plug
  guys please anything would help, otherwise I’m gonna have to pay a fortune to send this thing back to the states to get repaired by acer

 

[robal]

Jeez, that's a weird one.
I know you made a fresh install so it probably rules out malware, but do this check:
Under Win11 Task Manager you can view GPU usage (hidden by default, you have to add column) per process.
See if there isn't any thing actually using the GPU, eg:

Is it generating heat ? 593W is massive (seems even impossible on a laptop).
Do you think the driver just *thinks* it's pulling 593W or is it actually pulling that much ?

EDIT: Well, the driver claims 0% GPU use, so it's probably broken power measurement. Sorry I don't know what else you can try.

 

[Vya Domus]

This happens as a result of something wrong with a piece of circuitry on the board of the laptop that measures power draw, happens on desktop cards too it's a common defect on Nvidia.

Normally it's unfixable with software but I know recently the BIOS has been unlocked for ADA so you could find someone that can mod a BIOS that bypasses the power limit, which might be problematic on a laptop because you could damage the VRMs unlike on a actual video card that has beefy VRMs.

Honestly your only real option is to send it for RMA.

 

[contaldi08]

This happens as a result of something wrong with a piece of circuitry on the board of the laptop that measures power draw, happens on desktop cards too it's a common defect on Nvidia.

Normally it's unfixable with software but I know recently the BIOS has been unlocked for ADA so you could find someone that can mod a BIOS that bypasses the power limit, which might be problematic on a laptop because you could damage the VRMs unlike on a actual video card that has beefy VRMs.

Honestly your only real option is to send it for RMA.

This is what I was afraid of. So basically this problem only happened as a result of plugging it into the wall in EU Lithuania which EU outlets give off 240v. Now the ac battery says 100-240v so I assumed there wouldn’t be an issue since last time I was here for 9 months I never had an issue and everyone else here who has there laptops haven’t had issues.. maybe just got unlucky and got a short circuit idk

 

[Vya Domus]

This is what I was afraid of. So basically this problem only happened as a result of plugging it into the wall in EU Lithuania which EU outlets give off 240v. Now the ac battery says 100-240v so I assumed there wouldn’t be an issue since last time I was here for 9 months I never had an issue and everyone else here who has there laptops haven’t had issues.. maybe just got unlucky and got a short circuit idk

I don't think it had anything to do with the power outlets, it's a defect that just randomly happens on Nvidia cards when that circuitry goes bad, it's an old well known issue since like 600 series cards. Back in the day people used to fix it with a custom BIOS that would bypass the power limit.

 

[unclewebb]

It looks like the GPU power consumption is not being reported correctly. If the GPU was actually pulling 436W, it would not be running at 49°C.

GPU Load shows 0%, not 100%. The GPU Clock is at 210 MHz which is where it should be when the GPU is idle.

 

[contaldi08]

Jeez, that's a weird one.
I know you made a fresh install so it probably rules out malware, but do this check:
Under Win11 Task Manager you can view GPU usage (hidden by default, you have to add column) per process.
See if there isn't any thing actually using the GPU, eg:
View attachment 314201

Is it generating heat ? 593W is massive (seems even impossible on a laptop).
Do you think the driver just *thinks* it's pulling 593W or is it actually pulling that much ?

EDIT: Well, the driver claims 0% GPU use, so it's probably broken power measurement. Sorry I don't know what else you can try.

Thank you for your time to respond i appreciate it.

It looks like the GPU power consumption is not being reported correctly. If the GPU was actually pulling 436W, it would not be running at 49°C.

GPU Load shows 0%, not 100%. The GPU Clock is at 210 MHz which is where it should be when the GPU is idle.

sorry I took this screen shot today in gpuz after the fresh install of windows11. Yesterday in the predator sense software if was showing 100% usage at idle.

 

[unclewebb]

Do you have Windows 11 VBS enabled? This can interfere with monitoring software from working correctly.

How to Disable Virtualization-Based Security (VBS) in Windows 11 to Improve Gaming

Getting frame drops while playing games in Windows 11? VBS might be the reason and here's how you can disable VBS in Windows 11.

beebom.com

 

[contaldi08]

I don't think it had anything to do with the power outlets, it's a defect that just randomly happens on Nvidia cards when that circuitry goes bad, it's an old well known issue since like 600 series cards. Back in the day people used to fix it with a custom BIOS that would bypass the power limit.

I don't think it had anything to do with the power outlets, it's a defect that just randomly happens on Nvidia cards when that circuitry goes bad, it's an old well known issue since like 600 series cards. Back in the day people used to fix it with a custom BIOS that would bypass the power limit.

I’m assuming attempting to install said custom bios even if I was able to find it on this new laptop would void my warranty correct ?

Do you have Windows 11 VBS enabled? This can interfere with monitoring software from working correctly.

How to Disable Virtualization-Based Security (VBS) in Windows 11 to Improve Gaming

Getting frame drops while playing games in Windows 11? VBS might be the reason and here's how you can disable VBS in Windows 11.

beebom.com

I’m not sure TBH. I will have to look into it tomorrow it’s midnight here and everyone’s sleeping. Thank you for your help

 

[Vya Domus]

I’m assuming attempting to install said custom bios even if I was able to find it on this new laptop would void my warranty correct ?

I mean if you then ship it to them with that BIOS probably, I don't know, I advice against it anyway because you may brick it or it may actually damage the laptop if the power limit is disabled. I don't know if it will even work, I am just assuming that, custom BIOS for 4000 is something very new.

 

[contaldi08]

I mean if you then ship it to them with that BIOS probably, I don't know, I advice against it anyway because you may brick it or it may actually damage the laptop if the power limit is disabled. I don't know if it will even work, I am just assuming that, custom BIOS for 4000 is something very new.

I guess my last question is gonna be about the end result. So I upgraded the ram, SSD, and added an SSD. Didn’t touch any heat sink or pipes or cooling. Any chance there going to try and flip the script to void my warranty?

 

[Vya Domus]

I guess my last question is gonna be about the end result. So I upgraded the ram, SSD, and added an SSD. Didn’t touch any heat sink or pipes or cooling. Any chance there going to try and flip the script to void my warranty?

Nah, it's fine, just take out what didn't came with the laptop. By the way did you do this recently before this started to happen ? There are some resistors on the board that measure this power draw for the GPU, I guess it is possible to knock them off or damage them in some way by accident.

 

[contaldi08]

Nah, it's fine, just take out what didn't came with the laptop. By the way did you do this recently before this started to happen ? There are some resistors on the board that measure this power draw for the GPU, I guess it is possible to knock them off or damage them in some way by accident.

Nah I did it like the first day I got the laptop like 3 weeks ago, all was working great till I plugged it in lol. Now my warranty is up for Best Buy, however is it possibly that they give me a refund at acer for the laptop and i just buy one here in Lithuania whenever we’re allowed off base?

 

[Vya Domus]

I guess but then you might have the same problem if there is something wrong with it and they make you ship it back to Lithuania lol, I am not sure how this is supposed to work.

 

[A&P211]

There is no known laptop that can pull that amount of power.

 

[draggy]

I am facing this problem too

It happens when there is no app using the rtx4080. So it keeps cycle btw power saving GPU (0Mhz, 0% util, 0w, 0c), (1665Mhz, 0-1% util, ~29-30w, and 46c or higher), and (1665Mhz, 0-1% util, ~593w, and 46c or higher).
But when there is a small app I set to run on the rtx4080, it stays at 210Mhz, ~2-3w, lower temperature depends on the fan profile and room temp as it should. so having an app running on the GPU is lower the temp and energy consumption then idle. I don't know what is the cause and I don't know how to fix it.
these 2 screenshots is when no app is running on the rtx4080.

This screenshot is when I set the CPUtemp app to use rtx4080:

 

[K7SEM]

-Go to device manager
-Disable main display adapters
-Shut down the computer
-Turn on the computer
-Go to device manager
-Enable main display adapter
-Never restart the computer

 

[Drenneth]

Same issue same attempts to resolve. No resolution. Help?