Clevo X170KM-G experiences occasional USB and PCIe problems linked to its cooling system.
Clevo X170KM-G experiences occasional USB and PCIe problems linked to its cooling system.
Hello Everyone, first post so bear with me... I've had this Clevo X170KM-G since October of last year and it's a great performer and suited my needs really well. However, pretty much since I've gotten it I've had this ongoing issue: The USB ports and my storage drive (M.2 SATA drive) will occasionally "disconnect", or become really glitchy. My mouse connected to a Type A port will stutter and then stop moving the cursor, my keyboard will stop working, etc. After a couple of months I've been able to deduce that it's somehow related to cooling. When I'm gaming and the fans are kicked up, there's no issues. But when the laptop is idle and the fans are not spun up, even if the CPU displays a lower temperature, it will happen. I've reconfigured the fans to always run up even if the laptop is idle but because of how jank and simple the fan software is... even if I run it up first, sometimes the custom profiles don't take unless I toggle between Automatic and Custom. So I've been encountering the issue on and off when the fans are not ramped up on the default profile. New issue though- I fell asleep watching some TV on the laptop and when I woke up, the mSATA drive was not displayed in "This PC". I've restarted multiple times and even reseated the mSATA drive in the same slot, no change. Still no detection. So I put the mSATA drive in a USB3.0 dock adapter setup I had, and the drive worked fine (because I initially suspected the mSATA drive had burned out). Putting it back in the same slot, still nothing. BUT, I put it in a different M.2 SSD slot, and now it works, even with a PCIe drive swapped into the same M.2 slot the mSATA drive wasn't working in. My guess is that there's some USB3 or PCIe switch chip somewhere on the motherboard which isn't getting proper cooling. Is there something else possibly going on from what you guys think? Or should I maybe consider seeing if I can remove the motherboard and diagnose it further? I'm hoping I didn't pop an mSATA switch on that slot either. For those wondering about having the laptop returned/repaired under warranty, I bought it used and I don't think the warranty is still on it. Not sure about any of that though, The parts inside are dated Jul 2021, and I'm not sure what supplier the original owner purchased it from. Any Clevo owners have experience working with them on RMAs in the past? Appreciate any help.
A few nights ago my M.2 SATA SSD stopped working again while using Windows. I got frustrated and took the laptop apart in search of the problem. I’m pretty sure I resolved it. There’s a thermal pad that touches the motherboard’s chipset chip, plus an aluminum plate attached to the inside edge of the keyboard toward the back. The pad was there but misaligned, not fully covering the chip and preventing good contact. After replacing it and reassembling, the issue didn’t return, even after testing various settings I thought might trigger it. I’m sharing this for reference, hoping others find something useful. I’ve searched extensively but found very little relevant info on this specific problem.