Latitude E6520 major problem(s)

Question

Okay, let's try this again, now that I officially own this laptop and it's no longer registered to the government (which still blows my mind).

I bought this laptop refurbished from Walmart last year. It is shutting down a lot (not BSOD, usually), most often in the middle of a game or video. Most browser use is fine, but things like certain Facebook games or BlueStacks trigger a crash, which makes me suspect it's something graphical, maybe. I just replaced the fan and the thermal paste on the CPU, which helped its prior overheating issues but nothing else.

Of note, it seems like the system is having trouble with detecting how much RAM it has sometimes. If I check Device Manager or System, it shows the correct 12GB, and Memtest and pre-boot diagnostics come back clean, but at times when it's crashed it gives the error on reboot of "the amount of system memory has changed". As well, things like BlueStacks complain of not having enough memory sometimes (when I can get it to open at all, but that's a separate problem).

The BIOS log has several events that might be of use.

07/18/2021 12:25:21 System board thermal trip (In Thermal Events log.)
07/18/2021 18:26:02 Your system automatically powered off because it became warmer than expected.
07/26/2021 23:19:39 Alert! The AC power adapter wattage and type cannot be determined. The battery may not charge. (I think this is about when I replaced the power cord.)
07/29/2021 19:09:28 Fan 1 stopped (In Thermal Events log.)
07/29/2021 20:42:55 Fan malfunction.
08/17/2021 22:36:41 System board thermal trip (In Thermal Events log.)
08/17/2021 22:38:40 Alert! No memory was detected on previous boot.
08/17/2021 22:38:41 Alert! No memory was detected on previous boot.
08/17/2021 22:38:41 Alert! No memory was detected on previous boot.
08/17/2021 22:38:44 Alert! The amount of system memory has changed.
08/17/2021 22:38:44 Your system automatically powered off because it became warmer than expected.
08/19/2021 11:38:57 Alert! The amount of system memory has changed.

Under Power Events:
09/14/2021 17:23:51 Power On - Not applicable
09/14/2021 17:23:53 Power Off - ASF2 force off
09/14/2021 17:23:58 Power On - Not applicable
09/14/2021 17:24:00 Power Off - ASF2 force off
09/14/2021 17:24:05 Power On - Not applicable
09/14/2021 17:29:27 Power On - Not applicable

Any thoughts on what the issue could be would be lovely, I can't afford another laptop and I'm really at a loss as to what the problem could be at this point. It's actually my mom's laptop, and we know that she's cursed with electronics, but this feels extreme even for that lmao.

JOcean · Answer

Thermal trip is an overheating issue for sure but is that before or after you reapplied thermal paste? The memory not found then a new amount? Assuming you did not add RAM then it is possible the CMOS battery is weak or failing. I would start there and see what effect it has. The instructions are here and considering the system is 10 years old it is very possible.

somnomania · Answer

@ieee488 Yes, but it's just Flash/HTML games, and it did just fine with those things (and BlueStacks) for almost a year.

@JOcean I did add ram when the laptop was purchased, and someone over on Bleeping Computer actually suggested that perhaps the ram is of different voltages, but again, wouldn't it have had problems from the start if that was the problem? Also as far as I know it hasn't had a thermal trip since I put new paste on, so at least that's resolved. The CMOS battery did occur to me, but I know one of the most common symptoms of that is the time/date being off on the computer, which hasn't happened. I can replace that though, I think I have some spares.

ieee488 · Answer

E6520 is from 10 years ago. These laptops were not meant for gaming.   .

U2CAMEB4ME · Answer

Welcome to the Dell Community @ieee488

12GB could be a problem.

Do both memory sticks [4GB + 8GB] have the same number of chips on each side???

Are the speeds and latencies the same???

Do you also receive the message "Date and Time" needs to be reset???

Lets get a stable system before we talk about gaming.

There are a few upgrades that can be performed to increase minimal gaming performance.

Best regards,

U2

somnomania · Answer

As it turned out, the two ram sticks were of different voltages (which I didn't know was something that could even be a problem) and the 4GB one was on its last legs. So far the laptop is doing fine with no crashes with just the 8GB one in. Date and time have been fine, which is good because I'd have to buy one of the pre-wrapped and wired CMOS batteries if that needed replacing.

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Latitude E6520 major problem(s)

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