My Laptop shuts down during TEAMS calls

[eric_joely]

Like few other collogues I'm using a new Lenovo L13 Yoga. We are using Microsoft TEAMS as our formal application for conference and video calls.
Recently we started facing a "random" issue in which after some time in the call, the computer shuts down. the shut down accrues without a warning and it is a brute force shutdown i.e. without a safe close of all applications. It is as if you were pressing a long press on the power button.
We tried to reinstall TEAMS and to make sure that our laptops are working with the latest update, with no change.

Did anyone ever faced this phenomenon?

Any suggestions?

Thanks,

Eric

[#2]

After the crash all I could see is "The operating system started at system time ‎[time]." and "The previous system shutdown at [time] was unexpected." just like if a desktop was removed from the main power. Before the crash, I've found nothing, like no message in the last 3 minutes or so.

I've taken a picture of the system clock as soon as laptop reboot so we can go back to it. if needed I can try to provide some logs or use remote desktop

[#3]

Also, we are heavily engaged with Lenovo and they are able to duplicate this issue. They have escalated to the Developers and Engineers and are working on developing a Driver that will work with ALL Power Settings versus just the default Balanced Power Settings.

[#4]

I use just the defaut one. and I've had close to 10 shutdowns so far

[#5]

@razor_8 

Try changing the Max Processor settings in the Power Settings from 100% down to 99%.

Set both of these to 99%

[#6]

After changing this setting yesterday, I've still got one shutdown, also disabled Hardware Acceleration for Microsoft Teams

[#7]

I used the Script provided by the ITGuy in this thread. Copy this into Notepad, I saved it as a batch file (.bat) and ran it on two machines. It does two things, sets the default Power settings and sets the Max Processor settings to 99%.

REM Set Plugged in value
powercfg -setacvalueindex SCHEME_BALANCED SUB_PROCESSOR PROCTHROTTLEMAX 99

REM Set On Battery value
powercfg -setdcvalueindex SCHEME_BALANCED SUB_PROCESSOR PROCTHROTTLEMAX 99

[#8]

I've rolled back the driver, so hopefully, this will stop now. This picture shows how my power plan was set

[#9]

We deployed the script to 200+ machines and have not had a reported shutdown since. I hope it works for you guys too. We have not changed the Teams hardware acceleration setting either.

[#10]

What format did you use to push it? Powershell? Batch file?

[#11]

@HongKongPhooeyGal 

Another option if you're in a domain environment is to push the fix out via group policy using a computer power plan. I've done this for a few of our clients who were all experiencing the same issue.  This will let you pick and choose which computers received the fix as well since you can just apply to a specific group of computers.

[#12]

It keeps happening on my E14(Intel)
Right now I've run the .bat even though I've already set the max power to 99% and only use a balanced profile. (I'm this much desperate )

Things I've tried
- Set Max CPU to 99% // Fail
- Disable Hardware acceleration for Teams // Fail
- Roll Back thermal solution driver // Fail

So, maybe there's a different bug that's affecting only E14 model.  Or theres a problem with my machine that somehow is only triggered with teams (I run teams around 30% of the time, and all shutdowns so far(around 10) happened while I was in a meeting))

[#13]

Hey Razor, does this happen with the charger connected or not? As it seems for us the problem happens when the charger is connected to the laptop. Also check if your anti virus kicks in or any CPU hungry software is running also when in a Teams call. Does it happen to any other E14 laptops for your users?

[#14]

As a .bat/.cmd file pal.

[#15]

Shutdowns happen both ways, with the cable plugged in or not (mostly with the cable plugged in, because that's how I used it most of the time).
Sometimes I'm running hours-long simulations (High CPU and RAM usage) alongside teams. But sometimes I'm just running Teams + Chrome and shutdown happens too.
Simulations or chrome alone are not the problem, since ALL shutdowns happen while in a teams meeting.
Temperatures are always below 80°C.
E14 is my personal laptop. Lenovo told me that if the hardware is ok, I should contact IBM for software issues. but so far, I've got no answer from IBM

[#16]

Well, we have all L13's, so my work-around is specific to that Model. Good luck...

[#17]

The power setting seems to have helped here too.... had been through all the different driver checks of video drivers etc. and calls, generally only to certain clients, caused immediate power off on a couple of machines - HP ZBook, Dell Precision Tower 7910.  Both were on custom power plans with 100% CPU setting.  Time will tell if it HAS stopped it of course.

I had to use batch to push out change to multiple machines so used this script if any help, it gets the current power plan first and uses that to change.  Would have been easier in Powershell but had to use batch for this one.

@echo off
Set Scheme=
Set SchemeName=
For /f "tokens=4,5 delims= " %%P in ('Powercfg /list ^| find " *"') do (
set scheme=%%~P
set schemename=%%~Q
)
set schemename=%schemename:(=%
set schemename=%schemename:)=%

If "%scheme%"=="" (
ECHO Can't find current power scheme:
powercfg /query
) ELSE (
Powercfg -setacvalueindex %Scheme% sub_processor procthrottlemax 99
Powercfg -setdcvalueindex %Scheme% sub_processor procthrottlemax 99
ECHO Power scheme %SchemeName% set to 99 percent CPU
)

[#18]

Let's get real, this situation is ridiculous

Spent one week using another machine for teams and had ZERO shutdowns on my Thinkpad which means the hardware is ok.
Lenovo says I should contact IBM since this is NOT a Hardware issue (replacing motherboard won't fix this)
IBM (suphc@br.ibm.com) does not reply to my email (since march 3, their 7 working days reply time policy expired march 12)
Microsoft.... No reply on this thread for a long while. (I've offered to send logs or allow a remote desktop if they want to investigate or run some diagnostics)

Lots of Thinkpads getting random shutdowns. People getting disconnected from meetings. Losing unsaved works (or hours long simulations for me)

We all know this mess was caused by some February update (Microsoft or Lenovo, I don't know). if you guys can't fix this, just revert whatever update this was. I just want my machine to work and not be feared that it will shut down anytime if I open teams (Yeah tried teams today and it shut down.)

[#19]

@razor_8 

I am sorry you feel that way and I haven't replied here as we are in the process of working with Lenovo for them to reproduce the issue and diagnose the problem. I appreciate the offer for logs and/or remote desktop but it isn't really necessary at this point. 

Are you saying that the steps to limit the CPU in the power schema did not work for you?

[#20]

Hi Razor_08, we're (Microsoft) still in contact with Lenovo to get to the root cause of this issue. I'll update the thread once I have more info.

[#21]

@Brad Wilson 
I do understand that this thread is mostly focused on L13, so I don't know if this happens only for me or E14(intel) devices in general. But so far nothing that I've tried solved the issue so far.

- Set Max CPU to 99% // (both manually and powercfg .bat) Fail
- Disable Hardware acceleration for Teams // Fail
- Roll Back thermal solution driver // Fail

If this seems more appropriate, I can create a specific thread for E14 devices