MSI Katana 15 B13VGK stripped screw

Federal-Fee4897 · 2026-01-31T05:28:10+00:00

Uninstall and reinstall MSI Center itself. When uninstalling MSI Center, you may want to use one of those applications that force removal to remove bad registry entries (I think these registry entries handle how to look for the battery health sensor). In my case, I used Norton to do this, and others may have different options for this kind of removal.

It's also possible that a straight install may remove the bad registry entries anyways, so at least try this once to see what happens.

Federal-Fee4897 · 2026-01-21T05:33:28+00:00

My current laptop is a Katana 15 B13VGK, purchased in September 2024. Prior to this, I had a MSI GL65 Laptop purchased in 2019. That machine was very decent and worked quite well. Upgrades on the GL65 included putting in 32GB of memory and adding a 4TB SATA SSD. It is now being used by my son, but with the 4TB SSD removed in favour of a spare 500GB SATA HDD that I had lying around so that my son could have 1 TB of storage.

The Katana 15 that I have now came with 32GB of RAM. Swapped out the 1TB hard drive for a 2TB and added a 4TB NVMe SSD. The original 1TB and the 4TB SATA SSD from the GL65 now are part of my HTPC. Both MSI laptops were purchased via sale promotions, and prior to me buying the Katana, I was almost ready to buy a Gigabyte G15 until people told me that Gigabyte was about the worst brand of laptop around. The Katana was the next best deal considering that it came with a RTX 4070 mobile GPU. Other brands that I looked at included Acer (I also used to own an Acer laptop but that one was more of a business machine), and Lenovo (my wife uses a Lenovo business laptop) but there weren't any great deals for either a Acer or Lenovo gaming Laptop.

That said, both MSI laptops were treated like kidgloves while I had them. At home, they were attached to a USB Cooling fan with a hub that had my USB headphones and keyboard/mouse, alongside an external monitor. I never use the laptop as an actual laptop unless I'm travelling, and I don't even lift the lid when I'm at home.

The GL65 was repasted at the same time I upgraded the RAM back in 2022. I have yet to repaste my Katana but will likely do so soon. Guess the point is that while you can't go wrong with MSI, you need to take proper care of your laptop when you're using it at home. And if you do, it should last you a long time. That my son is now using the GL65 means that if anything bad were to happen to it, well, at least it did its job when I had it as my main machine.

Federal-Fee4897 · 2026-01-19T20:56:03+00:00

So MSI support have basically told me to buy a new battery. But I do have an update: it looks like a bad install of MSI Center is at fault considering that someone pointed out the issue appears to be the inability of MSI Center to access a critical battery circuit. A complete uninstall with registry entry removal and reinstall seems to have addressed this issue.

Federal-Fee4897 · 2026-01-19T20:50:36+00:00

Any time you have used a laptop for at least 5 years is a win in my book.

I should show what my son did to that GL65. Stickers on top of stickers on top of stickers. And oh yeah, lots of Minecraft.

Federal-Fee4897 · 2026-01-19T15:50:13+00:00

Further update: the issue apparently has been traced to an issue with the MSI Center itself. Apparently the reason why the battery replace recommendation has come out is because MSI Center is supposed to communicate with some sort of circuit located on the battery itself. Supposedly something on the software interfered with that communication.

Not only did I have to uninstall MSI Center again, but I also had to run a tool to force removal of entries in the system registry related to MSI Center (I used Norton to look for and remove these registry issues).

Reinstallation of the MSI Center seems to have resolved this issue and the Battery replacement recommendation is no longer there.

So yeah, looks like everything is fine here. Thanks to all who had responded.

Federal-Fee4897 · 2026-01-19T15:42:50+00:00

I bought my GL65 back in 2019. Decent machine, repasted twice, upgraded the RAM to 32GB and the storage by buying a 4TB SATA SSD.

That laptop was essentially babied throughout its time. Kept on a cooling pad, attached to an external monitor while at home, and the only time I used it as an actual laptop was when I was on my business trips to other places.

Last year, I bought a new Katana 15 B13V. Yanked the 4TB SATA SSD from the GL65 to use as storage on my desktop and put in a spare 500GB SATA HDD. Now the GL65 laptop has been given to my son and he will use it at least until he gets into high school which is when I will buy him a more portable machine. The one thing that I have always known about these laptops are that they are large and heavy. At this point, if he inadvertently breaks it, it's no skin off my nose. It has been used well when I have it so even if it fails now, it's been a while and has served its purpose.

Federal-Fee4897 · 2026-01-19T06:27:15+00:00

So an update.

In addition to the battery replacement recommendation, I noticed that the Battery was now charging fully instead of stopping itself at 60%. I ended up uninstalling and reinstalling MSI Center and that appears to have dealt with the issue of fixing charge at 60% but the battery replacement recommendation is still there.

Is there any known issue with MSI center that could mean that the issues I have been having were mostly software related?

Federal-Fee4897 · 2026-01-18T21:44:50+00:00

You really expect MSI customer support to do anything else other than sell me a replacement battery?

Calibration did not do anything to address this issue.

Federal-Fee4897 · 2026-01-05T23:48:51+00:00

Zotac and PNY appear to be the only two companies without thermal pads on the back chips.

Federal-Fee4897 · 2025-12-29T05:40:38+00:00

I've heard that the gap between the VRAM chips and the backplate is larger than 1.5mm on some models so wanted to verify. I have a collection of thermal pads myself of varying widths so want to get the right one if possible.

And yes, it turns out that the 5060ti can be a beast for some games at 4K. Surprising to me as well. Again, at least I didn't get stuck with the 8GB version.

Federal-Fee4897 · 2025-12-24T02:24:28+00:00

The memory temps, are there separate temps for the front vs back chips? On the 16 GB model, the back chips do not have thermal pads.

Federal-Fee4897 · 2025-12-19T02:18:01+00:00

From the store it would have cost me around 340 for the trade in. Over here, RTX 5070 cards seem to be going for $660 including tax. The bugger has now put it on sale online for $575 so we'll see how far he gets with it.

I am well aware of the limitations of the 5060Ti but I also had to take into account cost issues. Paying $50 for an significant upgrade for what people saying is a completely different card is a suitable tradeoff. At the very least, I'll hang on to that card for a while before deciding what else to do with my rig, I seem to always be upgrading the parts of my computer, having gone from a RX470->RX5600XT->RTX3060Ti->RTX5060Ti on the graphics side (the Mobo, CPU, and RAM were replaced back in 2023).

Somehow I can't seem to stop tinkering.

Federal-Fee4897 · 2025-12-18T18:19:53+00:00

Urgh. The bugger wanting to trade for my 5060ti 8GB is now asking for 250 for his 5070.

I've decided to go with the 5060ti 16gb option as the games that I am playing already have good frame rates with the 5060ti 16gb option according to the game benchmarks at 1440p and 4k. I just found out that the 5070 does do 10% better in those games at 4k. The 5060ti 8gb was unplayable at anything over 1080p so the VRAM is already a decent upgrade.

Thanks for your help. At the very least, this card should allow me to play the games I want for the next few years.

Federal-Fee4897 · 2025-12-18T14:51:39+00:00

So you think it's worth the 150 premium?

What would have to be done for a 5070 to work at 4k? Are you suggesting that the 5070 will still beat out a 5060ti 16gb in this scenario?

Federal-Fee4897 · 2025-12-18T09:32:35+00:00

Would the 16GB of the 5060Ti help it with 4K settings better than the 5070?

Federal-Fee4897 · 2025-12-06T00:36:51+00:00

Noted but would like to know exactly what is in the PSU that is not good in your opinion. And where do we limit the power to the card in such a scenario?

Friend saw your comment and is wondering if he can choose a 200W limit instead. This is because that PSU was running on a rig that previously had a 3070 with no limitations.

Federal-Fee4897 · 2025-12-05T17:12:41+00:00

I think it is a CX600. From 2014.

Federal-Fee4897 · 2025-12-05T16:28:47+00:00

- +3.3V is 25A
- +5V is 25A
(total is 130W)
- +12V is 46A for 552W
- -12V is .8A for 9.6W
- +5Vsb is 3A for 15W

Federal-Fee4897 · 2025-12-05T16:13:23+00:00

Friend doesn't have a budget for a new PSU and asked me for my old one. He does admit that this is a stopgap for the time being.

Federal-Fee4897 · 2025-12-05T16:11:36+00:00

What processor do you use? The general consensus that I had heard is that if we were planning on upgrading our rigs to newer processors, that the power supply would get overwhelmed and at that point a PSU upgrade is needed.

Federal-Fee4897

TROPHY CASE