Question Hp Gaming Laptop turns itself off

[DobbyPlays]

Hi, over the past few months my HP Pavillion Gaming Laptop (15-ec1001na) has been occasionally turning itself off. There is no warning and the screen and LEDs turn off as if it fully lost power in an instance.

The strangest thing is that it's been wildly inconsistent. Sometimes I'll change something and it will be perfectly normal for like a month before starting to turn off within a minute of me turning on the computer. It doesn't seem to matter what I'm doing either, it's happened during gaming, just light office work, just sat still in windows and even occasionally within BIOS itself.

There's no useful events in event viewer (from what I can tell), just an unexpected loss of power event.

I suspect a hardware issue as I've seen it crash in BIOS before however I have run built in HP hardware diagnostics numerous times and everything always passes (weirdly, I've never seen it crash during this).

Here's a list of everything I've tried:

• Reinstalling Windows (keep files)
• Replacing the thermal paste and cleaning out dust from the laptop
• Removing the laptop battery and running from the charger only - this fixed the issue for about a month of light use before it started again
• Trying different BIOS versions (both updating to latest and reverting)
• Setting BIOS option to keep fan always on - this also fixed the issue for about a month before the issue started again. This is why I first suspected overheating
• Using the original charging internal lead (I had replaced it about 9 months prior due to charging issues where the laptop didn't receive enough power and so was throttling)
• Unplugging the power button from the motherboard
• Removing the additional SSD I had installed
• Removing the upgraded 16GB RAM stick I installed and putting in an original 4GB stick
• Running in built HP Hardware diagnostics on loop overnight (no errors)
• Running windows memory diagnostics (no errors)

Any ideas would be greatly appreciated, this has been frustrating as I keep on thinking I've fixed it until it starts randomly turning off again a month later.

 

[rgd1101]

running the laptop in performance mode?

 

[DobbyPlays]

running the laptop in performance mode?

My windows power settings are set to balanced and the issue happens on both battery and when plugged in. I'm not sure if there's anywhere else I can check for performance mode

 

[rgd1101]

try performance mode.

 

[COLGeek]

These sorts of issues are often heat and/or power related. Does it matter whether using battery or AC power?

What are your CPU and GPU operating temperatures at idle and under load?

Are you using an original HP power supply with the laptop?

 

[DobbyPlays]

try performance mode.

Currently I can't boot into windows fully, usually it turns itself off before it gets to this stage now. Is there any way to enable performance mode without needing to enter windows?

 

[DobbyPlays]

These sorts of issues are often heat and/or power related. Does it matter whether using battery or AC power?

What are your CPU and GPU operating temperatures at idle and under load?

Are you using an original HP power supply with the laptop?

It happens on both battery and AC power (although there was a month where it stopped turning itself off when I had the battery unplugged).

Currently my laptop isn't making it to boot, even if it's been off for a long time. However from when I last checked I remembered that idle temperatures were between 30°C-50°C and under load could spike up to about 80°C.

I am using the original HP power supply with the laptop.

 

[COLGeek]

You mentioned changing thermal paste. Was that before or after the issues started?

 

[DobbyPlays]

You mentioned changing thermal paste. Was that before or after the issues started?

I changed it after the random shutdowns started as I thought it might have been a thermal issue.

I'm not so sure anymore as it seems to shutdown even when idling or when I first turn it on after it's been off for a few days.

 

[COLGeek]

What version of Windows are you running and is it fully up to date?

 

[DobbyPlays]

What version of Windows are you running and is it fully up to date?

Windows 11 22H2. The feature update to 23H2 is available but the laptop isn't stable enough to do the update.

 

[COLGeek]

Try booting the system from a Live Linux distro. See if it is stable then.

I recommend Mint or Ubuntu. Don't install the OS, just boot from a thumb drive.

 

[DobbyPlays]

Try booting the system from a Live Linux distro. See if it is stable then.

I recommend Mint or Ubuntu. Don't install the OS, just boot from a thumb drive.

I will try this when I get access to another computer to install the OS on.

Just to note, I have seen this shutdown happen in BIOS which makes me think it's probably a hardware issue or a BIOS update issue

 

[COLGeek]

I will try this when I get access to another computer to install the OS on.

Just to note, I have seen this shutdown happen in BIOS which makes me think it's probably a hardware issue or a BIOS update issue

I agree. This is a likely hardware issue, but trying to rule out the OS first.

With laptops, this often means getting a new laptop, or swapping the laptop motherboard. They are not "swap-able" as PCs.

 

[BlueBitz]

That sounds like a real tech mystery you got there. Kudos for trying all those fixes. The randomness of the shutdowns is extra puzzling. Have you checked the power supply? Maybe it's acting up or the cord is wonky.

 

[DobbyPlays]

That sounds like a real tech mystery you got there. Kudos for trying all those fixes. The randomness of the shutdowns is extra puzzling. Have you checked the power supply? Maybe it's acting up or the cord is wonky.

I had checked the power supply with a multimeter and it's providing the rated voltage and is stable. The connection to the laptop looks secure.

I have noticed that when the laptop turns itself off, the charging light does turn off briefly before turning back on. So maybe it is losing power? But it wouldn't explain why the issue happens on battery power as well.