Solved! My HP ENVY laptop won't shut down

[Vertigo1952]

Model number 17t-ce100. Occasionally when I put it to sleep and close the clamshell, it wakes back up. Twice now, (yesterday most recently) I opened the clamshell and the HP logo was in the middle of a black screen. Just below that was a circle of dots moving around and around. We're familiar with them. The computer was definitely way above normal operating temperature. The power button light was NOT illuminated. I tried to shut it down using the power button to no avail, so I did what I had to do the previous time. I disconnected the power source and waited for the battery to discharge. Since the battery is internal, I didn't want to open it up. I keep it on a laptop stand that has 2 fans blowing on it

 

[AlHuneke]

Is it set to go to sleep when you close it or are you doing so yourself? Carefully check the (advanced) power settings and make sure they make sense. Windows does not make it easy to find all the power settings so explore thoroughly and dig down. My machine is set so the power switch causes hibernation (which I only do if I'm packing it into the case for a trip) and closing the lid puts the machine to sleep. I've also set hibernation to occur after a few hours on battery and never when plugged in. The power control is pretty mostly under software control. I had a similar problem with the machine not always powering down and up the way I expected and solved it by reinstalling Windows.