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#1
Intermittent laptop crashes to black screen only while plugged in
Hi all! I’ve been having this strange lock up/crash issue with my HP Pavilion 15 (model cs0xxx - See specs), and I suspect it is a BIOS update, a missing or malfunctioning driver, or (hopefully not) a hardware issue. (The issue started some time after I reinstalled Windows v1909 and updated my BIOS to the latest version (F.22).)
While I’m doing anything on my laptop (most noticeable when watching videos) while plugged in, it starts by suddenly lagging severely for a second with the screen turning off about a second after, and whatever was playing turns into a buzzing sound very similar to what you hear on a BSOD. The hard drive is still on but with no activity, and any keyboard presses or mouse input does nothing. I have to abruptly power off the laptop and turn it back on. This doesn’t happen when on battery.
Crash dumps are of no help since they are not created or fail to create for this particular crash. Another thing I’m noticing is that there is an error level event in Event Viewer (system category) that says the last shutdown at about the time of this “crash” was unexpected, as well as an info level message stating “The last shutdown’s success status was false.” (..and if I recall correctly, a critical level event saying that the system wasn't shutdown properly.)
Diagnosis steps performed so far:
1. Hard drive Surface/Sector scan and S.M.A.R.T. + Self tests (no errors)
2. Windows and driver updates where applicable.
3. Process and memory test (no errors).
What I may try is a BIOS Rollback, but I'm not sure if that will work.
I'm afraid it'll happen during online classes. It can (and has) happen(ed) once or twice in a day, or not at all (which appears to be the case the rest of the time).
Does anyone have any suggestions or ideas as to what may be happening/fixes? Thank you!
(Side note: well, I did not expect to post an issue about my laptop here, but for some odd reason I'm not getting any responses elsewhere.
I don't know exactly where this fits in regards to crashing, so correct me if this is in the wrong place. I also have not been seen here by most people - introductory thread maybe coming soon?)