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?)

Hello Paradoxical203 ,
Are you saying this problem never happens if the laptop is running on battery?

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Have you checked for latest software and drivers via HP website and for Windows Updates?
Downgrading the BIOS if possible sounds like a good place to start.

steve108 said:

Hello Paradoxical203 ,
Are you saying this problem never happens if the laptop is running on battery?

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Have you checked for latest software and drivers via HP website and for Windows Updates?
Downgrading the BIOS if possible sounds like a good place to start.

No, it doesn't happen on battery at all. It's strange.

Last update was a little bit ago from HP, but that's about it... nothing changed.
HP's Recovery tool (separate boot env) says my last BIOS/Firmware version was F.15 (but can't find the image for rolling back, which means I have to download it from their site manually). I don't know if I should rollback to F.21 or F.15.

Paradoxical203 said:

No, it doesn't happen on battery at all. It's strange.

Last update was a little bit ago from HP, but that's about it... nothing changed.
HP's Recovery tool (separate boot env) says my last BIOS/Firmware version was F.15 (but can't find the image for rolling back, which means I have to download it from their site manually). I don't know if I should rollback to F.21 or F.15.

I suppose you could start with F.21, then go to F.15 if it didn't fix the problem.

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Check you power plan settings to see what's different between on AC and on battery. On AC might be doing something more aggressive that's potentially causing this problem.

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Change Power Plan Settings in Windows 10

steve108 said:

I suppose you could start with F.21, then go to F.15 if it didn't fix the problem.

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Check you power plan settings to see what's different between on AC and on battery. On AC might be doing something more aggressive that's potentially causing this problem.

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Change Power Plan Settings in Windows 10

From what I saw, the cooling policy goes from “Passive” to “Active”...
(Currently not at laptop. Will look through everything, and do the rollback once I get the chance and post an update.)

Paradoxical203 said:

From what I saw, the cooling policy goes from “Passive” to “Active”...
(Currently not at laptop. Will look through everything, and do the rollback once I get the chance and post an update.)

Probably checking power plan will be less risk and faster than the BIOS downgrade, but whatever you decide to try first is fine.

steve108 said:

Probably checking power plan will be less risk and faster than the BIOS downgrade, but whatever you decide to try first is fine.

I see that as a good call.

So here's what I feel are areas of concern (?):

Paradoxical203 said:

I see that as a good call.

So here's what I feel are areas of concern (?):

Looks okay and my Dell laptop appears to have basically the same settings for Balanced power plan.

Trying the BIOS rollback seems like the next logical thing to try.

What were you using before 1909? Have you considered updating to 2004?

Learning how to make full backups is a good skill to learn Backup and Restore with Macrium Reflect You can go back to the state your PC was in when you made the backup image within 30 minutes.

steve108 said:

Looks okay and my Dell laptop appears to have basically the same settings for Balanced power plan.

Trying the BIOS rollback seems like the next logical thing to try.

What were you using before 1909? Have you considered updating to 2004?

Learning how to make full backups is a good skill to learn Backup and Restore with Macrium Reflect You can go back to the state your PC was in when you made the backup image within 30 minutes.

If I remember correctly... v1809 (nearly forgetting already)? And oh yeah... did a backup before reinstalling, but the last installation became half broken (unknown cause), so I had to just reinstall Windows... and got an updated version in the process. I am not sure about v2004 because I hear that there have been some problems with that update.
Will do BIOS Rollback when I get the chance.... won't be too long from now.

Paradoxical203 said:

If I remember correctly... v1809 (nearly forgetting already)? And oh yeah... did a backup before reinstalling, but the last installation became half broken (unknown cause), so I had to just reinstall Windows... and got an updated version in the process. I am not sure about v2004 because I hear that there have been some problems with that update.
Will do BIOS Rollback when I get the chance.... won't be too long from now.

I'm using 2004 on multiple PCs with no issues. Avoid 20H2/2009 like it's COVID for now.