EC related problem

[USER9283]

Im using HP ProBook x360 435 G7

When pressing power on mute button light up, after that cap lock blink 5 time, then fan ramping up full speed.

What have i try? Hard Reset, Windows + B, this sometimes work and able to bring me to boot up to windows 11 login and using it for a while. After a few minute, the keyboard will become unresponsive, looking at device manager the keyboard is still detected. Looking at event viewer, it say about "EC did not respond within the specified timout period." Do a system restart or shutdown, will make the problem come back.

When im able to boot, i also try the UEFI diagnostic, and the process will freeze ater a while.

I also update the the bios to the latest  S80 1.24.02, update the driver, and  install fresh windows 11 twice.

[VikramTheGreat]

Hi @USER9283,

Welcome to the HP Support Community!

We noticed that this thread hasn't had any updates since your original post. While this is rare, we didn't want this post to remain unanswered, so here's the solution to your query. We hope it helps you and everyone viewing this post 😊

You have already done considerably more testing than we would normally ask for, including a hard reset, BIOS recovery attempts, BIOS/driver updates, two clean Windows 11 installations, and UEFI diagnostics.

The combination of the 5 Caps Lock blinks, the fan ramping to full speed, the keyboard becoming unresponsive after boot, and the Event Viewer message that the EC (Embedded Controller) did not respond within the specified timeout is particularly important. The fact that the UEFI diagnostics can also freeze makes this less likely to be a normal Windows or driver issue.

One BIOS update to check first
I see that you have BIOS S80 1.24.02 installed. Before moving to hardware service, please check the HP driver page for the latest BIOS release currently available for the ProBook x360 435 G7: HP ProBook x360 435 G7 Notebook PC Software and Driver Downloads | HP® Support

If a newer BIOS release than the one currently installed is offered there, please install it using the HP-recommended procedure and test the system again.

If the problem continues
If you are already running the latest BIOS available from HP and the same symptoms remain, I would not recommend repeatedly reinstalling Windows or continuing to perform BIOS recovery. You have already demonstrated that the problem can occur outside the Windows environment, including during UEFI diagnostics.

At that point, the symptoms could indicate an issue involving the Embedded Controller/system board or another hardware component, and the best next step would be to contact your regional HP support/service team for further hardware diagnosis.

When contacting them, make sure to mention all of the following:

• ProBook x360 435 G7
• Caps Lock flashes 5 times at startup
• Fan immediately ramps to full speed
• Keyboard eventually becomes unresponsive after a successful boot
• Event Viewer reports “EC did not respond within the specified timeout period”
• UEFI Hardware Diagnostics can also freeze
• BIOS is/was updated to S80 1.24.02
• Drivers have been updated
• Windows 11 has been freshly installed twice
• Windows + B recovery sometimes temporarily allows the system to boot

That combination of symptoms will be very useful to the service team and should help avoid going through the same basic software troubleshooting again.

Given the testing you have already completed, if the latest BIOS does not resolve it, I would strongly recommend having the unit assessed by HP rather than continuing to troubleshoot Windows. The behavior occurring in UEFI and the EC timeout are the key points here.

To contact HP Service Centers, click here:  HP® Service Center Locator - Malaysia | HP® Support.

Please feel free to contact us here anytime you need any further assistance.

Have a great day!