ENVY Desktop - TE01-1175xt Randomly Freezes, Restarts

[jvince81]

I have a two-day old ENVY Desktop - TE01-1175xt that randomly freezes and, on occasion, just reboots on its own. When the desktop freezes, the only method of unfreezing it is a hard reset via the power button - nothing will budge unless there's a hard reset.

I've run every diagnostic that HP offers and I'm getting ready to talk with the tech folks who will put me through all of them again, I'm sure. Has anyone else had this problem with this desktop? I'm thinking it's just defective. Would love to know if anyone else has had this problem and was able to fix it.

[jvince81]

Going to reply to my own post here...

The HP tech folks are very nice. My observations are that they're running me and this computer through a gamut of testing to try to find out if there is a problem. All of the tests that they're running me through are the same ones that I already did, but I get it - they need to do the tests themselves. The woman I spoke with yesterday ran through the same updates that I already did - updating the drivers, BIOS, etc. All already done, but done for a second time with the technician on the phone. She opened a case for me and said to call back if the computer froze up again. The total phone call was just over an hour.

The computer, of course, froze up again early the next morning. So I called back and I have a new tech and he's telling me that the problem is with the operating system. We're going to reboot the entire system (including deleting all of the files and programs that I installed... yay...). And that's where we're at right now. I expect that the computer is going to have to be replaced - this likely isn't a software problem and it's more likely a busted hard disk problem or RAM problem (according to the technician, who offered those as possible problem areas).

The second tech is trying to upsell me on an extended warranty on the software, which seems like a misplaced sales pitch. Bad time and place, man. And he's pitching it hard - like I've said no twice already and he keeps it up. I also hear other technicians hard selling in the background. He also keeps calling my desktop a laptop, which tell me he's too close to the script and not close enough to my actual problem.

Anyway, have others run into similar issues and gone through similar tech testing only to find that the problem is not a software issue, but rather a hardware issue? If so, then what was the hardware issue?

[jvince81]

Another brief update - the HP support technicians continue to be very sweet and pleasant to deal with, but running through the manual on how to fix this problem is not working. After reinstalling Windows several times, partitioning and repartitioning, etc. the computer continues to randomly freeze up. It's a dud. At this point, they're scheduled to call me back in about 48 hours. When they call back I'll let them know that this hardware is a dud and that I'll expect a full refund when I return this desktop to them.

I was excited about going back to a desktop and excited about going to an HP desktop, but this entire experience, while pleasant with the technicians, has wasted several hours of my time not to mention the frustration of having to ship this box back to HP (and, naturally, the pending fight that I'm going to have to have with them about refunding my purchase).

More updates as they come, but still interested in hearing if others have encountered similar freezing issues.

[jvince81]

Well, an expected turn for the worse. The technical team understood that this hardware is shot (and it's only three days old, so... bad news for HP desktops) and they transferred me to the sales team because they said that only the sales team could process a refund. The sales team immediately transferred me to customer support saying that they only do sales, not refunds.

Customer support intentionally tried to make this hard since the purchase was over $1,000. They asked me to verify all of the information that I already provided to the tech team and the sales team, but then said that they couldn't verify my shipping address. They asked for the billing address and couldn't verify it either. After a few pregnant, silent pauses, they asked me again and, remarkably, they could verify the information the second time around. Go figure. Then they told me that because the purchase was so expensive, they needed me to take a picture and a video because they didn't believe that the desktop is freezing. I asked for a manager and they said no because no one is available since everyone is working remote. Then they asked me four different times what the problem was with the computer and I repeated, four different times, that the problem is that the computer randomly freezes up.

Then they asked me to tell them what the technical team did over the last few days and I asked them to check the support ticket since I spent several hours on the phone with the tech team. They said that they couldn't check the support ticket, so I recounted the entire back and forth that I did with the technical team over the last few days. The customer service rep tried to get me to say that other issues were wrong with the computer like a boot problem or that I was having problems while gaming (there were no boot problems and I don't use the computer for games). The customer service rep said I needed to send in the picture and video of the computer being frozen and that it would take another 3 - 5 business days at a minimum for someone to check that email and to move the information to my account and for them to consider (not guaranteed, but just consider) processing a refund.

After the third time I was put on hold, the customer service rep tried to get me to say I was gaming on the computer again - I repeated (a little bit more frustrated this time) that I don't use the computer for gaming. The customer service rep then tried to tie the freezing to the use of an app, which I explained was not the case since we reinstalled Windows several times today and the desktop continued to freeze up. The call lasted about an hour and the customer service rep, while pleasant and only sticking to her script, was not helpful in solving my immediate issue. The last thing she told me was to reiterate that it will take 3 - 5 business days for someone to approve the refund, 3 - 5 business days for the picture and video to get linked to my account, 5 - 10 business days for any packaging label to go out, 5 - 10 business days for the computer to be returned to the facility, and then up to 10 business days for the facility to log that they've received the package so the refund goes forward, and then 5 - 7 business days for the financial institution to process the refund on my end. They then made sure that I knew that there could be a 15% restocking fee (which I'm obviously not going to pay; unless someone pays me my hourly consulting rate for the 4+ hours that I've spent on the phone dealing with their faulty hardware).

If I'm lucky, I'll get my money back some time in 2022 (*sarcasm*)...

This is obviously going to be a problem getting a refund, so I am getting ready to post all of this publicly and to have my credit card reverse the charge on HP.com. They really have to do better when it comes to customer service. Unfortunately, I will not be buying a desktop or a laptop from HP.com again.

[jeremyf]

I made an account here to let you know that I have been experiencing the same issue. I can't believe that support put you through all that, but now I know not to waste my time. You're the real hero.

[lktruong]

I am having the same exact problem with the PC freezes. I bought my PC at Costco about 90 days ago. I rarely used this compute until recently.  Of course, yesterday was the day when Costco return policy expired on me so I wouldn't be able to take it back to Costco.  I now have to search on this community for a quick solution.  It would be a pain to deal with HP support people.

[jvince81]

I'm glad that my experiences have been useful for you - that's why I shared them! Again, I can't say enough good things about HP's tech support team. They were awesome. But the customer services team was absolutely awful and downright insulting. As a mini-update, I submitted the information that they asked for a few days ago and I haven't heard a peep out of them.

I know that they're going to make this incredibly difficult, which is why I'm going to dispute the charge on my credit card. Also, I bought this PC through an education program at my university, so as HP continues to mismanage the easiest of processes (it's a simple refund, I'm not asking for blood), I am building up more and more data for a case study that I'm going to use with my students beginning this spring. I instruct about 100 college students each semester and HP is giving me the perfect fodder for how to never, ever treat a customer and for how a long-time customer's opinion of a brand can change on a dime based on an insulting, negative approach to customer service that values approximately $1,000 over honesty and integrity.

For anyone at HP who might be reading this (doubtful), just bear in mind that I'm a lifelong HP customer. I'm typing this on my second HP laptop that is connected to two HP monitors and HP gaming speakers and that I regularly backup with two HP external hard drives. So, you would have had another 30 - 40 years of sales coming from me. But no... your awful customer service team is desperately trying to preserve this $1,000 sale of an obvious lemon of a computer instead of focusing on the lifetime sales potential. It's so shortsighted and just a terrible way to go about running a customer service department. Shame on you, HP.

[jvince81]

I am so sorry to hear about your freezing issue, Lktruong. For what it's worth, my experiences with the HP tech support team were absolutely wonderful. However, based on my experience and the experience of others who posted reviews on the product page, they're not going to be able to solve your problem. This is a hardware issue, not a software reset issue.

Good luck - I know how frustrating it is to buy a lemon of a computer.

[jvince81]

The fun continues with HP's customer service...

The same customer service rep that I talked to last week called this morning to get some more information about the computer. First, she wanted the serial number. Okay, easy enough to provide. Then, she wanted to confirm that I emailed the picture and video of the frozen computer to them, which I did a few days ago (also, I got a response to that email - more on that in a minute). Next, the rep confirmed that I wanted a refund, which I said yes that's hasn't changed (more on that in a minute, too). She then said okay and that I should expect a shipping slip in the next 24 - 48 hours. I thanked her and got ready to end the phone call.

Then she asked me which error code I was receiving on the computer. I told her that there's no error code, it just freezes. She said okay. Then she asked me which additional hardware I installed in the computer like a graphics card or a hard drive. I told her I installed nothing, just turned the computer on and eventually it freezes up. She said okay. Then she asked who I went to when the problems started - did I go to a local computer store or did I go to HP tech support. At this point, I got a little frustrated and said I went to HP tech support, which we discussed last week. She then asked what tech support had me do to the computer to try to fix it and I told her that we talked about this at length last week and I wasn't going to recount all of it, but that after several hours of troubleshooting, they agreed it's a hardware issue, not a software issue.

She said okay and reiterated that the shipping slip will be arriving in the next day or two.

Then I told her that I received a response to the email I sent with the pictures and videos in it and that the response indicated that I would be charged a 15% restocking fee. I told her that there is no scenario where I would allow that charge on my credit card since the computer they sold me is defective. She assured me that once the computer is returned and they test it on their end, if they find that the computer is defective, then they won't charge the fee. I then made it clear that I would never allow that charge on my credit card because the computer is clearly defective and she understood my perspective.

What's interesting is that over the past few days, I've been considering letting HP completely replace this defective desktop with another new one under the thought that I couldn't get two lemons in a row, right? But this customer service rep was so insulting and the deceptive questions are so disgusting and indicative of a broken, loser company that all of those thoughts about getting the desktop replaced instead of getting a refund evaporated. Imagine having an approach to customer service that makes a long-time customer feel so devalued and insulted that any good will your company has in the bank with that customer is almost immediately extinguished by your approach. Talk about a complete failure when it comes to customer service. This entire experience has been awful, just awful.

I plead with any of you out there considering this machine to NOT buy it. Go and read the reviews on the HP website (which, by the way, they're filtering because they haven't posted my one star review yet). You'll find a bunch of one star reviews that mention how this hunk of junk constantly freezes. And to any HP rep reading this - you have to pull this product off of the market. With so many units constantly freezing for no apparent reason, the machine is clearly not ready for mass market sales. Take it off the market and fix the problem, then sell it! And fix your awful approach to customer service, too.

[JP145]

I have the same problem. I bought my new computer in early November 2020 and after a couple of weeks started seeing the random freeze problem. It got worse and worse, freezing every 15 minutes or so. Noting HP has suggested on their website or through chat has helped. I did a BIOS update - didn't help. I did a total reinstall of Windows - still the same problem.

I'll be watching for a fix...