System randomly hangs several times a day

[Darryl1948]

Product: HP Pavilion All-in-One 24-k1xxlx running Windows 11, 24H2

Problem: System randomly hangs several times a day (non-responsive to mouse, keyboard or touch screen), requiring a forced shut down (hold the power button down for 10 seconds) and reboot (press the power button). This can happen during active use or when the system is in sleep mode.  My usual power settings are turn-off-display after 15 minutes of non-use, go into sleep mode after 30 minutes.

Observations:

The small LED light on the power button behaves as follows:

     > ON when system is in active use or the display is off (but not sleeping)

     > Flashing in intervals when sleeping (long flash-short pause, long flash-short pause….)

     > OFF when in hibernating or shut down mode

     > Flashing in quick intervals when the system hangs (short flash-short pause, short flash-short pause….)

What I have tried:

     * full restore of the system (all files removed then back to factory defaults)

     * all updates completed, including loading the most recent BIOS

     * all drivers updated using CCleaner (10 drivers were updated)

     * ran all hardware/system tests via UEFI.  All tests passed.

     * set turn-off-display mode, sleep mode and hibernate mode to NEVER

Any help would be appreciated.

[BeemerBiker]

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@Darryl1948 wrote:

     * all drivers updated using CCleaner (10 drivers were updated)

     * ran all hardware/system tests via UEFI.  All tests passed.

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 CCleaner is not recommended by Microsoft and it is usually flagged by defender as an unwanted program.  Only use driver updates that the HP Support Assistant recommends.

1 - Use HP's cloud factory restore to return your PC to factory conditions.  Depending on how old your PC is it may not be available or it may have windows 10 or an early version of windows 11.

HP is removing cloud recovery for system over 5 years old.
The actual wording is a limited time after the warranty expires
You may want to get a copy of the cloud recovery before it is too late.
Cloud recovery provides all the custom HP drivers.
Go to the below site and enter your product ID including the 3 characters after the # character
If you have cloud recovery you can restore your system using a 32gb flash.
It may take an hour or more to create the recovery USB.
https://d34z73bbtpzgej.cloudfront.net/

2 - if cloud restore is unavailable or unwanted then do a windows 11 24h2 repair

For windows 11 go here for the ISO, select the language edition and be sure to only install PRO if you have a license for PRO. Usually the download link is good for 24 hours.  Windows 10 is shown below but will work for 11.

If you can log into your windows on your PC then use the file explorer to browse to the USB and run the program setup.exe

If you cannot log into your PC then boot the (16gb) USB and do a repair as follows

Insert the USB in to the system you need to repair and turn it on. If needed, Press ESC or DEL or F12 so that you can get into the bios and change the boot device. For example, the one with the dark bar highlight.  Hopefully the USB will boot without making BIOS changes.

After the USB boots up select the language and agree to the fine print, if any.

Once you agree the option to either install or repair will be shown. Since the repair did not work then chose install.

You must then pick the OS that was licensed. If there is no option for the correct OS you forgot to uncheck the 'Use the recommended options' earlier.

The next screen will ask if you want to upgrade and preserve files or do a clean install and lose all your stuff.

Do not let windows download any driver updates.  You can allow the install to go and download newer parts of windows 11.

Log into windows using your Microsoft account (or your email) credentials.   Use whatever credential you used to activate windows originally.  Install the HP support assistant and let it download drivers.

[Darryl1948]

Used HP's factory cloud restore as instructed above.  Problem did not go away.  Finally noticed that HP posted a new BIOS update, F.25 Rev A.  Updated to the new BIOS and the problem went away.  Stated reason for the BIOS update was the exact system hang problem I was experiencing.