Brand new HP ENVY All-in-One - 32-a1785ng locks up during games

[Paolodn69]

With any games, i.e. FIFA21 or F1 2021 or Virtualskipper (on line game), regardless if I reduce resolution, the computer eventually after 15 minutes locks up, then the fans starts running and revving up. After restart it gives me, at times the error 90B from BIOS. I run the UEFI checks. No hardware challenges. This is a powerful PC I bought to run games as well, but it seems to be overheating and locking up. Why the fans do not turn before is too late? If this is normal I will return it and ask for refund.

I look forward for support.

[AndriyDobr]

Have found a solution ?

I actually have the same issue with my HP ENVY All-in-One - 32-a1785ng. It mainly happens within the games (I assume because GPU becomes additional big heat source as well), but I can knock down the system with some hard benchmarks as well. In my opinion CPU / Sytem or whatever fans are there, are starting spinning when it's already too late. At least they become really loud only when the system already hangs. Looks like a system firmware issue. I will send mine into service, but will also ask for refund if a problem persists. 

[Paolodn69]

Thanks for your feedback and for confirming exactly the same issue. I have run with HP online support via Whatsapp several tests. Did not find a solution? Can you share with me your BIOS error Log? We need to elevate this challenges within HP seeking a resolution. I count on tou and others.

[AndriyDobr]

Hi,

I've sent mine to the service center today after having a talk with support over the phone. What I found out myself, is that the CPU hits the thermal limit, and this happens not necessarily when you're playing games, though with the fully loaded GPU the chance that it will occur get higher. Proably it's located close to the CPU... Anyway one can also reproduce frezes with an intensive CPU benchmark. I  managed it with a Furmark. Hope it's not a design issue which can't be solved, because the unit itself is superior and it would really be a pitty.

I think the problem is in a TurboBoost 3.0 mode, which is supported by our i9 CPUs. It's namely allowed by the Intel that the CPu goes from 2.8GHz up to a 5.2GHz on a single core for 14 seconds at a cost of extremely high current / power drain. I see that it's reaching ~170W, whereas in a normal mode it's only 74W. And all the produced heat needs to be taken away by the FAN, which seems to accelerate too late.

[Paolodn69]

What do we do? This is exactly the issue. I love the unit, although I am not impressed by the display.

Keep me posted, 

[AndriyDobr]

I will let you know about the results once I receive my PC back from the service. To be honest I think the issue can rather be solved with some new Firmware/ BIOS Update. But you never know, maybe it's a defect heatsink or smth. If you have a look at Driver Downloads for our model at HP's site, there is a fresh BIOS from January F21A, which is supposed to solve exactly these issue. Unfortunately it didn't help in my case, but probably HP is aware of an issue and they are working on it. Will see... Anyway it would be good to see some comments from their side in this thread...

[Paolodn69]

The Firmaware update F21A did not help. I look forward for your feedabck once you get it back. A new challenge is now related to Windows Updates unable to install the new release. I will hold on from sending the PC to repair until I get a feedback from you.

[AndriyDobr]

Sure, I will inform you, but repair will probably take 7 to 10 days.

[AndriyDobr]

Well, it came back from the service center. According to the notes, made by HP online in my ticket, there was a BAD PART. I actually had a hope that now it will work fine, but it freezed again after 10 minutes in Witcher 3. Awful! I don't know what they repaired and replaced (to be honest I'm quite skeptical about it), but it definitely didn't help. The only thing which did take place is a Windows reinstall, so I lost all my software 😞

[AndriyDobr]

Hi,

I found a temporary solution how to limit power consumption in a for short TurboBoost Max period, and this seems to solve the issues with overheating and freezing without noticeably hurting the system performance! The TurboBoost Max itself is quite questionable to mee due to the very short time it's being applied and a huge x3 power consumption it's causing.

So you need to download a small utility called ThrottleStop, place it to some sacred location, start it, press the button called "TLP" and enter 100W instead of 224W for TurboBoost Max. The new setting is automatically saved for the future. Then go to "Options" and select "Start minimized". This will be needed since the program won't run automatically as a service, and you will need to create a "Log on Time" task for it using Windows Task Scheduler. There is a good tutorial about how to do it, which you will certainly find online. For me 100W was an optimal setting, which keeps CPU below 85C. Will call HP again and probably wait for the firmware update.

Hope this helps. Let me know.