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HP Recommended
OMEN by HP Desktop PC - 880-553na
Microsoft Windows 10 (64-bit)

Hello All.
I recently bought a new Omen Gaming PC from HP. The tower style one. At the time of purchase everything was stock, however one or two weeks into using the computer and setting it up like a normal pc, I started to experience random freezes on the computer. During normal use or heavy gaming, the computer would just freeze for a few seconds (on average, 4-7 seconds) and then resume whatever I was doing. I could be listening to music on iTunes, watching videos on youtube or playing heavy CPU and GPU games and it would periodically freeze. The frequencies of this freeze is unpredictable. Sometimes using the computer, it would freeze maybe once or twice an hour or it could not freeze at all. I added new hard drives to the pc, and thought that might be the issue, however after removing the HDDs from the front two trays accessible from the outside of the case, the problem did not go away. While it froze sometimes if I was watching a video or had audio playing through my speakers, sometimes the audio would still be playing in the background normally, sometimes it would play out slow and distorted, or sometimes it would not play at all. It once froze when I was typing something and when it resumed, I saw that my message had many "hhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh" letters as if i was holding down the key on my keyboard. Other times when it froze, the lights on my keyboard which is controlled by the "iCue" software would just stop working, and start working when the computer unfreezed. I have many things happen to me while the computer froze. I was in a discord call when it froze and I could hear the person in a voice channel, but the other person could not hear me when the computer froze, when it unfreezed, my friend could still not hear me as if my mic had been unplugged or turned off. The way I fixed this was to disconnect and reconnect to voice channel. Some other times the computer would make a noise coming from the hard drive. And then a few seconds later the computer would freeze, other times when it was frozen the hard drive would spin up and start making noises like it was writing or reading information even though no program would be accessing it.

To put it simple I will list all the problems I have had when the computer froze.
When the computer froze:
Display is frozen, Display video buffers and speeds up to real time.
Cursor is unresponsive, keyboard is unresponsive. Computer thinks that I held down a key on my keyboard
iCue Software (Makes Cherry MX lights respond on keyboard) was unresponsive, or did not work
Audio is distorted, Audio cuts off (stops playing), Audio is slowed, Audio just plays the same tone like an "eeeeee" noise depending on the syllable of the song which it froze at.
HDD spins up, HDD makes a noise prior or at the same time of the freeze, HDD makes noises as if it is reading/writing data when not using it.

As I said and will say again, the frequency of these freezes are unpredictable during my session on the computer. It is not something that would make me concerned, however since it has seemed to happen more frequently since purchasing it, it has become a nuisance since it has happened during those critical moments gaming with friends. I have not tampered with the computer nor changed anything. I have only added two extra hard drive to the bays at the front, and when removing them, it did not fix the issue. I have updated windows to the latest version, updated all the individual drivers in Device Manager, im not very knowledgeable when it comes to windows software. I have checked the CPU and GPU utilisation via task manager when it froze and it seemed normal. RAM usage has only gone up to 80% when gaming. However while writing this, I opened up task manager and as soon as it happened, the computer froze! and I was lucky to screenshot this! 
Evidence HP .png

Disk O is the SSD that comes with the computer which has windows installed
Disk 1 is the 2 TB hard drive that comes with the computer
Disk 2 is a HDD that is removable from the outside (Right Drive Bay)
Disk 3 is a HDD that is removable from the outside (Left Drive Bay)
Disk 4 is a Samsung T5 500GB External SSD connected via the USB C front port.
All Drives are NTFS File Formats except Disk 4 which is exFAT

I do not have a clue in the world what is causing this however I suspect it is software.

I have received a HP bios update while this problem was occuring, however the update did not seem to fix it, and whenever I update the computer or drivers it would freeze and cause a different problem. 
I really do not want to reinstall windows but if it is necessary then I will have to. I only have games, some normal applications like iTunes, Discord, Chrome, Games on Disk 0 and not that much on the HDD, only pictures and coursework. I have McAfee antivirus software however I do not think I have a virus since it does not detect it.

If anyone can help me it would be greatly appreciated!
Thank you!

1 ACCEPTED SOLUTION

Accepted Solutions
HP Recommended

@Alex_S1

 

I suggest you download and run the HP Support Assistant from this Link: https://www8.hp.com/us/en/campaigns/hpsupportassistant/hpsupport.html?jumpid=va_r602_us/en/any/psg/p...

 

HPSA will automatically search for all the latest drivers for your Notebook

 

  1. Click My devices in the top menu, and then click Updates in the My PC or My notebook pane.

    Click Updates in the My notebook pane

  2. Click Check for updates and messages to scan for new updates.

     Updates list in HP Support Center

  3. Review the list of updates. Updates with a yellow information icon are recommended. Updates with a blue information icon are optional.

  4. Click the update name for a description, version number, and file size.

  5. Select the box next to any updates you want to install, and then click Download and install.

Also ensure Windows is up to date.

 

Select the Start  button, and then go to Settings  > Update & security  > Windows Update , and select Check for updates. If Windows Update says your device is up to date, you have all the updates that are currently available

 

If the issue persists run an extensive system test to confirm the Hardware Functionality

 

- Shut down the Computer completely
- Turn it back on, then tap the Esc key repeatedly until the Startup menu screen is displayed.
- Press F2 to select System Diagnostics.
- Click System Tests, then click Extensive Test.

 

Keep me posted how it goes

 

Thank you and have a wonderful day 😊

 

If the information I've provided was helpful, give us some reinforcement by clicking the "Solution Accepted" on this Post and it will also help other community members with similar issue.

 

 

KrazyToad
I Am An HP Employee

View solution in original post

3 REPLIES 3
HP Recommended

@Alex_S1

 

I suggest you download and run the HP Support Assistant from this Link: https://www8.hp.com/us/en/campaigns/hpsupportassistant/hpsupport.html?jumpid=va_r602_us/en/any/psg/p...

 

HPSA will automatically search for all the latest drivers for your Notebook

 

  1. Click My devices in the top menu, and then click Updates in the My PC or My notebook pane.

    Click Updates in the My notebook pane

  2. Click Check for updates and messages to scan for new updates.

     Updates list in HP Support Center

  3. Review the list of updates. Updates with a yellow information icon are recommended. Updates with a blue information icon are optional.

  4. Click the update name for a description, version number, and file size.

  5. Select the box next to any updates you want to install, and then click Download and install.

Also ensure Windows is up to date.

 

Select the Start  button, and then go to Settings  > Update & security  > Windows Update , and select Check for updates. If Windows Update says your device is up to date, you have all the updates that are currently available

 

If the issue persists run an extensive system test to confirm the Hardware Functionality

 

- Shut down the Computer completely
- Turn it back on, then tap the Esc key repeatedly until the Startup menu screen is displayed.
- Press F2 to select System Diagnostics.
- Click System Tests, then click Extensive Test.

 

Keep me posted how it goes

 

Thank you and have a wonderful day 😊

 

If the information I've provided was helpful, give us some reinforcement by clicking the "Solution Accepted" on this Post and it will also help other community members with similar issue.

 

 

KrazyToad
I Am An HP Employee

HP Recommended

Thanks so much! I did not know there was an app on my computer for that. There were drivers that needed to be installed and it resolved the issue.

HP Recommended

@Alex_S1

 

I'm glad you got this issue resolved

 

Do visit our HP Support Community and drop us a message anytime you need help

 

Thank you 😊

 

KrazyToad
I Am An HP Employee

† The opinions expressed above are the personal opinions of the authors, not of HP. By using this site, you accept the <a href="https://www8.hp.com/us/en/terms-of-use.html" class="udrlinesmall">Terms of Use</a> and <a href="/t5/custom/page/page-id/hp.rulespage" class="udrlinesmall"> Rules of Participation</a>.