HP Omen Laptop, freezes occasionally when touched/bumped

[David4333]

Hello, I am experiencing problems with occasional freezing on my laptop.

The device will freeze at times when typing, something on the table is bumped, lid was closed, laptop was picked up and other small things that should not trigger a freeze. It tends to happen more often when the computer has been in use for an hour or 2 but can and does happen with in a few minutes after turning on.

When the computer freezes it completely locks up, the back light on they keyboard cannot be turned on/off and sometimes the fan's will speed up. I have to hold down the power button to restart it. In the Event Viewer an un helpful message states that the previous system shut down was unexpected.

I have taken the device to  a computer shop, they said it was the hard drives and replaced them. Shortly after the problem reappeared. 

In attempts to resolve the problem I have updated the BIOS, firmware and my drivers (and fixed some microphone problems while at it!), downloading them from this website and I have ran a few diagnostics on my hard drive. While the checks to not show any errors, while using the BIOS to check the main hard drive, the system froze like it would with windows after lifting the device up and down a few times.

After some testing I found that disabling the secondary hard drive reduced the problem, allowing me to type longer on my computer.

Any insights about how to resolve this problem would be appreciated!

Operating System: Windows 10 Home 64-bit Version: 19042.746

CPU: Intel(R) Core(TM) i7-7700HQ CPU @ 2.80GHz

RAM: 12GB

      4GB SK Hynix 2400MHz

      8GB Samsung 2400MHz

System Board: 8261 83.72

BIOS: F.55

[The_Fossette]

@David4333

I reviewed your post and I understand that the computer is freezing randomly.

Don’t worry, I assure you I will try my best to get this sorted.

Based on your description it looks like the hard drive on the computer is gone bad. However, to make sure it is a hardware issue, I recommend you follow the steps in the below article and run the system test.

https://support.hp.com/in-en/document/c03467259

Let me know how it goes and you have a great day!

P.S: Welcome to the HP Support Community 😊

If you wish to show appreciation for my efforts, mark my post as Accept as Solution. Your feedback counts!

Cheers!

Stay Home – Stay Safe

[David4333]

I performed the following tests from the link above:

In HP Diagnostic tools (in windows) I ran the extensive test and everything passed the test.

In the Hard drive tests in the BIOS I ran a check on the secondary hard drive and let the computer stay still. The test got up to 99% and then stopped progressing. Hitting escape showed that the system was still running. And allowed me to exit back to the main menu.

Running the same test on the SSD ran up until about 15% (and 20 minutes left) and then said the drive passed the extensive test?

Running the test on the secondary hard drive again, but this time while hitting the counter caused the system to freeze up about 30 seconds after I stopped hitting the counter. The keyboard backlight was no longer responsive.

Running the test on the SSD again but this time while hitting the counter cause the screen to go blank about 20 seconds after I stopped hitting the counter top. The keyboard backlight could still be toggled on and off in this state. Hitting escape caused the keyboard to become un responsive.

Running a Memory check while letting the computer be, passed the test.

Running a Memory check while hitting the counter top caused the screen to go blank almost instantly while still leaving the keyboard backlight responsive and hitting escape cause the keyboard backlight to no longer be responsive.

Are there other tests I should be running?

[The_Fossette]

@David4333

It looks like a hardware issue. However, I recommend you contact support to further diagnose the issue.

Here is how you can get in touch with support.

1)Click on this link – www.hp.com/contacthp/

2)Select the product type.

3)Enter the serial number of your device or select let HP detect your product option.

4)Select the country from the drop-down.

5)You should see the HP phone support number or Chat option listed.

Cheers!

[David4333 · Accepted solution]

So I decided to see if I could figure out the issue on the laptop as my device is out of warranty, I wanted to see what I could do before contacting support which would likely result in me sending it in. I took out the secondary hard drive and the problem persisted. The only other easily removable component was the RAM chips on the bottom of the device. I removed one of them (the 4GB one) and now my computer no longer freezes when bumped, even with lightly harder bumps (I can now lift it up, set it down and do other things without any large problems)! I re-inserted the RAM module to confirm if it indeed was the problem and my computer still froze when I bumped it after re-inserting the module. So I removed it again and no problems.

My question now is there a way to tell if it was the chip or the board that was at fault? If it there is a problem on the board I do not want to waste time buying a new chip if it won't work.

It seems the upper slot (the one closest to the access door), is bad.