Notebook freezes when starting

[delei]

My HP Spectre x360 Laptop 16-aa0780nz (Product Number: 9Q194EA) regularly freezes right after the first startup.
The device becomes unresponsive and needs about 20 minutes to cool down before it starts working normally again.

This behavior occurs only on the very first startup – once the laptop has been running for a while, it operates normally and remains stable.
What is unusual is that the device heats up significantly within just a few minutes, even though no programs or background processes are running at that point. Sometimes the fan spins at maximum speed immediately after startup, while at other times it does not spin at all.

Since when:
The problem started after upgrading to Windows 11 Pro. All updates (BIOS, firmware, drivers, Windows) are installed and up to date.

Troubleshooting already performed:

• Ran HP Diagnostics Tool → all tests passed, no issues found

• Checked ventilation slots → clean and unobstructed

• Tested with external cooling pad → slight improvement, but not practical for regular use

My questions for HP Support:

1. Is this a known issue with this model?

2. Could the root cause be related to the cooling system, power supply, or a firmware/driver problem?

3. What further steps do you recommend to restore reliable operation of the laptop?

Thank you in advance for your support.

Best regards

[Garp_senchau]

@delei, Welcome to HP Support Community,

Thank you for posting your query; I’m here to help by guiding you through steps to resolve this issue

It seems like you're dealing with a thermal or power management issue that only occurs at startup, likely related to how the system is initializing on Windows 11. Let's go over some troubleshooting steps:

BIOS and Power Settings:

Reset BIOS: Go into BIOS (press F10 at startup) and reset to default settings.

Check Power Settings: Make sure your power plan is set to Balanced or HP Recommended.

Check Drivers:

Update/rollback drivers: Make sure your graphics and chipset drivers are updated for Windows 11.

Thermal Drivers: Check if your Intel Dynamic Platform and Thermal Framework driver is up-to-date.

Windows 11 Compatibility:

Check for Errors: Open Event Viewer (search it in Start) to find any warnings or errors after startup.

Clean Boot: Try starting Windows without third-party apps running (search for msconfig > disable non-Microsoft services).

System Restore:

If the issue started after upgrading to Windows 11, you can try a System Restore to a point before the upgrade.

Reference: HP PCs - Software recovery options (Windows 11 and Windows 10) | HP® Support

I hope this helps.

Please feel free to reply here if you have any questions or if you need further clarification on any of the steps. 

Take care and have a good day. 

Did we resolve the issue? If yes, please consider marking this post as "Accepted Solution" and click "Yes" to give us a helpful vote - your feedback keeps us going!

Regards,

[delei]

Hello Garp,

thank you for your detailed response. I would like to clarify the current situation:

I did not change any BIOS settings manually, so the system is still running on factory defaults.

Therefore, a reset to default values should not make any difference in my case.

Power plan is already set to HP Recommended.

I monitored the thermal behavior under load with HWiNFO and Cinebench.

CPU temperatures peak at ~85–90 °C, GPU hotspot reaches up to ~100 °C, and the system shows signs of thermal throttling/freezing on first cold boot.

Windows is fully updated, and all drivers were installed through HP Support Assistant.

To proceed, I would like to verify the drivers you mentioned:

Intel Dynamic Platform and Thermal Framework (DPTF)

Chipset drivers

Could you please provide me with the direct HP download links for the latest versions of these drivers for my model (HP Spectre x360 16-aa0, product number 9Q194EA#UUZ, Windows 11 Pro)?

I want to ensure I am using the correct and HP-validated versions.

Thank you in advance for your assistance.

Best regards,
delei

[delei]

Hello HP Support,

I am facing repeated freezes on my HP Spectre x360 16-aa0 (Product 9Q194EA#UUZ, BIOS F.13, Windows 11 Pro).

Symptoms:

- System freezes on first cold boot only when connected to AC adapter.

- On battery, the system runs stable.

- After ~15–20 minutes (or when cooled down) it works fine.

- Freezes occur also without docking station, but Event Logs show additional USB/Power Framework errors when docking is used.

Analysis performed:

-Thermal monitoring (HWiNFO + Cinebench): CPU up to 85–90 °C, GPU hotspot ~100 °C, clear thermal throttling.

- Windows Event Logs:

- BugCheck 0x9f DRIVER_POWER_STATE_FAILURE

- Kernel-Processor-Power (Event 37) – CPU limited by firmware for >70s

- Kernel-Power (Event 521) – AC adapter switch

- Kernel-PnP (Event 219) – WUDFRd driver load failure (USB/Power Framework)

- UEFI diagnostics: CPU, RAM, SSD, board, GPU, battery – all passed, no hardware issues, Smart Adapter detected.

Interpretation:
Hardware is fine, issue points to driver/power management conflict (Intel DTT/DPTF, Chipset, ACPI). USB errors appear with docking station but are not the root cause.

Request:

- Could you please provide direct HP-validated driver download links for:

- Intel Dynamic Tuning (DTT)
- Chipset / Intel MEI
- Graphics (Intel + NVIDIA)

- Are there known fixes in BIOS F.13 or EC firmware regarding DRIVER_POWER_STATE_FAILURE on AC power?

- Recommended docking station firmware/drivers to eliminate WUDFRd errors?

Thank you for your support.
Best regards,
delei

[Garp_senchau]

Hey @delei,

Thank you for your response

Here are a few drivers I recommend updating:

sp157815.exe - Intel Innovation Platform Framework Processor Participant provides system temperature and power utilization information for the system thermal protection to function properly.

sp157825.exe - Intel Platform Monitoring Technology

sp157817.exe - Intel Management Engine Interface (MEI) Driver

Additionally, since you've already updated the system with HP Support Assistant, your unit should have all the necessary updates. If the issue continues, I suggest reaching out to our phone or chat support for further assistance.

I hope this helps.

Please feel free to reply here if you have any questions or if you need further clarification on any of the steps. 

Take care and have a good day. 

Did we resolve the issue? If yes, please consider marking this post as "Accepted Solution" and click "Yes" to give us a helpful vote - your feedback keeps us going!

Regards,

[delei]

Hello Garp_Senchau,

thank you for your detailed reply and the driver recommendations.
I have already updated the system using HP Support Assistant (all drivers including sp157815, sp157825 and sp157817 are now up to date).

Unfortunately, the critical issues persist:

System hangs after startup / unexpected freezes:
Several times the device did not boot correctly or froze shortly after startup.
In the Windows Event Logs this correlates with:

Kernel-Power (Event 41 / 6008) and BugCheck (1001) entries (system crash/BSOD).

Service crash (7034) of Intel Dynamic Bandwidth Management.

Event 1796: “Secure-Boot variable could not be set” – this looks like a firmware/BIOS related issue.

Windows Update instability:
Updates often fail with HTTP 403 / DO errors (0x80190193) and “source not found” messages (0x80240438). We were able to reproduce that disabling third-party security software (McAfee) reduces these errors, but the Event 1796 and boot freezes remain, which indicates a deeper system issue.

From our side the Windows installation is clean (DISM and SFC without errors), so the issue seems related to firmware or platform drivers.

Our questions to HP Support

Can you please confirm if there is a newer BIOS/firmware revision for HP Spectre x360 16-aa0 series which specifically addresses the Secure-Boot variable error (Event 1796)?

Is there an official HP fix or known issue regarding the combination of Intel Killer Network components and system stability (service crash 7034)?

Could you provide a complete firmware update package (BIOS + platform firmware) for this device so we can test if the startup hangs and Event 1796 are resolved?

[Garp_senchau]

Hi @delei,

Thank you for your response

I understand how frustrating this can be, and I appreciate the time you've already invested in troubleshooting.

After reviewing the information you've provided, I can confirm the following:

BIOS/Firmware Revision for Secure-Boot Error (Event 1796):
Unfortunately, there isn't a specific BIOS update that addresses this exact Secure-Boot variable error for your device model at this time. 

At this point, since you've already taken many troubleshooting steps, I would suggest contacting our HP Phone/chat Support directly for further assistance.  They can provide one-on-one help and may even be able to work their remote assistance magic to fix the problem.

Note: There might be a nominal charge for the service they provide.

Regards,