HP Omen 15 (2018) – Brightness bug and screen flicker after cold boot with latest NVIDIA drivers – d

[Juancamilo2096]

Hi HP Community,

I’m reporting an issue that may be related to how the BIOS handles the GPU setup in HP Omen 15 (2018) laptops.

### Device:
- HP Omen 15 (2018)
- GTX 1070 Max-Q
- Intel Core i7 (8th gen)
- 1080p 120Hz panel

### Problem:
After a **cold boot (full shutdown)** and using any NVIDIA driver **newer than 528.92**, the screen:

- Freezes at the spinning dots boot animation
- Turns black
- Comes back with the brightness set to 100%
- Then loads Windows normally

The Intel iGPU is **completely disabled** (no BIOS option to enable), and the laptop runs in **dGPU-only mode**. The issue does not happen when:

- Using driver 528.92
- Rebooting instead of shutting down
- Resuming from sleep/hibernate
- Running Linux (Mint Live USB)

---

### What I've done:
- Confirmed this is a driver behavior (not OS-related)
- Shared the issue on the official NVIDIA forum:
👉 https://www.nvidia.com/en-us/geforce/forums/geforce-laptops/6/568339/bug-screen-flicker-and-brightne...
- Also on Reddit:
👉 https://www.reddit.com/r/nvidia/comments/1dxr0ze/nvidia_drivers_after_52892_cause_screen_flicker/

I’m trying to understand if this is:
1. A BIOS-related problem (due to no iGPU support)
2. Or something that can be fixed with a firmware update

Has anyone else had this problem on an Omen model? Thanks in advance!

[Garp_senchau]

@Juancamilo2096, 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

When you cold boot (turn the laptop on from shutdown) and use any NVIDIA driver newer than 528.92, the screen:

Freezes at the spinning dots

Goes black

Then comes back with brightness at 100%

Windows then loads normally

But if you:

Use driver 528.92 or older → works fine

Reboot, sleep, or hibernate → no problem

Use Linux → no problem

What This Likely Means:

Newer NVIDIA drivers expect the Intel graphics to be present — but your BIOS disables it

That causes display issues during cold boot

HP’s BIOS might be too old or not fully compatible with new driver behavior

What You Can Do:

Stick with driver 528.92 — it's stable

Turn off "Fast Startup" in Windows (may help slightly)

Check HP’s support page for any BIOS or firmware updates

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. 

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Regards,