Major stability problems with HP Elitebook 840 g1

[kj22017]

I recently bought a HP Elitebook 840 g1 500gb Toshiba hard drive, 8gb ram, core i7 4th generation. It is the most tempremental and unstable laptop I have ever owned. Despite the memory passing tests and the CPU passing every test Intel can throw at it the laptop grinds to a halt in windows whenever it feels like it. When I say "grinds to a halt" I mean a 15 second delay from when you click the start button to when the start menu appears. or three seconds per character appearing whilst typing. Video playback is impossible. Sometimes this problem is present as soon as windows loads, sometimes the problem appears after 15 minutes, sometimes an hour and the best I have achieved is 6 hours before the issue arises. The laptop is always in the same room at the same ambient temperature.

Here are some of the things I have tried to get rid of the issue.

1) doing a clean install of windows 10 - didn't work
2) installing a new SATA SSD and clean installing windows 10 - didn't work
3) formating an SSD and installing windows 8.1 - didn't work
4) full RAM tests in bios - tests passed but issue persists
5) Full CPU testing from official Intel software - All tests passed but issue persists.
6) updating the bios to the most recent version - didn't work

7) I have tried leaving the laptop switched on for a few hours incase an update issue was present - didn't work.

I am completely out of ideas here.   I am stuck with a HP laptop that cannot be relied upon.  Can anybody please advise?

[pritam2015]

Hi,

        In many cases dust cause such types of issues but in your case dust is not a problem because your notebook is not old enough. [I assume that you work in dust free area]

        If you work in dust free area and still having this instability issue then I think your PC may have a serious motherboard or any other hardware issue which cannot be detected by software.

        I personally suggest you consult HP technician for support.

I'm sorry but there is no way to help you without having physical access to your notebook.

[kj22017]

I cannot see how the laptop could perform perfectly nomally for 6 hours if there was a serious motherboard issue,  and I highly doubt the CPU would pass every single stress test Intel's official software can throw at it.

[Huffer]

The laptop is plenty old to have dust and heating problems. Came out in 2013 so 3-4 years old. 

I do agree if it passes all onboard diagnostics not much we can do to help you remotely. As a last troubleshooting effort before taking it to a technician you should try installing a little app called speedfan which will measure operating temps of the main components. 

http://www.almico.com/sfdownload.php

[kj22017]

 I have checked the internals of the laptop,  it looks as new.  Not a speck of dust anywhere, and no signs of tampering or other activity.

[Huffer]

OK but still temperatures are a part of any thorough diagnostics. 

[kj22017]

What is the "TEMP 2"  setting in the speed fan progran you just advised me to run? That seems to be running a high reading but every other temperature is fine.  Please advise?

also it is saying the temperature is 114 degrees.  Could that be a reading error?  Other places online do say that speedtest can throw up anomolous readings.  One forum user had a reading of 133 degrees.

All other temperatures are 100% fine.

[Huffer]

Temp 2 is known flaky....temp 1 is the one that is important. What are your readings? 

Mine:

[kj22017]

Temp 1 is around 37 degrees.  every other reading is well within normal parameters yet the laptop is extremely slow.  It works properly only when it wants to and can become unuseable at any time.

[Huffer]

Your problem is very serious for you but is a technician's nightmare to diagnose. Since it is Halloween I will throw out the possibility of demonic possession? Seriously it needs to be taken to a competent technician