New laptop freezes on shutdown

[JS235]

My brand new laptop has frozen on shutdown more than twice now. Screen goes off but the fan doesn't stop and the light shows on the power button. I have to hold the power button down and force it. If I leave it the laptop will stay on and drains the battery. I have also noted sometimes it freezes when I wake it up from hibernation

[BeemerBiker]

You may have have file corruption.  This can happen when forcing a shutdown.

SFC and DISM are both tools that scan and repair corrupted system files. However, SFC uses a cached version of the files, while DISM uses the internet to download and fix the files.  Try the SFC first and if it gives a message that it cannot fix the problem then try the DISM tool.

Click here for repair instructions.

You mentioned hibernation.  Laptops are normally factory configured to sleep, not hibernate.  Did you change the power plan to hibernation?  There is nothing wrong with using hibernation instead of sleep.  The hiberfile is used by Windows for fast start and is written to the disk drive.  If there is corruption in the hiberfile then the corruption will be loaded into the system on every startup.

If your system is set to sleep instead of hibernate then review this article and run the energy report.

[JS235]

Thanks for your suggestions. Unfortunately I still have the problem. It's weird as only happens when I close down in the evening and not every time. I wonder if it is a fan issue or a setting to do with the power button function. I have spoke with support on whatsapp but have not got anywhere. They asked me to do full system check in safe mode and all was green

[BeemerBiker]

Can you bring up your power plan and compare it to the one below?  Any differences?

Bring the power plan up by entering Edit Power Plan in the windows search.
Uncheck fast start and see if that fixes the problem.

According to Google's AI quote: According to information available, most HP laptops have a feature in their BIOS that allows the fan to continue running even after shutdown, which is designed to help maintain optimal cooling temperatures; this is often referred to as a "fan always on" setting, and can be adjusted in the BIOS menu depending on the specific HP model.

If indeed the fan is running because your laptop is hot then you might consider a laptop cooler.

[JS235]

I  changed the fast start option and so far so good it has been fine. I am hoping that this simple step actually solved it. I spent 2 days on support whatsapp and you were far more helpful. I appreciate it

[BeemerBiker]

If your laptop boots just as fast as it used to after disabling fast start then ignore the following

If the system is running good you might try to restore fast start.  

With the system online and working fine, create a new hibernation file.

To get a new hiberfile do the following. Enter 'CMD' in the windows search and select 'run as administrator'.
Be sure to close other apps to avoid losing data during the hibernation.

powercfg -h off
powercfg -h on
shutdown /h

Note that Windows fast start using the hibernation file.

The Fast Startup feature in Windows allows your computer start up faster after a shutdown.
When you shut down your computer, Fast Startup will put your computer into a hibernation state instead of a full shutdown.
Fast Startup is enabled by default if your computer is capable of hibernation

Make sure your system is working correctly. If a device is not working when you create the hibernation file, that device will be marked as not working every time your system resumes. This will be true even if the device is fixed later on.

After rebooting, makes sure all is OK then turn fast start back on.