Pavillion x360 Windows 10 - Randomly freezes with screen flickering even in UEFI hardware Diagnostic

[x360-pavillion]

HP Pavillion x360 Notepbook with Windows 10 (64) bit OS.

The Problem and  Other Symptoms noticed:

(1) The computer randomly freezes and then screen starts flickering.

(2) No other way except to hard-reboot the system.

(3) The frequency of such incidents has increased significantly in last few days, sometimes, it happens within 5-10 minutes of reboot.

(4) Most of the times, as the days are passing with this incident happening, it doesn't reboot instantly after hard-reset. On pressing the power button, the indicator keeps blinking and the screen remains black(blank). It takes time to start the booting process, which sometimes happen after a long delay of 15-20 minutes (without needing to press the power button again or do anything). Some other times it is quick comparatively, and may resume within 1 minute of pressing the power button.

(5) I noticed, the booting is now slow since this incident started. It used to be much faster and instantaneous (and the HP logo appeared on screen within 2-3 seconds of pressing Power button) when this problem was not there.

(6) The problem also occurs even in BIOS settings screen and during UEFI Hardware Diagnostic Test run.

(7) The problem also occurred when I tested with Ubuntu by booting it from a Live USB.

To diagnose and identify the problem, I had already spent 10 hours with HP support agent and did the repair to clean reinstall Windows (factory reset), but couldn't identify the problem. 

Next day, I ran Hardware Diagnostics Tests on my own (from Windows and from UEFI both versions) and got the SSD replaced with a new SSD drive for which it gave the failure code. The latest BIOS update was also flashed and currently it has version F.37 A (latest version available on HP support page).

It didn't help to fix the original problem.

The problem started around a fortnight back, when it happened once or twice and then all went well for some days. But recently for last 3 days, it keeps giving problem continually. It freezes and everything is gone after that except a frozen and flickering screen and sometimes a buzzing noise.

I could not find an error log in Event Viewer or Reliability Report except that it reports the system was shut down abruptly. (May be, I missed something, please pardon me for that I am not a core-technical guy).

Besides that, I removed the battery to see if that is a problem caused by weak swollen battery and ran it directly with AC power source, but it keeps giving that problem even without battery installed.

It's a fresh SSD hard-drive now with freshly installed Windows 10 with latest updates installed from HP Support page and Microsoft Windows System Update . No external security software or any other software installed except the HP Support Assistant and other diagnostics utilities /softwares/drivers from HP support page or directly from Microsoft Windows update.

Kindly help me identify and fix the issue.

[iomare]

Hi,

When you perform Hardware diagnostics now, does it still give any failures?

If the problem also occurs in BIOS it could be a motherboard problem. I would try re-seating the RAM , remove any peripherals and see if the problem still occurs. 

Can you hear the fans running correctly?

Do you have any idea where the buzzing is coming from? (what position do you hear it from)

Let me know,

David

[x360-pavillion]

Thank you David.

After new SSD installed, it doesn't give any hardware failure except that it signals a very weak battery and suggests it to change. It passed all components and extensive system tests.

But yes, when I had removed the battery and ran it directly on AC power supply (obviously through adapter), it started giving CMOS error sometimes during boot, but it would go away after reboot. The date and time in system remained intact and up-to-date after such an CMOS error and reboot.

No, I don't have any idea of buzzing sound. It doesn't happen everytime. It is analogous to a scenario when system freeze during a movie scene and that sound output also freezes. Though last time when I noticed the buzzing sound, there was no evident reason for such an sound output (I wasn't playing any movie or audio).

The fan is working fine, I guess. I can hear the sound and feel the hot air out through ventilation channel near power button.

[iomare]

Still looks like it might be a motherboard problem.

Some things I guess you could try at home.

Try using only one of the RAM sticks in the PC.

Replace the battery

Try booting into Linux or Bios without any SSD installed and see if problem occurs.

Try using only external screen and see if problem occurs.

Try looking at the heat the CPU and GPU are running at

Let me know,

David