RTX 4070 GPU inactivates in Battery mode and does not re-activates when Power Alimented?

[DanyCamp]

Hello everyone!

I have an HP Omen Transcend (i9 14900HX), and I'm having an issue with the GPU RTX 4070 behavior when switching to battery power. When I plug in the power adapter, the dedicated GPU does not activate automatically. It continues using the integrated GPU unless I restart the computer. I’ve set the GPU selection to “Automatic selection” in the NVIDIA Control Panel under the 3D settings section, to let Windows choosing when switching from Integrated to Dedicated GPU but it doesn’t seem to help.  I do not know if this happened after upgrading the RAM with 2x32GB (Crucial DDR5 5600 Mhz. Before there were 2x16GB Samsung DDR5 5600 Mhz) because I did not pay attention to this "switching issue" before upgrading.  I've checked OMEN Gaming Hub and even if I select the "Performance" mode the dedicated GPU is still inactive. 

Is this normal behavior? Is there a way to force the dedicated GPU to activate automatically when switching to AC power, without rebooting?  Any help would be appreciated! 

Thanks in advance.

[Garp_senchau]

@DanyCamp, 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

Hey! It sounds like you're dealing with an annoying issue where the dedicated GPU (RTX 4070) doesn't automatically activate when switching to AC power, even though it's supposed to. Let's go through a few things that might help fix this behavior.

Check Power Management Settings in Windows

Sometimes Windows power settings can override GPU behavior, especially when switching between battery and AC power. Here's how to check:

Open Control Panel > Power Options.

Make sure you're using the High Performance power plan, not Balanced or Power Saver.

Click on Change plan settings next to your selected power plan, and then click on Change advanced power settings.

Scroll down to PCI Express and Link State Power Management, and set it to Off.

This prevents Windows from throttling GPU performance when switching power modes.

Update Drivers

Update your NVIDIA drivers.

Also, make sure your chipset and BIOS/firmware are up to date, as these can affect how components like GPUs interact with power management.

HP Consumer Notebook PCs - Updating the BIOS (Basic Input Output System) (Windows) | HP® Support

Check BIOS Settings

Since the issue may have started after you upgraded your RAM, it’s worth checking BIOS settings. Look for any GPU or power-related settings that could be affecting how your system switches between GPUs. Some systems have a setting to force either integrated or dedicated GPUs for power efficiency reasons.

Update BIOS/UEFI: If there's a newer version available, it could fix bugs related to power management.

Revert RAM Upgrade Testing

If you didn't notice this issue before upgrading your RAM, it could be related to the upgrade. Although unlikely, sometimes RAM settings can impact system performance, including GPU behavior (though this is rare). To test this, you could:

Temporarily remove one stick of the new RAM (leaving it at 32GB total) to see if the issue persists.

Test the laptop with the old RAM if you have it on hand and see if the behavior returns to normal.

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,

[DanyCamp]

I FOUND THE SOLUTION!

Yesterday I made a costly mistake: I let Windows Update install Intel Driver Support Software, which overwrote my generic drivers and caused my GPU to disappear. I rolled the system back to a restore point taken before the update, and the GPU showed up again. Next, I uninstalled the Intel UHD drivers and reinstalled the HP-approved version for my laptop. I did a cleaned re-install of NVIDIA driver in Safe Mode with DDU, I wiped every NVIDIA driver, then installed only the NVIDIA Studio driver (no GeForce Experience, no SyncX, no USB-C extras) and permanently disabled Windows Update.

In NVIDIA Control Panel, I set the dedicated GPU as the global default, switched Power Management to “Prefer maximum performance” (it was “Normal”), and enabled Vertical Sync (it was disabled).

So far, no crashes, even with Photoshop, Illustrator, and Chrome open at once and a second monitor connected. Moving windows between screens now shows normal GPU activity instead of huge high activity pics, so the fix seems to be working. 

Because the system is stable again with the original 2 × 16 GB RAM modeules I tried, today, to reinstall the 2 × 32 GB modules. The system is stable with several applications open and a second screen connected.

The problem was driver interference and NVIDIA Control panel settings not adapted to the actual configuration!!

[DanyCamp · Accepted solution]

I FOUND THE SOLUTION!

Yesterday I made a costly mistake: I let Windows Update install Intel Driver Support Software, which overwrote my generic drivers and caused my GPU to disappear. I rolled the system back to a restore point taken before the update, and the GPU showed up again. Next, I uninstalled the Intel UHD drivers and reinstalled the HP-approved version for my laptop. I did a cleaned re-install of NVIDIA driver in Safe Mode with DDU, I wiped every NVIDIA driver, then installed only the NVIDIA Studio driver (no GeForce Experience, no SyncX, no USB-C extras) and permanently disabled Windows Update.

In NVIDIA Control Panel, I set the dedicated GPU as the global default, switched Power Management to “Prefer maximum performance” (it was “Normal”), and enabled Vertical Sync (it was disabled).

So far, no crashes, even with Photoshop, Illustrator, and Chrome open at once and a second monitor connected. Moving windows between screens now shows normal GPU activity instead of huge high activity pics, so the fix seems to be working. 

Because the system is stable again with the original 2 × 16 GB RAM modeules I tried, today, to reinstall the 2 × 32 GB modules. The system is stable with several applications open and a second screen connected.

The problem was driver interference and NVIDIA Control panel settings not adapted to the actual configuration!!