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Okay I have a customer that bought a brand new all-in-one from me and almost on the first day that she received it, it would just randomly completely freeze up. The only way to fix it was a hard shutdown. After I took a look at it for now about 3 days. I figured out the following.

  1. Checked all BIOS and driver updates - All updated

  2. Tried reinstalling OS didn’t fix anything (So I restored back to system image I backed up before the re installation)

  3. Found out that if you don’t plug ANYTHING into the usb ports it won’t freeze up (I first thought it could have been caused by the wireless mouse/keyboard, but even a flash drive or external drive still causes it to freeze)

  4. Won’t freeze up instantly, it can take up to 12 hours before it will freeze up

  5. Event Viewer shows NOTHING at time of freeze, no error, no information, nothing…

What she bought from me is a HP 24-f0060 All in one 12gb ram, 1tb hdd, intel i5-8250

Any ideas would help

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  • What do you mean by writing that you checked ALL driver updates?
  • To which operating system do you refer and to which update level?

If the operating system is Windows 10 at version resp. feature level 1903, then there is a known bug with USB. I don’t know with which update this has been fixed, probably with some Windows update in June or July 2019. Microsoft delayed this version update due to known compatibility issues on one device and refused to update on another device while an USB stick was attached although not containing any update software. For the device with postponement, Microsoft updated it in August. And I did successfully use USB since also on that device.

So don’t use the Windows 10 image for installing which has been released in May 2019. Microsoft updated its image in July with several of the fixes applied which have been released in the mean time. So if you tried with the former image, you’ll want to recreate an updated image and try reinstalling again. If you’re working on this AiO device within that 12 hour window before freeze, you may apply those Windows updates too and see if it no longer freezes. But then don’t forget to apply those updates also to the saved image for restoration.

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It came with 1803 and I upgraded it to 1903 to see if that would fix it (No luck)

When I reinstalled the OS I installed it from my iso not from the UEFI screen. The build number didn’t seem to matter with this issue. it froze with 1803 and 1903.

I used HP Support Assist to check for drivers and then double checked their website and its all updated with the most current drivers.

There is also no windows updates other than the typical security patches, but its up to date as its going to get

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Given that this is new hardware and it seems like you already have updated every thing including BIOS and firmware. If that isn’t the case, then certainly do that.
I’d boot it onto an appropriate current version of Linux and take it through the same exercises. The results of this path would tell you whether or not it was a Windows operating system thing or not.You don’t mention such details, so I am wondering if the issue is a difference between being at your place and the client’s. Since its USB, there is a small chance that inexpensive or different cables, keyboard or mice might be a contributor.
I also wonder if the quality of the power coming to the computer is an issue. A good surge protector would help, but a UPS is even better because it would condition the line or raise an alarm about grounding faults.

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Booting into Linux is good idea, I will give that a shot and see if it still freezes up. Then it might help determine if its a hardware issue.

There is no difference if its at their house or mine. She had a UPS at her house that never gave us any sign if bad power. but that is a goo thing to check.

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As all my user devices with Windows are now at Windows 10 1903, I no longer receive the HP security alerts for older versions like 1803. So can’t tell you if the same alerts came for 1803 than I received today. I configured to get monthly reports by HP. And they announced quiet some alerts addressing updates resp. why updates may fail with which symptoms. Those were mainly of 16 and 30 August 2019, a few of a week ago. None matches your description.

Not only HP Support told me that HP Support Assistant isn’t sufficient for check of drivers. In my experience, even their web site isn’t sufficient. On a reference device, I use also HP Softpaq download manager (although beyond EOL since end of July 2019), HP Image Analyzer, Intel Driver and Support Assistant, KC Softwares DUMo and KC Softwares SUMo (both also existing in portable edition, i.e. of PortableApps). For KC Softwares, you may expect also false positives. I further use Windows device manager to examine (and eventually update) claimed updates proposed by DUMo. I usually get updates via HP Softpas download manager well before made available via HP Support Assistant. (I experienced the contrary only once for one firmware update.) I was able to update Intel drivers far beyond those offered by HP for the same device, several major versions beyond what is offered by HP. I experienced similar updates for some Realtek components with Windows device manager compared to HP tools with less drastic version change.

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You mentioned that you imaged it and had the same issues. I would swap out the drive, image and test again after fully updating it. If you are still having issues, it sounds like it might be power related on your mobo and time to get HP to replace it.

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Had that thought as well, I haven’t had the chance to try that yet. I did run all the hardware tests and nothing popped up, but I’m one of those guys that doesn’t believe in those self recovery or diagnoses programs that come with the consumer computers. They are about as useless as Windows start up repair.

I contacted HP support since its still under warranty. They couldn’t help me but they are sending me a empty box to send it in for repairs. Didn’t really want to go that route cause its going to be about 12-15 days before my customer gets their computer back.

I have a feeling they might just give me a replacement since its still covered.

Thanks for your help guys but I think I will end this thread as its out of my hands now.

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In my experience HPE first line support can’t generally help anyone, ever. Some of their L2 and most of the L3 support aren’t too bad though. You just need to follow the bouncing ball through script with the L1 support until they will admit that they know nothing and cannot fix the problem then escalate the ticket.

If the problem has been there since the machine was delivered, jump up and down with the vendor you got it from and send it back as DOA for replacement.

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It’s a PC - that’s HP, not HPE.

@priscilla-hp

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I feel your pain, you’ve spent days troubleshooting and now you have to send it back for who knows how long, plus I bet your customer is in pain too.

I guess there’s a small chance it’s Win10 drivers…but you say you’ve done a full refresh. Hardware stress tests are worth running. But this has all the hallmarks of faulty hardware (ram, hdd, mobo). If this system has frozen from day one and you’re 3days in, shouldn’t this be a DOA return to the supplier rather than a wait for a repair?

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As you have covered most things already, and its not like a standard ATX board to troubleshoot there, you’re pretty limited. Have you run a full hardware test from the BIOS/UEFI screen? Not sure how easy it is to get to, but has the RAM been reseated, and if more then one, tried running on one of the other? I don’t think it would be a thermal issue, as that should just shut down it it reaches its max (or throttle before that).

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Hello @ thedooman96, thank you for bringing your customer’s freezing issue to our attention. You have done a lot of serious troubleshooting and have received very helpful feedback. Hopefully the HP repair service will resolve this issue. If there isn’t a parts shortage the service should take 12 to 15 days. Do you mind pinging me with case or service order number? I will see try to get the repair escalated and will monitor it.

@dustandavis2

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