Question Desktop PC blanks screen randomly until hard reboot

[RocketRobinHood]

I have a HP Pavillion desktop PC that locks up randomly and I need to determine the cause and find a fix. I have tried installing different OS on the machine (Windows 10, Windows 11, Ubuntu) and the problem remains. Most of the time, the PC will boot up normally and then will randomly throw up a black screen. In rare occasions, the PC will boot up directly to a black screen. When this happens, the screen remains powered up (I can see the backlighting but there is no image) and there is no cursor visible. Meanwhile, the PC's fans keeps running and the keyboard lights are on. The only way to get back is a hard reboot (power down/up). Soft reboot (Ctrl-Alt-Del) does not work at all when the PC is in this state.

These crashes happen at any time with any OS. The PC is all original as bought new in 2019 (16 Gb of RAM, 2Tb HD, etc...) and started having this problem about a year after I bought it. I ran the HP diagnostics on the whole system and nothing comes up. I have reinstalled the OS and it fails even before I load any apps on it.

I would really like to save this PC and make it reliable. If I can't fix this problem I may try and replace the MB or I will just recycle it. I would hate to scrap it but it's at the point where I can't make use of it.

 

[rgd1101]

check cpu/gpu temp?
exact spec on the hp?

 

[DaleH]

I have a HP Pavillion desktop PC that locks up randomly and I need to determine the cause and find a fix. I have tried installing different OS on the machine (Windows 10, Windows 11, Ubuntu) and the problem remains. Most of the time, the PC will boot up normally and then will randomly throw up a black screen. In rare occasions, the PC will boot up directly to a black screen. When this happens, the screen remains powered up (I can see the backlighting but there is no image) and there is no cursor visible. Meanwhile, the PC's fans keeps running and the keyboard lights are on. The only way to get back is a hard reboot (power down/up). Soft reboot (Ctrl-Alt-Del) does not work at all when the PC is in this state.

These crashes happen at any time with any OS. The PC is all original as bought new in 2019 (16 Gb of RAM, 2Tb HD, etc...) and started having this problem about a year after I bought it. I ran the HP diagnostics on the whole system and nothing comes up. I have reinstalled the OS and it fails even before I load any apps on it.

I would really like to save this PC and make it reliable. If I can't fix this problem I may try and replace the MB or I will just recycle it. I would hate to scrap it but it's at the point where I can't make use of it.

I guess I would suspect the GPU. Try temporarily installing a different one to see if problem persists.

 

[RocketRobinHood]

check cpu/gpu temp?
exact spec on the hp?

I don't believe overheating is the issue. I am running the PC without its side panel and it will hang sometimes when I turn it on first thing in the morning.

 

[RocketRobinHood]

I guess I would suspect the GPU. Try temporarily installing a different one to see if problem persists.

Since this is an older GPU (A12-9800 APU) I wonder if I shouldn't just buy a newer/better one. Other option is to get a used one off eBay but that's no guarrantee it will be good. Anyone know what options I would have in the AMD range?

 

[RocketRobinHood]

I just ordered a used A12-9800 APU on eBay. I will start there and hopefully this will resolve the problem.

 

[Misgar]

If you're booting from the 2TB hard disk (not SSD) run CHKDSK C: /F /R to check for file corruption and disk surface errors. If you find "Pending sectors" or "Bad blocks" consider replacing the hard drive.

You'd be better off booting from a cheap 240GB SATA SSD.

Boot the PC from a MemTest86 USB key and check the RAM for errors.

Depending on age, the PSU might be on its way out. It might be a proprietary PSU, unique to HP, so not 100% compatible with a standard ATX PSU without an adapter cable.

Keep up the good work and save it from landfill.

 

[RocketRobinHood]

I have additional feedback to share about my issue. I swapped out the AMD CPU with an identical one and the issue persists. At this point, the PC will let me start a Windows 11 installation from a USB stick. However the PC will randomly become inactive and throw up a black screen at any point during the installation process. I can't even get to the point where the PC will boot in Windows at all. I have gone through this cycle of reinstallation multiple times and I can't get it to complete. I had previously installed Ubuntu on this machine and while I was able to complete the installation and get the PC to boot Linux, it would freeze and go to a black screen randomly. PC came with Windows 10 and all seemed fine until I did a HP recommended BIOS update years ago.

When I updated the PCs BIOS to the now current version (F.28 - 07/06/2020) something must have happened as the PC became unstable. I would like to revert to the previous BIOS version but I can't find it and I also can't boot to Windows even if I did have a copy of the HP BIOS update as it will not let me run it in DOS.

Is there a way to revert to a previous BIOS version from DOS or even reload the current BIOS version in case something went wrong with the original updare?

I am really trying to get this PC back in action and I am running out of options. I think I may just go out and buy a new motherboard and CPU but I am trying to salvage the system.