System unexpectedly shutting down due to random freezing.
System unexpectedly shutting down due to random freezing.
Problem: System shuts down unexpectedly during short usage sessions (20 minutes to an hour). No BSOD, no black screen, no log errors. Just the displayed content remains frozen. No reaction to inputs. Hard restarts resolve the issue. Attempted solutions: upgraded PSU from 310W to 500W, replaced power cable, performed an OCCT stress test for an hour without issues. Temperatures were normal. Played a YouTube video and the machine froze after about 30 minutes. The computer model is a refurbished HP Pavilion TP01-1137C with an Intel Core i7 10th Gen 10700F processor, 16GB DDR4 RAM, 1TB HDD, and a 256GB SSD running Windows 10 Home. It runs AMD Radeon RX 550 GPU. There are some reviews on Newegg noting this random freezing issue. It freezes regularly, requiring a hard shutdown. The problem has occurred multiple times. Removed RAM, cleaned connections, and reinstalled securely; frequency dropped from daily to weekly. Considering adding more RAM or replacing the existing stick, possibly two. Thoughts?
I’ve seen several YouTube videos where tech reviewers dealt with freezing or crashes in OEM computers. One of them, likely Dawid Does Tech Stuff, discovered the OEM’s display was faulty and was contributing to the issues. They managed to fix it by performing a fresh Windows installation using Microsoft’s Media Creation Tool, and it functioned smoothly afterward. While it may not fix your specific problem, it could remove any unnecessary bloatware that HP added. If you haven’t backed up your data yet, giving it a try could be worthwhile.
Thank you for your feedback. A clean setup seems ideal, and I’m prepared to carry it out. My main worry is the computer might freeze during the reinstall, especially if a hardware problem exists. It’s unlikely the machine would be permanently damaged in that case, so I’m open to other ideas before proceeding with a fresh install.