Shutdown/boot issue on ProBook 470 G3

[onclock]

Hi everyone

 

Backstory:

 

Recently, I put a Samsung 870 evo in my ProBook 470 G3 and clean installed Windows 11 on it (I followed the standard procedure as always: using an iFixit anti-ESD mat while being grounded correctly). The laptop worked perfectly fine with Windows 11 installed on the m.2 Sandisk ssd, so I figured, upgrade a bit so it will last longer + I needed a little bit more storage space. Everything went well until I noticed that the laptop didn't reboot, it only shut down but in a weird way: instead of the power light and the Wifi and Mute button going out together, the last 2 went out, then the power button went out and then the Caps lock lighted up for 2 seconds or so. 

 

I put Windows 10 on it, issue gone everything working fine for 3 weeks.

 

This week: problem is back. It's very random, and makes me think of the issues people had with the Windows 10 upgrade many years ago and which was related to the Intel Management Engine driver (but now it's not, because another driver doesn't do anything).

 

Randomness: now the pc mostly reboots perfectly fine. The shutdown as well, but occasionaly it happens as I described. The problem is, when the weirdness happens, the laptop boots up with a bios time of around 34,5 seconds (while normally it's 6 seconds or so).

 

What I have tried: 

 

Bios reset and bios upgrade

Intel ME firmware upgrade

The hardware diagnostic program of HP

Clean install of Windows 10

Removed the SSD again

 

The problem stays.

 

I even saw the problem when no OS was installed and the laptop rebooted for the bios changes to be saved.

 

What I'm asking:

If someone can shed a light on what the weird shutdown sequence means, or how to solve it, it would mean the world to me. Thank you for reading this and thanks beforehand for the help!

[onclock]

So I have a small update to my post:

whenever the weird shutdown sequence happens, and then I boot up and go immediately to BIOS settings (via F1) the boot order (in this case of UEFI) is empty.

 

Could this be the CMOS battery or did something else get really really wrecked?

[goretsky Supervisor]

Hello,

 

If the CMOS/RTC backup battery is dead or no longer has enough of a charge to preserve BIOS settings than it could be responsible for some of the behavior you are seeing.

 

I believe the Hewlett-Packard ProBook 470 G3 has a sixth generation Intel processor.  If that's the case, than it is not supported by Windows 11, so it would probably be best to stick with Windows 10 on it for now.

 

Regards,

 

Aryeh Goretsky

[onclock]

Thank you very much for your reply!

 

Okay, I will see how it evolves, if it gets worse I will replace the CMOS battery. Do I need a special brand for the battery or will a regular IKEA 3V CR2032 do the job?

 

Have you ever encountered hardware/low system level damage because of an OS? Because the problems are still there, even after clean installing Windows 10 and going back to TPM 1.2 from TPM 2.0 (I was able to upgrade it using new firmware, but I went back because I thought it might be related. It wasn't though  ).

 

Kind regards and thank you for your help!

[goretsky Supervisor]

Hello,

In most modern laptops, it usually is a standard CR-2302 battery, but in some systems, they are wrapped in a little wiring harness with a pigtail connector.  If your model has one of the latter, they can usually be found online (Amazon, eBay, Newegg, etc.) relatively inexpensively.

 

It is extremely rare to see hardware that has been damaged by software.  There are cases where a device's BIOS firmware might be corrupted due to it losing power in the middle of being flashed with an update, but that is a very rare occurrence.

 

Regards,

 

Aryeh Goretsky

 

[onclock]

Thanks again for your response.

 

The problem still persists, I have no idea what's causing it. I will see what I'll do next regarding the battery. The sequence of the weird shutdown seems to indicate a BIOS/firmware issue, but flashing the firmware again should've solved it, right?

 

Other than that, the laptop works perfectly stable, no Windows logs indicating any problem so it seems to happen outside of the OS.

 

Kind regards.

[goretsky Supervisor]

Hello,

I would not recommend re-flashing the firmware if there is a problem with the CMOS/RTC backup battery.  The battery is used to store the firmware settings, and I am not sure what potential pitfalls could occur if the firmware is flashed while there are corrupted or invalid settings present, the firmware cannot save and read back the settings, etc.

 

After the battery has been replaced, then go ahead and reset the BIOS (UEFI) firmware values to Default or Optimal settings (whichever option is present on the Save Settings page), save them, then go back in a second time and make any changes you need to (setting up UEFI/disabling Legacy/CMS, enabling the TPM, clearing the Secure Boot keys for installing a fresh copy of Windows 10, etc.).

 

Regards,

Aryeh Goretsky

 

[onclock]

Thank you so much for your answers! When it gets worse, I will replace the battery and reflash the BIOS! 

 

Kind regards

 

[onclock]

On 22/12/2021 at 02:42, goretsky said:

Hello,

I would not recommend re-flashing the firmware if there is a problem with the CMOS/RTC backup battery.  The battery is used to store the firmware settings, and I am not sure what potential pitfalls could occur if the firmware is flashed while there are corrupted or invalid settings present, the firmware cannot save and read back the settings, etc.

 

After the battery has been replaced, then go ahead and reset the BIOS (UEFI) firmware values to Default or Optimal settings (whichever option is present on the Save Settings page), save them, then go back in a second time and make any changes you need to (setting up UEFI/disabling Legacy/CMS, enabling the TPM, clearing the Secure Boot keys for installing a fresh copy of Windows 10, etc.).

 

Regards,

Aryeh Goretsky

 

I wanted to get back to you, because you helped me.

 

I reflashed both Intel ME firmware and BIOS. I changed the CMOS battery. The problem is still here, so somehow it's something else, something I have no control over. 

If you ever hear something similar, it's not the CMOS  Other than that, the computer works fine.

 

Anyway, thank you very much for your help and for your time! 

[+Warwagon MVC]

I did see a laptop one time where it acted really weird but only with Samsung Evo drives. In this case a firmware issue fixed it. Seeing how you upgraded the bios already, if you a differnet brand of SSD laying around I would reinstall windows 11 on that. See if the same issues are there. Is there a firmware update for the SSD itself?

[onclock]

On 04/04/2022 at 15:29, warwagon said:

I did see a laptop one time where it acted really weird but only with Samsung Evo drives. In this case a firmware issue fixed it. Seeing how you upgraded the bios already, if you a differnet brand of SSD laying around I would reinstall windows 11 on that. See if the same issues are there. Is there a firmware update for the SSD itself?

Thank you very much for your answer Sir!

I did try it, but it didn't help. I took out the Samsung SSD, installed Windows 10 on the already installed Sandisk SSD, and it still happened 😢 

 

But thank you for the input, much appreciated!