Envy 14 - Keeps crashing. Help

Got this when it first came out and has been perfect until recently. First it crashed like 3 times in the past 4 months. I didn't think anything of it, as I usually wasn't doing anything on it important and so it didn't bother me.

Past week it has crashed 5 times. Including the past three days in a row. At first I thought it happened when I was watching a videos (though update graphic card driver), but now it happened when I was just writing and excel file and listening to music (lost some data grrr).

What can this be?

btw i did a clean install when i got this laptop (July of last year), but have not updated any of the drivers since.

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When you say crash, what kind of crash do you mean? Blue screen of death?

 

thanks for the reply.
Not blue screen of death, but its just like a 2 second blue screen showing what seems like the computer making some sort of backups. and then shuts off.

 

So it switched to some sort of blue screen for a couple seconds, then powers off?

What do you mean by seems like the computer making some sort of backups?

Try using the HP Support Assistant to do a battery diagnostic. Also, try using it plugged in without the battery and see if this happens... also do what you can to see if it happens when you're on battery.

 

yea. just like 1 second. I have no idea what it really says but it just runs thru some text real quick and then powers off.

I really don't think the battery is the problem, but you never know. Will check it out.... must download HP Support . and will update

It has happened on both the battery and while plugged it. Battery seems to charge and work well.

 

Well, I don't know what to say because it's powering off. Is it still under warranty?

 

Hmm...that sure sounds like the BSOD. Just for giggles (and since it won't actually hurt anything), I'd suggest going into the Advanced System Properties (Control Panel\System\Advanced System Settings\Startup and Recovery Settings button) and uncheck the "Automatically Restart" box.

Just in case it actually is a BSOD or one of its cousins, this should stop it long enough for you to actually read whatever the heck it is saying. If not, it's still a good idea to have it set that way anyway.

 

Its been more than 1 year, but I got the Square Trade Warranty yay. I would rather fix it myself cause unfortunately I can't live without my laptop.

you know what it probably is BSOD, just kept the imaging the old school one. I looked it up pics online, and it sure looks like it. Hasn't happened to me again yet, so can't really confirm it

 

Did you change the setting? If I was you, I would change the setting just in case it is a BSOD. Then you'll be able to read it, write it down, and look up the cause online. Most times in my experience, however, a BSOD has been due to a driver issue, either being corrupted somewhere along the way or being replaced with an "updated" driver that actually doesn't work.

 

yup I have. I will def do this. Is there anyway to just view the log without having to wait to crash again?
An update that I have is that it seems that I can't change my GPU from high performance to Low performance (only way to change it is to restart the computer as either unplugged or plugged). So I am again thinking it might be the GPU driver.

 

clean windows install.

 

Yes, it is possible though, as I understand it, it requires an additional install of a windows debug kit. Please refer to: How to open DMP files in Windows 7? | Windows 7 Themes

 

I browsed rather than reading the thread closely, so I may have missed something, but that sounds an awful lot like overheating to me. I've had it happen to a couple of laptops, and each time the progression was the same - first it was something somewhat more taxing that caused the computer to crash, then it started crashing in less taxing situations and after shorter periods of time until it would crash after starting up and running idle for 5 minutes.

If that's the case, a simple short-term fix would be to get a can of compressed air (or even a straw) and blow in the air vents. That will create some better air flow and allow for better cooling. A longer-term solution is to open up the whole laptop and clean out the fans and heatsinks by hand - my first HP was really easy, there was a panel on the base just for exposing the CPU and fan assembly, but the Envy's harder and you have to be careful not to zap anything with static while you're in there.

 

You should also run the HP support assistant and update to the latest drivers. Your old drivers probably have bugs that have been fixed in the past 15 months...