My wife's HP Pavilion 14 laptop, which runs on Windows 11, has been experiencing an annoying screen flickering problem. This occurs specifically after a cold boot; you log in, and after about 30 seconds, the screen begins to flicker whenever you interact with it, be it typing, moving the mouse, or clicking. This issue can leave the screen completely black at times, making it unusable until you manage to restart the machine from the Windows dialog. Interestingly, when you restart it from the menu, the flickering goes away for the current session. I've checked the drivers and attempted various fixes like `chkdsk` and `sfc`, but the flickering keeps coming back after cold boots. A previous fan issue has been resolved, but the tech couldn't pinpoint the flickering's cause. After an in-place Windows repair, the Start menu started working again but now the search function isn't responsive. I really hope to find a solution because my wife is quite attached to this laptop and replacing it would be tough right now. Any ideas?
2 Answers
It's interesting that the flickering stops after a restart but shows up again on a cold boot. This might indicate a problem related to how the system wakes from sleep or initializes after being completely off. Have you checked the BIOS settings or run any memory tests on the RAM? Sometimes that can help identify if there’s an underlying issue there.
It sounds like you've done a lot of troubleshooting already! Since the issue seems to be software-related, I’d recommend making sure that your Windows is fully updated, as sometimes patches can fix flickering issues. Also, have you considered rolling back any recent driver updates or trying different display drivers? Sometimes reverting can resolve weird behavior.
I've checked for updates, but I’ll look into rolling back drivers just in case. It’s been a bit of a rabbit hole trying to solve this flickering.
The cold boot is definitely from a completely shut down state, not from sleep. I made sure the RAM and its slot were checked because there are known issues with that model. Everything seems fine on that front.