EDIT: I'm pretty sure it's the video driver's fault because:
- save mode reboots/shuts down fine
- with uninstalled drivers shuts downfine.
The problem: AMD drivers from their website and drivers that Windows get via updating driver from Device Manager OR Windows update are pretty much the same. No matter which of these options I choose, the freezing begins after driver installation. I tried using older drivers but they update instantly, of course.
Since HP website provides drivers (for my laptop model) only for Windows 7, I'm lead to believe this quite capable laptop is not supported to run Windows 8/8.1 which I find staggering and absurd. I'd gladly test older AMD drivers if only I can find the way for Windows update to not update them upon installaion. That or completely switch to Lubuntu. FWIW, the Windows 7 DVD did not come with the laptop purchase, bought the Windows 8 upon its release and did a clean install.
I'll try to be as thorough as possible, if you think I missed something, let me know and I'll edit this post as soon as I can (unless you think reply is a more viable option).
OS & machine: Windows 8.1 x64 on 4yr old HP Pavilion dv6 (dualboot with freshly installed Lubuntu 15.04 x64), i7 quad-core, 500GB HDD, 6GB RAM, dual display with full HD LG monitor via HDMI, GPU ATI Radeon Mobility 5000 series. Battery is kinda crap since it'll hold about 20min altogether therefore I'm mostly just plugged on AC. In 3/4 of cases I'm connected to LAN, wifi works but only use it when I'm not connected to LAN cable.
Symptoms: system freezes about 8 seconds into shut down or restart process, forcing me to hard reset it every single time. System logs show:
- Kernel-power, ID 41, category 63;
- Kernel-power, ID 142, category 173.
... aka "the system didn't shut down properly" - because I had to hard reset it - because it froze. I usually just put it to sleep instead of shut down, after a number of days (3-5), the system would BSOD on me. In rare cases (fast startup and hibernation were enabled back then) when I did shut it down, it shut down properly in about 50% of cases.
Already tried: hibernation is disabled, fast startup is disabled (it does appear to happen a bit(!) less frequently if fast startup's enabled but then I can't properly access NTFS partitions from Lubuntu), ran sfc /scannow and it returned with "unable to repair"
- A) utc.app.json,
- B) telemetry.ASM-WindowsDefault.json (tried SFCFIX for this one, saidit's been successful, didn't try sfc scan again afterwards) and
- C) AMD64/CNBJ2530.DPB.
Scanned HDD: ok, scanned RAM: ok, device installed & drivers updated, all Windows updates installed, virus check with Defender found nothing. Tried tracking the shutdown process with some command-line thing (I forgot what it was but it's from Microsoft, part of some SDK), after the hard reset it said nothing could be tracked. It gave me one blank log (shutdown_BASE+LATENCY+DISPATCHER+FILE_IO+FILENAME_1_km_premerge.etl) and one that had a few lines (shutdown_BASE+LATENCY+DISPATCHER+FILE_IO+FILENAME_1_um_premerge.etl).
Other people with similar problem: some said it was their PSU but since Lubuntu shuts down and restarts with no problem, I assume the problem is on Windows' side. Some said they disabled ATI's sound (which of course cuts sound to my monitor) - tried & no luck. Some people just gave up.
Also 1: sometimes the system would randomly BSOD on me, in the past it's been something USB related. I run a mouse via USB but that's about it.
Also 2: I update Windows on a regular basis. Every couple of weeks or so I get 10+ updates, they install, upon first restart the system freezes (every single time!), takes about 15 minutes of install-restart cycles on a blue background (that happen before the whole login screen). When all is done, the login screen appears.
History: got Windows 7 with this machine, soon upgraded to 8 and later to 8.1. The freezing problem's been more obvious in the later version.
I'll try: to shutdown/restart with USB mouse unplugged, with no second monitor, LAN cable out and on battery. will report how it went.
I hope you can make something of this mess because I can't :/ Thanks for your help in advance.
