HP Zbook Firefly 15 G8 freezes when on battery

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Master Geek
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#319274 8-Apr-2025 13:58

Awe,

I got the above laptop for free. The reason the previous owner got rid of it was because it freezes when on battery. When plugged in and on AC, it works a charm as it is supposed to. When removing the power plug from the laptop, it will work for a bit longer ("a bit" in this case = any given period of time less than 30mins in my experience). It will also work for a bit when switching the laptop on when no power supply is connected. Everything just freezes up. The only way to get it started again is long press the start button to switch it off and then switch it back on.

Initially, the battery drain was somewhat high and it lost power like crazy overnight, but it is now kinda acceptable after I switched off fastboot and that powerbank feature when it hibernates or shut down. The battery is still fine for use (unless it is the problem, but I need to eliminate all other possible issues before considering a new battery.

I opened it up, cleaned it our and looked for obvious damage which my untrained eye didn't spot. The one connector of the AX201 Dual Band WiFi 6/Bluetooth 5.1 M.2 wireless adapter is broken (Wifi still works though)

I got it back together again with no spares left.

Software wise, I reset the laptop and installed a fresh version of Windows 11. I updated the BIOS to the latest. Apparently the laptop updated it's own firmware (which I didn't know laptops had). I used system diagnostices to look for errors - nothing. I also use HP PC Hardware Diagnostics tool to do tests and check for outdated drivers - nothing.

Can anyone help please?

Thanks in advance

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#3362013 8-Apr-2025 16:19

Have you run a battery check?

Clint

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Master Geek
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#3362015 8-Apr-2025 16:21

clinty:

Have you run a battery check?

I have. I'll do another later and post the results. But it checked fine.

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clinty

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#3362017 8-Apr-2025 16:41

The Firefly's can sometimes overheat - new thermal paste on the CPU and GPU can help

Clint

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Master Geek
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#3362073 8-Apr-2025 17:47

clinty:

The Firefly's can sometimes overheat - new thermal paste on the CPU and GPU can help

I did replace the thermal paste on both CPU and GPU when I cleaned it out

I did the battery test again - Bothe Logic State and Charge State are both OK. Battery charge capacity is 72%, but it freezes long before battery power runs out and when I get it to restart, the battery % is slightly less than when it froze.

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Dynamic

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#3362207 9-Apr-2025 05:38

It's probably not related, but have a look through this post and see if there might be a gem in there around power profiles.

PSA : If you have Lenovo laptops on 24H2, disable your power plan ConfigProfile/GPO : r/sysadmin

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Master Geek
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#3362552 10-Apr-2025 11:08

Dynamic:

It's probably not related, but have a look through this post and see if there might be a gem in there around power profiles.

PSA : If you have Lenovo laptops on 24H2, disable your power plan ConfigProfile/GPO : r/sysadmin

Thanks - I will check it out over the weekend

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Master Geek
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#3362553 10-Apr-2025 11:10

Meanwhile...

I installed Linux Mint and the issue remained the same.

Then reinstalled Win 11 as expected - same result.

This doesn't sound good .......

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phrunt

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Master Geek
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#3486529 2-May-2026 13:50

I have a HP Firefly Zbook G8 that has exhibited the same problem, only started a few months ago, and only freezes on battery. Works perfectly fine plugged in. It's on the latest bios and drivers with the latest Windows 11.

I'm yet to work out a solution, I've not fiddled with power management options in the bios much yet.

It more often than not happens when it tries to sleep while on battery, so I think its power management related but not quite sure yet, need to do a lot more investigating. I have another battery I will try and see if the freezing goes away.

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Master Geek
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#3486998 3-May-2026 12:57

phrunt:

I have a HP Firefly Zbook G8 that has exhibited the same problem, only started a few months ago, and only freezes on battery. Works perfectly fine plugged in. It's on the latest bios and drivers with the latest Windows 11.

I'm yet to work out a solution, I've not fiddled with power management options in the bios much yet.

It more often than not happens when it tries to sleep while on battery, so I think its power management related but not quite sure yet, need to do a lot more investigating. I have another battery I will try and see if the freezing goes away.

Welcome to my pain 🤣

I eventually gave up! The laptop has now replaced a very old desktop, sits next to monitors and runs of power all the time.

Let me know if you found a solution if you do 👍

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sqishy

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#3487003 3-May-2026 13:08

Check HP website for any critical releases then I'd try -> in the power/screen settings make sure there is no sleep or power off on battery, set to high always on/best performance on battery and see if it goes away.

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Master Geek
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#3487012 3-May-2026 13:46

sqishy:

Check HP website for any critical releases then I'd try -> in the power/screen settings make sure there is no sleep or power off on battery, set to high always on/best performance on battery and see if it goes away.

Thanks - the previous owner told me HP had their chance at fixing the laptop with no success. I still took the laptop as it is useable plugged in the whole time. I have done what you suggested and it never came right.

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#3487094 3-May-2026 15:24

Is this using the original HP battery? Any chance does the CPU clock drop (to sub 100mhz) prior to it freezing?

I've seen a similar thing happen with a cheap knock off battery from Trademe. While it 'worked' it would randomly lock the system up needing a hard reset (power button), that particular issue was fixed by using a genuine battery.

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phrunt

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Master Geek
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#3487127 3-May-2026 17:08

I recently replaced the battery and the freezing only started after that, I'm going to be putting the original battery back in and see if it gets resolved. The battery I bought was from Trademe and claimed to be genuine, but no way to really know.

phrunt

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Master Geek
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#3487336 4-May-2026 13:58

Original battery doesn't resolve the problem.

I'm not sure how to check the clock speed prior to freezing.

One thing that seems to always happen is the cursor is on a black screen when it freezes, all other screen contents are gone, its always a black screen. I've removed and cleaned up all traces of the video driver and reinstalled the latest driver in an attempt to fix it, this doesn't work.

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Master Geek
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#3487436 4-May-2026 16:42

phrunt:

I recently replaced the battery and the freezing only started after that, I'm going to be putting the original battery back in and see if it gets resolved. The battery I bought was from Trademe and claimed to be genuine, but no way to really know.

You can try the HP Support Assistant software to run a battery test, which may provide advanced information including the battery serial number for verification. Not sure if it will tell you it is aftermarket or OEM though

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