THIS IS A NIGHTMARE
I just sent the following to HP corporate, but out of ABSOLUTE DESPERATION, I am posting here on the off chance they monitor this board:
"Please, PLEASE help me and send me the functioning computer I paid for 8 months ago. I am begging you.
We spent $4000 on your top of the line gaming PC as a Christmas present to my sons. My husband is a first responder, this was a huge purchase for us. This was 8 months ago, and we have yet to be able to use it as intended.
I first contacted tech support in April, after trying everything myself to troubleshoot and make sure we weren't doing anything wrong. I spent about 12 hours over the course of a few weeks with your technicians doing everything they asked. It didn't work. I sent it in for repair. You guys sent it back. It still doesn't work. And now tech support is asking me to repeat everything we already did in May. I spent 3 hours yesterday doing troubleshooting tasks they requested. I'm on hour 2 today. They are telling me that no, you will not replace this PC with a functional one. I spoke to a manager and explained that at this point, we are going on EIGHT MONTHS since I purchased this PC, and almost TWENTY HOURS of you asking ME to work with your techs to make it functional. At this point, y'all might as well pay me as a contractor and issue a 1099.
Please, I have been brand loyal to HP for years. I purchased your top of the line PC so that it would work seamlessly. I did not pay that much so that 8 months later, I still do not have a functioning PC and have spent MANY MANY of my own hours working on it, per the request of your tech support.
I truly do not understand why HP will not stand behind their product and simply say "My goodness, I'm so sorry that the PC you purchased does not work. We will of course replace it so that you can get what you paid for!"
PLEASE end this troubleshooting and repair horror cycle I am stuck in and send me a functioning PC. We have boxes of flight simulator controls still unopened since Christmas, waiting for the gaming PC we paid for. PLEASE. This has turned into an absolute Christmas nightmare. I have NEVER had a company send me a nonfunctioning product and then tell me they will not replace it with a functioning one, even after SO MUCH TIME and SO MANY HOURS OF MY OWN WORK.
I am literally on my knees praying at this point that you will either just take this thing back and give me my money so I can buy a new one, or replace it. "
Editing to add for those asking the problem:
It freezes when you try to play any sort of game. But not the usual freeze or blue screen of death. It stays powered on, but the screen goes blank and the power button no longer works. I have to pull power at the outlet to get it to restart. Event logs show Kernal power errors and application faults. Tried a few factory resests, didn't do anything. At the request of HP technicians, did the thing where you totally reset from a USB drive as well. Have run all the diagnostic tests local on the computer, no errors. Have also run all the component tests you can get to when you press escape immediately after power on. No errors.
It works fine for just web browsing, but when you try to play a game it happens. Have updated everything, including BIOS and graphics drivers. Have done all the monitoring in both the omen gaming hub and the nvidia app to ensure nothing is overheating (it's not). Fans are also working fine. We haven't enabled overclocking. I make sure to close all apps before trying to game. Opened the side panel up and cleaned with compressed air out of desperation. I've literally done everything the techs have asked, MORE THAN ONCE. They finally approved it to be "sent in for repair" in May. They replaced the graphics card, closed the case, and sent it back. It still happens. Now because they closed the case because "we repaired it", they want me to start everything over. I have expressed that my concern is this will keep happening over and over until it's no longer under warranty. I've asked if the next time they fix it, can they please not close the case until I get it and see if it works. They said no, they have to close the case to ship it back to me.
I purchased it from HP.com. We bought it in November, but did not actually set it up until after Christmas (Christmas gift). It started having the issue about 3 weeks into using it. I tried a ton of troubleshooting myself, thinking we were the problem, before I reached out to tech support. Too late to return to store, I tried.
If anyone has an idea for something to try, I'm all ears. It's an OMEN Max 45L with basically every custom upgrade you can order on the site. Bought for a flight sim setup, but it won't even handle roblox or kerbal space program for my kids. I have nothing to show for the money we spent at this point.
UPDATE Aug 15:
I'm really touched that so many people have taken time to help me troubleshoot. I was just trying to get corporate attention, but if this gets solved by internet strangers, hallelujah. A lot of the questions/suggestions I'm seeing are a bit intimidating because this is way out of my wheelhouse, but I'll learn as I go. I'm still baffled that HP would expect an average joe consumer to do this much work to make the darn thing work, but here we are.
Here is what I intend to try based off everyones suggestions:
Do a fresh install from USB drive that removes partitions. I don't know what that means but I'm sure me and my pal YouTube can make it happen.
Keep jumping through their troubleshooting hoops with tech support until they deem I've done enough work and they will take it for repair a 2nd time.
Write a letter with a detailed narrative/timeline and photos and send to HP corporate.
File a report with BBB.
Here's the kicker: It won't turn on today. Well, it powers up but windows wont boot up. I've tried the F10 thing and the escape button thing. So....that's fun.
Since I am going to write out a detailed narrative to send them anyway, I might as well put it here.
November 2025: Bought from HP.com. Wrapped it up in pretty paper and put it under Xmas tree.
Mid January 2026: Finally got around to setting up. We were waiting on peripherals and a desk to arrive.
Spent the first month doing light gaming on it (kids playing roblox or minecraft). About 3 weeks into thay, I started to hear "Mom, the computer crashed'. Frequency increased.
Thought at first we were doing something wrong. Spent about a month troubleshooting myself. Cleaned it real good, removed preinstalled software we didn't want, turned off onedrive syncing, made sure no background apps were running when they gamed, tried different settings in thr Omen hub, used the omen hub booster and optimizer, etc. Updated drivers in Nvidia app. Twice reset to factory settings.
April/May. Realized I wasn't gonna fix it and it crashed so much it's now unusable. Contact HP. Tech support has me do a lot of things. BIOS updates. Reset from cloud. Reset from USB drive. Long version diagnostic tests. No tests showed anything. Only record of issues is all the critical errors in the event viewer.
Late May: They FINALLY take it for repair. They replace graphics card.
Late June: We get it back. Same issues. But it's summer and we get busy and go on vacation.
August: I start re-engaging with tech support. They marked the case closed when they sent it back, so now we have to open NEW case which means I have to repeat EVERYTHING for them to take it for repair again. I finally get a supervisor on the phone and explain that I'm getting close to 20 hrs of troubleshooting, and I've completely lost confidence in both this PC and HP. I said I wanted a replacement or refund. Told its not an option, and if I want them to repair again, I must do the "mandatory steps" again. I say I did that all in May , they say it doesn't count because it was a different case. I say this time don't close the case until I get it and see if it works. No, they say, they have to close it to ship it back.
And here we are.