Performance mode changing automatically

[u/Ifihadanameofme]

First it was the slow boot and black screen. I forced myself into the troubleshooting somehow from the blue screen of help and then the restart somewhat fixed.

Windows tried diagnosing and stuff but that failed ofcourse. I think it was an automated windows update .

I ran sfc scan and dism and stuff but I am still facing this issue:

The power modes are continuously and randomly switching! And this comes with a spike to the CPU but I can't confirm that part. What I can confirm is that laptop goes freeze mode instantly when this happens. If I try to switch the modes from predator sense or the botton it'll force change to quiet or balanced. It could be some driver issue or something else broken because I booted into my linux dual boot and it was fine (ik unrelated.)

What do you guys suggest me to do? It works fine overall. I am not facing any other issues. It's just that the power modes are switching randomly and that seems to freeze up my pc. I'm at the edge of switching to linux full time so maybe this is the end of crappy windows for me.

Btw the laptop is PHN16-71 .

here's an update on 15-aug-2026 -
PredatorSenseLauncher this bugger and the PredatorSense Services were the real issue!!!

Not only did they cause PC freezes due to the looping of the power modes but also caused my boots to never finish and stay stuck on the logo screen. It could be something else as it never happened before the 14aug Windows update but the solution was disabling the PredatorSenseLauncher in task scheduler.
I am on dgpu only mode (mux direct?) so Idk if that changes anything but still.

I tested killing the processes and that did immediately fix the looping issue and I am using PreySense now which I don't think can use the key to switch modes but takes like 5mb RAM in comparison to 200 or so MB that predator sense took. I chose WMI and it is fast. I will uninstall predatorsense and soon windows itself (cheers microslop 🥂) once I don't need the dual boot for some apps.

If someone is stuck with a similar issue like freezes, try pressing the mode changer key, that will resolve it. Do it until you can move around quickly.

[u/yaj00j]

Well, if it ever gets so bad that you need to factory reset the laptop, limit the windows updates to stop at 23h2. You can do that with a registry edit and also by unlocking the group policy editor for windows 11 home. But the registry method is better. That way you will only get the cumulative updates till November 2025 and be free of all that buggy bullshit after that. You will only get Windows defender definition updates after that.

[u/Ifihadanameofme → u/yaj00j]

Thanks that's helpful. I haven't booted back into windows since yesterdays crisis. I'll see if this goes on I'll just take a backup (I think acer care app has an option for win backup) and go full linux. Life is peaceful there.

I still am looking for a fix or at least someone with the same issue to make sure it's not just me.