USB Devices Freezing on EliteBook 840 G8

[gmscobr]

We recently purchased a bunch of EliteBook 840 G8 laptops and HP C/A Universal G2 Docking Stations. On some of the laptops the mouse and keyboard will freeze up at random times. Even if I unplug the mouse and keyboard from the docking station and plug them directly into the laptop it still does not work. I must reboot the laptop for them to start functioning again. I've already upgraded the BIOS as well as the docking station firmware. All drivers have been updated as well. I also tried a suggestion I read on this forum to disable all the Power Management Options in the BIOS but one laptop already had the same issue after doing that.

Any suggestions? I'm going to try opening a support ticket for one of these laptops, but would love to know if this is something I can fix without returning a bunch of laptops or having them repaired. I'm afraid to distribute any more until I get this resolved. Thanks.

[gmscobr]

Is there anyone from HP who can comment on this? Ridiculous how many of these laptops I've deployed and had to pull because of this issue.

[1234hidhifhew]

I am also checking if there is a response to this, currently have a large number of this particular model of laptop out in use and getting numerous reports of USB ports randomly stop working. 

Any advice on this issue would be useful

All device are upgraded to the latest BIOS 1.10 and all drivers and patches are installed 

OS = Windows 10 20H2 Enterprise 

[gmscobr]

@1234hidhifhew  - I didn't get any responses that helped so I put in a ticket for four of the laptops. Sent them in for repair and got them back. One of them the repair said MainBoard... The others all said they replaced Small BD. I'm guessing maybe that's a small board for the USB ports. So far I've redeployed three of them back into the field (the MainBoard one and two of the Small BD ones) and haven't heard any issues. I guess I'm just going to keep deploying laptops and if anyone has issues I'll send it back. I have two more right now I have to put in tickets for.

[Elise_O]

We are experiencing the same issue, predominantly on Windows 10 EliteBooks with these model numbers - so far:
HP Elitebook 850 G8 (3G0A1PA)
HP Elitebook 840 Aero G8 (461M8PA)
HP Elitebook 840 G8 (3G0D6PA)
HP Elitebook 840 Aero G8 (465S0PA)

We can consistently trigger the issue by plugging in a USB headset (we use Cisco 520 and 560 range headsets) and attempting to play sound.
Issue does not occur with inbuilt speaker.
When the issue does trigger, all USB devices become unresponsive and come up as "unrecognised" when reconnected.

We have tried all available online recommendations to fix, including:
Updating BIOS, Firmware and Drivers
Changing Power Management and Fast Startup settings

The only thing that seems to have helped is upgrading to Windows 11 - and we're not sure how long this will last based on your post.

We would really appreciate an HP technician responding as we, also, have many of these devices out on the field.

[1234hidhifhew]

Thanks for the reply 

We are seeing this escalate quickly with what's got to be over 30 laptops now reporting issues with USB-C 

Elitebook 840 G8

Elitebook x360 1040 G8 

Issues we are seeing 

1) Randomly stop working ports with anything plugged in

2) USB-C and TB docking stations randomly disconnect

3) Plugging in a device for the first time and received "this usb has malfunctioned" message in windows 10 

All devices effected do have latest firmware applied and also receiving latest microsoft updates and HP updates. Doing some digging and I did find this article explaining a change to the controllers back in Feb. Not sure if this is causing the issues , see HP link below. 

HP Commercial PCs - USB-C PD Controller change: February 2022 | HP® Customer Support

[1234hidhifhew]

HIya 

while looking into these issues within our estate, we are also looking at headsets in particular.

To elaborate on your info. 

"We can consistently trigger the issue by plugging in a USB headset (we use Cisco 520 and 560 range headsets) and attempting to play sound."

Are these USB headsets USB A or C ? 

Many thanks

[Elise_O]

Hi!

These headsets are USB Type A.

Best regards,

Elise

[cLagami]

Hi all!! And I have the same problem with this laptop. All USB devices are cut down several times a day, and sometimes a blue screen. All programs and devices have been updated to the latest version including BIOS. OS 10 Windows 22H2

[DarcySaunders]

I have found if you only place the headsets in the left hand side USB-A ports the laptop is stable.

I have also updated to v1.11.00 BIOS and same issue.

On a few I have downgraded to v1.09.00 BIOS and it seems more stable on certain docking solutions like Thunderbolt G2 230w.

With the issues of USB audio (no external mic etc when connected to clickshare dongle) unless you disable the driver for Intel Smart Sound Technology for USB Audio, I'm left to believe these later G8's with the updated USB-PD chipsets due to chip shortage.