Just came here to vent

[moensk]

Sorry everyone! This isn't so much a question as it is a wall of text to vent.

Last week I bought an AIO, an HP Envy 32-a1785ng, through the HP Europe website. The model is normally 3500 euro, but a coupon knocked off 10 %. Still 3.150 euro, still more than I wanted to spend on a new computer, but this one ticks off all the boxes I searched for in an all-in-one, and since the year didn't go so terribly great because of some virus, I decided to give myself a gift, and go for it.

It arrived Tuesday, but due to circumstances, I could only unpack it Saturday (yesterday). Much anticipation and glee, of course. I completed the Windows installation, dove straight in, and thennnn.... Well...

The first thing I wanted to do was test the wireless charger in the foot. This did not work on my phone (Samsung Galaxy S9). I searched all options and online for help, looked for settings on my phone (they were turned on) and my computer, but nothing worked. Later on I tried it with my wife's Samsung Galaxy S20. This also didn't work, despite having the option of wireless charging turned on. We tried it on a neighbour's wireless charger, on which both our phones did charge, leading me to believe that the charger in the foot came out of the box broken.

At this point, I also snooped around the computer stats, finding that the graphical card is not the RTX 2080 Super, as advertised everywhere, but the RTX 2080 Super Max-Q, a slightly less powerful, 'mobile'-variant. Understandable since AIO computers have limited space, but still a little disappointing considering the fact that this wasn't mentioned anywhere, not even in the official stats sheet (while other models with Max-Q variants did mention this).

My biggest issue with the computer, however, began shortly after that: the computer hard-locks non-stop.

When I was done testing the charger and looking into the stats, I started downloading and installing every HP update, every Windows update and the latest drivers for my graphics card. I noticed that one of the HP updates revolved around the BIOS, which I automatically think is scary and dangerous but ok. During the Windows updates, it hard-locked a first time. I rebooted, started transferring my back-up files from my old computer to this new one, installing my Microsoft Office, my ESET Security (first deleted McAfee), and my Adobe Creative Cloud. During this entire update and installation process, the computer crashed another 2 or 3 times.

I got to a point after yet another crash and reboot, that I got a message that Creative Cloud was damaged, and I needed to repair it. Problem was, I couldn't open it or remove it through Windows Uninstall Program. I downloaded the installer again, ran it, but it just closed itself down at 6 % every time. Did another reboot to no avail. Deleted everything Adobe-related through the Windows search function and uninstall function, until I could finally reinstall it after another reboot. During the new installation, the computer crashed again.

I thought to myself that something must've gone wrong with the Windows installation or something, or any prior installation, so I did a factory reset. Afterwards, I got back into Windows but it crashed on the HP JumpStart. I rebooted again and it crashed on the Windows login screen. I rebooted again, and Windows acknowledged that it had crashed, asking me to either boot it up or try a repair. I launched another repair, choosing another factory reset. Guess what it did: it crashed during this second factory reset. Honestly, what the hell?

I booted it up AGAIN, Windows went back to an earlier save state (my background was now completely black for some reason) so I installed all the drivers and updates again, and nothing else. It crashed again.

I searched online for help and, through the HP virtual assistant, I found out about HP Diagnostics. So I booted again and started Diagnostics. I did a complete system check, which took about 8 (!!!) hours to complete. Naturally, I was scared that the bright Diagnotics image would burn into the screen if it's on for 8 hours, but I couldn't turn the screen off. All I could do was turn the brightness down all the way. In the end, all systems were fine, all tests succeeded. I closed it down, since it was late and I already spent my entire Saturday trying to get this brand new system to actually work.

Sunday morning I started with renewed hope. I installed a few other programs (Office, etc...) but after about half an hour it crashed again. So I ran a second Diagnostic, this time I did a Symptoms analysis. Another 4 (!!) hour test. Again, all tests succeeded. I ran more Symptoms analysis tests that took an additional 3 hours in total. Again, all tests succeeded.

So, with everything always succeeding according to HP Diagnostics, I booted back into Windows and ran the virtual agent again to check the next few suggestions since Diagnostics didn't help. I did all the suggestions, no matter how silly they seemed for a brand new computer: checked Windows update for new updates (already did 'em all); did a virus scan (everything clean of course), even blew the 'dust' out of the fan holes (which, obviously, wasn't there yet).

Then, as I wanted to check the next suggestion, my computer suddenly restarted itself to install new Windows updates. When they were done, and I got back into Windows, I got messages from Intel and Nvidia, saying that their control panels were installed. I actually felt kind of hopeful then. I didn't get any of these messages the first time around. So I checked Windows update again, and there were more updates. Did em all. Checked for new HP updates as well, but there weren't any. Didn't matter, I felt optimistic. If the computer didn't crash during an 8 hour test, then it must've been a Windows-error, right? Maybe these new updates fixed the problem. Plus, not counting the self-reboot, my computer had been running for over an hour without hitches.

I decided to take things up a notch. I installed Steam, downloaded a rather resource-heavy game (Wolfenstein II: the New Colossus to see if it could handle max settings on 3840 x 2180.

Nope. By the time I jumped into the actual gameplay, the computer lasted maybe 5 seconds before hard-locking again. Since then, I rebooted several times, but could never get past the Windows login-screen anymore and eventually, I couldn't even reach that anymore. I just kept getting a black screen.

Time to seek out more HP Support. Unfortunately, being the weekend (and in Belgium) I know HP support is non-existent: the call center isn't open on Saturday and Sunday, and we have no chat, message or e-mail options. There are only a digital assistant (which I've exhausted), the message boards (automatically links to the American boards, which where I'm posting now), and the option of contacting an independent repair shop in the area. I don't want a repair shop. I want to send this product back and get a refund.

Anyway, scrolling the Boot-portion of these message boards, I saw a question about a failure to boot properly after the BIOS update. I thought to myself '**bleep**, that's that update that I was scared of as well... Maybe I should click that'. In the thread, there's mention of how to access the BIOS. I followed the same steps and got a message (after an extremely loud 8 beeps) that the BIOS was corrupted. Figured I'd run the steps of reinstalling the BIOS, which I downloaded from the official HP website. Happy to say that the search for the right BIOS went smooth and easy. Meanwhile I read somewhere else on these message boards that a newer Nvidia driver might also cause problems, so I decided to download an older driver (April 2020) but got the message that this wasn't even compatible with my Windows anymore. Didn't want to start a rollback rabbit hole not knowing it would actually help, so I ignored it.

I downloaded and installed the BIOS back-up and at last I could log into Windows again (at this time, it's been 2,5 hours since I've seen it, although the computer was also off for a lot of that time). Immediately tried Wolfenstein II again, but it crashed after a full 30 seconds of gameplay. Booted up again and then I got a blue screen stating that the CPU-fan is damaged. This is something I had presumed could be a key issue, but something I dismissed Saturday evening because the Systems Diagnostics checked out fine after running for 8 hours.

And this is where you find me now. It is Sunday, 7:45 PM. I have spent my entire weekend trying to get this brand new computer to work and it left me extremely mad, utterly disappointed and completely exhausted about the waste of time and money this has been. Against my own better judgment, I spent a little more on a computer to be more future proof, to be able to hold on to this for the next decade or so. Instead, it didn't even work properly for 2 hours, and I'm afraid that any replacement of this model (or any other new HP computer in general) will come out just as broken. Perhaps not instantly, but maybe in a year, or 2 years it will start breaking down like this one has. It's too expensive to risk it. I feel so stupid now for having bought this...

Thank you for reading, have a great Sunday, and always remember this (as I am doing my best to do)!

Ken

[Geert1967]

Hey There, just to tell you : you're not the only one who's dissapointed 🙂

I bought a 3500 EUR envy 32 in april. The i7-9700 with RTX2080 MaxQ

After a few days i saw some dead pixels, phoned to the helpdesk, NO replacement but 'they will fix it'. The sent me a BIG box (my box was already gone). And it was returned to the service center in Hungary. After a week a message : ok, a day later : not ok...some 'issues'...Then it was nightmare....SEVEN weeks just because they broke instead of repairing it. After a heavy complaint the called me that it was mraculasly fixed but i had to do a reinstaal (for a broken screen????). After 8 weeks of repair he came back and i had exactly the same issues as you (except the wireless charger who works fine). The reinstall went through the bios update (F15A ...) and i updated my windows...and my HP drivers an Nvidia drivers.... Then :BANG after 30 seconds. Power off. Restart, ok, again : POWER OFF after 30 seconds ..(no shutdown but really no power anymore...It took me a weekend to find out that the driver 451 and up of Nvidia is an real pain in the ass. After it having uninstalled and install a 443 driver evreything works like a charm. So try that (after all your patience) ,uninstall nvidia driver and search for 443 or 444 driver. It did the job with me....But really : NEVER AGAIN A HP (8 weeks to repair a screen), and NO replacement PC

[Geert1967]

Seems like the problem is the INTEL driver for the Intel 630. I think one of the previous Nvidia drivers (451.xx) 'did something with the 630 drivers. When you reinstall the driver for the INTEL 630 video and AFTERWARDS you install the new Nvidia driver the problem seems solved (already 2 reactions that this works)

Grts

[praveen196]

@moensk & @Geert1967 I understand your concern and I will bring your issue to the attention of an appropriate team within HP.

Although, I'll need some private information from you in order to create a case for you.

Please look for a private message requesting additional information. 

Keep in mind not to publicly post personal information

If the information I've provided was helpful, give us some reinforcement by clicking the "Accept as solution" on my public post, that'll help us and others see that we've got the answers!

Thank you for visiting the HP Support Community.