HP Mixed reality headset doesn't work with Surface Book

[andymoz]

It fails to load a driver for the device.

No amount of rebooting, re-connecting, updating or anything will fix this.

The headset is completely useless with the Microsoft Surface Book and other surface devices.

The USB 3.0 connection does not work. Have tried both direct to the Surface Book and also through a USB hub supplying the required 900mA just to be sure.

Seems to be a common problem on the developer forums ????????????????????? 

This is ridiculous - How can you release a headset for Windows which isn't compatible with the devices actually made by the people who make Windows ??

Just get errors:

[mrvrguy]

My HP MR headset also doesn't work with the Surface Book.  I have an i7 SB with GTX965 GPU.  This has been a SB problem for a while.  The XBox scanner also doesn't work with the SB.  The HP headset does work fine with my two other PC's - Dell Inspiron 7000 (GTX1060) and Lenovo desktop (GTX1060).  There appears to be is a strange problem with the SBs Intel supplied USB 3.0 driver that no one from Microsoft has every been able to clear up for the year I've owned the SB.

There was a ray of hope yesterday however.  Let me explain. 

I recently bought a new Dell Inspiron 15 7000 gaming laptop specifically to run the HP headset.  At first it kind of worked but could not run all mr apps such as Holotour so I upgraded the Dell to Windows Fall Creator insider version 16299 and presto it worked like a charm - running all windows store apps and my Unity 3D apps. 

So I decided to upgrade the SB to the latest creator version.  Yesterday insider version 17017 came alive on the SB.  Plugged the HP headset in and for the first time the USB 3.0 connection worked!  But I didn't try plugging in the HDMI connector as I'd loaned my DP to HDMI adapter to a friend.

This morning a new Windows Defender update for the SB was available so I installed it.  This afternoon after retreiving  the adapter I tried plugging in the headset and now the USB 3.0 connection is no longer working  - again! Tried disabling Windows Defender but no effect.  It seems that Windows Defender maybe having an effect which really doesn't make sense but was the only change from yesterday to today.

I have a new USB 2.0 unpowered hub that actually works on the SB with the HP headset.  The Hololens sensor and mixed reality headset drivers install but now the Mixed Reality Portal complains that the hub is not USB 3.0 compliant. So still no go.

This is clearly a Microsoft problem not an HP problem.

[andymoz]

Hi - thanks for sharing your experience as well.

The issue I have though is that in all other cases with USB issues, I can simply plug the devices into a USB 3.0 hub or the surface dock and everything works.

However this headset clearly does something wierd 'as well as' the windows USB driver as it will not work either through the official surface dock, or my external USB 3.0 powered hub either.

- I get the same issue.

I stopped the beta windows refreshes on the official creators update release to make sure I had the shipping version to guarantee mixed reality compatibility..... but it seems not 😞

[mrvrguy]

My headset also does not work on any of the Surface Dock usb ports.

I read earlier this year, when first attempting to get an xbox scanner to work, that the scanner worked before the first Creator version update but not after.  I could not test that as my SB had already upgraded.

If you started to upgrade to the Fall creator version you might consider letting it finish and then try connecting the hp again.  Just don't install the next Windows Defender update.  For whatever reason I can't seem to remove the last WD update.

The HP headset works perfectly on my other two machines.  Had to upgrade the Dell to fall creator before it worked reliably while the headset worked first time with the Lenovo pre-fall creator update and after.  A friend purchased a new Alienware gaming laptop along with the HP headset and it works perfectly on his machine.

So both the HP and Xbox scanner do not work on the SB but work fine on my other USB 3.0 machines.  The fact that the XBox scanner worked before the first creator upgrade and HP headset briefly after the Fall creator update leads me to believe this is a software issue fixeable my Microsoft.

On the Hololens forums there are several references to HP headsets not working with the SB.

[andymoz]

When you say Xbox scanner - do you mean the kinect? I actually have one of those in the cupboard as I replaced with a stand alone 3d scanner. I will dig it out and test just for fun!

I think I have no choice but to return the mixed reality headset - not going invest in another system just to run a headset.
Maybe get one in a few months if they resolve the issues - but I can’t let the return window lapse just in case it’s never resolved.

[andymoz · Accepted solution]

Solved with help from another user on the hololens forum:

https://forums.hololens.com/discussion/8040/getting-a-usb-device-not-found-when-plugging-my-acer-int...

The solution is:

There is an issue with surface book usb firmware driver that leads to the enumeration failure. The workaround in this article resolves the majority of issues.
https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/help/4032123/kinect-sensor-is-not-recognized-on-a-surface-book