What is going on with this darn chipset when installing applications?

[khex01]

Hello:

I have a new HP OMEN 17-AN120NR laptop which I love the specs of and the style of the chassis-- the screen, the keyboard, the speakers.  It has the CPU I really want along with the graphics card unlike the cheap versions in the HP Envys.  I have installed a new 500GB M.2 NVMe SSD and a 2TB HDD in this laptop and installed a fresh, clean copy of Windows 10.  While installing apps... basic stuff is all good and fine but when I get to the following apps the chipset on this laptop seems like completely causes the installer to stall out completely and I need to reboot and try installing the app(s) again which normally will work.

Acronis True Image

CyberLink Power Director 14

CyberLink Audio Director

Audials One (this is big and a major problem because it causes the app to stall out when I close it or even try and open settings inside the app)

I have done all this setup many, many times on very comparable systems-- including the HP ENVY M17-- with absolutely no issues.  I can normally do and complete a Windows 10 fresh setup with all my apps including Adobe Creative Cloud Apps in about 3 hours.  I also normally can install everything straight without any reboots until the end.  No way can I do that on this HP OMEN.  I would have to restart after EVERY SINGLE INSTALLATION if I am lucky!

Is it possible that I have a bad chipset on this system?  This model has received so many 4 and 5 star reviews on Amazon that I cannot believe or figure out why or how with all these problems.  

Thanks.

[Photoray002]

Hello @khex01 

I dont know if I can help, but Ill at least respond.

I read through your other post also. I agree with REOs response that HP doesn’t over clock the cpu’s. As far as not having switchable graphics (or Optimus), all of the Omen series with a GTX 1060 or higher work as discrete only. If the new AN100 series is supposed to be different, it will be news to me.

 With that said, I’m not sure what you have going on. I don’t actually use Acronis or Cyberlink, Audials so I don’t know why there would be issues with installation unless there is a Microsoft update interfering?

I assume you are installing to the C drive? Some apps wont work correctly if installing to another partition. The Omen Command Center is an example.

Is it possible to have received a bad chipset? 

Well, maybe. You can certainly contact HP Support directly for a warranty issue.

Contact HP Worldwide | HP® Official Site 

But if they require you to send it back, you will need to remove any hardware you installed yourself first. The original HDD must be in tact and using the OS.

I would have suggested you run the HP Diagnostics from UEFI, but you changed out the drive. You could still install the HP diag for Windows and run it to see if it finds a motherboard issue or such.

https://www8.hp.com/us/en/campaigns/hpsupportassistant/pc-diags.html

Question for you.

Are you able to access Nvidia Gsync in the Nvidia Control Panel? There are others who say it does not show, but the model is advertised as having a Gsync panel.

Did you install the Omen Command Center from the MS apps store? If so, how are the temperatures?

Thanks

[khex01]

Thank you for responding.  Late last night, I think I might have determined the issue to be a driver related thing for the NVIDIA adapter. I updated it through device manager and that seems to have corrected a number of issues.

Strange though because the way this laptop originally came, I had the same trouble as well—- right out of the box.  The driver is, newer of course, so maybe that made a difference. Still odd that they would let something out the door with any type of issues....

[Photoray002]

Ok thanks for the update.

If you can, let me know if you have the two mentioned software installed and working.

Nvidia Gsync and Omen Command Center.

I would appreciate it.

[khex01]

Hello and thank you for the response and your questions...

Yes, I have been able to install the OMEN Command Center and yes I as far as I can tell I have G-SYNC working in the NVIDIA Control panel.  I do not know how to actually test G-SYNC and I am not really much of a gamer... I just like these "gaming laptops" for their style, design and most of all... the power that they possess in terms of the CPU and GPU as well as memory. I run alot of Adobe apps and do a lot of video recording and editing (at times) so that is primarily why I tend to lean towards gaming laptops more than a more traditional one.  I do like the HP Envys but unfortunately, unlike these gaming machines, you can only connect at most another two displays to an Envy for a total of three monitors/displays including the laptop display.  The Omen laptop, between the Mini-Display port, HDMI and USB-C ports, you can connect an additional three (3) displays to the laptop and including the laptop display... have a total of four (4) simultaneous displays at once!  That is what I like to have actually....  I also think you could use NVIDIA Surround on these Omen laptops (at least the AN120NR model) to set the additional 3 displays as one display using Surround technology if you wanted to. I have never tried it... but do not see why that would not work. 

Anyway, about my issue before... I think after further troubleshooting, I have determined th cause to be a faulty onboard M.2 SATA connector/controller.  It works, yes, but it will end up taking a bit longer than normal or it definitely should to install apps and read/write.  I picked up a new AN120NR Omen today from Best Buy from an order I had placed before ordering the last one from Amazon (which I will be shipping back as defective for a refund) and after I removed the default drives and installed my 500GB Samsung NVMe M.2 SATA and a 2 TB W.D. hard drive, I immediately noticed or got the impression that Windows 10 setup was able to create the new 3 partitions on the NVMe M.2 SATA drive much faster, almost instantly compared to the system I purchased from Amazon.  That one seemed like it was taking much longer to create the partitions....

I am just about begin installing the apps that have previously posed issues when installing on the M.2 SSD drive on the system purchased from Amazon so I will soon be able to verify and test my hypothesis on whether or not that system does infact have a faulty M.2 SATA controller.  I do not think this would have been anything HP would have been able to spot or identify at the factory... cause unless someone literally hand loads all pieces of software on each machine to see how things go, you are not going to tell that they may be a problem such as this one.

[khex01]

Oh, I forgot to also mention that last night, on the one from Amazon (the believed to be faulty one), I removed the drives and installed just a standard 500GB SSD SATA drive (2.5") as the only drive.   It would appear and seem like, if I wanted to, I would easily be able to complete set the computer up using a regular SSD without any issues.  But then everytime I try installing apps with an M.2 SSD SATA, I repeatedly run into the same issues each time.  Sounds to me, it should have a faulty M.2 controller on the board.... Would you agree with that?

[Photoray002]

Absolutely plausible.  Yes, I doubt the factory would have spotted that defect also.

Yes, you could install a 2.5 inch Sata SSD in the HDD spot, but like you say, send it back for a properly functioning unit.

On the Nvidia control panel:

No its not important if you don't game, but I just wanted to confirm that your panel actually had Gsync working. Its advertised as having it.

Look to see if it shows the Gsync option in the list without any external monitor connected.

Some have had issues with it not showing and thus, they could not make the 144hz panel utilize Gsync if gaming.

It will offer this in the panel if so...

The Omen Command Center wont be of any use to you technically, with the exception of monitoring the temperatures if you ever have problems. If you decide to use it and it does not install, let me know.

[khex01]

After testing a second system last night and then coming back to the first today, I have now found that it has all been due to having a simple SD Card inserted in the card reader!  Yes, that is correct-- installation of apps and running some apps litteraly all come down to whether or not you have an SD card inserted in the card reader. I was able to completely setup the system quickly and effortlessly when there is no card inserted vs. when there is a card.  This seems to be the case also on both systems I have tried.  I think I will be keeping the first and returning the second which I noticed had a bit of a physical appearance defect around the card reader slot.  The side of the laptop was pushed in (dented in) just below the card reader and I think the card reader was screwed down too tight that it made inserting a card tight going in causing it to get or become stuck inside.  I was able to eject it from opening the back and removing the hard drive and as soon as I loosened the one screw just a tad, the disk ejected automatically.

As for G-Sync... Yes, I do have G-Sync enabled according the NVIDIA Control Panel and it is showing the laptop screen is compatible.

The Omen Command Center is not really going to be useable much as there really is not much you can do with it anyway. The AN120NR model does not support the ability to overclock with it according to a compatibility chart I found on HP's website.  All you can do from the Store app is check network bandwidth and manage the network data a little, adjust or change your keyboard lighting zone colors, manage the P1 - P6 keys on the 17" laptop keyboard and that is about it besides checking the CPU and GPU use amount.

Sure wish HP would write an update that could open the new Store app from pressing the Omen key on the keyboard instead of having the key open the old desktop version of the app which does not any longer support keyboard lighting. 

[Photoray002]

 I have not had any reports of the sd card slowing down installations before. I dont know if the apps were trying to install to the card perhaps? Is the card empty and formated as FAT32 or NTFS? If you get a chance someday, I would try a different SD card to see if it made any possible difference.

As far as overclocking, no HP laptops overclock since they do not have an unlocked cpu. So the OCC wont show that abiblity, with the exception of the 17-apxxx models and then you have overheating to contend with. Laptop cooling cant handle it to begin with like a desktop can.

Good to know on the Gsync panel. Glad its working.

The Omen button? Ya, there needs to be a way to remap it to work as the Home button without having to use the FN key to activate it.

Thanks for the updates.

[khex01]

Having an SD Card inserted will not slow down or interfere with many or the majority of apps I do not think.  It never seemed to both Windows, Windows Updates, Chrome, Firefox, Opera, iTunes, RealPlayer, Adobe Reader, Microsoft Office, or any other smaller apps like them.  

What I have noticed is that it will interefere with or seem to cause certain applications such as Visual Studio, the CyberLink media suite of apps namely Power2Go and Power Director 14 from completing installs with the card inserted for some reason.

Visual Studio 2010 will, for example always get stuck or stall out on the Silverlight component and until the card is ejected it will stall and stall and practicaly be unable to move forward while the card is inserted.

CyberLink Power2Go will stall at 97% complete when it starts the installation of CyberLink Wav Editor when a card is inserted. If you eject the card the installation continues.  If no card is inserted, it installs smoothly and fine.

CyberLink Power Director 14 will often pause and stall at 2% when a card is inserted. Though, if you restart Windows and start the install right away it will normally complete smoothly.

These are just some of the findings I have witnessed across two of these Omen 17-AN120NR laptops.