HP 3D DriveGuard replaced by Windows Drivers?

[Martin_Surych]

Hello,

I just want to be sure. I reinstalled Windows 10 on my HP Pavilion Power 15 notebook a couple days ago. Today after installing several Windows 10 updates including the bigger 1803 Creators update from April 2018, I noticed that the tray icon for HP 3D DriveGuard is no longer there. It was there before the update. According to HP Support Assistant everything is up to date. I've also checked the Windows device manager to see whether there would be some alerts but nope, everything is ok. I think the device that was previously controlled by HP 3D DriveGuard is HP Mobile Data Protection Sensor (id: ACPI/HPQ6007). It appears to be up to date and working properly in Device Manager. I've done a bit of a research and it seems to me that HP no longer provides any updated version of this software. Majority of official download links for mutliple versions of this driver/software does not work. It's not even listed on https://support.hp.com/drivers for my laptop.

So is the Protection Sensor now fully controlled by Windows or something went wrong and I do need to reinstall HP 3D DriveGuard? If so please provide me a working link for the latest version.

Thanks for answers

[REO51ST]

Welcome to the HP Support Community @Martin_Surych

Try installing and the reboot.

https://ftp.hp.com/pub/softpaq/sp88501-89000/sp88981.exe

REO

[Martin_Surych]

Hi thanks for the reply. Right after the installer extracts itself there is no visual to confirm whether it actually completed the installation or not. There is a very brief pop up of some Command Prompt window which dissapears in half of a second and that's that. If I get here C:\SWSetup\SP88981 and try running the HPSetup.exe same thing happens as well. After rebooting there is still no tray icon. But if I try to update the driver manually through Device Manager selecting C:\SWSetup\SP88981 it says everything is up to date.

[Paul_Tikkanen]

Hi, @Martin_Surych

The issue is that the newer versions of W10...1709, 1803, 1809 have all had difficulty with the 3D driveguard software.

I believe now that all HP supplies is the actual driver file, or one is provided by Windows Update.

You will notice that sp88981 is a mere 573 KB.

The last full version of the 3D driveguard that included the accelerometer software is this one...Maybe it will work for your model.

6.0.45.1 Rev.A   Jan 8, 2018   (46.5 MB)

https://ftp.hp.com/pub/softpaq/sp84501-85000/sp84595.exe

[Martin_Surych]

Thanks! I have the same impression. The driver Windows installed for the sensor is version 7.0.4.1 released on 29th August 2018 by HP itself. So it seems to be that HP provides just the driver without any additional software and lets Windows handle it.

I downloaded the 6.0.45 just to have the installer but I think it would definitely get removed and replaced by a newer driver after another Windows update anyways. 

My initial concern was just whether the sensor works and will protect my HDD in case of a drop or some serious impact. Now I just don't really know how to vertify it.

[Paul_Tikkanen]

You're very welcome.

IMHO, there is only one way to test the 3D driveguard system out, and that would be to drop or bump the notebook.

Needless to say, that would not be a good idea.

I believe in most instances, when someone drops a notebook, the hard drive is going to get damaged, regardless of whether the 3D driveguard works or not.

But there is no way that just with the HP Mobile Data Protection Sensor device installed and no software to control it, the 3D driveguard will work.

Bottom line...don't bump or drop your notebook. 

[Martin_Surych · Accepted solution]

I may have found the solution. I really wanted to check whether it's running or not so I sweeped through Task Manager and Services but I didn't find anything with Drive Guard tag on it. So uninstalled the drivers again through Device Manager and tried the larger installer you guys posted (6.0.45). However I ran into an error message (something about it could not uninstall previous version). I downloaded Revo Unistaller and found out that HP 3D DriveGuard was still listed in installed programs despite of not being shown in default Add or Remove Programs. I tried to uninstall it but it gave me a similar error message so I scanned for its parts using Revo and then tried the SP installer again and it WORKED.

Now I can see HP Service (under which the DriveGuard runs) in Task Manager and Services. The tray icon didn't show up at first so I scheduled a task running AccelerometerSt.exe at logon. It seems to run. Although the sensor driver version in Device Manager is somehow the latest 7.0.4.1 instead of 6.0.45 the service is definitely running this time. 

What do you think?

[Paul_Tikkanen]

I agree.

I think you are fine now with the HP 3D driveguard software running with the latest driver.

My point yesterday was without the software, the driver was just a band-aid fix to prevent the accelerometer st.exe error, or the This App can't run on this PC...HP accelerometer doesn't work on this version of Windows, error notifications.

As long as those errors don't reappear when you use your notebook in the future, you should be all set.

[Martin_Surych]

Hopefully it works correctly now. Thanks for the tips man 🙂

[Paul_Tikkanen]

Anytime

Glad to have been of assistance.