Service Host: Windows Biometric Service CPU usage stuck at 18% and sensor won't work

[Lee333]

I'd like to say thank you to the two HP support members who are offering ideas and solutions to our problems, I do feel engaged.

The latest thing I have tried is a bios update, which seemed to work well, and then after I restarted I ran the HP support assistant, although that only seemed to think that a bluetooth driver update was necessary, and now I appear to be up to date. I have already downloaded the latest recommended SimplePass software update (HP SimplePass Identity Protection Software VERSION: 8.01.53), and that seemed to install okay too.

It usually seems to work after a full reboot, but consistently does nothing if I immediately lock the pc with Windows-L, and try to log in with my fingerprint. The same is true for resuming from sleep or hibernate, which is how I usually use the laptop (as is the way nowadays).

I mentioned in my first post (in the middle of this thread) that this problem seemed to occur immediately after installing the Windows 10 anniversary update - that was incorrect; it was the Windows 10 Creators update which was pushed to my laptop a couple of weeks ago via Windows Update that seemed to break the fingerprint reader for me.

Interestingly after a wake from sleep or after locking my pc - the fingerprint reader does seem to be recognising my fingerprint - in that I get an orange long flash if I use the wrong finger - or a quick white flash if I use the correct finger. There are no error messages or warnings, just the fans start up as the biometric service starts hogging one cpu core - and I have to use a password to log in.

I am fairly confident that if I wanted to perform a system restore to an earlier state - that hopefully it might start working again, although before long I would expect that Microsoft would push the update back out and break things again, and I'm all for being up-to-date with security patches.

I think that unless we three users are alone in our software version builds that more people will experience an issue in the coming days or weeks, and that maybe eventually the issue with the software or driver will be patched. I'm willing to wait until then, as I can now remember the password I originally entered 😉

My laptop is a HP Envy13-d061sa, running Windows 10 home version 1703 build 15063.296. If there is anything else I can try then just add it to this thread.

Thanks,

Lee

[Jeet_singh]

Hi @Lee333,

Thank you for the replying,

Please take your time and get back to me with the results,

I'll be awaiting your response and would be glad to help.

Feel free to post your query for any other assistance as well,

It's been a pleasure interacting with you and I hope you have a good day ahead.

If you wish to show appreciation for my efforts, mark my post as Accepted Solution.

And click on the Purple Thumbs up icon at the bottom of my comment.

Regards,

[Ruslan_]

to @Jeet_singh

FYI:
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Model: HP Envy 17T - M9X68AV
Windows 10 Pro 64-bit [Version 10.0.15063]
Latest BIOS (F.36 Rev.A) and all drivers including Validity Fingerprint Sensor Driver (4.5.327.0 Rev.A)
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

It's a definitely software issue. It happened right after creators update. Works fine after initial boot. Doesn’t work after sleep or hibernate.

Your suggestion to recover is useless since I will still end up with creators update.

You should be getting more complains from other customers soon…

[Jeet_singh]

Hi @Ruslan_,

Thank you for replying,

I appreciate your time and efforts,

I just want to check when do you get this error message and could you also let me know if you get any error code. Could you please reply to this post with the details for further assistance. 

Eagerly waiting for your response!

I hope you have a good day ahead,

And Feel free to ask your queries as this forum has some of the best people in the world available and ready to help.

Regards,

[Ruslan_]

There is no error message.

Same as Lee mentioned earlier:

"...Interestingly after a wake from sleep or after locking my pc - the fingerprint reader does seem to be recognising my fingerprint - in that I get an orange long flash if I use the wrong finger - or a quick white flash if I use the correct finger. There are no error messages or warnings, just the fans start up as the biometric service starts hogging one cpu core - and I have to use a password to log in."

[Lee333]

Hi all,

While there is no obvious error message - popup or otherwise, I did try removing the validity sensor driver again today and uninstalling HP Simplepass software, then rebooting and using HP Recovery manager to re-install them. 

After the update the problem was exactly the same as before after locking with Win-L and trying to log in with my fingerprint, although I found that the Service Host: Windows biometric service process did recover after 10-20 seconds and dropped back down to around 0% CPU usage. 

I also found the following information in my Windows Application Event log- and similar instances whenever the problem occurred preveiously;

Event 1000 Application Error:

Faulting application name: svchost.exe_WbioSrvc, version: 10.0.15063.0, time stamp: 0x02799ef5
Faulting module name: wbiosrvc.dll, version: 10.0.15063.0, time stamp: 0x3c2d1ee9
Exception code: 0xc0000409
Fault offset: 0x0000000000002918
Faulting process ID: 0x2870
Faulting application start time: 0x01d2d4003a912b49
Faulting application path: C:\WINDOWS\system32\svchost.exe
Faulting module path: c:\windows\system32\wbiosrvc.dll
Report ID: a64925a9-234f-45de-b72f-f7c3f400456e
Faulting package full name:
Faulting package-relative application ID:

There were some other information events about the same issue, and I think I have a crash-dump (fault bucket?).

I have started seeing similar problems being reported on Microsoft forums since the latest update, and am about to try a suggstion of using Windows Hello directly with the fingerprint reader hardware to see if the problem is related to SimplePass software.

Lee

[Lee333 · Accepted solution]

Here's a quick update - it's right after my last post because it didn't take long to reboot and test.

I'm going to tempt fate and say that I think it's working on my machine - in a way... I'll describe what I did and you can see if it makes sense.

1. In device manager I uninstalled the Biometric Device "Validity Sensors (WBF) (PID=0050)". I checked the option to delete the files.

2. I did a "Scan for hardware changes" from the Action menu - and it found an unknown device.

3. I asked Windows to Update Driver (rather than using HP Recovery Manager) - although it settled on Validity Sensors, Inc. Driver version 4.5.327.0 - which I think was the same as before anyway. (so I don't know if steps 1-3 are important.

4. I used Apps and features to remove HP SimplePass - and I let it reboot afterwards as it requested.

5. I should add that I had also previously unchecked the box allowing Windows to control the power management features of this device - after reading some posts from people updating from Win8 to Win10, but this didn't make any difference on its own.

6. Most unusually I thought after doing this I was able to use my fingerprint to log in again. I was then able to use my fingerprint to log in after locking the workstation with Win-L, and also after hibernating and waking from sleep.

If this keeps working then this will do for me - I didn't store any website passwords with SimplePass anyway, although if this is a feature that you use then I'm sorry that this isn't going to work the same as before. I'm sure someone will patch something soon...  

[Jeet_singh]

Hi @Lee333, 

Thank you for the update,

I appreciate your time and efforts,

I'm glad you found the solution you were looking for.

Thanks for taking the time to let the community know about the solution

Hi @Ruslan_,I would suggest you follow the steps suggested by @Lee333, and let me know how it goes for further assistance.

You've been great to work with and it has been a genuine pleasure interacting with you.

I hope both you and your product works great and remain healthy for a long time 😉

Regards,

[Emmanuel6]

Uninstalling HP Simplepass worked for me too. I had to re-enter my fingerprint in Windows Hello, but now it works fine. Apparently the issue was caused by both programs trying to access the fingerprint sensor at the same time...

Thanks Lee333!

[Mack202]

Hi Chimney,

Thanks  for confirming what I suggested would be the case at the start.  We will have to wait until either Microsoft or HP releases an update to fix the problem.

Just reiterate - it not question of not being happy about performing a recovery or reset, I've done it before several times.  It just that I know it will be a futile exercise as we are forced to accept Microsofts Windows updates, which will cause the same problem to occur again.

Thanks.

Mark.