HP Spectre 15-ch055na won’t upgrade to 1809

[Vic1212]

AS POINTED OUT BELOW,  DON"T CALL THE NUMBER POSTED. I was directed to is by the HP Asitant next to the system tray/clock on a freshh install, so I am not sure how the support page I requestes could have given me this number. Please use the below message as how close someone could come to being scammed....

++++++++++++++++++++++++++

I am not trying to troll this chat group, but I am upset.

I called HP Support last night at [DELETED] and was greeted by Davidah [SP] who welcomed me to HP "PREMIER" Software support, and I explained to him that I had used the online HP chat support who could not help in trying to upgrade to Windows 10 Pro 1809, and Microsoft support, who could not figure this out either and was wondering if phone support could Help.

"Well, you have come to the right place. HP "PREMIER" Software Support knows of the issues with you HP Spectre x360 and we know EXACTLY how to fix it. Now if you will give me a Visa or MasterCard number, we can start you on HP "PREMIER" Software Support for $49.95 and get your issue resolved immediately."

So, I asked about why I was going to be charged for a Windows upgrade that was supposed to be free, and Davidah explained to me that the HP software and BIOS upgrade I needed to allow for the 1809 upgrade was not supplied to HP owners who are not on the HP "PREMIER" Software Support annual subscription, which was $14.95 per month.

"Wait, you just said 50 buck. What do you mean by $15 a month? You are going to charge me $230 to get the 1809 Windows upgrade?"

Davidah seemed irritated that I was rounding up to the nearest dollar, and reiterated that it was $49.95 up front and 14.95 per month for a total of $214.40, and ask if we could go ahead and charge my credit card. When I pushed back that this was a $1800 laptop and under a one year warranty and would not pay any more, he said "fine" and hung up.

The thing that stuck with me was the BIOS upgrade. I have installed the September 2018 BIOS update, and that is the most recent available from HP. I have done a clean factory install with that BIOS update and Windows 10 Pro still locks up on reboot after the 1809 Updater Install and reverts back to 1803 with no third party software or anti-virus to cause any issues.

So either Davidah gets paid commission by signing people up for HP "PREMIER" Software Support and really had no solution for this, or HP wants to charge HP owners a lot extra for a subscription fee-based plan to supplement their income, and is holding a BIOS update and other software fixes as ransom.

I am not happy about HP products at this point. I cannot return this laptop since it is passed the 30-day return, and I refuse to be held ransom by HP for a FREE Windows update.

[DennyC]

---

@Vic1212- i'm certainly not happy to hear this, however, I just did a casual search on HP's website for HP Premier Software Support, and came up blank.  I tried all kinds of searches and the only thing I found that was close, was something HP calls SmartFriend Support for $14.99 per month.  No upfront charge.  I was unable to find a phone number to match the one you used.  I wonder if that number is even valid, as in hacked.  I can only hope that HP is monitoring this thread and especialy your post and takes approiate action.  This is total BS.

[Vic1212]

I do believe you are right. This was a number directly generated from a web page supplied by the HP assistant [Blue round button with an exclamation mark in the system tray] from my clean install back to factory shipped Windows 10 Pro. I did not get the number from a web search. But a google search does indicate this is a scam number for fake HP support. That would at least give me some peace at my extreme discomfort with this person's smug, hard sales pitch, and relief at not giving out any credit information.

[spegg]

I contacted HP Support UK today via WhatsApp after having no response from anyone using the "start a phone case" option in the HP Support Assistant app installed on my Spectre.

The Question I asked was "could they inform me of when the update issue would be resolved". Total waste of time as the person I communicated with had no knowledge of the issue or if she did she could not offer any resolution and evetually said she would  pass my issue onto another dept.

She has given me a case number and said she would get back to me with more information about the problem. I suggested that if the problem is not sorted within a resonable time span I would be expecting a full refund for the cost of my 9 month old Spectre 360, she didn't respond to that statement.

Stuart

[TeaDrinker42]

Just read in this Reddit thread that the fix was planned to be released on 11 Feb:

https://www.reddit.com/r/Hewlett_Packard/comments/ab4m9i/hp_spectre_x360_15tch0xx_windows_10_1809_ar...

[Vic1212]

Since I had a "fresh" recovery install fron the "D:/Recovery" partion on my Spectre x360 with the Vega RX M chip that would not upgrade, I again intitiated a chat session with HP last night. The tech support person remotely tried the usual "check for update", run t roubleshooter and then check, and then went to "services.msc" from "Run" and changed certain configuration from a list he had  that should have forced the 1809 update, and they all failed. I had not seen this suggested as another thing to try, so that was cool.

But he had me fill out all of my Spectre x360 info from my original purchase; including the serial number and date-of-purchase [about 16 other things he needed] and he placed an order for me for a 16 GB thumb drive for a replacement recovery Windows 10 Pro 1803 drive, which I will receive next week, and requested I reinstall the OS from the thumb drive and then attempt the 1809 update. The order info I got in an email looks like the recovery OS  is mated to my specific unit, chipset and 16 GB DDR3 RAM. 

He did not say it would work, but wants me to test it. Probably since I was willing to reformat completely two days ago. So now I am curious wether he suspects some configuration issues in the factory install of the Windows 10 clone image used in China may be the issue. [My laptop was custom built in China and shipped directly to me]

I will let you know how this goes, after I let HP review this.

I use this unit to do Photoshop work with an HP tilt pen, and it is not my only computer...

[spegg]

Thanks Vic1212 I'll be very interested in the outcome. I'm not very tech savvy so I am relying on HP to sort this.

I'm also very interested in the reference to a date of the 11th Feb for a fix from HP which is referred to in the link to the Reddit thread posted by TeaDrinker42.

Cheers.

[Downlorddrivers]

HP support told me today the solution will be windows 1903. 1809 will never work.

Lets hope 1903 will be released in March (and not 4 months later like 1809...) so "only" 2 months to go.

1809 is not essential to me so I can wait.

I'm scared a lot though that HP is so passive and unofficial on the topic.

And this is for a barely 1 year old high price piece of tech.

If such a thing happens in future again ... my worry is they'll probably ignore it completely.

[Christof65]

For me, that's just playing for time. I'm in the insider ring. Yesterday 18323.1000.19H1_release.190119-1759 was released. Still the same problem. Why should the version (1903) suddenly run and the 1809 does't. And why had other brands the same problem, deliver drivers or a new BIOS and are now running on 1809? Finally the communication of HP is a desaster. Not very consumer friendly and trustworthy. 

I fear, now that the new Spectre models are out, the old ones (bought mine 5 months ago) are not very high on HP's priority list.

[zorch1t]

This gets more perplexing by the day. First there was the Redit post that said an update will be released on Feb 11th and now HP support saying it will be covered in Win 10 1903 update.  Does anyone have a contact on here from HP we could tag into this post and push for a definitive answer? 

If i didnt like this PC so much i would have returned it by now. In fact i still might do and ask for the later model they released just after i purchased this in Sept last year. I have a 3 year waranty plus also covered by the UK consumer protection laws to push for what i want.