HP Elite x2 1012 G1: massive battery drain when switched off, but USB devices connected

[Eichelober]

Dear Community,

I have heard about the battery drain that occurs when the tablet is switched off, but the keyboard still connected. I had experienced the same: a loss of battery of up to 25% over 24 hours. So I have updated my BIOS from previous 1.12 to now 1.16. This helped to solve the battery drain coming from the keyboard.

However, I still lose a little of battery power over night and over a few days when a USB hub (3 ports) is connected. Actually, the USB hub only hosts a wireless mouse, a loose cable and very few times an external harddisk. Given that even after I had powered off the tablet, I still see the lights on at these USB devices, it is pretty clear that the tablet still provides energy to them although being in "power off" mode.

Is there anything I can do? I had hoped that BIOS 1.16 would have solved the problem, but it seems that the HP technicians only focussed on the keyboard. However, in my opinion it would be essential that the tablet cuts all power connections when being shut down.

Thank you very much for your support and all the best

Eichelober

[RT545]

Hello,

A version of BIOS 1.17 has just been released.

I do not know however if this finally solves the battery drain issue completely, because 1.16 only reduced slightly the magnitude of the problem, but apparently did not solve its root cause; please do not hesitate to report if you see a difference after testing this newer BIOS version 1.17.

If you want further infos on the battery drain issue, you can check the TabletPCReview forum where this has been discussed:

http://forum.tabletpcreview.com/threads/hp-elite-x2-1012-discussion-thread.68692/page-70 (starting at page 49 on this thread)

[Eichelober]

Dear RT454,

thank you very, very much for your hint. Highly appreciated!

As you said, the Bios update v1.16 improved the situation, but only for the battery drain when the keyboard is connected. In my opinion, it did not do anything about connected USB devices. This aspect was also not mentioned in the update description.

Could you tell me perhaps where I can find the newest Bios v1.17? When I was searching on the HP website, I could only discover a very old version v1.13: http://h20564.www2.hp.com/hpsc/swd/public/readIndex?sp4ts.oid=7357752&swLangOid=8&swEnvOid=4192

Thanks a lot for your kind support!

Best D.

[RT545]

Hello,

The link you provide seems to be for HP elite X2 1011 G1 (the previous machine), not the 1012;

Here is the link to BIOS 1.17 for HP elite X2 1012 G1:

http://h20564.www2.hp.com/hpsc/swd/public/detail?sp4ts.oid=8741948&swItemId=ob_173090_1&swEnvOid=419...

If you test it, please tell me the result of your tests.

[Eichelober]

Dear RT545,

thank you very much once again for your kind advice and for your patience.

I updated the Bios to v1.17. However, the problem seems to persist. I just tested it last night:

The battery was at 30% when I switched the device completely off(=power off, not energy saving or anything similar) around 22:00. I left a simple 3-port USB hub attached (nothing connected to the hub, no mouse, no hard drive etc.) and the green light on the hub showed to me that it was still supplied with power although the device had been shut down completely. In the morning around 8:00, I was not able to restart the computer as the battery had been completely depleted.

This is actually really annoying. It seems that HP was able to solve the battery drain issue related to the connected keyboard, but for USB connections it stills remains. Removing the USB hub all the time when I leave the computer is not a super practical solution either.

Do you still have any idea by chance?

Thanks a lot and all the best

Eichelober

[RT545]

Hello,

There is an option in the BIOS, called "Deep Sleep", that apparently has an effect on the magnitude of the drain with USB devices connected on it. You can find info about it in the BIOS manual: http://h10032.www1.hp.com/ctg/Manual/c05166986

Also, this same topic is beeing discussed now on the TabletPCReview forum, which you may check also, to get more info:

http://forum.tabletpcreview.com/threads/hp-elite-x2-1012-discussion-thread.68692/page-71

[Eichelober]

Hi RT545,

thank you very much once again for your prompt reply and the useful hint.

According to HP's Bios manual, the option (USB Charging Port: When checked, enables the USB charging port to charge devices during hibernation or shutdown. This setting is equivalent to the “USB Charging Port Function” setting on a desktop.) should be exactly what I was looking for.

However, the forum thread that you shared me points out that ticking this box might rather aggrevate the problem.  This is weird.

I will observe how the discussion in the forum develops and then intervene accordingly.

Thanks a lot once again for all your kind support!

Best Eichelober