HP Pro Tablet 608 G1 -- Huge windows 10 Issues

[Gabe-A]

Let me enumerate the numerous issues this tablet experiences which are unique to Windows 10. Let me start by reassuring you I have tested both the upgrade and the clean installation via USB-C to USB GPT Bootable UEFI installer and have used all W10 drivers on HP's support website.

1. Auto-brightness is broken. The screen is almost always at its darkest regardless of lighting conditions. Bad workaround: disable auto-brightness (makes brightness sensor worthless).

2. Device fails to wake from sleep with responsive touch screen after a long (>2hr) period of sleep. This means all your work is lost if a meeting drags on too long before you get back. Horrible workaround: hold the power button for ages and wait for the device to kill all open documents (risking data loss and hard drive corruption) and reboot cold.

3. USB-C dongles fail to charge the device while daisy-chained to the official HP USB charger. Workaround: NONE (cannot use standard USB-C adaptors with charging support, a dealbreaker for projecting the tablet while charging, or using USB while charging, etc). This may not be uniqe to windows 10, but in Windows 8.1 the adaptor went partially unrecognized and asked for drivers. In W10 nothing is unrecognized but it just doesn't work.

4. Bluetooth is broken in Windows 10 in a subtle way: while connected, Bluetooth keyboards will cause a spike in CPU usage in the process "System Interrupts", pegging it at over 20% at idle and keeping the processor in its highest power state. Performance is awful and battery drains rapidly (device also gets hot). Awful workaround: Partial only -- keep the "manage bluetooth devices" system panel on in an open window (not minimized) and disable all devices in device manager under Blueetooth except Intel Bluetooth and Microsoft Bluetooth Enumerator (and your keyboard/device). Keep closing and re-opening the "Manage bluetooth devices" window every 10 minutes or so. Extreme dealbreaker.

5. (Rare): Occassionally the BIOS will not boot, showing only the glowing white light and not responding to holding the power button for a minute or any user input, going completely blank. The device is effectively bricked (dead) at this point. Abysmal workaround: let device completely drain until battery is dead/damaged. Then hook back up to power. Your battery will have permanently lost capacity, but the device will now boot. It may take 24 hours to fully drain. Note that holding the button even for an hour does NOT work!

6. Battery time left indicator only ever says 1, 3 or 5 mins time irrespective of how much charge is in the battery (thanks dml71)

7 (NEW!). Installing the 1.06 BIOS under the Windows 10 section renders the tablet unable to boot without pressing ENTER on a physical keyboard. No on-screen keyboard is available. Workaround: Buy an expensive USB-C to USB adaptor or USB-C external keyboard for the sole purpose of pressing Enter this one time in order to use your tablet again (thanks again dml71!).

All in all, the experience is beyond awful. Please fix.

[caspermi]

Nice to see another 608 G1 owner on the forums.

I have also been experiencing various issues after upgrading to Windows 10. Among them:

• overall sluggish performance
• touchscreen responsiveness
• battery life is now terrible
• clock doesn't keep accurate time (currently off by over 4 hours)

Have you upgraded to the new bios  (F.08 Rev.A 29 Jul 2015) that supports Windows 10? I'm hesitant to upgrade after reading of all the problems users are having (bricking) after upgrading to the newer bios.

I spoke with HP support last week (after a 45 wait time, no call back option) and was told that they are aware of the issues with the 608 and they are working with Microsoft on updated drivers and hope to release within 1-2 weeks.

I agree that HP dropped the ball on having a seemless upgrade to WIndows 10.  Windows 10 has been released to developers since last year and it appears HP has done nothing in the interim to provide updated and tested firmware and drivers.

What's really frustrating is the lack of proactive communciation to device owners from HP.

[caspermi]

Talk about confusion, I found two driver update links for the 608 G1 (WIndow 10 -64bit).

1) http://h20564.www2.hp.com/hpsc/swd/public/readIndex?sp4ts.oid=7102695&swLangOid=8&swEnvOid=4191

         BIOS = F.08 RevA July 29

and

2) http://h20564.www2.hp.com/hpsc/swd/public/readIndex?sp4ts.oid=7484085&swLangOid=8&swEnvOid=4192

       BIOS= 01.05 Rev.A  July 29

The first link only has the BIOS update (different one than the second link)  while the second link has a BIOS update as well as a multitude of other updated drivers. 

Unfortunately I have the 32 bit version and their is no pulldown option at the second link for the 32bit version of Windows 10.

Anyone from HP reading this and can assist? 

[Gabe-A]

I think the first link is for the G610, the 10-inch tablet (at least according to the title of the page it links to). The second link is for the 608, but is identical to the BIOS found in the Windows 8.1 download.

It is odd that there are no 32-bit downloads either. Someone should bring this to HP's attention by email, at least for that reason ("my tablets drivers aren't there!").

[dml71]

I have all the same issues. will add one more to the list:

- battery time left indicator only ever says 1, 3 or 5 mins time irrespective of how much charge is in the battery

i have installed the 1.05 bios from link 2 above. installed ok. i believe i have overcome the graphics driver crashing problem by installing the 17th Aug Intel IO driver pack from link 2 above. graphics driver only seemed to crash for me when i was using the edge browser.

would really like a fix or workaround for the touchscreen not working after sleep problem, so stopping logging back in.

like the 608 but HP should have done a better job preparing it for Windows 10

[Gabe-A]

Anyone run a powercfg -sleepstudy from an elevated cmd prompt?

I found even in Windows 8.1 there is an "Unregistered Device \_SB.PCI0.SEC0" with 100% active time, all the time. Needless to say, battery life when the tablet should be sleeping is atrociously low, with a drain rate of 2 or 3% per hour doing absolutely nothing, even with sound off and airplane mode on.

This is starting to look a bit absurd... Why was this little guy $600?

[Alex_Haddock]

Hi Gabe, did you do antying in particular to get the Windows 10 clean install to work?  I've decided to clean install mine but once it gets to the installing features part it says it cant install it on my device (after it has copied and prepped the files and rebooted).  Using the avaiable MS ISO made with their usb key downloader which has worked fine on other UEFI systems.

Cheers

Alex

[dml71]

There is a new BIOS out - v1.06. I've installed it, but now effectively have a bricked tablet 😞 After installing the BIOS, it's booting up  with:

A change to the operating system Secure Boot mode is pending. Please enter the pass code displayed below to complete the change. If you did not inititate this request, press the ESC key to continue without accepting the pending change.

Operating System Boot Mode Change (021)

1773 + ENTER - to complete the change

ESC - Continue withou change

So how am I supposed to enter those changes on a tablet with no external keyboard? I'm travelling at present, but do have a USB-C -> USB converter at home where I can plug in an external keyboard, but surely this can't be the norm for a tablet where many will not have a USB-C -> USB converter?

Anyone got any ideas on how to get past this? I've tried booting up by pressing the volume+ button while powering on, but this did not take me in the BIOS settings. Help! Not impressed with HP over this. 

[Gabe-A]

Yes, I received this message when I upgraded the BIOS. Unacceptable is my word for it. I got around it by laying the tablet down on a table until I got ahold of my Apple Digital AV multiport USB-C adapter (only $75!! ...sheesh) and plugged in a keyboard. Then hit Enter.

Hilarious. And people wonder why Apple steals the show. Come on, HP! "Press Enter?" on a tablet with no on-screen keyboard? You need to fire these BIOS designers ASAP! They can't even get a device made for Windows 10 to work with Windows 10.

Anyway, hooking up a frankensteinian contraption did the trick and allowed me to attach my desk-size keyboard (about 4.5 tablets in diameter) to my tablet and press ENTER.

Now I'm going to try installing Windows 10 from official ISO using the same frankensteinian contraption -- maybe with USB hub attached so I can use a mouse too. All without the ability to charge the thing, because the tablet DOES NOT SUPPORT CHARGING PASS-THROUGH, which is a critical USB-C standard and critical for using the tablet connected to a projector.

Bah. Fingers crossed, but not holding my breath...

[JerryL17]

I don't think this has anything to do with Windows (10 or 8.1). I think this is an issue of the wrong BIOS loaded into the tablet. I had similar experience - after the HP Manager updated some drivers, during the reboot the tablet gave the 4 digit code to enter and confirm with the "Enter" key (to kontinue) or to press "Excape" to abort.  Clearly BIOS expected an input form a keyboard. My guess is that the designers took the BIOS from the notebook, shoved it into the tablet chipset and hoped that it will run. It runs unless system needs to upgrade and then during the booting stage user input is required - and nothing works.  I am returning my tablet - shame, because the hardware looks nice and solid.