ZBook Studio X360 G5 System Freezing During Keyboard Use

[Vierwald]

Hey all,

This is kind of a long story so here's the TLDR;

I have an HP ZBook Studio X360 G5 (Intel i7-8750H, 512GB SSD, 16GB RAM, Quadro P1000) and have been having significant issues related to the keyboard since I received the machine.  When typing, the entire system freezes periodically every 5-10 minutes for up to 30 seconds each time.  This issue does not occur in any specific piece of software (any tool I have used so far including the terminal, notepad, Google Chrome, Visual Studio, Matlab, etc).  Each time the system freezes, there sometimes appears to be an increase in CPU usage by 5-10% which is associated with the `System Interrupts` task.  Has anyone else been experiencing this issue?  Do any of you have ideas for what else I could try?

Now for the not TLDR....

I purchased an HP ZBook Studio X360 G5 (Intel i7-8750H, 512GB SSD, 16GB RAM, Quadro P1000) and have had considerable issues with keyboard use out-of-the-box.  Only when typing, the system would freeze for up to 30s with symptoms including audio stuttering, the mouse freezing, keyboard entries being ignored, touch input not being responsive, and even having the WiFi temporarily disconnected.  After the system would unfreeze, some (but not all) of the characters which you would type during the system freeze would then show up all at once.

In the Task Manager I've noticed that the `System Interrupts` task tends to use more CPU resources than usual once the system unfreezes.  I am familiar with what the functionality of this task is and obviously cannot suspend it as I may be inclined to do with other less important tasks.

Again, it's important to stress that this issue only occurs when typing.  I do not observe any issues when watching videos, working on CAD models (as long as I'm just using the mouse), or running numerical simulations; the latter two uses can easily take up 80-90% of the CPU resources.

Part of the problem with this issue is that I am still not sure what exactly triggers the system to freeze (other than typing for some unspecified period of time), meaning I am not able to reliably reproducing the error.

I've been in contact with HP over the course of the past 7 months, but they have unfortunately been unsuccessful at resolving the issue. Some of the troubleshooting steps we've tried include:

• Restarting the computer (soft and hard restart)
• Ensure Windows is up-to-date
• Update BIOS
• Update drivers
• Check for automatic Windows driver suggestions
• Verified driver versions with those on HP website
• Check for updates via the HP Support Assistant
• Check for updates via the HP SoftPaq Download Manager
• Uninstall and re-install keyboard drivers
• Disable/enable Bluetooth
• Remove all peripherals
• Enable/disable discrete GPU
• Upgrade graphic card drivers (both integrated and discrete)
• Modify advanced power settings:
• Enable/disable turn off hard drive
• Enable/disable PCI express
• Ensure mouse keys, sticky keys, toggle keys, and filter keys are disabled
• Disable Intel UHD enhanced power saving mode
• Run System File Checker tool via <sfc/ scannow> (no issues detected)
• Clear temp files
• Used Windows troubleshooter
• Used HP troubleshooter
• Disable fast startup
• Disable HP Flow
• Ran UEFI system diagnostics at startup
• System tests - extensive (all passed)
• Component tests - keyboard, SSD, Bluetooth module, wireless module (all passed)
• Disable unnecessary components in the BIOS (integrated camera, fingerprint sensor, etc)
• Conduct Windows Memory Diagnostics (passed)
• In the network adapter driver settings in the Device Manager, I have disabled the following:
• `Wake on Magic Packet`
• `Wake on Pattern Match`

In addition to the above, I have tested the system in safe mode and found that the error still occurs there.  Also, this issue does not appear to occur when using an external keyboard.

Under the advice of various HP technicians, we conducted 4 complete re-installs of Windows using some different system images they provided (one fresh from Microsoft without all of the HP bloatware and another with the typical HP software installed).

An HP technician then performed the following component replacements on my machine:

• Motherboard
• Keyboard and upper-chassis

Unfortunately, this still did not rectify the issue.

I was then issued a new machine from HP (again, a ZBook Studio X360 G5 with identical specifications to the first) but found that I had the exact same issue with this machine as with the first.  The only software I had installed at the time was Google Chrome which, even after uninstalling, still had the error occurring.

So, after that long-winded explanation, does anyone have any ideas as to any other troubleshooting steps I could try?  Seeing as I have had this issue occur on two separate machines at this point, has anyone else had this same problem?

P.S. If you actually read to the end of that monologue, you are an absolute legend 😄