Monday, October 29, 2012

Installing Windows 8 on HP EliteBook 2760p

A client bought Windows 8 Pro. She asked me to install it on her HP EliteBook 2760p. If you're familiar with this device then you know it's a combination device, i.e., a laptop/tablet model with a 360 degree rotation touchscreen monitor connected to a keyboard dock making for a very nice device. The specs are 4 GB ddr3 ram, intel core i5 vPro 3.0 GHz processor, 320 GB hdd running Windows 7 pro.

She didn't want to keep any files. She wanted a clean installation. Since the device doesn't have a dvd drive, I had to copy the install files from the windows 8 pro dvd to my usb drive then run the install from windows explorer. So far, it has been a simple install. Very direct so as to not confuse the user, which makes for a very user friendly install. I was asked if I wanted to install updates, I checked yes. After installing updates, Windows 8 wanted the product key. I decided to give the product key. I was then asked if I wanted to keep any files (all files meaning applications; personal files meaning documents/music/pics; or nothing at all), I checked 'nothing at all.' It checked my environment. After that, I was shown how Windows 8 would be installed. Very simple. In fact, this has been the simplest OS installation in my entire tech life (yes, I've installed linux, apple, and windows operating systems).

I started the install at 10:40. At 11:05 windows was installed. By install, I mean now the only thing left is personalization.

UPDATE 10/31/2012

I've failed to get back to this post for update. During personalization, I didn't attempt to use the touch screen. Well, when I tried to use 'touch' it wouldn't work. The touch screen was not functional. I went to device manager to see if there were any problems and yes, there were. So, I went to HP, found the elitebook 2760p, then installed the chipset driver. After the install, the touch screen functioned and all was well with the elitebook.

Ge the drivers for the elitebook
HP Elitebook 2760p drivers (the windows 7 64 bit driver works for Windows 8 Pro)

13 comments:

  1. I have the same setup and was wondering if you got the bluetooth to work?

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  2. The chipset driver did the trick for the problems I had. Bluetooth working like a boss. I've noticed others having issues. I would try installing the bluetooth driver for windows 7 from the HP drivers link I shared in the post. Let me know how it turns out for you. I'll help as much as I can.

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  3. Anybody having issues with screen rotation on the 2760p? It works most of the time, but sometimes it just switches like crazy and will be upside down even in laptop mode. I have a hunch that quicklaunch and hotkey drivers are fighting each other.

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    1. Yeah, the same happens with this client. Rotation works most of the time, but on occasion it does just what you described.

      I think it's due to HP's rotation driver not being available for install on Windows 8.

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    2. Thanks - I wish HP had more to say about these issues and/or provided some drivers. You'd think of all their machines that they might actually support Win 8 on the 2760p...

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    3. Yup. Same here. All we can do is periodically check the Windows 8 driver page for this tablet PC
      http://h20000.www2.hp.com/bizsupport/TechSupport/SoftwareIndex.jsp?lang=en&cc=us&prodNameId=5071193&prodTypeId=5169094&prodSeriesId=5071191&swLang=13&taskId=135&swEnvOID=4132

      It must be a driver issue. Also, for this client, I was unable to get the hardware button to work to rotate the screen manually in case the auto rotate didn't kick in. She likes windows 8 on the machine aside from the intermittent rotation problems. She never used the hardware button anyway, haha. She mainly likes to use it as a touchscreen labptop. She rarely uses it in tablet mode. Even when she had 7 on it with the tablet mode errorless she didn't use it in tablet mode very often.

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  4. In My Case I had to go to Win 7 drivers & reinstall the Wacom Digitizer Driver to get it working again. Chipset alone didn't do it.

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    Replies
    1. Thanks for posting this unknown. I'm going to see if the wacom digitizer driver will fix the intermittent rotation problem.

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  5. Anybody have issues with the charm bar not working using touch swipes sometimes? Occasionally (actually frustratingly often) my touchscreen input (fingers) simply won't work on the right side of the screen. If I drag a desktop selection "lasso" over to the right, it will end in the space where the charm bar lives. Essentially my touch input is shut out in this region - until magically it comes back. Can take 10 seconds or 10 minutes. Really frustrating...

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    1. I asked my client about this. She hasn't had an issue like you're describing. I believe you though.

      I understood this device to be "windows 8 friendly," but it seems like it's "windows 8 meh"

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    2. Thanks. I have not installed the HP wacom driver (Win 7) because I did this earlier and completely lost pen input. Couldn't get it back for anything and had to reinstall Win 8. I have installed the chipset though. I'm thinking of doing a restore point, holding my breath, and trying the wacom drivers from HP again.

      Do you think updating the BIOS is important? I haven't done that since I received my machine (July 2011).

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    3. My personal opinion? Don't update the BIOS unless you're experiencing problems with BIOS. I'm persuaded that the problems we're having with this tablet pc and windows 8 is completely at the OS level and not the BIOS level.

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    4. Thanks - yeah I'm pretty hesitant to do it. The only thing is that my BIOS is F.01, which is the first one. It does make me wonder if there are strange issues that might have been resolved since then. I'm considering it the nuclear option though.

      Right now my touch is in a "good" phase, but I'm sure in about 5 minutes it will all go to hell. It was messed up pretty much 100% of the time yesterday. This is an example of my most frustrating problem:
      http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ADXDu8CjCuc#t=1m48s

      I've contacted HP and they aren't helpful (they are nice at least). I've even uninstalled / installed a whole combos of touch/quicklaunch/hotkey/video drivers (including HP wacom). I even removed all possible touch drivers, including hidden (ghost) devices. Windows reinstalled its default touch driver and I'm still in the same place. I think I just need to sit tight and wait for HP to release Win8 touch drivers or for a specific fix to be posted somewhere. I'm pretty much out of ideas... Thanks for all the replies here!

      -Alden

      Delete

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