Geo GeoBook 1E Education Laptops - HORRIBLE!

[Norphy]

Geo E1 - i have some of these from the Government scheme. On two of them, i re-imaged them using our own Windows 10 pro image and our specialist software pre-installed as we are a Special Needs School. However, on both of these, it doesnt install the audio drivers. Ive tried forcing them to match the driver location on the other devces that have not been imaged, and also tried some Realtek drivers. Nothing makes them change from Multimedia Audio Controller with an exclamation and no drivers installed..

Has anyone had this problem, and managed to sort it?

Thank You

 

Do you have any left which you haven't unboxed, reimaged or taken through the OOBE yet?

 

If so, there is a PowerShell command you can use to extract all of the installed drivers on it. You can then copy those to a USB storage device and go from there.

 

To put the laptop into audit mode, press CTRL+SHIFT+F3 on the first OOBE screen. The laptop will reboot itself to a Windows desktop. Create a folder in the root of the C: Drive called Drivers. Then run the following command from an elevated PowerShell prompt:

 

Export-WindowsDriver -Online -Destination C:\DRIVERS\

 

You can then copy those drivers to a USB stick, or import them into SCCM/MDT/WDS/whatever

Edited November 30, 2020 by Norphy

[SVSITSupport]

I couldnt get my 1E's to image over the network using USB ethernet adapters. I built mine from USB with latest Windows 10 Pro, but now the ones i have done have no sound, and the drivers dont/wont install on these ones! so frustrating!

 

Not sure if you managed to sort this, but I had a similar issue with sound after reinstalling from a USB..

After installing the drivers ripped from another machine, as mentioned above by @Norphy

I managed to get it working by disabling the Realtek HD Audio device in device manager, rebooting, re-enabling and voila - it then seemed to be back to normal

 

hope this helps!

[Mark182]

If anyone would like to upload the working drivers, that would be great.

[Norphy]

Click

 

Taken from a 114B.

[thomvickers]

PXE Boot and Bricked BIOS info...

 

For anyone with a bricked GeoBook 1E because they had the temerity to change the boot options in the BIOS, Rachel from geo-computers ([email protected]) offered the following information.

 

Removing the main laptop battery will clear any user setting from the BIOS.

 

For PXE boot:

Please check which version of the GeoBook 1E you have - either GE109 or GE114. You can find this information on the side of the box (on the same sticker as the barcode).

 

To PXE boot from USB Ethernet Adaptor on the GE109, please make sure your USB Ethernet Adapter is plugged into the left-hand USB port. To access the boot menu, hold 'F7' when you see the GEO boot logo, and then select 'UEFI: USB Network Card'.

 

The GE114 does not currently support PXE boot from USB Ethernet adaptors but we should have an updated BIOS available soon. Sorry for any inconvenience this may cause.

 

I queried if removing the internal battery would void the warranty since it involved opening up the laptop.

 

We don't usually recommend this because opening the device in this way will void the warranty, but in this instance it will not void the warranty, as long as you follow the instructions in the PDF attached.

 

The PDF was a VERY simple document that was basically remove screws (including the 2 under the rubber rear feet), pry open plastic case, remove screws holding battery in place, detach battery cable (didn't say for how long, I left it 2 minutes) then put it all back together again.

Link to PDF

 

After doing this, the GeoBook did in fact boot again. We have the GE109 which does boot from UEFI USB Ethernet Adapter (provided you choose the right one out of the 2 identical-looking options that appear in the boot options).

Edited December 11, 2020 by thomvickers

[Mujja]

A lot of the devices now show two IPv4 boot options, one for HTTP and the second for TFTP, always pick the second one

 

What options were you changing in the BIOS? Did changing the same options again end with the same result?

[tstokes]

I've managed to Image the Geobooks 1E via PXE boot from USB Ethernet adaptors.

I have to mess around with the bios settings somewhat but the best way I've found is to go into Advanced > Network Stack Configuration and then disable everything bar "Network Stack" & "Ipv4 PXE Support".

 

Hope this helps.

[Mujja]

Which model of the Geobook 1E, the 1909 or 114?

 

I found the 109 works out of the box with most USB to Ethernet adapters.

 

The 114 only worked with a couple. I didn't mess around with the BIOS trying to get the others to work, sometime to try for later.

[tstokes]

It was the Geobook 1E 109

[DrCheese]

I gave up and bought a load of USB keys for ours, injected the drivers into an edu iso & autopilot register them. The BIOS losing it's admin password is annoying, but in theory now they're autopiloted even if they're reimaged by students later they get reassimilated onto my setup anyway...

[GriffTech]

I have nothing useful to add to this conversation, I just wanted to vent and say how much I hate these things!

[Disease]

That's why we went for ipads for our allocation, can't go wrong with that

[DrCheese]

That's why we went for ipads for our allocation, can't go wrong with that

 

Aye, I really toyed with it - What stopped me was that I have no real esafety setup for them yet (I need to get smoothwalls global proxy working) & whenever I've issued an iPad, the request for a keyboard comes within 5 minutes! - But god yes it was tempting over those things!

[kennysarmy]

PXE Boot and Bricked BIOS info...

 

For anyone with a bricked GeoBook 1E because they had the temerity to change the boot options in the BIOS, Rachel from geo-computers ([email protected]) offered the following information.

 

 

 

I queried if removing the internal battery would void the warranty since it involved opening up the laptop.

 

 

 

The PDF was a VERY simple document that was basically remove screws (including the 2 under the rubber rear feet), pry open plastic case, remove screws holding battery in place, detach battery cable (didn't say for how long, I left it 2 minutes) then put it all back together again.

Link to PDF

 

After doing this, the GeoBook did in fact boot again. We have the GE109 which does boot from UEFI USB Ethernet Adapter (provided you choose the right one out of the 2 identical-looking options that appear in the boot options).

 

 

Thanks for your post.

 

Still can't decide the best way forward for my allocation of 114's.

They are most likely only ever going to be used by students at home (and never used in school!) - could I just boot them up - install Office 365, create a new offline account (non admin) and then put them in my pile of laptops ready to be loaned out?

 

Once returned, to clear them, just delete the offline account and create a new one...

[robyholmes]

Just received 14 of these 114s. Created an MDT bootable USB and used a USB network adapter. Exported the drivers and put them in to MDT and it's now installing the OS. Fingers crossed it just works. Might run like a dog but they're free so can't complain to much. Luckily for us these are for use in school and students already have devices at home we provided a number of months back.

 

Charging via the headphone jack will be fun! I'm guessing the Type-C USB can't be used for charging?

[DaveJ2717uk]

Did absolutely nothing with these devices set them up as local devices, created a school admin local user account on them and then the named students office 365 account as a local account (bios was already set by council) on them gave them to the students - never gong to be used in school. if the students reimage them best of luck to them I hope I never see them again......

[Steve21]

We did similar as above, local account, Teams/365/Chrome/OneDrive etc pre-installed. Set a restore point, more for our laziness of fixing if required

 

Seems to work well for them (at least in terms of the specs etc) as home devices

 

Steve

[Fazza]

Charging via the headphone jack will be fun! I'm guessing the Type-C USB can't be used for charging?

 

That's why I have stickers on our 60 odd Geobooks so they can see which is the headphone socket and which is the power socket!

[robyholmes]

That's why I have stickers on our 60 odd Geobooks so they can see which is the headphone socket and which is the power socket!

Yep saw that. Going to do the same but I know they won't read it. Hell, they never plugged the old laptops in so it'll be interesting.

[ha5498]

We recieved ours yesterday and they are fine for what they are

if you have up to date office (ie 365) that installs fine

yes you cant put many programs on them

 

But they were free so no one has a right to complain .

you didnt have to accept them

[Mullaney18]

Has anyone had this apart and found a replacement screen?

[3s-gtech]

We recieved ours yesterday and they are fine for what they are

if you have up to date office (ie 365) that installs fine

yes you cant put many programs on them

 

But they were free so no one has a right to complain .

you didnt have to accept them

We have every right to complain. They weren't free, they were paid for by the taxpayer at great expense. And they're rubbish.

[TMBS]

We had 32 of these turn up on our doorstep on Monday, with no prior warning. The IT department were not even added to the list of five people who can access the portal! I've managed to gain access now but when I try and reset my password the link expires by the time the email turns up - this is going to be fun!

 

We're a Google school so don't want all the shortcuts to Office on them. Can anyone PM me the admin password?

 

Thanks

[kennysarmy]

We had 32 of these turn up on our doorstep on Monday, with no prior warning. The IT department were not even added to the list of five people who can access the portal! I've managed to gain access now but when I try and reset my password the link expires by the time the email turns up - this is going to be fun!

 

We're a Google school so don't want all the shortcuts to Office on them. Can anyone PM me the admin password?

 

Thanks

 

I think they are different for each laptop - not a generic one.

 

I got my passwords from this link.

 

https://computacenterprod.service-now.com/dfe

[gmonks]

We recieved ours yesterday and they are fine for what they are

if you have up to date office (ie 365) that installs fine

yes you cant put many programs on them

 

But they were free so no one has a right to complain .

you didnt have to accept them

We did have to accept them.

 

For the last week of the December term, the only laptop devices available from the DfE were these Geobooks. As schools have had to provide laptops to children due to remote learning we absolutely had to accept them.

 

I've had one delivered with a faulty backlight and have logged a case so hopefully this is resolved soon enough!