(A7) Me FW Downgrade - Request Me Spilock Failed

[booterror]

Guys call HP support and get a replacement, obviously something is wrong with the basic setup or the hardware.

I sent mine in yesterday should get the new one within 2 weeks, same envy model.

According to HP phone support this isn't a common issue, we'll see when I get the new pc. If the same error is at it again I'll ask for my money back.

A personal friend of mine works for HP in Israel and I know they have very high quality products, might be their supplier or someone they don't have control over messing things up.

[ash-f]

Same here.  ENVY 750

Horrible that took whole day to setup new PC and this ruined everyhting.

[booterror]

Hey guys,

So here's an update...

Today I got the new hp 750-115 replacement from hp and I went ahead and did all the updates including the bios updates.

And now it works perfectly no start-up issue at all, I tested restarting and shutting down and turning it on and it works as it should now, no error messages at all.

I know it's a pain in the a** but try to not focus so much on the issue as that will make it worse, just contact hp and tell them you want a replacement and they will send you some postage stamp through email or regular mail to put on the box, send back the pc and you should get your new one pretty fast. Do call HP once your current pc has arrived at their location to hurry up the process. It took me just 2 days to get the new pc.

I did the bios update on the new pc and the strange part is the update wasn't the same, it's as if it's a different motherboard or something, the one with the error had version 1.2 something this one is 1.3...   not sure whats up with that it's the same envy model, but guessing some hard ware isn't the same.

So just send it back and focus on other things than the problem, that will make dealing with it easier.
Funny how we can get into depression over hp issues 🙂

Merry christmas!

[vivasor]

OK, so here is how to fix the problem.

Execute the file

ME.bat

which you will find in

c:\SWSETUP\SP73868

Explanation: SP73868 is the BIOS update to A0.12 supplied by HP.

HP clearly messed things up and their BIOS upgrade did not properly call ME.BAT which is the Intel Firmware Update Utility.

which is an essential component of the BIOS upgrade.

I find it staggering that HP, even when informed of the problem, could not suggest this solution.

I would be very interested to hear if this solves the problem for others.

[Pixxel]

Same problem here on a friend's Pavilion 550-154na, bought 30th November and only just opened.

Ran the HP Support Assistant as the very first thing after first boot, It found 3 drivers and the A0.12 BIOS update.

Restarting after the updates was fine (no error), then ran the Windows updater, several more restarts. Turned it off overnight, next day it wouldn't boot - SpiLock error.

Slightly more complicated though - after being on chat with HP (who said sometimes the HP Support Assistant can fail to run BIOS updates properly, and they have to be done manually) I downloaded the A0.12 BIOS update and ran it.

Bad choice ... the CMD.EXE (black, DOS) window opened as part of the update, but with the error message: 'The system cannot find the file MEinfo3.log'.

The cursor and screen then froze - I waited several minutes in case it was still writing.

On powering off / on, the unit now beeps 8 times then goes directly into the HP Diagnostics BIOS re-apply screen, it applies the BIOS but then the (repeated) verify of the BIOS fails, then the unit tries to restart. Rinse & repeat. Obviously the BIOS has not been re-applied fully and the BIOS is now incomplete and can't start.

Do they test these BIOS updates before releasing them?

HP tech support chap (UK) said he'd heard of one other case in the last few days, and the only solution was to replace the unit.

Do you know what the problem was with the original installer? What was missing when that batch file wasn't called?

[vivasor]

I doubt if anything was missing.

I think the HP supplied installer was supposed to do several things by shelling into other programs.

In the folder c:\SWSETUP\SP73868, there are 4 executable files and 2 batch files.   If failed to run ME.bat which calls an Intel program called FWUpdLcl64.exe

Your problem is more complicated and I suspect you will have to return your system for repair.

The first solution suggested to me by HP   was as follows:

To recover an earlier version of the BIOS on your PC:

1.  Turn off the computer.

2.  Press and hold the Windows key and the B key down at the same time while the computer is off.

3.  Still pressing those keys, press and hold down the Power button on the computer for 1 second, and then release the Power button and the Windows and B keys.

The power LED light remains on, and the screen remains blank for about 40 seconds before anything appears on the display. You might also hear beeping sounds.                  

Eventually, an HP BIOS Update screen displays and the BIOS update begins automatically.

If the HP BIOS Update screen displays, proceed to step 4.

If the HP BIOS Update screen does not display, do one of the following depending on the condition:

a. Computer boots into Windows - The computer will boot into Windows if the power button and keys are released too soon. Repeat steps 1 through 4 above, holding the power button down for 2 or 3  seconds.

b. Power LED light turns off - The computer will turn off if the power button is pressed and held down too long. Repeat steps 1 through 4 above, holding the power button down for between 1 and 3  seconds.

c. After repeated attempts, the HP BIOS Update screen does not open - Your computer does not support this function or it has a hardware problem that is preventing the tool from opening. Contact HP   using the Contact Supporttab at the top of this page.

4. After the BIOS is recovered, a Continue Startup button displays and a timer counts down. Click the Continue Startup button to restart the computer immediately. The computer will restart automatically when the timer reaches zero.

5. When the computer restarts, a black screen appears with a message similar to the following:

A system BIOS Recovery has occurred. 

BIOS Recovery (500) 

Enter - Continue Startup

Press the Enter key to continue immediately or allow the computer to reboot automatically.

6. After restarting, Windows may display a message stating that the computer was improperly shut down or that a boot problem was detected. Read and respond to the screens to continue.

This did not work for me.  Their second suggestion was that I should open the case and remove the CMOS battery for 30 seconds  - I tried that and that did not work either.  Then they suggested I return it for repair.

Incidentally, I am in the UK.

[Pixxel]

Hmmm ... The first BIOS update to A0.12 (done by the HP Support Assistant software) did install - BIOS was A0.12 afterwards - but resulted in the SpiLock error on boot, although restarts were fine (no error).

The 'Details' tab on the A0.12 BIOS updater on HP's download page says once this version is installed it cannot be rolled back due to 'Security reasons' - I'm guessing from the changelog it might be to do with making the UEFI security stronger - hence impossible to revert to an earlier version because the A0.12 installer deletes any previous versions.

The only way I could get it to boot from cold was by re-applying the A0.12 BIOS using the HP Diagnostics. It gave the same error (briefly) afterwards, but then (after a few seconds) booted into Windows 10. Looking the the roll-back section in the HP Diagnostics software, no previous BIOS version was listed.

Yep, have already booked a return and replace with a new one - being collected 6th January now and replacement due 3 working days later.

Nothing lost - the SSD (SanDisk X300, 128GB) also had c. 169k erase/program errors on first boot and failed the SanDisk Dashboard software SMART tests, so probably would have needed to send the whole thing back anyway.

Hopefully the replacement will have a later motherboard than v1.04, if that's the problem.

So did running the ME.bat file fix the SpiLock error for you, or are you still returning it for an exchange?

[ash-f]

BIOS rollback does not work.

Beacause there is only A0.12 on my PC.

So PC trys to rollback A0.12 to A0.12 which is nonesense.

[vivasor]

Yes, running ME.bat fixed mine so I am not returning it for repair.

[ash-f]

How to run ME.bat if Windows does not start?

Should I make another boot disk?