DV4-1120us bricked by HP's own Bios update

[markchron]

Thankyou so much for this HP are useless my laptop is fine again you are a star my friend !!!!!!!!:smileyvery-happy:

[Zharkov]

I really hope someone will be able to assist me. Here's the preliminary info:

HP Pavilion dv4-1120us

P/N: FR921UA

This laptop has the integrated Intel graphics chip.

A friend of mine asked me to remove some viruses and malware from her laptop. Unfortunately, I ended up having to reinstall the OS to remove the several infections. During the reload, I updated the drivers, including the BIOS. The BIOS was on F.04 (which is the oldest version listed under the Vista option for drivers). I flashed the BIOS to version F.66 (the newest version under the Win7 x64 option for drivers). After doing this, the laptop will boot to the HP branded screen, with the message in the lower left of the screen "Press the ESC key for Startup Menu". The laptop does not post. The Ctrl-Alt-Del key combo will cause the laptop to reboot, but no other keys illicite a reponse.

I thne went through the steps of the fix provided on page 1 of this thread. I downloaded the F.04 version of the BIOS, unpacked it using 7zip and copied the 30F7F04.FD file to a 250MB flash drive (which was formatted with the FAT file system). I copied the file 4 times and renamed the four files to the following:

30F7.BIN

30F7.ROM

30F7F04.BIN

30F7F04.FD

I safely removed the flash drive.

I disconnected the AC adapter from the laptop.

I removed the battery.

I connected the flash drive.

I held down the "Windows" and "B" keys.

I reconnected the AC adapter, still holding down the "Windows" and "B" keys.

Here's where it fails for me:

When I hold down the power button, nothing happens. The power button does not light up. The only LED on is the one next to the AC adapter.

If I press and release the power button, the power LED comes on, but none of the rest of the LEDs do.

I've attempted holding the three of these button down for over 2 minutes with no response.

Please help! I'd like to be able to return the laptop to my friend in working order.

[HEADinaVISE]

I know this post is kinda old but this very same thing happened to me a month ago with the very same laptop! Since HP no longer suppplies the BIOS as a download, I'm wondering if anyone may have kept the download for just such an occasion.

[tdk]

Hello, I think you are incorrect here. I just checked on the HP site and found the following bios for this model...

2010-05-31 , Version:F.66 A, 5.49MThis package provides an update to the System BIOS. The update installs on supported notebook models using a supported Microsoft Windows Operating System. A reboot is required to complete the installation.

Go to www.hp.com click on support and drivers, enter dv4-1120us as the model, select the operating system you are running and the list of available downloads will show up. Click on BIOS in the list and you can then download the bios update....

tkinkley

[NancyC1988]

Being a complete noob, I'm unsure what to rename my file. I have downloaded the BIOS update for my laptop (Pavilion DV6-2020sa windows 7 (32 bit) ) and I have one .FD file named "3635F13.FD" but I am unsure if I rename this to "3635.BIN"? I have tried this and I get the beeps from the computer but then the beeps stop and the screen remains black with two blinking lights.

[mla6603]

These instructions worked for me! Thank you, thank you, thank you! Someone at HP should be embarrassed.

[TheEADG]

Followed TDK's instructions verbatim and it worked (yes, it made a difference wheather I plugged the AC cable after pressing Win+B).

I was using a 512MB USB drive, so I used DISKPART to create a volume that was just big enough to hold the file (2MB was sufficient for me). If you aren't familiar with DISKPART, just enter HELP.

Rough instructions (remember to hit ENTER at the end of each command :-))

1. Open Command Prompt, type DISKPART

2. Type LIST DISK

3. Find the number of your thumb drive (you should be able to figure that out, if you can't, it's probably time to seek for help)

4. SELECT DISK (the number from step 3)

5. SELECT PARTITION 1 (assuming you only have 1 partition)

6. DELETE PARTITION (this will ERASE EVERYTHING in your thumb drive, make sure you know what you're doing)

7. CREATE PARTITION PRIMARY SIZE= (size in MB, SIZE=2 worked for me)

8. EXIT

Open the drive on Windows and allow Windows to format it (it will default to the size you selected).

Best of all was that HP support told me to send the computer for out of warranty maintenance, for hardware failure. It would cost me $200 to $350 plus parts. That's a good definition of an absurd, when the answer is on HP self customer forums.

[chronokinetic]

Hi,

I have exact same problem on dv4 2160us here.  Black screen, replugged everything, hard dive, memory, cd drive.

I can't find an .FD file on HP's BIOS update.  I extracted it and all I got are .BAT and .BIN files.  I'm about to try copying over just the BIN files on my 4gb drive.

I know this is an old thread and I've been looking all over.  Can someone tell me what to do here?

Thanks

[Wookatok]

Hi Chronokinetic, 

Did your bios flash work on the DV4-2160us?

I have a DV-2167sb and extraction of the bios executable yields a binary file  140AF0F.bin.  In fact the package yields two files of the same name and size.

[vic1020]

Hi, recently Bought Hp Envy 17t -3000 and I Updated the Bios From F.06 - F.08. The Computer couldn't come Up On Restart. Pls I Need Guide line On How To ReFlash the Bios Image back. I don't wanna Take it Back to the Service center and I Blv I can Do It If I'm Well Guided By and Expert like U. Thnx a Million.