The EZ Way To Unbrick After WinPhlash Bios Update Failure

[flybeech]

I recently installed a reworked motherboard from China in my dv9700, upgrading to discrete graphics and HDMI. It was workin' great. Then I decided to update the bios with WinPhlash, as I had done many times before. No big deal, right? I started Phoenix WinPhlash and proceded to update to v. F.33. I left the room while it ran and came back to a machine that gave the familiar nothingness that can only come from a bios re-flash gone bad. I had just bricked my laptop, before I even got to enjoy the added graphics card and HDMI. I'll spare you the hours of wasted time and breifly describe how I raised my Phoenix from the ashes without using a USB floppy drive.

Searching these forums revealed the Phoenix Crisis Recovery 1.0.0.1 will do the trick and all manner of helpful information was found here. My only problem was, I didn't have a USB floppy drive handy. All I had was a 1gb USB flash drive. Here's how I did it.

1. Find and download Phoenix Crisis Recovery Disk, version 1.0.0.4. I think it must be for Fujitsu laptops, since I found out about it on various Fujitsu forums, but unlike Phoenix Crisis Recovery v. 1.0.0.1, you can create a bootable USB flash drive, in addition to the floppy, easy as pie.

2. Gather the bios.wph file for your motherboard. Use the oldest version available. I wasted the most time trying to unsuccessfully load too new a version and worked my way backwards unsuccessfully loading updated versions. I was beginning to think the flash drive idea was a dead end. In my case, when I rolled all the way back to F.22 my dead laptop roared back to life.

3. Find a 32-bit XP machine to prepare your bootable flash drive. It just seemed easier to deal with Phoenix Crisis Recovery Disk application on a 32-bit XP machine. Replace BIOS.WPH in the Crisis folder with your FILE.WPH you selected. Be sure you rename your bios file BIOS.WPH in the Crisis folder. Then, create the bootable flash drive. That's it. Now, you're ready to try it out.

4. Power cord out, battery out, insert your prepared USB flash drive, hold Windows and B key, connect power, hit the power button, while holding the Windows and B keys. When your flash drive starts reading, sit back and enjoy the music of ear-splitting beeps until you have waited 5 or 10 minutes. Maybe your machine will turn off and maybe not. Either way, you should have 'HP Invent' appear on your splash screen and the wonderful feeling of seeing F10 go someplace. Don't get discouraged if the first run doesn't work right. Just try the .wph files from other versions until you get it right. Next time, I'm going for the oldest version that applies to the motherboard.

5. Now that you're up and running, update your bios all the way with Phoenix WinPhlash without worries. Having an old, 1gb flash drive sitting around loaded with the goodies to boot your brick is peace of mind. Amaze your friends and be the life of the party.

Now that I know I can trash my bios all I want and restore it again in few minutes, now might be the time to make a fun splash screen, allow different wireless cards and other cool stuff. I suppose this method will work on anything Phoenix.

All I know is, I fear a bios re-flash failure a whole lot less, these days.

[flybeech]

Just for fun, I intentionally corrupted the bios as bad as I could on a dv9000 AMD test mule. First, I disconnected the power while WinPhlash was busy writing an updated bios to the eprom. In the next  test, I intentionally flashed the Phoenix bios with the wrong version (Intel). Both times, the bios was completely trashed and the ol' Pavilion was dead to the world.

Both times, Phoenix Crisis Recovery Disk v. 1.0.0.4 (Fujitsu), with the correct and oldest version (mine is F.22) BIOS.WPH file, written to a USB flash drive on a 32-bit Windows XP system, successfully flashed these bios failures in about 5 minutes. When I was done trying to make the bios fail, I simply updated my v. F.22 to v. F.33 from the HP website using the WinPhlash, in the normal way. I would figure 15 to 30 minutes from start to finish, once you get the hang of it.

Next, I want to try using Phoenix Crisis Recovery Disk on bootable flash to perform bios updates and downgrades. I'm thinking it might be a little quicker and more relibable way to manage bios firmware. Now, I'm really interested in ways I can tweak my bios. Has anyone here hacked their HP bios?

[caligirlridez2]

Hello I want to thank you so very much you have been so helpful you dont even know how much THANK YOU

[HaggisCat]

@ flybeech

 How about a link to the Phoenix Crisis Recovery Disk v. 1.0.0.4 information. 

 I found this.

 http://forum.ts.fujitsu.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=94&t=40926

 http://wincmd.ru/black_dog/v6535/crdisk.rar

 When the RAR is saved it asks for a pass word, which is "crisis", with out the quotes of course.

[IIIbbyII]

hi

i have a hp 3101sa and i tried ur method and it didnt work :I my laptop just turns off then on without any beeps.

i tried with the bios from hp website which is the latest one

where can i download an older bios?

plz help!!

thx

[Noobie45]

tried it on my HP G60 w249 and it does not work. I really need help on this. Thanks. Or maybe this is not possible for G60 model?