How to flash BIOS without having HP Tools Partition

[ddmb]

Hi guys,

I have got a laptop HP ProBook 4320s, which laptop doesn't already contain any HP's factory partition (I removed them:-)

Now, I saw, that a newer BIOS is published (F.0D) and I would like to update it.

As far as I know, I may flash the BIOS with a USB stick.

My question is, how to perform this operation? In the "HowTo" are only common instructions which don't help me a lot. Can anyone come with a step-by-step itenerary?

Thank you

[Gangles]

Flashing a bios is not partition specific. Get the bios tool from hp.com by entering in your product number then simply run the application

[phantom_v1]

Hi guys!

A colleague of mine recently bought a probook 4320s notebook and tried to update the bios as the cpu fan did not slow down. 

However, something went wrong during the update (using sp51291.exe under Win7) and now the notebook is only usefull as a brick. I tried to fix the bios using the same file (this is the latest version according to the hp support page) and "create bootable usb stick" option, but nothing seems to hapen after two tries.

Any guesses are appreciated.

Regards,

Phantom.

[HaggisCat]

@ phantom_v1

  I may have a solution for you that worked on my HDX18, but it's 1:45 AM right now on the BC coast.

 I will post in the morning.

Don't know if it will work, but your friend has nothing to loose.

[HaggisCat]

 Download 7-Zip run it and restart your machine.

 http://www.7-zip.org/

Download the BIOS file and save it to the desk top.

 Right click on the BIOS file and "extract files"  You should have this :

 

 and then open Rompaq to this :

 

Take your flash drive and right click on in "Computer" to format it to FAT 32 and drag the BIN file onto the flash drive.

 The BIN file is the actual BIOS information and when I fixed my HDX, that's all that was needed on the flashdrive. (no need to make it bootable)

 Do not pull the flash drive out from the USB port, in W7 go to your tool bar and click on "show hidden icons" beside the flag. There will be an option there for the USB port to safely eject the flash drive. In Vista you right click on the flash drive in "Computer" to eject.

 Remove the battery and adapter on the bricked computer and hold the power down for 30 seconds.

 Plug in the flash drive in one of the USB ports on the left side of the machine, hold the "Windows" and "B" key at the same time and plug the adapter in. Power up and the laptop should start to beep, when it does, release the key's.

 On my HDX I had to repeat these steps twice before it worked. I later took a healthy mother board with a retail copy of W7 on the hard drive to see if I could flash the BIOS in this way, it did not work until the third try. I wanted to find out if there had be any HP partitions on the hard drive, which there were none of course.

 The BIOS file my HDX was named FD and I later found that I had to change its name to BIN, you may have to do the same if this does not work. Change it from 68AHH.BIN to 68AH.BIN and try again.

 I don't know if this will work, but you have nothing to loose.

 ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

 If any one attempts this on their machine please start a new thread and send me a PM of the link to that thread. This way I can assure you get the correct BIOS file on the flash drive or if it's even possible. (I will need your full model and part number on the underside of your laptop) This procedure is not endorsed by HP and is experimental by nature, so this is done at your own risk, however at this point it does look promising.

[phantom_v1]

HaggisCat, sorry for the delayed answer but I was quite busy with other stuff.

In short - I tried similar solution before your answer. However, I did not used 7-zip to unpack the bios executable - I just run it and saw where it stores the files for the following process, which even included creation of a bootable usb bios rescue drive.

The exe simply performs quick format of the drive, makes it bootable, even not necessary, and copy in the flash master directory the following files:

I tried then to use the stick to bring the brick back to life but without any result - it started to load something from the flash (I saw the led of the flash blinking for a couple of seconds) and after that at least started the CPU fan, but without any other activity (ok, the Caps Lock led was blinking) and/or sounds for more than 10 min.  I repeated the operation a couple of times, even tried the old BIOS version but without any success.

After this - my colleague brought the brick into an HP service as it almost brand new (less than a week from the purchase) and explained the problem to the guys there. He was told that they will "diagnose the issue" and will inform him for the solution which might even include a new notebook as the purchase was within a month. Well, two days after he is still waiting for the diagnostics to finish ....

However, even I did not have the chance to try your exact solution (did not rename the bin file), I thank you for the answer and the help! Hope it will be usefull for someone else!

Best regards,

Phantom.

[HaggisCat]

Thanks for the answer. I would be really curios what HP ultimately does to repair a corrupted BIOS install.

 HP keeps this a closely guarded secret.    Or at least it's not made public.

 Personally I think their waiting for a new mother board to come in. I also found a few sites where you can buy a pre-programmed BIOS chip. This requires some skill to remove the old chip with out damaging the MB and then to solder the new chip in place.

[bhamlaae]

I have Hp Pavillion Tx2110us with P/N KN966UA#ABA, suddenly it display is blanked out. When I swithch on the laptop it doesn't seem to even pass POST (power on system test). where can I get its ROM and BIOS to USB flash the laptop and how do I flash it (method). Please help urgently. Thanks & Bye

[jk8]

HP Pavilion dv6780se

Phoenix Bios

Problem: Used the bios flash from the HP drivers website section of Vista 64 bit downloads per laptop model. For some unknown reason(no noticable power issues occurred), the bios flash failed.

In combination of advise from several forums, what worked for me after 24 hours of sweating was the following:

Note: Every attempt to use wincris or manually create a flash usb drive failed when done on a win 7 64 bit system, even when it appeared to worked, the flash never worked on the brick system. Worked in one try when used wincris from 32 bit XP to build usb flash.

On a fully functional 32 bit Win XP sytem:

1. Downloaded the bios software from HP drivers/software page for the specific laptop model ( I downloaded from the Vista 32 bit menu this time, not that their appears to be a difference, but this is the one that worked)

2. Used 7-zip to extract the files form the HP bios executable.

3. Downloaded wincris/crisdisk package from somewhere in the sea of forums on the topic

4. Extracted crisdisk package

5. Copied the WPH file from the HP bios directory to the wincris.exe directory, then renamed it 'BIOS.WPH'

6. Inserted a 4gb Cruzer USB drive, formated it to FAT32.

7. Ran wincris.exe.

8. Made sure usb drive was selected, and then hit 'Start' and followed directions from there.

9. Once USB was ready, safely removed usb drive from xp system.

On bricked HP dv6780se unit:

10. With nothing attached, battery removed and a/c unplugged, I held the power down for 30 sec. I rubbed a rabit's foot for roughly 20 of those 30.

11. Then released the power button, plugged in a/c power, plugged in the usb drive, and then pressed and held the 'B' key and Windows key down for 4 seconds. Then, with those keys still pressed, hit the power, held that for about 2 seconds. Then shortly after one or a few loud solid beeps, the magical choas of random, more playful beeps occurred for not more than a few minutes.

12. The system shut itself off. I removed the usb drive, successfully booted, and let out a very large celebratory roar of victory.

I thank all the contributors of how-to's regarding the issue of failed bios flashes.

[LordX]

Just bought an external USB Floppy drive to try this emergency recovery on my 8710p - which is looping now after a failed BIOS update - so no boot into windows!

I tried the USB - but it wouldn't work.

I am getting different results here - but not what I want.

With the USB Floppy plugged in: When I hold down Win+B - the caps light flashes  for a lot longer now, it looks like it initializes the floppy drive (green light comes on for just a moment) - but then nothing - just flashing caps lock for a bit and then finally a restart again into the doom loop. It never appears to begin to read the floppy disk or search for a bios file.

What am I doing wrong? What can I try? Does the disk need to be leabeled a certain way? Does my BIOS file need to be renamed?

Any help would be GREAT!!!!