Need older BIOS for HP Pavilion dv7-6b32us [ Edited ]

[Rhoniel]

Hi,

I have a HP Pavilion dv7-6b32us which has F.19 BIOS installed. I want to try older version of the BIOS if possible. Can someone plz post links to older BIOS for this laptop. Laptop was purchased in USA.

Any procedure tips to downgrade bios would be appreciated.

Thanks.

[HaggisCat]

As you know your support page does not list any previous versions and trying to install an older BIOS from another model is not a good idea _ it will corrupt your BIOS chip.

 What problems are you having that you think you need to roll back your BIOS ?

[Rhoniel]

Hi,

Thanks for your reply. My laptop did come with F.02 version of BIOS but I did not backit up when I upgraded to new BIOS.

With this new bios, I am having ACPI table conflicts when installing an older OS i,e BSD, Win XP.  I am hobbyist, so I like to experiment with my gadgets.

[CherylG]

Even an older BIOS is not going to help with XP install.

Read>

SATA drivers for XP (solution on 0x0000007B BSOD)

[Rhoniel]

Hi,

Thanks for your reply. i am familiar with  SATA driver issue with Windows XP install. I have figured out how to enable IDE mode in the BIOS. And usually I do have a XP install disc handy with SATA drivers slipstreamed. i usually end up enabling IDE option in BIOS (usually manufacturers likes to keep this option hidden in bios) rather than using slipstreamed SATA installtion disc.

The issue that I am facing is non-standard ACPI tables in the F.19 bios and I am getting ACPI.sys error with BSOD. I am not sure if ACPI impimentation is any better in previous bios versions but I want to find out if I can obtain older bios versions.  I sure can bypass ACPI error with F5 trick but wold like to keep installation ACPI compliant.

So does anyone knows how can I obtain previous version of the BIOS for this laptop (DV7-6bus32).

Regards,

[CherylG]

I really doubt that there is any BIOS version for your model that is has ACPI compliancy(with XP). If you research back far enough you will find a sequence of events that has made it increasingly difficult for owners to downgrade to XP on Vista/Windows 7 laptops.

Whether intentional or not is up for debate.

In the first laptops with Vista there was option in BIOS to disable SATA, run in IDE mode.Made XP lovers happy.This was mostly in the dv series  DV2000/dv6000/dv9000 series below dvx499 such as DV6410us.

Later laptops over DVxx99 the BIOS SATA/IDE option disappeared(ieDV6599,DV9500,etc) No problem that couldn't be overcome with slipstreaming SATA driver.

Enter the non compliant BIOS, bigger stumbling block.Some resorted to the F5 option during install and sacrificed some features. I even saw some owners of the DV2500/2700 series resort to the risk of installing a BIOS from a lower model of the dv2000 series.

On many of the latest DV6-xxxx, DV7-XXXX and others the non-compliant BIOS has continued,with none of the versions supporting it-though I have seen a few still installing XP. There "might" be a BIOS from an earlier model of DV7 that has a BIOS version you seek, but this is so risky I would never attempt it.

Btw, you mention knowing where the 'hidden' setting is to enable IDE mode.Care to share your discovery?

[Rhoniel]

I do not want to disclose something on HP official discussion board which eqals poking a beast in the eye. They may take away little tricks that we are left with. Please send a PM  if you want to continue the discussion.

[Rhoniel · Accepted solution]

Hi All,
When I posted my original question, only bios F19 was available for download. I checked HP's support website again today and to my surprise now previous two versions of bios are also available for download.


In case someone in HP decided to post links to older bios versions after reading these forums, then its totally awesome. I am impressed.

[CherylG]

So is the other BIOS version ACPI compliant?

[Rhoniel]

Nah, the laptop would not let me downgrade the bios. Insyde flash utility gives an error saying: downgrading the bios is not permitted or something like that.

I am working on flashing from DOS or using bios recovery methods from boot-up process and see where can I get with that.

BTW have you noticed ACPI.sys error is only reported with consumer models of Dell and HP laptops? Even some 2012 models of HP Elitebook series officially support the Win XP.