bios update fail

[Nick394]

The system BIOS update failed, unable to open the BIOS Image file. My daughter's computer is stuck in this loop and I can not get out of it. The screen goes to this message screen (The system BIOS update failed, unable to open BIOS Image file) then goes to the command screen for a second then resets and continues to do this. I have tried all the button configurations and nothing. Not sure what to do.

[Paul_Tikkanen]

Hi:

I'm thinking your PC is one of those with the MonkD motherboard where many folks are having that issue.

If your PC's motherboard is the same one as in this discussion (MonkD), you need to make a BIOS recovery drive with the F.41 BIOS update file and not the latest two that HP has.

Solved: Re: ROM FAMILY SSID - HP Support Community - 8846687

See the last reply by Harinder_Singh:

"Thanks Paul, but this file seems to have errors...sp145453 and sp143666, Unable to make USB recovery flash drive, that's why when these updates are coming and people getting them installed are getting stuck in a BIOS update fail loop. Hence, on the basis of my exploitation SP141980 was fine, with this i was able to create BIOS recovery flash drive and finally restored BIOS and break the loop of BIOS update fail."

Link to the F.41 BIOS update.

https://ftp.hp.com/pub/softpaq/sp141501-142000/sp141980.exe 

The first link below explains how to create a BIOS recovery flash drive.

I've already provided the BIOS file you need, which is good for either W10 or W11.

Updating the BIOS on HP Consumer Desktops outside of Windows 11| HP Computers| HP Support - YouTube

Here's an alternative way to recover the BIOS with the USB recovery drive if the above method doesn't work.

HP Desktop PCs - Recovering the BIOS (Basic Input Output System) | HP® Customer Support

Last section.  There is a video at the very bottom of the page that describes how to do this on a notebook PC, and since it is included under the desktop link, perhaps it works the same way.

Install the BIOS recovery file

Restoring the BIOS with a Recovery Flash Drive on HP Notebooks

[Bill_To]

Hi @Nick394 

Paul, I am not trying to solve this problem as I am thoroughly confused as to what is going on.

I am having two issues with the BIOS update problem.

1. The MonkD MB SSID used to be 86F2 per this Forum Link, now it is 86F3? The MonkP MB is 86F3. Two different MBs should not have the same MB SSID??

It looks like HP changed the MonkD MB SSID from 86F2 to 86F3 but folks are still having BIOS update problems with the MonkD MB.

2. I tried creating USB BIOS recovery media using SP141908 on a different PC with a known good, formatted (FAT32) USB drive connected to the PC.

Never gave me this option. I don't know what is going on? I can't replicate Harinder_Singh's success.

Very confused.

Regards

[Paul_Tikkanen]

Hi, Bill:

I can't explain why there are two different SSID's for the same MonkD motherboard, but I agree that there shouldn't be.

I just made a USB BIOS recovery drive on my Dell Optiplex Desktop PC with a PNY 32 GB USB 3 flash drive with sp141980 and it completed successfully, so unfortunately, I don't know why it isn't working for you.

I'm assuming you made a typo when you wrote sp141908?

Cheers,

Paul

P.S: Others have marked this suggestion as solved using the same guidance in this discussion.

Solved: Re: HP 24-DF0040 BIOS update fail loop - HP Support Community - 8851023

Solved: Re: System BIOS update failed unable to open BIOS image file - HP Support Community - 885020...

Solved: Re: HP Bios Update Fail Loop - HP Support Community - 8850063

[Bill_To]

Hi @Paul_Tikkanen 

Yes, a typo. Should be (sp141980).

I used an 8 GB USB 3 drive. Do I need a 32 GB USB drive?

The HP BIOS file and AMI flash Utility are not very large.

Confused as to why I cannot replicate the solution to create the USB recovery drive.

Regards

[Paul_Tikkanen]

Hi, Bill. 

You shouldn't need to use a 32 GB flash drive. 

It hardly took up any space on the flash drive. 

It was the only one I had access to just now.

I use a 32 GB drive so I can test HP cloud recovery tool images when someone posts that they cannot successfully create a cloud recovery drive. 

I'd try a different flash drive and see what happens. 

I had also formatted the flash drive with the FAT32 file system. 

[Nick394]

The link to the BIOS file does not work. I save it then when I try to open it, it does not open not sure why.

[Paul_Tikkanen]

Unfortunately, I don't know why the file doesn't work for you.

It is the same file I downloaded from the link I posted in this discussion that I made the USB BIOS recovery flash drive with.

[Bill_To]

Hi @Nick394 

@Paul_Tikkanen, I tried the entire procedure again using a different, second PC, a new sp14980 download, and a different, known good and empty, (FAT32) 8 GB, USB 3 stick connected to the PC. I have done this procedure on different non-HP PCs using other HP BIOS executables for HP Laptops/Notebooks with success.

Same result, a fail using sp14980.exe. No option to create USB boot media to recover the BIOS.

You can extract sp14980.exe to get 086F3F41.EXE. You get the UAC splash screen to continue when you run 086F3F41.EXE but nothing happens. The HP AMI Flash Utility process runs in Task Manager, but that is it.

So I also don't know what is going on?

The MB SSID 86F2 vs 86F3 problem was the cause of the BIOS corruption problem in my previous link. This is confusing. I still don't understand how two different MBs (MonkD and MonkP) can have the same MB 86F3 SSID.

There is a different way to flash the BIOS but it is involved and may also fail. Many folks have had success using this procedure to fix a corrupted BIOS, but some folks have had problems. You need the following:

-086F3F41.EXE. 

-A Hiren's boot USB stick which contains the Aptio V AMI Firmware Update Utility. you add this utility to the USB stick.

-Aptio V AMI Firmware Update Utility. The Aptio flash utility will read the BIOS .bin and .sig files embedded in 086F3F41.EXE.

It is best to use the GUI.x64 executable within Hiren's when running the flash utility if you are not comfortable using the command prompt.

As you can see in the following image, I did a test run using 08433F55.exe in the same directory where the flash utility is located. Aptio found the .bin file and was ready to flash the BIOS. I did not continue the flash as I tested this on a Gigabyte MB. Tried again to see how far I could go without flashing. The utility gave a BIOS file size error using a Gigabyte MB, this is good.

Can't guarantee success but it is a second option if you can't create the HP BIOS boot recovery USB stick.

Forgot to add the following:

This second option may work if your HP PC has USB function at startup.

Check this Forum Link for additional info on using Hiren's boot media and Aptio V AMI Firmware Update Utility; a different HP PC having a similar problem.

Regards

[Paul_Tikkanen]

Hi, Bill:

Unfortunately, I don't know what to say regarding that file, and have to give up on this.

This person seems to be having the same or similar issue.

Re: Boot update error loop - HP Support Community - 8850343

I cannot duplicate the problem.

I can create a BIOS recovery flash drive by either running the file, browsing to C:\SWSetup opening the file folder and running the file inside, or using 7-zip to extract the main driver exe file into its folder and clicking on the file within that folder.

Worked every time.  I just did it again using the 7-zip option.