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HP Recommended
HP Pavillion Desktop 500- 406a
Microsoft Windows 10 (64-bit)

I am trying to find out what the risk is of updating the BIOS in this HP 500-406A. Current BIOS is AMI 80.20 dated 31/10/2014 on a Memphis S motherboard with SSID ROM Family 2AF7. It is not listed in the history so I believe it is the initial preinstalled BIOS that came with the PC. HP unable to confirm this to date..  I believe the original OS was Windows 8.1. There are 2 BIOS updates for this PC under Windows 8.1 for this ROM Family 80.22 SP74198 Dec11 2015 and 80.23 SP76898 Jul28 2016. HP says these updates replace all previous versions. However they don't seem to list all previous versions or original preinstalled versions. Was there an 80.21?  I have read on the site that when you do a BIOS update a backup is made of the existing BIOS during the process in case you have to go back to it. There is a Note in the details section for the BIOS's listed above "NOTE: Due to security changes, after this BIOS update is installed, previous versions cannot be reinstalled. "  I would like some clarification on whether I will or won't be able to revert to my current  BIOS if I decide to go ahead with an update. Does It mean you can revert if it fails to install but not if it is successful.  As I don't have any hardware issues I am not looking to take too much of a risk and general advice is to avoid a BIOS update unless its crucial but I would be interested in hearing if anyone else has been down this road.

14 REPLIES 14
HP Recommended

> As I don't have any hardware issues I am not looking to take too much of a risk

> and general advice is to avoid a BIOS update unless it's crucial  ...

 

I definitely agree with that advice.


Let sleeping dogs lie.

 

If it's not broken, you are not trying hard enough. :OpenSmile:

 

An electrical power-failure in the middle of a BIOS update is another risk.

 

HP Recommended

Thank you for this post mdklassen!

 

I just got a notification from the HP Support Assistant to update my BIOS and since my HP Envy 17t is only a month old with no hardware problems, I did some research and found out that BIOS updates can cause some serious problems.

 

Is there a way to stop HPSA from popping up the BIOS update? 

HP Recommended

> I am trying to find out what the risk is of updating the BIOS in this HP 500-406A.

> Current BIOS is AMI 80.20 dated 31/10/2014 

>  I believe the original OS was Windows 8.1. 

 

See:

 

https://support.hp.com/us-en/drivers/selfservice/swdetails/hp-pavilion-500-400-desktop-pc-series/716...

 

for BIOS Version: A0.14 Rev. A, dated March 31, 2017.

 

It is curious that your BIOS-level starts with '8' (as in "Windows 8" ???), while the newest BIOS-level starts with 'X' ("ten").

 

Kudos for good HP support by updating the BIOS at least 6 times for your motherboard!

 

Yes, the HP BIOS-updating software does save a copy of the current BIOS into a "hidden System Recovery" partition on your disk-drive.

 

The release notes do say that regressing to a previous BIOS-level is not allowed.

But, those notes do not give any detail about any "performance" nor "capability" updates included in the newer BIOS-levels.  Sigh.

 

 

 

 

HP Recommended

> I just got a notification from the HP Support Assistant to update my BIOS

> and since my HP Envy 17t is only a month old with no hardware problems

 

Oh.  That is a different computer than you specified when you opened this thread.

 

> Is there a way to stop HPSA from popping up the BIOS update? 

 

Is there no way to "hide" a message?

 

HP Recommended

I am happy to take the risk of a power failure during an update because I can take steps to make it a minute risk. The risk I am unsure of is whether my existing BIOS will be backed up during the BIOS Update and whether if need be I can reflash it. HP Support have confusing and contradictory information regarding this on their site.

HP Recommended

@mdklassen wrote:

> I am trying to find out what the risk is of updating the BIOS in this HP 500-406A.

> Current BIOS is AMI 80.20 dated 31/10/2014 

>  I believe the original OS was Windows 8.1. 

 

See:

 

https://support.hp.com/us-en/drivers/selfservice/swdetails/hp-pavilion-500-400-desktop-pc-series/716...

 

for BIOS Version: A0.14 Rev. A, dated March 31, 2017.

 

It is curious that your BIOS-level starts with '8' (as in "Windows 8" ???), while the newest BIOS-level starts with 'X' ("ten").

 

Kudos for good HP support by updating the BIOS at least 6 times for your motherboard!

 

Yes, the HP BIOS-updating software does save a copy of the current BIOS into a "hidden System Recovery" partition on your disk-drive.

 

The release notes do say that regressing to a previous BIOS-level is not allowed.

But, those notes do not give any detail about any "performance" nor "capability" updates included in the newer BIOS-levels.  Sigh.

 

 

 Hi

There is a  requirement that the BIOS Update and the Motherboard have to have a matching SSID ROM Family. To check for the BIOS Update you should first look under the updates for the original Operating System. Then BIOS updates should be performed in sequence, ie don't skip to the latest but do each one until you have the latest.

That is what HP advise on their site.

Cheers

HP Recommended

>  Then BIOS updates should be performed in sequence, i.e. don't skip to the latest but do each one until you have the latest.

 

This statement is incorrect.  Each BIOS-update is "cumulative" -- containing all the updates from previous releases.

 

Short answer: if you are going to accept the risk of doing a BIOS-update, update just once, to the "latest-and-greatest" version.

 

> That is what HP advise on their site.

 

I am from Missouri.  Please show me the URL where HP makes this recommendation.

 

HP Recommended

I have an HP Envy 17-ae0xx

 

Yesterday I received a BIOS Update from HP Support Assistant .

 

My BIOS version and date is:  Insyde F. 15, 9/8/2017

 

I'm asking if it's necessary to update since my notebook computer is working fine and I'm afraid to update the BIOS because of what I've read about the dangers of updating BIOS.  

 

Will my notebook computer work OK if I don't update my BIOS suggested by HP Support Assistant?

 

HP Recommended

You have the same computer as in: https://h30434.www3.hp.com/t5/Desktop-Operating-Systems-and-Recovery/BIOS-Update/m-p/6453288

 

where a reply to a similar question has been posted.

 

† The opinions expressed above are the personal opinions of the authors, not of HP. By using this site, you accept the <a href="https://www8.hp.com/us/en/terms-of-use.html" class="udrlinesmall">Terms of Use</a> and <a href="/t5/custom/page/page-id/hp.rulespage" class="udrlinesmall"> Rules of Participation</a>.