Can't rollback BIOS version from F.57 to F.41, unable to open BIOS signature file

[Madpoli]

This BIOS update that I recently installed likely caused an issue where I'm not able to properly shut down my PC, what happens is while it's shutting down it just freezes with the spinning circle stopping until I force shut down, I even left it on overnight to see if it would shut down but it didn't. Although in safe mode I can shut down/restart perfectly fine for some reason. Also I have had maybe 2-3 times where the PC freezes on the login screen but that's not every time at least.

I tried to rollback the version but it's unable to open the BIOS signature file. I can confirm the signature file is there in the partition (\EFI\HP\BIOS\Previous), since I assigned a drive letter to it temporarily and looked in there with cmd, so I'm not sure why it's not able to open it. Any suggestions on how I can rollback the BIOS?

UPDATE: Thanks to several people on these forums, I successfully downgraded the BIOS to the working F.41 version and the PC isn't freezing during shut down/restart anymore. However, every time I startup the HP BIOS Update screen comes up and it tried to install F.57 again unless I cancel in 15 seconds. I can just keep cancelling it but how I can prevent it from trying to reinstall it?

[TrulySet]

I am also having an issue with this same PC freezing randomly. I did some update around the new year or after and I believe it updated my bios also windows 10. Ever since then I have the random freezing issue. I also want to try to rollback the bios to see if it resolved the issue but was unable to do so. I have also reloaded windows ten made sure windows is up to date. Would appreciate and help that might resolve my random freezing issue. When it freezes I have to hold the power button to shut it off and restart the PC. appreciate any help

[Madpoli]

Well it's good to know that it's not just me having the problem, hopefully someone can give a good solution. I asked about this on tenforums too but no luck so far: [content removed]

[MatthiasMarie]

Same issue with HP Pavilion 590-p0533ng. The update (F.57) came with Windows 10 64bit as optional by "HP Inc.". On HP driver site there are only F.54A (SSID 8433) and F.33A (SSID 8436) but not F.57. I must admit that it is my fault to execute an optional update from Windows but who gave that update to Microsoft?? A rollback of the BIOS is not possible because BIOS update reports that the installed F.57 is newer than F.54A (that's really true but doesn't help).

Issues are: freezing Windows system at different times, ALWAYS freezing shutdown and restart (the circle stops as Windows is shutting down).

Please pardon my bad English.

[DARKFX]

I have the same problem. I hope a solution soon 

[TomFoolery808]

You are not alone. There are several threads on this forum for this exact topic/issue. 

An HP agent reached out to me via PM. The agent referred me to a technical support line. I called but despite this clearly being an error caused by HP, they could not  provided any support outside of paying for technical support. My PC is out of warranty, but I have trouble with concept of paying for help on an issue that HP created. No components of the PC are broken or require repair/replacement due to use or age. It's simply been fed a faulty HP bios which is causing the PC to hard freeze multiple times a day. Is there another avenue for help? Otherwise I have a computer that I cannot use. I've always felt good about the HP brand and have had a long history with its' products. Disappointing. 

[Windy-Bill]

Hi Tom,

I'm surprised by HP lack of support for what "seems" like a fairly widespread issue that seems to be caused by a bad BIOS or by an error in the assignment of the BIOS to the wrong PC models.

I don't know if this will help you any,  but my PC only freezes when it is idle for a period of time (sometimes as short as 5 or 10 minutes).  I have been able to limit or minimize the frequency of freezes by putting my PC to sleep when I am not keeping it busy for any amount of time.  I have not yet tried putting it in Hybrination yet, but I plan to see how that affects the issue.

Let me know if this helps you, please.

[TomFoolery808]

CROSS POST ACROSS THREADS

I did contact support a few days ago. It was definitely a cold handoff to support because the team has no idea what is happening, or will not acknowledge it. Despite this clearly being an error caused by HP, they will not provide any support outside of paying for technical support. My PC is out of warranty, but I have trouble with this concept of paying for help on an issue that HP created. No components of the PC are broken or require repair/replacement due to use or age. It's simply been fed a faulty HP bios which is causing the PC to hard freeze multiple times a day. Is there another avenue for help? Otherwise I have a computer that I cannot use. I've always felt good about the HP brand and have had a long history with its products. Disappointing.

I replied to my DM from support with the following.

This seems to be a very widespread issue impacting enterprise, commercial, and personal users. This issue must be impacting hundreds if not thousands of customers' machines. At this point I would ask you to please escalate this issue. There are already 6 threads that I could find in the community speaking to this exact issue. I'm sure that there are considerably more posts from less tech savvy customers/users. Not to mention the customers in the wild that have no idea what is happening or think to check HP's community forum for help.

Here are the 6 so far:

https://h30434.www3.hp.com/t5/Desktop-Boot-and-Lockup/Computer-is-freezing-after-Bios-Update/m-p/860...

https://h30434.www3.hp.com/t5/Desktop-Operating-Systems-and-Recovery/bios-downgrade/m-p/8612008

https://h30434.www3.hp.com/t5/Desktop-Operating-Systems-and-Recovery/Random-freezes/m-p/8608222

https://h30434.www3.hp.com/t5/Desktop-Boot-and-Lockup/System-freezes-booting-windows/m-p/8609552/thr...

https://h30434.www3.hp.com/t5/Desktop-Boot-and-Lockup/System-freezes-booting-windows/m-p/8611591/hig...

https://h30434.www3.hp.com/t5/Business-PCs-Workstations-and-Point-of-Sale-Systems/Firmware-Rollback-...

[MatthiasMarie]

This was the solution on my machine (many thanks to "Wildsoldier" and others):

I was able to rollback the faulty F.57 BIOS to F.54A BIOS version.

1. Download the "AMI Firmware Update Utility" at "https://www.ami.com/resources/support-other/"

This is a zip file. Inside the zip file there are more zip files. The program you need is inside the zip file at  "AMIBIOS_and_Aptio_AMI_Firmware_Update_Utility\Aptio_V_AMI_Firmware_Update_Utility.zip\afu\afuwin\64.... extract the contents of "AfuWin64.zip" to an empty USB drive.

2. Then get the old .bin and .sig files by executing the former (mine is F.54A) BIOS.exe (mine is sp139464.exe) and then  choosing "Copy BIOS image to any file location. (Advanced users)" and put the two files in the same direction on the USB drive where You extract the AfuWin64 files.

3. Open a CMD shell, run it as administrator.

4. Inside the CMD shell change to the USB drive, for example G:

5. Type "afuwinx64 08433.bin /P /B /N /REBOOT" (without quotation marks) and press Return - Before You do this You should shut down all open programs and save the data, there will be no warning of data loss!!

The process of downgrading the BIOS starts. The process takes up to 5 minutes, You can watch the progress.

The mouse is freezing, I think this shall prevent the user from doing foolish things ... 😉

Then there will be a reboot....The reboot takes longer than usual and the screen may remain black for some time - do not interrupt the process!!! Give the machine the time it needs - think of the time You spent on not-solving this issue before.

Consider: You do this at Your own risk, I am not responsible for any damage. I do not work for or represent HP!!

On my machine (HP Pavilion 590-p0533ng) this solution worked perfect.

Please pardon my bad German-English. If You find any spelling mistakes You can keep them ... 😋

If this solution works for more users then I will give my bank details to HP ... 🤑

[Madpoli]

So I finally decided to try that and it successfully downgraded the BIOS to F.41, that's the only version I had available, and the PC can properly shut down/restart with no freezes now.

However, when I restarted the PC to test it the HP BIOS Update screen came up and I figured it was doing something to maybe finalize the update so I let it go and when it rebooted I looked in dxdiag and it reverted right back to F.57. I also get a notification after logging in saying it needs to restart to install system firmware (F.57). It gives me 15 seconds to cancel the update but I think it will just keep trying to install F.57 on every startup, is there any way to stop this?