I need to rollback my HP desktop BIOS to a previous version, what utility should I use?

[Fortran77]

Bobby, I stand corrected. I found the device you mentioned under System Firmware. The date 11/04/2022 was indeed the date the new BIOS was published. Why there is no signed driver file loaded is beyond me.

You're right that customer service in all industries has suffered. Kroger purchased supermarkets in my area as well. The problem we have in my area is twofold: 1. there are not enough qualified employees available; and 2. no one wants to work anymore. The supermarket deli will hire people, then spend weeks training them, and then the new employees stop showing up for work. It's a waste.

There is one other option open to people like us. Aside from being a customer I am also an HP stockholder. Maybe I should explore filing a complaint with the management team. Maybe that will get them moving.

[cbarchuk]

Fortran77,

Thanks for all of your help. This freezing issue has been a thorn in my side let me tell ya. Had a question: I turned the "Set time automatically" setting to off. But you mentioned in the Task Scheduler there is a task called Synchronize Time. I can't seem to locate this. I'm using Windows 11. Can you give me further guidance as I'm not the most computer savvy person. Thanks bud. 

[Fortran77]

Cbarchuk, you are welcome. I use Windows 10 not 11, but the Task Scheduler should be similar. First, launch the Task Scheuler application from the Start menu. Then navigate through the folders Task Scheduler Library > Microsoft > Windows > Time Synchronization, then right click on the Synchronize Time task and chose Disable. Then exit the Task Scheduler.

[cbarchuk]

Yea unfortunately changing those two settings didn't fix the problem. HP has already tried everything including reinstalling the OS twice. So at this point I'm just hoping an update fixes it. But I just don't have any idea what's causing it. I can go days without any issues and then all of sudden it happens and then happens again. On top of this my computer is barely a year old. Ugh.

[Fortran77]

Cbarchuk, If your problem is the same as mine then reinstalling the Windows OS will not solve your problem. The problem that I and others have is that the BIOS upgrade (version F.34) has a bug in it where the PC freezes when a program in the Windows OS attempts to update the CMOS real time clock on the motherboard. This usually happens when your PC attempts to synchronize the time. You can prove that you have this problem by navigating to the Date and Time control panel and clicking on the Sync Now button. If the PC immediately freezes then you have the same bug in your BIOS. In my experience and others turning off the automatic time synchronization and disabling the Synchronize Time scheduled task is a workaround. Ultimately, waiting for HP and AMI to release a new version of the BIOS F.35 with a fix to this bug is the next step, unless you know how to rollback your BIOS to the previous version F.33.

[cbarchuk]

Yea hitting the Sync Button doesn't replicate the freeze for me unfortunately. I wish it did. But my issues did started when I updated to bios HP Consumer Desktop PC BIOS Update (ROM Family SSID 885E) F.17 Rev A, 12/19/2022

back in January. I had zero issues prior to this. But despite my bios being rolled back the issue remained. So I'm not sure at this point. Just hoping HP does something to fix this. My current BIOS is AMI F.17 from 10/19/2022. 

[Fortran77]

Cbarchuk, Okay so your problem is not the same as mine. Other people have reported various problems (such as freezing at shutdown, or my problem freezing when idle due to time sync, etc.) with several different models of PC and their corresponding BIOS version numbers (F.55, F.34, and F.17 in your case). The question arises: why are all these recent rollouts of various BIOS versions causing bizarre behavior in so many different models of HP products with their own versioning numbers of BIOS? And why did HP and AMI (American Megatrends) decide to rollout these new BIOS versions, and at the same time remove the simple BIOS rollback feature on the UEFI utility? The answer I think is that AMI and HP discovered there was a security flaw in the BIOS/UEFI software. This security flaw would allow hackers to install their own version of the BIOS that could not be detected by antivirus software at the Windows OS level. They needed to patch it in a hurry. The problem is haste makes waste. The new versions of the BIOS were rolled out so fast that HP did not have enough time to do a full Quality and Assurance (Q&A) testing and hence these various bugs were introduced into the new BIOS versions. See the following links:

https://support.hp.com/us-en/document/ish_6184733-6184761-16/hpsbhf03788

https://support.hp.com/us-en/document/ish_5894090-5894156-16/hpsbhf03779

https://h30434.www3.hp.com/t5/Desktop-Operating-Systems-and-Recovery/Tom-s-Guide-identified-security...

https://www.tomsguide.com/news/hp-bios-uefi-updates-0322

I hope this helps and that HP and AMI deliver fixes to all these problems.

Best regards.

[Fortran77]

As a follow up, here are more links to the concerns regarding HP BIOS security flaws:

https://binarly.io/posts/Repeatable_Firmware_Security_Failures_16_High_Impact_Vulnerabilities_Discov...

https://www.binarly.io/posts/An_In_Depth_Look_at_the_23_High_Impact_Vulnerabilities/index.html

https://www.binarly.io/posts/The_Firmware_Supply_Chain_Security_is_broken_Can_we_fix_it/index.html

It's a good thing that HP and AMI have brought out new BIOS versions that fix the security flaws. Unfortunately, in the rush to get these fixes out they have introduced bugs into the BIOS that reduce the device reliability. The Firmware Supply Chain is indeed broken, not just regarding security but also regarding reliability. When will HP push out new versions of their various BIOS/UEIF software to fix the reliability problems they have created?

[cbarchuk]

Very interesting. Yea my computer is barely a year old and I still owe a little bit of money on it...lol. But it's good that I'm not the only one experiencing these issues and hopefully HP will correct it. I had HP remotely taking over my computer many times to try and find the issue. I've lost count on how many technicians I talked to and how many different troubleshooting ideas they tried. Exhausting and frustrating. I had a couple random freezes yesterday. No explanation. I simply have to do a hard reset and continue. Very odd. But I do appreciate everything you're doing and please keep me informed if you find out anything else. Thanks!

[Bill_To]

Hi

AMI has a tool to flash the BIOS to an older version outside of the operating system. You should either remove the .bin and .sig files in the EFI System partition or do a clean Windows installation to stop the BIOS update loop.

Don't do any HPSA BIOS updates or HP firmware updates offered by Windows Update.

Check this Link for a possible solution. A different series of HP PCs with a similar problem. Also check Here for a quick synopsis of the detailed procedure provided by @pcgraphix .

I have tested the procedure using a non HP PC. It works.

Hope this can help everyone.