Downgrade HP 655 BIOS from F.29 TO F.27

[Dagk]

I would love a fix for this. My sound is not there when I turn on my HP 655 notebook and then have to do a re-boot to get it to work until the next time. Very irritating.

I thought the BIOS downgrade to ver F.27 from ver F.29 would fix this and it probably would as I saw that someone else had managed to do this but I am at a loss as to how to downgrade the BIOS to F.27

[Dagk]

This is exactly what I am experiencing.

[discgolfdc]

erico

I know this probably isn't what you want to hear, but I installed the v5.1.0.0 softpaq UEFI environment from the page you linked to, and when I restarted the computer and pressed Esc, then F2, the v1.6.0.0 "UEFI" that Dagk and I have been mentioning is what shows up.

Thinking that it might also be worth attempting to make sure I was using the most recent version of that UEFI environment, I looked at that file's revision history, and I noticed that there was a newer version (5.2.1.0, sp62061) available.  I downloaded that as well, installed it, then proceeded to shut down the laptop again, reboot, and Esc/F2 to get into the utility.  Lo and behold, the 1.6.0.0 version is still showing up.  It's like neither of these two installations had any effect whatsoever.  There were no errors thrown upon either installation.

I'm going to say this again: Would it not simply make sense for HP to provide a BIOS fix for this problem rather than to have to find a way to roll back BIOS to F.27 (which evidently is more difficult than originally conceived)???  I suppose, as I said, that if it could be designed such that the F.27 BIOS was incorporated into an InsydeFlash package which presented itself as F.29a or F.30 or whatever it would need in order for the system to accept the BIOS overwrite and not get hung up on the fact that it was trying to downgrade, that might just take care of things.  That's not my specialty, though, so I don't know what ultimately has to get done at the end of the day.

I'd hope that HP would seriously consider making this right.  It's getting frustrating.  This laptop is the only one with which I need to go through a "special" startup process in order to make the laptop work as it's supposed to upon a cold boot.

Thank you for the continued efforts.

[erico]

Since you have the v. 1.6.0 version, just what options are available? Is there a firmware management section at the first window?

The way it is supposed to work is that if you have upgraded BIOS, there will be a copy of the old BIOS available in the UEFI environment. That will be the case only if the UEFI environment was present when the BIOSA upgrade  was done.

 My HP source said that if the notebooks were purchased through a vendor for a business, there is likely to be a different image there. That is probably why the UEFI environment was not there in the first place.  I will have to read your previous posts again after I post this to make sure I understand it correctly. 

I will make HP aware that the newer BIOS has issues. I will have to see if we can find the F.27 version for you.  You can actuallymanually  put the F.27 ROM file in the OLD BIOS folder in the UEFI environment and then be able to roll back to it.

At the moment , the Support portal for the HP 655 seems to be unavailable. I will have to ask about that as well. 

[discgolfdc]

I do have the F.27 BIOS.  It's actually available on the website.  Problem is that when I go to run the InsydeFlash package, it appears to prepare to do the BIOS overwrite, but rather than go into any meaningful routine where it does overwrite any BIOS, it merely hangs with a black screen.  I'm assuming that this is because it is disallowing a direct rollback from F.29.  I ultimately have to press the power button to shut down, then I reboot and I'm still in F.29.

I will see what options are available on the 1.6.0.0 screen and see if putting the F.27 ROM in the old BIOS folder in the recovery partition has any effect.

[discgolfdc]

This is the screen that I get upon F2 reboot. 

[erico]

The version of PC Hardware Diagnostics that is installed on your PC does not have the features of the newest version.

Install the following version of the UEFI HP PC Diagnostics

ftp://ftp.hp.com/pub/softpaq/sp70501-71000/sp70967.exe

The following image shows what I get on using F2 to invoke the PC Hardware Diagnostics for my HP Omen 15 product loan. It is what you also need to see to give your notebook more flexibility. HP has been notified about the issue with the BIOS you reported.

 

[discgolfdc]

I have installed that softpaq as well. No change. 1.6.0.0 is still my environment.

[erico]

@discgolfdc

Contact HP

[Dagk]

The warranty on my HP 655 expired last year. What support will I be able to get from HP with this problem? Will they not just tell me , sorry but your notebook is out of warranty would you like to purchase additional warranty? I agree with another poster in that HP need to release another BIOS to fix this problem a.s.a.p.