15-BS115DX Notebook Bricked after BIOS Update

[Aerial1]

Prelude:  This 15-BS115DX Notebook was purchased in May of 2022.  It has been started less that a handful of times and is like new.  It has all latest Microsoft updates as of 1/25/2025.  I planned on upgrading to an SSD drive (arrived this morning 1/26 and swapping out the original 8GB memory stick to a new pair of two 8 GB sticks to max out the memory.  Then upgrade to Windows 11.

Issue:  Prior to installing Win 11 I thought I would update the BIOS to the latest F.75 Rev.A released on May 17, 2024.  I have 30 years in the IT arena and flashing a BIOS isn't my first rodeo.  Upon flashing the BIOS I was expecting the machine to restart?  Instead it just powered off.  I let it sit for an hour and tried turning in on.  Nothing, no power no nothing.  So what does one do?  Scour HP's support site for a possible resolution:

Attempted resolution:

-  Hard Reset did not work (Removed AC power, remove battery, hold power button down for a long minute)  Nothing

-  Disassemble Notebook, remove CMOS battery for 1/2 hour, replace with brand new CR2032.  Nothing

-  Create a recovery flash drive using an older BIOS downloaded from HP and attempt to use the Windows Key + B, nothing.    Attempt to use Windows Key + V both methods holding keys down, pressing power button for max 3 seconds and releasing power button while continuing to hold keys down.  Nothing.

-  There is nothing wrong with the hardware as again, this is like a new laptop and was running all day performing updates along with other tasks.

-  The machine simply will NOT boot.

I feel HP needs to fix this as everything was running fine until I installed your BIOS released to the public that bricked my Notebook.

Please provide a resolution.

Thank you!

[BeemerBiker]

That win-b looks for a recovery bios in the HP Folder of an HP recovery partition. If you cloned the old drive to the new SSD then the recovery partition should have been cloned.'

You might put the old drive back in and try the WIN-B again

HP support video for bios recovery

Click here to see how to recover your BIOS.
Do 1, 2, and the first part of 3.
For the second part of 3 you will need a USB flash drive and possibly an
older BIOS if the recent BIOS caused the problem. Make sure the USB flash had LED lights.

I went here to find an old BIOS.  The last BIOS that actually fixed anything was F.65.  All the newer BIOS only slowed down your PC.  You can try F.65 or maybe F.74 if you think that was the last one that worked.

To install from USB.
When you power up your system the LEDs on the flash drive should flash once at the instant power is applied. They will then flash about three to five seconds later (hopefully). When they flash a second time that means the files are being read from the flash drive. If you never see it flash a second time then the boot loader is damaged and you cannot recover the bios unless you use a programming tool or replace the chip. You hold down the Windows key + B key when powering up with the USB flash inserted.

let me know if the above fail.

[Aerial1]

Thank you for that information!

I have yet to clone to the new drive so the original is still installed.  That drive was delivered today and this issue happened last night.

I created a recovery USB drive with F.70 released 9/13/2022 that has flashing lights and is formatted with Fat32.

Using the key combination Windows+b, No flashing lights appeared on the thumb drive.  That said:  It looks like your F.75 BIOS fried my chip.

[BeemerBiker]

This is my canned response to anyone asking if the BIOS should be updated

It is always dangerous to upgrade bios. Unless there is a real need and the HP support assistant requests the upgrade, I would not do it. Look at the BIOS revision history and see if an upgrade is useful. Updates that improve security are needed in a corporate environment but for gaming system they will likely slow down your system.
I personally would not upgrade any gaming BIOS that was only security related unless the PC was used in a corporate, industrial or military organization.
Check your warranty and decided if you want to risk a BIOS upgrade like these users did

Since that bios recovery did not work, you can complain here

Here are the only other options.

You can replace the bios, replace the motherboard or possibly program the chip using a 341 programming tool.
(this tutorial might be useful). The tools to flash are discussed below and an HP bios flash is discussed here

good luck!
My bios programming experience dates to when all motherboard had socketed ROM bios.

===other resources for what they are worth===
https://jensd.be/980/linux/bios-or-spi-programming-on-windows-or-linux-using-a-ch341a
walkthrough https://www.tachytelic.net/2021/06/repair-dell-alienware-area-51-r2-corrupt-bios/
more walkthrough https://www.reddit.com/r/Alienware/comments/q14e3b/guide_tools_to_unlock_your_cpu_oc/
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4qX2zihB6UE
https://www.tachytelic.net/2022/01/hp-compaq-8300-nvme/
https://elmorlabs.com/forum/topic/spi-header-pinouts
https://github.com/mostav02/me_cleaner_wiki/blob/master/me_cleaner-on-a-MSI-H110M-ECO.md
hp programming header
https://www.google.com/search?sxsrf=ALiCzsY-WIpW1dow-go2KIsSJ-gNx9LmSA:1664391196102&source=univ&tbm...
https://www.google.com/search?sxsrf=ALiCzsYOicjk2JhBCTfYrSlJsu3t4zQZ4g:1662648132571&source=univ&tbm...

[Aerial1]

Yes, I partially agree with you.  However, in my case, this laptop was gifted to me over the weekend by a family member and knowing that it was barely used, only started less that a handful of times since 2022.  And is why I spent all day updating this Notebook yesterday.  Yes, I should have checked the bios version before updating it.  Knowing it was barely ever even online I thought I would throw the latest bios on it before upgrading to Win 11.  Why?  We all know that Intel had a serious CPU security flaw back in 2023 and most updated bios firmware resolved this issue.  And knowing this machine has barely ever been online in the last few years, I thought it would be the best thing to do security wise.

In the last 20 years, this is the first bios that has failed me and was no wrong-doing on my end.  As you can see from your forum's this isn't the first HP box to fail after your BIOS releases.  I also feel, since there are many folks out there on the net that has had this same issue with model 15-BS115DX.  HP should be pulling certain BIOS's from production.

Can you please provide me with an upper management contact and phone number?  I can't let this rest here as I now have basically a new notebook that's dead due to your update.  Not to mention the SSD I just bought for it that arrived today and memory is arriving tomorrow.

Thank you!

[Aerial1]

Hello BeemerBiker, I forgot to thank you for this information as I was too focused on fixing this bios with the key combinations which obviously isn't going to work.  One can only do the same thing so many times before calling it insanity :).

I ordered a CH341A programmer as it appears it would be easier than replacing the board IMHO.

I'll let you know how it goes once I receive it.

[BeemerBiker]

I think this is your motherboard.  I looked at it and cannot tell which chip is the bios chip. You would have to lookup the part number on a chip to identify it as a ROM bios type.

[Aerial1]

Thank you very much!  Yes, that was my plan as to identify the chip number and look it up.  From a manual dig, I found this to be the board of this notebook:  Part Number: 934908-601