BIOS recovery (update) not working

[jqtrd_arch]

Tried to update the BIOS from F.17 to F.19, by going to the support website, inputting my device serial number, and downloading the correct .exe

Had to run it on a different PC that has windows 11 installed. chose to 'create a recovery USB' in the setup utility, selected my 2GB drive and pressed format (to make sure it was the right format), then it copied the files

plugged the USB into my laptop, held Win+b, then pressed the power button for ~2 secs

after a while i got an error saying the update files 'could not be found or are corrupted'.

the USB drive LED did flash before this error came up

not sure if this is significant, but secure boot is disabled, as i am running Linux

another point that interests me is the setup utility than runs right after it is extracted has an AMI logo in the bottom left next to the language selection, but after the USB is flashed, the utility starts again, this time with no AMI logo (here i just pressed cancel)

but overall i am confused as to why this did not work, as I did everything as I should have

[BeemerBiker]

Something does not seem right.  The USB creation option that I have used before will format the USB including creating the boot block.  Win-B is not used, instead the USB is booted.

What is the product ID of your PC?

[jqtrd_arch]

Sorry thought it would show as it asked me for my device when making the post. its a BN4M5EA (ep0529sa)

I held win+b as thats what the setup utility instructed me to do when it had finished creating the recovery USB

[BeemerBiker · Accepted solution]

You are correct about the win-b.  Your laptop is different from the ones I have been working with -or- HP has changed the bios install procedures and do not want the USB to be booted anymore.  

There are 4 bios listed for your laptop.  Normally each would be for a different ROM version of the motherboard.  I do not see any ROM IDs listed so I assume only the newest BIOS is to be used.  

Looking at the revision history of F19,  I do not see F08,  F14, or F17 listed which is suspicious.

What is the current BIOS of your system?  Also, what is the baseboard version?  You can find the baseboard version by running msinfo32.exe

[edit] - My PC spontaneously rebooted seconds after I made this incomplete post.  Here is the rest:

Go into the USB and find the pair of files that match your baseboard version and copy them to the root (top) of the flash drive.  See if Win-B can find them.  If your baseboard version is not listed then the bios is not yet out.

The files below are upgrades for the different models  (baseboard versions)

[jqtrd_arch]

I checked the baseboard, and it turned out it wasn't in what was flashed for F.19 (8BDE), and decided to look back on the support page. looking at more details for F.19, i noted the 'revision history' section you mentioned, which contained F.18, so I assumed i needed to update to F.18 first. I flashed the USB, and there was indeed a bin and sig file for the 8BDE board.

the flash worked fine, however now it boots up and cannot find a boot device. i pressed f10 to go and see if secure boot needed turning off again, which it did. but even after disabling secure boot, it still does not boot the drive, and gives me error 3F0 every time

[jqtrd_arch]

might just have to try chrooting in from a live install environment and reinstall the bootloader (currently doing this)

[jqtrd_arch]

ok yes, reinstalling the boot loader from the live environment worked. thanks very much for the help! (but anyway maybe I still can't install F.19 because the board is 8BDE...)

[BeemerBiker]

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@jqtrd_arch wrote:

ok yes, reinstalling the boot loader from the live environment worked. thanks very much for the help! (but anyway maybe I still can't install F.19 because the board is 8DBE...)

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I am glad you got it working and did not force in the wrong bios.

On another subject, I gave up on dual booting linux years ago when I found I could buy old mining boards on eBay fully loaded only missing a power supply.  I use a wood board for a case and use splashtop remote to access from anywhere in the world.

FWIW, you have cloud factory restore

HP is removing cloud recovery for system over 5 years old.
The actual wording is a limited time after the warranty expires
You may want to get a copy of the cloud recovery before it is too late.
Cloud recovery provides all the custom HP drivers.
Go here and enter your product ID including the 3 characters after the # character
If you have cloud recovery you can restore your system using a 64gb flash.
It may take an hour or more to create the recovery USB.
Alternately, download from the MS windows store
Click here for instructions.
.