BIOS update tool failed and left the machine with a corrupted BIOS image

[ctag]

I wish it were hyperbole. After a decade of using a dumpster dived desktop my old man decided to upgrade to a new machine, and had the misfortune of buying this HP Envy laptop.

On a routine tech support call my father was told that he wouldn't get help with the initial trackpad issue until the tech had guided him through upgrading the BIOS on a months-old machine. The BIOS upgrade failed somehow, and left the premium laptop a complete brick. The power button lights up, the system fan spins up to max, and nothing else happens. No display, no backlight, no caps lock blinking. Nothing. Holding the power button for several seconds hard shutdowns the machine. The tech gave it a good attempt, but after all of the hotkeys and recovery USBs and boot cycling didn't help, he gave up.

Then HP reneged on their warranty and sent the laptop back without fixing it; citing the failure as user-inflicted and thus circumventing federal law of the Magnuson-Moss Warranty Act.

I am honestly and justifiably worried about my father's health, which has taken a hit from the stress of having so much money and now time and effort lost to this feckless Hewlett Packard. I found him earlier today power-washing the potted plants on the front porch. My mother and I are seeking counseling services that specialize in difficult interventions.

One of my only hopes at this moment is to restore the brick to working order. It is fairly clear to me that the BIOS update tool failed and left the machine with a corrupted BIOS image. Using a motherboard-adjacent schematic I see that at least some variant of this system uses MX25L8005M2C-15G as the bios ic. I see a MX25L6473F-08G near the processor on this laptop's motherboard.

Schematic BIOS part

Actual part

With the likely BIOS chip identified, I'm now left without an image to flash to it. Unpacking the BIOS upgrade utility yields DevFwUpdate.efi and .s12 files. It is unclear if the .s12 file is used to sign the firmware, or to validate that the firmware is already signed.

I will continue the investigation and report back as my vitriol allows. Viva la libre.

[Valsimot]

BIOS recovery would be the easiest first step

https://support.hp.com/in-en/document/ish_3932413-2337994-16#:~:text=Turn%20off%20the%20computer.,re... 

3 Recover the BIOS

If your computer BIOS still does not reset, you can try to recover the BIOS using a key press combination or a USB recovery drive.

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[ctag]

Thank you for the suggestions.

We have tried both the hotkeys and creating a USB recovery drive. Neither has had any effect.

[praveenbv]

HI@ctag, Welcome to the HP Support Community!

Request you to follow the below troubleshooting steps from the document:-

I understand that you're unable to update the BIOS: HP ENVY 17 - Ae110nr and it needs to download one by one and needs to restart the computer to make sure the Adapter or Charger needs to be connected,

Please click on the hyperlink below to install 

HP Consumer Notebook PCs - Updating the BIOS

Hope this helps! Keep me posted. 

Please click “Accept as Solution” if you feel my post solved your issue, it will help others find the solution.

[ctag · Accepted solution]

Hi Praveenbv,

Thank you for the resource and suggestions. Unfortunately since the laptop does not boot, I cannot use the solutions on that page which require Windows, and the recovery USB did not work.

I wound up removing the BIOS flash storage and manually flashing the 083AD firmware to it over SPI. The laptop now boots and works, and I've returned it to my father.

Notes from the process are available here: https://github.com/ctag/hp_envy_reviver