Need BIOS update tool for HP 2000-2121TU

[Ash777_]

Hello there,

I have an old HP  notebook 2000 - 2121TU (SN: 5CB2350402) and it was working till yesterday, I guess the battery died and when I came back this morning, upon booting the screen is still off, while the power on and wifi led light up and the fans spin, the cpu led also lights up for a second but nothing after that. Using some bios recovery key combination, the caps lock led lights up twice before a pause, which likely means it's a bios corruption.

I am trying to create a usb stick with the bios and

I looked on the internet and found sp66781.exe for it, however while running it (on another computer) I get a few errors ("ihisi get support mode fail in smi") and something like ("bios does not support insydebios"). 

The problem is it does not prompt me to create a bootable flash drive with the bios, while the tutorials I'm looking up on the internet (for other models) come with a hp bios utility that helps them create that.

I would be grateful if someone could provide me the same, or atleast give help me manually create one?

Thank you.

[zoey7886]

@Ash777_, Welcome to the HP Support Community!  

Thanks for reaching out about your query regarding BIOS Update Tool for HP 2000-2121TU! 

We're thrilled to have the opportunity to assist you and provide a solution.  

For updating the BIOS on your HP 2000-2121TU notebook, you can use the HP BIOS Configuration Utility (BCU). This free tool captures the BIOS settings and their values, and allows you to update your BIOS. In this situation, it will help to recover your system if the BIOS is corrupted. Here’s how you can download and use it:

Download the HP BIOS Configuration Utility (BCU):

• Visit the HP BIOS Configuration Utility User Guide for detailed instructions.

Performing a BIOS Update:

• Ensure your notebook is connected to a power source to avoid interruptions during the update process.
• Follow the instructions in the user guide to update your BIOS settings using the BCU tool.

Additional Troubleshooting Steps:

Since the caps lock LED blinks twice before a pause, it indicates BIOS corruption. Here are some steps to perform a BIOS recovery:

Hard Reset:

• Disconnect all peripheral devices.
• Turn off the computer and unplug the AC adapter.
• Press and hold the power button for at least 15 seconds to drain residual power.
• Plug in the AC adapter and try turning on the computer again.

BIOS Crisis Recovery:

• Follow the instructions provided in the HP Support document on BIOS Crisis Recovery for further recovery steps.

Performing a BIOS Reset:

Resetting the BIOS to its default settings might help resolve the issue:

1. Reboot the computer.
2. Press F10 to enter BIOS.
3. Navigate to Main > Restore defaults.  

Hope this helps! 

Take care, and have an amazing day!  

Did we resolve the issue? If yes, Please consider marking this post as "Accepted Solution" and click "Yes" to give us a helpful vote - your feedback keeps us going!  

Regards, 

[Ash777_]

Thank you for the reply,

But I think the BCU utility you mentioned is windows only. My laptop is not booting at all. And I'm getting no screen output.

I have already tried the residual power removal method.

I have another laptop but it of a different brand.

Thank you.

[zoey7886]

@Ash777_, Thanks for the update, and I'm sorry you're still stuck with this—BIOS issues can be tricky, especially when the screen stays blank. You're absolutely right: the HP BIOS Configuration Utility (BCU) is meant for use within Windows, so it won’t help in your current “no display” scenario.

Let’s try to focus on BIOS Crisis Recovery using a USB stick, which can sometimes bring the system back even when there’s no screen.

Here’s what I suggest:

Use another PC (even if it’s not HP) to manually create a recovery USB.

Try Win+B or Windows key + V, then power on while holding the keys, and see if the recovery kicks in (fans rev up, maybe a beep, or USB light flickers).

About the file sp66781.exe—yes, that one can be tricky. It’s a BIOS SoftPaq, but it should extract the needed .bin or .fd file if run with /s switch or extracted using tools like 7-Zip.

Did we resolve the issue? If yes, Please consider marking this post as "Accepted Solution" and click "Yes" to give us a helpful vote - your feedback keeps us going!  

Regards, 

[Ash777_]

Thank you for the reply,

Yes I extracted the executive file and I have got a bunch of files, it includes two .fd files and rest are a mixture of dll,sys,etc files with insydeflash.exe,etc.

Would it work if I directly plug it in like that? I'm pretty sure I need to make a specific directory structure with specific file names (for the fd files) to make it work?

[Ash777_]

Hello,

there is something new. What I did I kept the laptop unplugged for a day and also removed it's battery. Today I also removed the secondary ssd (it was in the optical cd bay using a caddy), and inserted the battery and plugged it in and powered it on, even though I was doing that bios recovery key combination, it booted and showed me a CMOS checksum error (I had also got it sometimes in the past) and I was able to select windows from dual boot screen (just that I booted into win7 which was already not working previously), when I tried to restart and boot again, again the same issue. (With the twice blinking caps lock)

Could this all be just because of a bad CMOS battery? I guess the CMOS battery was never changed and since this is an old laptop.

[zoey7886 · Accepted solution]

@Ash777_, Thanks for the detailed update—and wow, that's actually a very useful discovery!

Yes, based on what you're seeing (intermittent boot, CMOS checksum error, recovery only after a full power drain), it's highly likely the CMOS battery is the culprit here. A weak or dead CMOS battery can definitely cause BIOS issues, boot loops, and even lead to false signs of BIOS corruption. Given your laptop’s age, it's absolutely due for a CMOS battery replacement.

I’d recommend replacing the CMOS battery first (usually a CR2032 coin cell) before attempting any BIOS recovery. Once replaced, do a full reset (hold power button for 15 seconds with everything unplugged), and then try to boot again.

If the issue still comes back, then we can revisit the BIOS recovery using the .fd files you extracted—yes, they do usually need to be renamed and placed in a specific structure for recovery mode to detect them, but let’s see how it behaves with a fresh CMOS battery first.

Hope this gets you one step closer!
Let us know how it goes.

Regards,

[Ash777_]

Fixed!

The fault was the CMOS battery only! 

Thank you, i didn't expect that a weak CMOS battery would cause these many issues.

Perhaps the issue was exacerbated because I usually kept that laptop on 24x7, I recently travelled and unplugged it, and forgot to shutdown it for the night, because it was running alpine linux at that time, probably it didn't hibernate it, so the battery must have discharged 100% which must have drained it completely and started the issues.

I'm glad for your support, though is there any way now if I could backup the bios for future safekeeping? ^-^

[zoey7886]

@Ash777_, Thanks for letting us help you out! If you're all set, please mark this post as 'Accepted Solution' so I can do a virtual happy dance! 

If you need anything else, I'm all ears (or rather, all text). Just let me know! 

You're awesome, and I'm honored to have been your go-to guide today! 

Stay fantastic, and have an amazing day ahead! 

Regards,