Computer does not boot during installing BIOS update

[scott-1958]

Tried to update the BIOS on my HP 8560p elitebook laptop. Used the latest 64 bit windows version. Windows 8.1 (64 bit). During the install process when it would restart computer turned off for a few seconds then restarted.  When it restarted went into BIOS screen and said BIOS update failed to complete. Pressed enter and booted in windows 10 but did not get a screen to complete the update . Tried to install this BIOS update 4 times and when rebooted said same message BIOS update failed to complete. Thought something wrong with 64 bit BIOS update so tried the 32 bit version assuming it didn't matter it was depending on if running windows 32 or 64 bit. After running the 32 bit version and computer rebooted all i got was the 3rd blue light from left on front of computer lit. Waited 20 minutes and tried pressing the power button to turn off but didn't work. Removed the power cable and battery then pressed power button for 30 seconds. Plugged in power and only get the blue light. Tried removing the RAM and BIOS battery and pressed power button for 30 seconds. Plugged in power but only got blue light. Did using the 32 bit BIOS update fry the BIOS chip? Can the BIOS chip be replaced or need to replace motherboard. Thank you.

[WAWood]

@scott-1958 

You should have checked here first -- as the HP BIOS updates are OS-version specific and a BIOS update written for Windows 8.1 is almost certainly NOT going to work on Windows 10.

I would also have presumed that you could not load the wrong bit version -- but I have not tried that.

Also, the BIOS chips are not socketed, so you have to replace the entire motherboard -- which is not only going to be very difficult, but also very costly because you would have to go out and buy your own license for Windows since the HP license is tied to the motherboard.

[scott-1958]

 Removed the hard drive. Then removed the RAM and BIOS battery. Held power button for 30 seconds. Reinstalled RAM and BIOS battery. Did not reinstall hard drive. Computer started and believe it said BIOS checksum error press enter to reset. I did that and now computer starts up normal now with no error message . Windows 10 Pro starts up on USB thumb drive and 64 bit programs run. Guess it doesn't matter if you use BIOS update 32 bit on 64 bit computer. Don't think BIOS is 32 or 64 bit?
 Checked the hard drive removed from computer with Windows 10 Pro. Their is a folder BIOS backup. When i ran BIOS update it said making a backup of current BIOS. Believe when computer booted after BIOS update using Windows 8.1 (32 bit) the BIOS backup was corrupted from previous try and tried restoring it which caused only the battery light on front panel to be lit and would not start.
 When i did the BIOS update did not have main battery connected because previous failed attempts caused the computer not to boot with the cap and num lock blinking 2 times. Had to remove power and battery each time to reset.
 Today i reinstalled the battery and won't start just the battery light on front panel lit. Removed the battery and now starts normal. The battery was at 90% when removed on Saturday. 
 Does the main battery have to be installed before doing a BIOS update on a laptop? Can i go into BIOS settings and change something for the battery? I don't want to update BIOS again since computer is working normal except with battery connected?    

[scott-1958]

 Removed the hard drive. Then removed the RAM and BIOS battery. Held power button for 30 seconds. Reinstalled RAM and BIOS battery. Did not reinstall hard drive. Computer started and believe it said BIOS checksum error press enter to reset. I did that and now computer starts up normal now with no error message . Windows 10 Pro starts up on USB thumb drive and 64 bit programs run. Guess it doesn't matter if you use BIOS update 32 bit on 64 bit computer. Don't think BIOS is 32 or 64 bit?
 Checked the hard drive removed from computer with Windows 10 Pro. Their is a folder BIOS backup. When i ran BIOS update it said making a backup of current BIOS. Believe when computer booted after BIOS update using Windows 8.1 (32 bit) the BIOS backup was corrupted from previous try and tried restoring it which caused only the battery light on front panel to be lit and would not start.
 When i did the BIOS update did not have main battery connected because previous failed attempts caused the computer not to boot with the cap and num lock blinking 2 times. Had to remove power and battery each time to reset.
 Today i reinstalled the battery and won't start just the battery light on front panel lit. Removed the battery and now starts normal. The battery was at 90% when removed on Saturday. 
 Does the main battery have to be installed before doing a BIOS update on a laptop? Can i go into BIOS settings and change something for the battery? I don't want to update BIOS again since computer is working normal except with battery connected?    

[scott-1958 · Accepted solution]

I didn’t post the first time what the original problem was and why I was updating the BIOS. After power button pressed it would either do #1 or 2 below. After about 5 minutes of removing battery then trying, it would finally boot.

1) Blank screen and Caps lock & num lock lights blinks 2 times then off for 2 seconds then blinks 2 times again. Does this pattern 5 times then shuts down then restarts. When it restarts the caps lock blinks continuously for about 22 seconds then fan runs fast. Can’t turn computer off with power button. Have to unplug power cord and remove battery to turn off computer.

2) Blank screen caps lock blinks continuously for about 22 seconds then fan runs fast. Can’t turn computer off with power button. Have to unplug power cord and remove battery to turn off the computer.

HP website said the cap lock and num lock blinking 2 times during boot means BIOS-BIOS corruption failure. Tried resetting the BIOS to factory settings and removed the BIOS battery. The BIOS battery tested good with battery tester under load. Chatted with someone live on HP website and they said to update BIOS with the latest version Windows 8.1 (64) bit.

When I ran BIOS update and computer restarted all i got was the blue battery light on front panel. Waited for 1 hour. Could not shut down computer. Removed DC power and battery and reinstalled but only got the blue battery light every time. Didn’t know the BIOS update had to restart computer to complete the update. I would not have done it because most of the time when starting computer i got the cap lock and num lock blinking 2 times and had to remove power to shut down computer. Told the HP support person that and should not have told me to update the BIOS. He should have known the BIOS update needs to restart computer to complete.

Contacted HP support about only getting the blue battery light now with blank screen and no boot and they said since the BIOS update was not able to complete reset the BIOS. They said to remove the CMOS battery and RAM and hold power button for 30 seconds. When trying to start computer again still only got blue battery light. Fixed that problem by keeping battery out and removed the hard drive. Computer started after that and did not get the cap lock and num lock blinking 2 times anymore. That is probably all I needed to do to fix the light blinking 2 times. Could not find that suggestion and didn’t know what else to do so contacted HP support.

The HP support should have told me to reset the BIOS first before updating the BIOS. I have heard horror stories of people updating the BIOS and something goes wrong and computer is dead after that. 

Computer was working normal now so put battery back in and only got the blue battery light again. Removed battery and had to reset the BIOS again for computer to start again. Also did the same thing with the hard drive reinstalled and no battery. Hard drive checked good with no SMART errors. Reformatted hard drive and reinstalled with no battery and still only got the blue battery light.

I was able to get it working with the battery connected. Went into BIOS and selected reset BIOS to factory settings. Restarted computer with Linux Kubuntu connected to USB port. When Kubuntu finished starting up connected battery. It still continued to run and blue battery light on front panel did not turn on. Checked battery status and said battery charge 100%. Shut down computer and booted Kubuntu on esata drive and started up normal with no errors message for BIOS and blue battery light does not come on. Did not try putting hard drive back in and risk the blue battery light to come on and have to reset BIOS for computer to start again. I can run Windows 10 on USB flash drive. The computer is back to running normal again without the Hard drive installed. Glad I didn’t have to buy new computer. I like this one because it is fast and can run Linux on SSD drive with eSATA port so i can run trim command.

I will go onto this forum next time I have a problem. Can’t trust the HP support.