HP-15-BS576TX BIOS update issues problems failures

[Bhishmar]

Hi All
I am starting a post here to collect user experiences regarding their BIOS Update attempts (success as well as failures), in the specific model HP-15-BS576TX.  Persons, with similar models coming under the generic product "15-bs0xx", can also contribute.

This model was launched in 2017 (hardly 5, 6 months back) in India, & is one ofthe best feature rich & performance model, along with value for money, under hp's budget & performance catalog. But this model is marred with many driver availability issues initially (especially in WLAN, & Video, as well as BIOS update issues (still continuing).

Many persons  who have attempted BIOS update in this model, ended up with catastrophic failure & a  BRICKED (unusable) system, forcing them to sent their system to service center & look for a replacement with attended long delays. And to many of them, this BIOS update was forced on them by HP's own "Support Assistant" program, which has tagged this BIOS-update as either highly recommended or critical.

I am listing below some of this forum members who have faced this problem, & left with a BRICKED system.

1. COE2k14: 29-10-17 : HP-15-BS576TX-BIOS-update-failed-and-now-only-a-black-screen
2. Jasmine_Sultana: 26-10-17 :  BIOS-Update-Issues

3. avinashmish1808: 28-08-17 : Notebook-not-restart-after-BIOS-updation
4. DRohilla : 28-08-17
5. pradeepmvr: 28-08-17
6. cknife4 : 02-09-17 

7. glokamahesh: 17-09-17 : My-hp-laptop-is-now-working-after-bios-upgrade

8. djjon: 15-09-17 : Laptop-won-t-turn-on-after-BIOS-update

Other than the 8 members I quoted above, COE2K14 has told me two other persons also reported same problem, with this model: "Rishabh Sonkhiya" & "Pradeep Hole".  Clearly there is a serious problem with this particular model, which HP has to take serious note of.

My idea is to sensitize and escalate this issue, so that hp will come up with a solution to fix the bugs in their BIOS update process in this model, and to avoid a bricked system, or some other appropriate solution, so that all of us benefits.

One solution is to ignore the HP-support assistant advice & never update BIOS. But that is not a good and long lasting solution, since I have seen reports that updated BIOS is needed to correctly detect, install, & report many drivers including AMD Radeon 520 switchable Video driver.

I am requesting those persons who have done a BIOS update (especially successfull ones) please post their outputs in the following format below. (I have filled my own System/MotherBoard/OS details, Others should put their own).

1. Model                                             : HP-15-BS-576TX
2. MotherBoard ID                         : HP 832B
3. MotherBoard Hw rev                : 23.27
4. Mother Board CT-Number     : PGNEPM31W88BB3
5. Original BIOS ver                       : Insyde F.10
6. Attempted BIOS Update-ver : F22 or F24 or whatever.
7. BIOS Update successfull         : Yes/ No
8. OS                                                    : Ubuntu-16.04.3 & Windows-10.
9. BIOS Mode                                    : Legacy/ UEFI

10.  Other useful comments         : ??

The (c) Mother Board Hardware revision number (mine= 23.27) can be found out with CPU-Z utility.
Download the latest "CPU-Z" Tool, ver-1.81 from site:  https://www.cpuid.com/softwares/cpu-z.html
Download URL:  http://www.cpuid.com/downloads/cpu-z/cpu-z_1.81-en.zip
Run it (Direct run, no installer). MotherBoard (or Main Board) is the 3rd Tab

The (b) Mother Board ID &  (d) CT-number are available in BIOS System Info ( Press "F1" Key, while system ReBoots).

The (c) MB hardware-rev number is very important, since for the same model "HP-15-BS576TX", this number can be different.  It means for some numbers BIOS update may be successfull, & others it is a failure. This can give other members with this same model, some idea whether they can attempt a BIOS update successfully or NOT.

So the community can help each other, especially who have successfully, updated their BIOS. This is because usually people who are successfull wont post their experiences, since by common nature, people with issues only will post their experiences.

Thanks & rgds

[Bhishmar]

In my original post (OP) above, in the context of BIOS update I have referred to three (#3) attributes of an HP-15-BS576TX MotherBoard.

1. Mother Board ID : HP-832B
2. Mother Board Hardware Rev Num : 23.27 (specific to my MB)
3. Mother Board CT-Number : PGNEPM31W88BB3 (again specific to my MB)

As I mentioned in the OP, the 1st & 3rd (including their legends) are obtained from BIOS "System Info", by pressing "F1" on system ReBoot .
Whereas the 2nd item is obtained from the "CPU-Z" utility's "MainBoard" Tab (#3rd tab), located just right side of where it displays the Model/MotherBoard-ID. I myself have just given it its legend "Mother Board Hardware Rev Num".

These are based on my educated guess & plain common sense, rather than an indepth knowledge on this parameters.

So I would request the established "HP experts" &  "Top Solution Authors" here in this forum to throw more light into these three MB attributes/terms, & explain which ones are unique to the particular model "HP-15-BS576TX", and which are not.

I assume the following:-
1. MB-ID = HP-832B remains common for all "HP-15-BS576TX" motherboards.
2. MB Hardware Rev Num, changes whenever there is new MB-PCB design/layout change,
and so will be common to a group of "HP-15-BS576TX" motherboards which are produced for a period of time.
3. MB CT-number may be unique to each mother board, made by HP for "HP-15-BS576TX".

But as I said earlier these are my guesses, based on my experience.

It is upto the HP experts to correct me, & provide a correct perspective, & better understanding.

rgds

[COE2k14]

Hi Bhishmar,

Thanks for creating this thread for HP-15-BS576TX as the BIOS failures and bricked laptops is a very serious issue, very much needed to be taken to the notice of HP administration. I will contribute the details few hours later.

Meanwhile, the motherboard identification for this model is:

Part number

924756-001

Part description:

SPS-MB DSC 520 2GB i5-7200U nTS

Hope this can be also added. This was for a September 2017 manufactured HP 15-BS576TX which came with F.22 BIOS.

[COE2k14]

Hi,

Sorry for the delay in updating. My laptop comes with F.24 firmware (BIOS-UEFI). Yes, there is a Motherboard revision, may not be significant to broke BIOS update, but only HP tech support can confirm this.

1. Model                                             : HP-15-BS-576TX
2. MotherBoard ID                         : HP 832B
3. MotherBoard Hw rev                : 23.40
4. Mother Board CT-Number     :  -
5. Original BIOS ver                       : Insyde F.24
6. Attempted BIOS Update-ver : No
7. BIOS Update successfull         : NA
8. OS                                                    : Ubuntu 17.10 & Windows-10 Pro FCA
9. BIOS Mode                                    : UEFI

10.  Other useful comments         :  Low audio volume with this model. Perhaps, 15-BS576tx has only one speaker.

[COE2k14]

@Bhishmar: FYI only, A new BIOS-UEFI update F.35 appeared in the HP product software driver download page for HP-15-BS576TX:

http://ftp.hp.com/pub/softpaq/sp83501-84000/sp83975.html

I now believe that HP acknowledged that F.24 Update installer seems to have some problem? The problem is sp80452.exe (F.24) was missing the firmware for 832B motherboard with dedicated AMD graphics. This is a serious issue. This resulted in bricking of 100s of BS00x laptops with AMD card.

HP has thence removed F.24 update from their ftp now?

Since my laptop came with F.24 firmware, I guess the packing went wrong missing the key firmware for this laptop model.

Out of curiosity, I extracted the contents of sp83975.exe (F.35 firmware update). It contains firmware update for 832B motherboard (I believe): 08328B.bin :

:~$ file *
08328A.bin: data
08328B.bin: data
0832D.bin: data
0832E.bin: data
08445.bin: data
CrisisFolder: directory
CrisisKeyDLL.dll: PE32 executable (DLL) (GUI) Intel 80386, for MS Windows
CryptRSA32.efi: MS-DOS executable
CryptRSA.efi: MS-DOS executable
FlsHookDll.dll: PE32 executable (DLL) (GUI) Intel 80386, for MS Windows
FlsHook.exe: PE32 executable (GUI) Intel 80386, for MS Windows
FormatFat.dll: PE32 executable (DLL) (GUI) Intel 80386, for MS Windows
FWUpdLcl.exe: PE32 executable (console) Intel 80386, for MS Windows
HpBiosMgmt.efi: MS-DOS executable
HpBiosMgmt.s09: data
HpBiosMgmt.s12: data
HpBiosMgmt.s14: data
HpBiosUpdate.efi: MS-DOS executable
HpBiosUpdate.s09: data
HpBiosUpdate.s12: data
HpBiosUpdate.s14: data
Insydeflash.exe: MS-DOS executable, COFF for MS-DOS, DJGPP go32 DOS extender
InsydeFlash.exe: PE32 executable (GUI) Intel 80386, for MS Windows
iscflash.dll: PE32 executable (DLL) (GUI) Intel 80386, for MS Windows
iscflash.sys: PE32 executable (native) Intel 80386, for MS Windows
iscflashx64.sys: PE32+ executable (native) x86-64, for MS Windows
platform.ini: ASCII text, with CRLF line terminator

So, there is a  08328B.bin bios blob in the F.35 archive. But, when I extracted F.24 archive, it has no 08328B.bin available. Another change is, the contents of CrisisFolder (which is part of extracted executable) has no contents in F.35 update while F.24 has. The contents of CrisisFolder is moved to the main folder for F.35. So, my assumptions (may not be true) are the UEFI update for F.24 fails because of the executables missing files which are expected in the root (main) folder?

I am wondering whether any HP support staff can confirm if it is safe to update? Also, Is it possible to update using a DOS bootable USB?

https://h30434.www3.hp.com/t5/Notebook-Hardware-and-Upgrade-Questions/Updating-to-the-latest-Insyde-...

[COE2k14]

The reason for BIOS-UEFI update failure in HP-15-BS576TX with dedicated AMD 520 2GB graphics card is I hope resolved now. The executable archive sp80452.exe containing Firmware F.24 was apparently missing 08328B.bin/the firmware for 832B motherboard which has AMD 520 graphics also as part of it.

The package has only 08328.bin and 08328D.bin - which are for 832A and other motherboards based laptops which has only Intel Integrated graphics. sp80452.exe is removed from HP FTP server now. A new firmware F.32 in sp83975.exe is released. I'm not planning to update to F.32 since I had my laptop got bricked 😞  with the problem firmware (F.24 sp80452.exe).  So,  this resolved the confusion. It is not motherboard revision that caused bricking of BS00x laptops with dedicated AMD card. It is apparently the missing firmware in sp80452.exe for HP 15 BS-00x series with discrete AMD cards.

I don't really hope any acknowledgement from HP for the botch up.

Quoting someone who've some experience with HP laptops and BIOS updates from another forum:

---

FYI, this is a known issue with this series of laptops. Apparently the one with AMD video cards are affected, as the publicly available bios image supposedly only applicable for mobos with integrated Intel video card only. This is from my personal experiences, and after a long analysis with HP support stuffs and engineers.

The standard way of bare metal bios install/recovery (even without any OS such as FreeDOS) is the best.

---

[Riddle_Decipher]

@COE2k14

Thank you for posting on the HP Support Forums, 

I understand your concern and to help you out, 

I have escalated your concern to HP's Support Team in your region to have it reviewed for available options (if any). 

You should be contacted within 4 business days (Excluding Holidays & Weekends). 

Response times may vary by region. 

Please send a Private Message, if you aren't contacted within 4-5 business days.  

Additionally, keep in mind not to publicly post personal information (such as serial numbers and case details).

And Feel free to post your query for any other assistance as well, 

It's been a pleasure interacting with you and I hope you have a good day ahead.

[Maxx_Yamano]

Hello, Hp Support Team I am willing to buy this laptop but I am confused about BIOS... Many users reported that BIOS update 24 failed. So on now as I Ave checked on hp's driver website it is showing BIOS version 32. I have a question that do I need to update it? Will my device brick or the thing is fixed ??


Thanks - In advance....

[COE2k14]

---

@Maxx_Yamano wrote:
Hello, Hp Support Team I am willing to buy this laptop but I am confused about BIOS... Many users reported that BIOS update 24 failed. So on now as I Ave checked on hp's driver website it is showing BIOS version 32. I have a question that do I need to update it? Will my device brick or the thing is fixed ??


Thanks - In advance....

---

There is absoultely no problem with HP 15-BS576TX laptop. The problem with BIOS update happened because the HP team who packed the firmware update F.24 forgot to include the firmware binary for BS576TX and other models with dedicated AMD Graphics card (832B motherboard). Don't update BIOS - It is risky. However, in case you want to know - I have read that F.32RevA BIOS update flashing is working fine with 15-BS576TX as per someone who updated. So, don't worry about BIOS/UEFI updates and never update. No performance boost or any real benefit with update.

You can buy this model. Just make sure everything is fine with the new laptop within 10-12 days. If any fault/manufacturing defect is observed, contact HP chat support and register a case number and ask for replacement (DoA - Dead  On Arrival).

[Maxx_Yamano]

Thanks alot for info...