Need to find a way to update BIOS on laptop with Linux Installed

[PeterM971]

I do not use Windows, so when I got my notebook, I replaced the OS with Linux (currently MX Linux, a variant of Debian like Ubuntu).  The problem I'm having is that HP released a BIOS update with security updates and I do not see a way for me to safely flash the updated BIOS without Windows on the laptop.  The linux methods I've found either do not work or have warnings that they are likely to brick a computer if done on a laptop.  I tried Windows PE (via Hiren's BootCD), which seemed to work, but left the BIOS unchanged.  The updater refuses to run under FreeDOS.

My best option would seem to be to create a BIOS flash USB stick in a Windows OS and then flash it onto the laptop.  I created such a USB, but now I see no way to activate it when I start up my laptop--either in the menu I get to with ESC or in BIOS Setup.  I'm running the Insyde F.12 BIOS.

Any suggestions welcome.

[PeterM971]

I should mention that I do not have access to a copy of Windows and am loathe to buy and go through substantial trouble to install one, esp. just for a BIOS flash.

[SharkyCA1]

"Instructions to Update the BIOS/UEFI for an HP Laptop on Linux"  can be found on GitHub do a search on text in quotations!

[PeterM971]

SharkyCA1:  Thanks, that looks like the most plausible approach I've seen so far.

I tried it, but ran into a problem.  When I run the windows / wine command on the BIOS update, sp141894.exe, I don't get the two files the instructions indicate, but instead a new .exe file named 086AAF17.exe . 

So, now what?  I tried running the windows / wine command on 086AAF17.exe.  It indicates it is extracting an archive.  When it is done, I see no new file or folder.  I've tried a kfind search from / for *086AAF17* in case it created something elsewhere on my disk.  This also finds only the original 086AAF17.exe.

I've tried this in Wine.  I also tried it on a Windows laptop--in case Wine is missing something important to creating the files.  As with Wine, when I run 086AAF17.exe, it shows a progress bar indicating an archive extraction, but I see nothing on the disk after it is completed.  On the Windows laptop (and perhaps the linux desktop I worked on), I'm concerned the operation might have stuck something in some hidden place on my disk that will flash my bios with an inappropriate bios image on reboot.  That's less likely on Linux because I'd expect to see something under /boot, but do not.  Not sure where to look in windows.

Anyway, I can extract 086AAF17.exe using 7z.  But, I have read elsewhere that 7z is not appropriate because the .exe content needs to be processed.  Maybe that's not the case here because the first .exe was processed and the second seems not to take any processing?  On the other hand, I'd rather not brick my laptop.  Using 7z, I see a .bin file that looks the right size, but I also see multiple .s12 files--so don't know which I would use.

In any event, I'll try leaving a msg for the person who created the GitHub instructions.