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Pavilion 15 ab291sa
Microsoft Windows 10 (64-bit)

Hi there,

I found a brand new bios update for my laptop on hp website.

I downloaded it and now I can't use it because the program cand perform a bios upgrade in legacy mode.

My laptop won't boot in uefi mode as I had my windows 10 installed in legacy mode as I had my SSD put in the laptop and didn't want to loose any data from it, and had win7 on in before.

Anyway, now I can't upgrade my bios, also I can't create usb recovery drive as the program doesn't detect any usb drive I put into any usb slot.

Any help will be appreciated.

6 REPLIES 6
HP Recommended

Hi there,

So I tried installing win7 on my laptop and that was a success.

Managed to install all the drivers and everything is running smooth and as it should.

The only problem I have is that the WIFI is switched off (flight mode) after each boot, which means I have to press F12 to turn it on every time.

Is there anything I can do to make it stay enabled?

Thank you.

HP Recommended
Hi @m4sta,
 
Thank you for visiting the HP Forums! A great place where you can find solutions for your issues with help from the community!
 
I came across your post about the Notebook, and wanted to assist you! I have looked into your issue about your HP PAVILION 15 ab291sa Notebook and issues with New HDD. Some say you could  restore the BIOS to factory defaults help with this. Here is a document that shows you how to restore BIOS factory default settings. That way it will look at the Hardware installed on the Notebook and stop the issue with the Wifi in flight mode.
 
You could try using the Windows Update Troubleshooting  tool to fix any updates that have not come through for Windows. This is a download that will run a check on your system and usually repair it.
 
Please restart the Notebook twice to make sure all update have been completed!
 
Please let me know how this goes.
 
You can say thanks for trying to help by clicking the Thumbs Up below! Smiley Very Happy
 
Thanks. 

Please click “Accept as Solution ” if you feel my post solved your issue, it will help others find the solution.
Click the “Kudos, Thumbs Up" on the bottom left to say “Thanks” for helping.:smileyhappy:


I work on behalf of HP
HP Recommended

Hi there,

Thanks for the reply.

I managed to convert my SSD from MBR to GBT using third party software without loosing any data at all. After doing that my laptop is now booting in uefi mode and I was able to update my bios to the lastest one straight away. I'm now running windows 10 as only there I have no problems with wifi. I've spent many hours trying to solve my WiFi problem in windows 7 but eventually I had to give up. Nothing I tried was helping. Even after installing all the latest possible drivers, latest system updates, tried some 3rd party apps, nothing changed. Still had to press F12 twice after each boot to enable WiFi adapter. 

Not a big deal but I just wasn't happy with it so I recovered my laptop to Win10 and I guess I'll just have to live with it. It won't be a happy life, but have no chice. I hate win10 with passion. 

HP Recommended

@m4sta wrote:

Hi there,

Thanks for the reply.

I managed to convert my SSD from MBR to GBT using third party software without loosing any data at all. After doing that my laptop is now booting in uefi mode and I was able to update my bios to the lastest one straight away. I'm now running windows 10 as only there I have no problems with wifi. I've spent many hours trying to solve my WiFi problem in windows 7 but eventually I had to give up. Nothing I tried was helping. Even after installing all the latest possible drivers, latest system updates, tried some 3rd party apps, nothing changed. Still had to press F12 twice after each boot to enable WiFi adapter. 

Not a big deal but I just wasn't happy with it so I recovered my laptop to Win10 and I guess I'll just have to live with it. It won't be a happy life, but have no chice. I hate win10 with passion. 


FYI. GPT is only used in most 2tb or bigger drives..formatting done by Windows install will ony allow MBR formatting for 1tb or smaller drives. Using 3rd party to force this is asking for trouble. I'll go home to check my 2tb to verify this format option.

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BTW, Millions of folks have gone back from Win10 to their prior O/S -- something you don't hear about from MS. by WAWood but ALL to TRUE
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HP Recommended

GPT is a newer, modern way of booting your system and has less limits that MBR. Can be used with any size HDD or SSD. The only problem that may occur is when you want to use your GPT disk on computer with old non-UEFI bios. Otherwise no problems at all. And converting from MBR to GPT was completely harmless and caused no problems at all. 

HP Recommended

 

Simple...if you get an error saying that you cannot update bios in legacy mode...donwload and install HP diagnostic tool

 

It will create a partition on your hard drive called HP_TOOLS.. the go get and try to install the Bios again ..VOILA

 

BIOS VERSION UPDATED

 

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