Fixing a Compaq Presario CQ61-320SA

[acesandeight]

I am trying to locate a BIOS file for a CQ61-320SA laptop, it is corrupt. Does anyone have a working download link or happen to have this laptop they can take a BIOS dump from? If HP actually had a working web page for this laptop it would be a simple fix, but alas they do not, or at least not that I can find anyway. I mean what the actual hell HP you still have an active page for a dinosaur like the Compaq NX7300 but not the Presario CQ61-320SA?

[Paul_Tikkanen · Accepted solution]

Hi:

HP retires support for consumer class PC's after they reach 10 years of age.

They have a longer support period for the business class PC's.

As far as I can tell by doing a search for product info regarding your notebook, it has an AMD processor.

If that is correct, here are the info and exe file links to the last BIOS update HP released for your notebook.

F.15

https://ftp.hp.com/pub/softpaq/sp48501-49000/sp48895.html

https://ftp.hp.com/pub/softpaq/sp48501-49000/sp48895.exe

I don't know how to fix a corrupt BIOS with an exe file, but apparently you seem to know how.

[acesandeight]

Indeed I do, the .exe is just the package the files are contained you can extract those files from the package. In this case the BIOS ROM image is 363FF15.fd (.fd you'll only see if you make file extensions visible) changing the file extension to .rom or .bin (.rom usually works best) makes the file readable for use with software/devices like my EEPROM programmer. Sometimes this isn't necessary and simply renaming the BIOS file to something predetermined by HP, putting it on a FAT32 formatted USB stick and holding down a certain key combination when the system powers on (win key + B, I believe) prompts the system into BIOS recovery mode, assuming the BIOS isn't totally borked and the boot block is toast as well in which case the ROM needs fully reprogramming with an EEPROM programmer like I have.

As for HP ending support for consumer laptops that are 10 years or more old I think I must stress that laptops of that sort of age such as the CQ61 with an upgrade to a dual core CPU (if it doesn't have one already) memory expansion to 4GB and replacing the HDD with an SSD makes even laptops of this age quite excellent devices still putting them on par for any duties you'd buy a cheap new low end laptop for now, and most importantly, cuts down on the abundance of e-waste manufacturers spew out. I certainly don't see what would be hard for HP about keeping an archive repository even if it just contained BIOSes for old depreciated laptops.

Anyways, cheers for the assist 🐵

[Paul_Tikkanen]

You're very welcome.

Glad you were able to flash the BIOS.

I agree with you 100% for keeping PC's supported indefinitely.

Some folks like to keep old PC's running for various reasons.

Actually, almost every file is available for download from the HP FTP site, which is where I got those files from.

They will always be there, I assume, as the very first driver file they ever uploaded to the site is still there...sp0001.zip.

Here is the link to the site. 

ftp://ftp.hp.com/pub/softpaq/

You must use either Internet Explorer to open it or MS Edge in IE mode.

The problem is that there is no reference to what the drivers are for unless there is a HTML or .cva file that provides some info.

What I do is to search 3rd party websites for HP model names and then cross reference what they have against the HP FTP site and then I can download the files I need knowing they have come from HP.

So, you can find pretty much whatever drivers or BIOS updates you need as long as you are willing to do a little detective work or ask here like you did in this situation.

[acesandeight]

Thanks  for the ftp link that will probably come in handy for me as I like rescuing and pressing back into service as many BER systems that are worth the effort as possible 🙂 I did actually do a lot of cross referencing for the CQ61 but without that ftp link what I was finding wasn't particularly useful, luckily you spied my thread and could save the day 😄

[Paul_Tikkanen]

Anytime.

Glad to have been of assistance.