HP 8710p Failed BIOS update - Now Endless LOOP - Trying to recover - Please Help!

[LordX]

Hey all. I updated my friends system to the f.20 bios - and it now comes up that the bios update did not succeed, and then it restarts.

This is an endless loop - which never lets me boot into windows - so I cannot go back to a previous version of the BIOS.

I have been reading around the forums and discovered a method to try an emergency recovery by getting the rompaq bios and holding down the Windows Key + B when I turn on the system.

Just bought an external USB Floppy drive to try this emergency recovery.

I tried the USB - but it wouldn't work.

I am getting different results here - but not what I want.

With the USB Floppy plugged in: When I hold down Win+B - the caps light flashes  for a lot longer now, it looks like it initializes the floppy drive (green light comes on for just a moment) - but then nothing - just flashing caps lock for a bit and then finally a restart again into the doom loop. It never appears to begin to read the floppy disk or search for a bios file.

What am I doing wrong? What can I try? Does the disk need to be leabeled a certain way? Does my BIOS file need to be renamed?

Any help would be GREAT!!!!

[AttackofZaq]

Hello LordX.  I understand your friend's notebook is stuck in an endless loop and you need to recover the BIOS.

Try the process again and follow these instructions.  This document covers the BIOS recovery process on HP Consumer Notebooks.  However, the 8710p is a part of the Business product line.  These notebooks have very different security measures and I think it is unlikely the consumer method will work.  

So, you should also post your question in the HP Business Community.  They quite possibly will have more information for you there.

If this is helpful or you want to say thanks make sure to click the white star under my name to give Kudos.  I really appreciate it!

I'll keep an eye out for a reply from you.  I hope you have a great day.  

[LordX2]

Followed those instructions. The machine flashes the caps lock light - and then pauses for 40 seconds but does nothing. Just ends up restarting back into the loop. Same thing it does as described in my first post.

[AttackofZaq]

Hello again LordX2.

In this case you need to make sure to post the question on the HP Business Boards and considering contacting HP Support.  If you're in the US/Canada the number is 1-800-474-6836.  If you're in another part of the world you'll need to visit HP Support Worldwide to get your region's contact information.

Sorry I can't be of more assistance.  Have a great weekend!

[marg_fan · Accepted solution]

I had a very similar experience.  Here is how I fixed it.

Download sp41954.exe from here  or search for it. 

Double-click on the file to launch the application.  If you are running Vista or higher, close the program, go to where it extracted (C:\swsetup\sp41954) and find the file FirmwareUpdater.exe.  Right-click on the file and select properties.  Click the Compatibility tab and select "Run this program in compatibility mode for: Windows XP (Service Pack 3)".  Launch FirmwareUpdater.exe and create a bootable diskette.  If you are running XP, you can create the bootable diskette from the sp41954 directly.

Power off the laptop.  Connect the USB Floppy drive with the newly created diskette to the laptop.  Hold down all four arrow keys while turning on the laptop.  Continue to hold down the four arrow keys until you see either the num-lock or cap-lock key flashing ( don't remember which).  It should be reading from the diskette.  After a minute or so, the laptop should reboot and operate normally.

When I did this, I disconnected everything from the laptop and removed the battery.  I do not know if it was necessary to remove everything or not.

Hope this helps.

[Roverius]

This recovery worked.

[marg_fan]

Edited the solution post with the current BIOS link.

[LukasPivonka]

Hello, I did the update of my 8710p to version F.20 - succeed, but the fan is now loud. I want to downgrade it back to F.0D or F.0E respectively. I bought the USB floppy and created the floppy using the FirmwareUpdater.exe.

When I turning on the notebook I'm pressing Win+B (or all arrow keys), the caps-lock starts flashing and the floppy starts reading (about 20 seconds). But that's all, the notebook restarts then and the BIOS is still F.20 - the flashing was not done.

Please do you know what can be wrong?

Thank you.