HP / Compaq 6710b F.20 Bios links broken, Windows 10 64 bit experience?

[swanidisk]

I finally got around to updating the bios for this machine and found out the driver support page no longer lists any bios updates.

I found thread after thread with dead links like this one.  Even the updated links are dead links.

https://h30434.www3.hp.com/t5/Notebooks-Archive-Read-Only/HP-6710b-CNU7371RXQ-Bios-Update/td-p/28648...

But the final post in that thread gave a correct file name to combine with the new ftp server address.

So here it is to help others.  

The F.20 bios for Compaq 6710b

ftp://ftp.hp.com/pub/softpaq/sp55501-56000/sp55553.exe 

*you may have to copy the link to a new tab because this site adds some characters to the end.

Someone should go fix the other links or add it back to the official driver support page.

System Software manager  doesn't work, I tried adding a bunch of os's but it never showed anything avaliable for this model even after updating the software catalog.

I'm on windows 10 32bit currently, and am wondering if driver support is equivalent or better in Windows 10 64bit.  So if anyone has that working, would be nice to know.  Windows 32bit works ok, but software support for 32bit is on its way out.

[Paul_Tikkanen · Accepted solution]

Hi:

Any business PC link prior to April of 2017 won't work. The business PC support site was shut down and merged with the consumer support site.

The link you posted is broken, and you can get the BIOS update file from the FTP site...

Info File

ftp://ftp.hp.com/pub/softpaq/sp55501-56000/sp55553.html

Exe File

https://ftp.hp.com/pub/softpaq/sp55501-56000/sp55553.exe

Also, F.20 is listed on the 6710b support page...under the Vista drivers section.

And the link works just fine from the Vista drivers support page.

That was the supported operating system to run the update on, which is why HP did not list it on the W7 support page.

If you want to run W10 x64 on there, I would say the driver support would be equivalent to what you have now.

I have the HP 6910p which has the same chipset and processor series as the 6710b.

I'm running W10 x64 on the 6910p just fine with 8 GB of memory (2 x 4 GB).

[swanidisk]

Ah 

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@Paul_Tikkanen wrote:

Hi:

Any business PC link prior to April of 2017 won't work. The business PC support site was shut down and merged with the consumer support site.

The link you posted is broken, and you can get the BIOS update file from the FTP site...

Info File

ftp://ftp.hp.com/pub/softpaq/sp55501-56000/sp55553.html

Exe File

https://ftp.hp.com/pub/softpaq/sp55501-56000/sp55553.exe

Also, F.20 is listed on the 6710b support page...under the Vista drivers section.

And the link works just fine from the Vista drivers support page.

That was the supported operating system to run the update on, which is why HP did not list it on the W7 support page.

If you want to run W10 x64 on there, I would say the driver support would be equivalent to what you have now.

I have the HP 6910p which has the same chipset and processor series as the 6710b.

I'm running W10 x64 on the 6910p just fine with 8 GB of memory (2 x 4 GB).

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Ah Vista, I would have never thought to look under Vista, I guess too many of my early search results were threads on this forum.

I've seen a listing on ebay claiming this laptop runs with 6GB, maybe 2x4GB with a memory hole, and Windows 10 64bit so I guess its possible. 2x4GB kits are still too expensive to justify though for such an old machine.

[Paul_Tikkanen]

Yes, unfortunately 2 x 4 GB DDR2 memory kits are too expensive to consider spending on such an old machine today.

I got mine years ago when you could get 2 x 4 GB for around $60 USD, which still was pretty expensive, but way less than it is now.