Unable to reinstall Windows (10 or 8.1)

[ales19]

Hello, I am having problems with my laptop's wireless and so I installed Linux to try and troubleshoot. I am now trying to reinstall Windows but it is not allowing me to do so as I am getting a message that the BIOS needs an update (or something to that extent), my current BIOS version is F.1E (09/07/2016).

Why is the system not allowing me to reinstall Windows?

Where can I get the latest BIOS as there does not seem to be any BIOS updates available for this model?

Cheers

[banhien]

@ales19 

Your machine is an HP Pavilion 15-b124ss. You can use BIOS from the following link for HP Pavilion 15-b1xx series

     https://support.hp.com/us-en/drivers/selfservice/hp-pavilion-15-b100-sleekbook/5330561

You have to use BIOS for Windows 8 because no newer BIOS.

Regards.

[ales19]

@Banhien,

Thanks for the prompt response.

I have a couple of questions before I proceed.

Can I create a self booting USB (to install the BIOS) on a different PC given I do not have Windows installed?

The BIOS version in the link you provided is F.1E Rev.A, is this different from the F.1E version I already have installed? (the release dates seem to differ as the F.1E Rev.A from the link has a release date of Sep 19, 2016)

Cheers

[ales19]

Unfortunately i seem to be stuck in a chicken and egg situation whereby i cannot install windows until i update the BIOS but cannot update the BIOS until i install windows. Any suggestions?

[ales19 · Accepted solution]

looks like i had the latest version of the BIOS installed after all.

in any case i managed to install windows 10 by creating a USB installer of the latestversion of windows 10 (i think it is 1909).

i started it in safe mode and then proceded with the install.

I dont know if it was that or the new version of windows but I did not get the error message at install anymore.

Cheers