What is the BIOS Administrator Passowrd

[EulogioGon]

Hi Sirram!

I have the same problem with my laptop (HP 470 G1), I can't get the BIOS password, I having troubles with the extended warranty.. Do you know if the .BIN file is valid for my laptop?

Thanks in advance and kindest regards.

[sirram]

I don't think the .BIN file could be reused on other computers. I had to log a support case with HP, submit certain technical data about my specific laptop and then use the .BIN file they generated specifically.

[EulogioGon]

Hi Sirram!

I finally have a bin file provided by HP support but the steps that they send my doesn't works. Could you please send me the steps that you took?

Thank you very much, I really apreciate your help.

BR.

[sirram]

It was a long and tedious process - and well over a year ago, so forgive me if I've missed any steps.

BTW, I no longer use this HP Laptop. I did sort out the BIOS issue but the laptop was truly awful. Full of bloatware and the poorest quality display I've come across. The touchpad had a mind of its own (virtually unusable). Also, the system always froze for 5 seconds whenever the Windows login screen appeared. Only after 5 seconds could one start typing in ones password. The laptop also had a fingerprint scanner but, yes, you've guessed, however hard one trained it, it virtually always failed to recognise my fingerprint. The laptop did go bac to HP for investigation. I got it back two months later and they said they couldn't find anything wrong with it !!!!!!  Hmm!

This particular piece of HP cr*p is now in a drawer - and I've kept it just as a fall-back.

So, here are the instructions I followed (with detail of all the problems I experienced along the way).

Happy reading:

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a) HP Support instructed me to "restart the unit and keep tapping F1 and take a snapshot of the system information screen, which contains the UUID."

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b) I did the above and provided HP Support with the fields displayed on the F1 screen (including the UUID).

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c) HP Support then emailed me a .bin file. They said the file would only be active for 7 days. The implementation instructions they supplied were as follows [apologies for the poor punctuation - it's HP's, not mine]:

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Please follow the below instructions and the attached utility to have the issue resolved.

Note: The USB stick should be less than or equal to 2GB capacity.

Please follow these steps to clear BIOS password: 
Save the attached file from this e-mail to USB key as SMC.BIN and insert to the system (or save the file to the root of drive 😧 HP_TOOLS)
- Press "Windows Key + Arrow UP Key + Arrow Down Key" all keys at same time and turn on the system
- Release all keys and press F10 at HP logo to go to F10 setup to “Reset BIOS security to factory default”

Please make sure USB key is formatted to FAT 32

In case you get the below error while doing this reset process:
SMC command failure reasons
Wrong UUID is provided
Try different brand and smaller size USB key USB key is not formatted FAT32 Make sure use USB 2.0 port not USB 3.0 port BIOS , date and time should be current and updated.
Use hard drive method by using HP_TOOL partition ,if there is no HP_ tools partition, can be created one by the following link below.

http://h20000.www2.hp.com/bizsupport/TechSupport/SoftwareDescription.jsp?lang=en&cc=us&prodTypeId=32...

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d) I followed the above, but it was only partially successful. Here’s what I emailed back to HP Support:

Hi,

The BIOS Admin Password reset has worked fine. But HP Support Assistant refuses to install the latest BIOS. Should I download the latest BIOS from the HP web site and install it manually? Here's what happened:

1. I saved your attached file onto a 2GB FAT32 USB stick (file saved as SMC.BIN)
2. Pressed "Windows Key + Arrow UP Key + Arrow Down Key" all keys at same time and turned on the system
3. Released all keys and pressed F10 at HP logo to go to F10 setup
4. There was a success message (on a white screen) - "SMC Command Handled Successfully"
5. In the BIOS, I clicked on “Reset BIOS security to factory default” - this was accepted
6. While there, I also successfully set my own BIOS Administrator Password.
7. I saved and exited
8. Windows started up ok.

ALL GOOD SO FAR:

9. In Windows, I ran HP Support Assistant
10. It had remembered I needed to get the latest BIOS, so I clicked to download and install it.
11. It download OK and then required a reboot
12. Rebooting to Windows worked ok
13. BUT when I tried to run HP Support Assistant again, I got a message saying "A restart is required to complete the installation of updates"
14. So I clicked "Restart now".
15. BUT after the restart, when I ran HP Support Assistant again, I just got the same "A restart is required . . ." message.
16. I have been round this loop five or six times. HP Support Assistant won't let me in - it just says "Restart now" each time.

I have just checked the BIOS, and the old BIOS is still there - i.e

System BIOS Version - 681RF Ver F.04
BIOS Date - 06/24/2013

I can see from Google that this is a common problem with HP Support Assistant. What should I do? Install the latest BIOS by downloading it manually from the HP web site? And should I permanently uninstall HP Support Assistant as well - or is there a fix?

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e) HP Support replied to me as follows:

Hi,

Thank you for getting back to me with an update on this, yes please download the latest BIOS from the link below and update it.

ftp://ftp.hp.com/pub/softpaq/sp70001-70500/sp70427.exe

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f) I followed the above and it worked. I replied back to HP Support as follows:

Hi again,

I have successfully installed the new BIOS:

System BIOS Version - 681RF Ver F.60
BIOS Date - 01/15/2015

As already said, I now have control of the BIOS Admin Password. So, thanks very much for all your help. It was much appreciated.

BUT the "HP Support Assistant" is still stuck in its endless "Restart now" loop - but I will research that bug separately (or should I just uninstall it completely?).

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g) HP Support replied as follows:

Hi,

I would suggest that you un-install HP support assistant and install the latest one from the link below,

ftp://ftp.hp.com/pub/softpaq/sp68001-68500/sp68201.exe

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h) After all of the above, I finally had a laptop with an up-to-date BIOS, control over the BIOS password and an HP Support Assistant that actually worked.

But as I said at the start, the whole laptop was awful - such a big mistake that I ever bought an HP Laptop. I could really kick myself. What an utter waste of money.

I hope some of the above will provide a clue as to how to regain control of the BIOS.

Please post back on how you get on.

Good luck!

[EulogioGon]

Hi again Sirram!

I finally cleared the BIOS administrator password using the steps that you provided. Also I updated the BIOS, so now I can't access to TPM configuration... Thank you very much for your help and time 🙂

And thank you HP... (sarcastic mode on).

Well, I will try to use an older BIOS version to access to the TPM.

Thanks again Sirram!