How to: Flash the BIOS on an EliteBook 8530P and HP 6730b?

[sparklearning]

How does one go about flashing the BIOS on the following machines?:

- EliteBook 8530P

- HP 6730b

Currently, they're at F11, but I wish to take them to F16 or F20.

Do I need to create a bootable USB drive?

I am also running Windows 7 on the HP 6730B.

[WAWood · Accepted solution]

@sparklearning

Hello;

Allow me to welcome you to the HP forums!

Here's the guide from HP regarding flashing the BIOS:  http://support.hp.com/us-en/product/HP-ENVY-14-Notebook-PC-series/4247511/model/4294112/document/c00...

Regarding the 6730b, here is the link to the drivers and software page:  http://h20566.www2.hp.com/hpsc/swd/public/readIndex?sp4ts.oid=3687781&swLangOid=8&swEnvOid=4058

Choose the OS version you are running and download the files shown under BIOS.

Regarding the 8530p, you are out of luck.  HP makes their BIOS updates OS-version dependent and they have no updates for Win10, only Win7 and Win8.  If you attempt to run those, they will fail the OS-version check and error out.

[sparklearning]

Thanks for getting back to me so promptly.

I read your instructions and, as this is the first time I've done this, please bare with me:

1. I checked the current BIOS loaded on my HP 6730B.  It turns out that it's running BIOS F13 (verified using the MSINFO32.exe application).

2. I downloaded the BIOS software I needed from here:  http://h20566.www2.hp.com/hpsc/swd/public/readIndex?sp4ts.oid=3687781&swLangOid=8&swEnvOid=4058

2. I downloaded F14, F16 and F20 updates as I intend to update them in that order.

3. I opened the first update (i.e., SP49262.exe) and it prompted me to save files to the this directory:  c:/SWSetup/sp49262

4. I also had downloaded HP's System SOftware Manager as I didn't know what to do after the files were downloaded to c:/SWSetup/sp49262.  

5. I did notice that the F16 and the F20 had two programs that could be run.  However the F20 BIOS update had an app called hpqFlash.  

Now, is it safe to update the F13 BIOS to F20 without first updating to F14, F16?