Solved: Bios Whitelist lifted in Bios Version F.29 (2019 release) - HP Support Community

AlexPriftis · ‎11-15-2019

Hello everyone,

I'm aware that some network wifi cards are not accepted by the BIOS in our laptops.

I bought a broadcom wifi card without knowing this and now i'm stuck with a usb wifi card.

I read on several forums that HP lifted the BIOS Whitelisting as of 2019. And i found a BIOS update F.29A for my laptop.

Is it worth updating the BIOS to Version F.29A of 2019 or it will make no diference and not accept the broadcom card?

I'm asking because i'm quite hesitant as to upgrading the BIOS in fear i might "Brick"my laptop. That's why i'm asking.

If the whitelist exists in the newest BIOS version i don't see any reason to update the BIOS.

Paul_Tikkanen · ‎11-15-2019

Hi:

Here is the link to the BIOS revision history for your notebook.

If you read all of the release notes, only one (F.1A) adds support for a new wifi card.

Unfortunately, it doesn't say which one.

So, if you have a newer BIOS than F.1A installed, I wouldn't bother to update the BIOS.

The HP 250 G4 business-class notebook, which shares the same service manual as your model, allows the Realtek RTL8821CE wifi card to work.

And what is more important, it uses the same BIOS.

If you look on the support page F.29 is the newest BIOS release for that model too.

Here are two discussions where the 8821CE dual band AC wifi card works in the 250 G4...

Maybe you will want to experiment and see if it works on the 15-ac### model series too. The card is cheap enough.

Paul_Tikkanen · ‎11-15-2019

Hi:

Here is the link to the BIOS revision history for your notebook.

If you read all of the release notes, only one (F.1A) adds support for a new wifi card.

Unfortunately, it doesn't say which one.

So, if you have a newer BIOS than F.1A installed, I wouldn't bother to update the BIOS.

The HP 250 G4 business-class notebook, which shares the same service manual as your model, allows the Realtek RTL8821CE wifi card to work.

And what is more important, it uses the same BIOS.

If you look on the support page F.29 is the newest BIOS release for that model too.

Here are two discussions where the 8821CE dual band AC wifi card works in the 250 G4...

Maybe you will want to experiment and see if it works on the 15-ac### model series too. The card is cheap enough.

AlexPriftis · ‎11-15-2019

Thank you very much for taking the time to reply! I will check the info.

Paul_Tikkanen · ‎11-15-2019

You're very welcome.

If you decide to take a chance on the Realtek AC wifi card I recommended in those other posts, please post back, and let us know the results.

Feedback from other forum members is the only way we can offer advice regarding wifi card upgrades to other forum members with similar models.

Bios Whitelist lifted in Bios Version F.29 (2019 release)