How to use the HP BIOS update (uefi) utility

[Javierhdiaz]

Ok i did create a HP_TOOLS PARTITION in anothe hdd. But nothing happends.

I think the xxxx.BIN name is wrong...

I did use all id numbert in platform.ini, even all of them with .bin .sig .rom. And even at same time.... I all current, prev and new....

And i have not hear a beep at all... Not once....

The keyboard combination makes nothing....

[rahul_2987]

Hii..

Now, Im stuck up with BIOS update. On start-up of my laptop(Pavillion DV6000), all I could see is blank screen. All of its multimedia touch keys are lighted up, I could hear the hard disk been read-up. After all this, its is not starting up. I have been trying to get it restored.

In the very first step you have told about the SoftPAQ Download from the HP website - "1. Download the SoftPaq from the HP Web site".

I tried three of SoftPAQ related to this UEFI utility. But, with none of them I could find the .bin file nor the.sig file.

It would be great of you, if you could you please guide me through this steps. Also, I have been goin through the step mentioned by 'Manjunath Tech'.

Thank you.

[laurent_cel]

Hi everyone,

I bought a pavillon dv6-2012sf two years ago and this morning I could not get it working. It stopped before loading the BIOS with the the two LEDS (cap lock and num lock) blinking twice. I have checked on the HP website (http://support.hp.com/us-en/document/c02693833 to get the meaning of these LEDS and their blinking code. It is said that it comes from a "corrupted BIOS". Unfortunately I have removed for space reasons the HP_TOOLS volume on my HDD. It means that I only can recover the BIOS by using an external storage device which will be my USB key. For this, I have downloaded the utility HP Unified Extensible Firmware Interface (UEFI) Support Environment on the webpage (http://h10025.www1.hp.com/ewfrf/wc/softwareDownloadIndex?cc=us&lc=en&dlc=en&softwareitem=ob-101396-1... After running the downloaded software, my USB key was renamed to HP_TOOLS and the following directories were created:

- Hewlett-Packard

              - BIOS

                         - Current

                         - Previous

                         - New

              - BIOSUpdate

                        - ....

              - SystemDiags.

                       - ...

It turns out that the three folders inside the folder BIOS are empty which looks suspicious. I therefore downloaded the BIOS for my pavillon dv6-2012sf on the following webpage (http://h10025.www1.hp.com/ewfrf/wc/softwareDownloadIndex?softwareitem=ob-83686-1&cc=fr&dlc=fr&lc=fr&... and unpacked the drivers via the software Universal extractor (http://legroom.net/software/uniextract/). After extracting the drivers, I got several files whose 363513.FD, renamed it to 3636.BIN and then put it into the folder New. Finally, I have inserted the USB key to my pavillon, pressed Windows + B + power, and hold it for 3 seconds. After few seconds, the computer started to beep but I have not seen a progress bar showing me a BIOS updating. I tried again with different renaming, namely 3635.BIN, 3637.BIN, 3638.BIN, 3639.BIN, and 363A.BIN. Unfortunately, the result was identical. Could someone tell me what is happening, what do these beeps mean, and if there is a way to reciver the BIOS ?

Thank you in advance

[EldoronTerramen]

PLEASE     Stop saying that! Don't you read the posts??  BIG BLANK SCREEN. There is no windows to launch the EXE from. There is no "press f9 to get a boot menu" because there is NOTHING on the screen. No boot.

If you really work for HP- I want your employee number so I can report you to them. You are NOT helpful.

[Mumbodog]

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@EldoronTerramen wrote:

PLEASE     Stop saying that! Don't you read the posts??  BIG BLANK SCREEN. There is no windows to launch the EXE from. There is no "press f9 to get a boot menu" because there is NOTHING on the screen. No boot.

If you really work for HP- I want your employee number so I can report you to them. You are NOT helpful.

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We are all volunteers here, we don't work for HP, stop yelling at us, if you don't like the advice you get here, start a new thread and maybe someone else will see it and know the solution.

[HPSAwizard]

To save everyone time and frustration, HP BIOS update UEFI utility is for HP computers that support HP BIOS Update and Recovery from UEFI.  It is intended to update the BIOS Update and Recovery capability built into your computer. If your computer cannot boot, this utility will not help.   Either you have a hardware problem or your computer did not support BIOS recovery.   Either case requires a repair.  

Please note that most HP notebook PCs manufactured in 2011 or 2012 support BIOS auto-recovery. BIOS recovery will only work if you do not reformat the hard drive and remove the feature. 

[maxhello]

Let me just start by saying DONT LISTEN TO HPSAwizard, because what he has stated in his post is NOT TRUE.    After hours and hours of searching the web, and doing all the things everyone on these posts have mentioned,  I went to this site and was able to do a BIOS recovery on my 2011 HP DV6t 6186nr with a HP_TOOLS USB Drive.  I also have reformatted and repartioned hard drive with all previous HP BLOATWARE deleted.  OK, I was also perplexed at the fact why NOBODY (including the HP Techs) knew why the .bin file failed to load up automatically to flash the bios and why nobody at HP knew exactly what files and where they are needed (.bin and .sig files) and how to aquire these 2 files.  Here is the link to post that explains how to do this:

http://forums.mydigitallife.info/threads/35272-HP-Insyde-BIOS-recovery-steps

just remember that the program mentioned in the link will generate the new .bin and .sig file (which you have to rename) from the original .bin file to put into your USB drive. Actually i copied the .bin and .sig file into all the different folders in the USB drive including the root folder just to make sure the recovery tool would find it which ever directory it had to look into.  Wow, I can not believe the HP techs here would just blatently lie to us desperate end users trying to get our laptops working.  If you are not certain, how about a " I will look into this problem and get back to you asap" instead of a "your computer does not support something it says it supports (from what little documentation there is of UEFI utility) and pretty much you are screwed... GOOD BYE...".   NOT COOL HP....

[Mumbodog]

@maxhello

HPSAwizard is a HP employee, but only volunteers here in their spare time, they are not employed by HP to be "techs" on this forum, this is a user to user forum.

Sorry HPSAwizard did not have the knowledge you needed, volunteers do the best they can here and don't always have HP technical knowledge on specific subjects, HP keeps a lot of information secret, just like Dell and others.

by the way your link to mydigitallife mentions "Run phoenixtool on the bios you wish to recover."

where do you get this tool?

Biggest problem is determining your motherboard number when the system will not post, I always record this info when I get a new HP, just in case I need it later.

Thanks for the info and link.

[maxhello]

@Mumbodog 

If HPSAwizard is just a "user", he should not be giving such a definitive answer to a topic he has no expert knowledge of, to which he was pretty much wrong about (contradicting HP UEFI documentation) to end users that are desperately seeking a solution to their bricked laptop.  To tell consumers on the thread that there is no solution to their problem and that their expensive computer is pretty much "broken and useless" and more or less needs to be serviced by a professional when infact that is not the case, was not right.  He could have told people on the thread that he will have to look into the problem for a possible solution instead of leaving people feeling like their computer is not fixable and also giving inaccurate information about their laptops.

Regarding phonixtool, I think I just googled it and found the download. Also, system board ID was not necessary.  I just renamed the new .bin & .sig file as same as the extracted .bin file from the spxxxxx.exe file

[Mumbodog]

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@maxhello wrote:

@Mumbodog 

If HPSAwizard is just a "user", he should not be giving such a definitive answer to a topic he has no expert knowledge of, to which he was pretty much wrong about (contradicting HP UEFI documentation) to end users that are desperately seeking a solution to their bricked laptop.  To tell consumers on the thread that there is no solution to their problem and that their expensive computer is pretty much "broken and useless" and more or less needs to be serviced by a professional when infact that is not the case, was not right.  He could have told people on the thread that he will have to look into the problem for a possible solution instead of leaving people feeling like their computer is not fixable and also giving inaccurate information about their laptops.

Regarding phonixtool, I think I just googled it and found the download. Also, system board ID was not necessary.  I just renamed the new .bin & .sig file as same as the extracted .bin file from the spxxxxx.exe file

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This is a User to User forum, that is all you will get here, people just trying to help that may not know everything. Glad you solved your problem.

Thanks for the info.