[HP Omni 10 5601TW] Tablet won't boot after BIOS update

[oscar8u]

Call HP even if you're not under warranty. They may be able to offer you a replacement.

[shoubhik]

I am chatting with hp support india.. He wants to check his resources.. Lets see.. I hope there is a new tablet in his good resources.. 😛

[foroughi9300]

I used the 3rd tool in the following page and made a recovery usb flash. Unlike previous tries, LED flash kept flashing for a considarable time. It have the 022b9.bin file with 022b9.sig file in the package I added 022b9.s12 to the "Current" folder.

I haven't got a result yet but anybody who is willing to test the following recovery please inform if this worked or not.

tnx.

http://www8.hp.com/us/en/campaigns/hpsupportassistant/pc-diags.html

[lyger]

Just spoke with hp support in the uk and they want £150 to repair the failed Omni 10... I explained it was a failed bios update but as i was out of warranty they wont do anything without payment.

Very disappointed.

[oscar8u]

What??!!! £150?! You can buy a working omni10 online for that much. You could also get a different windows tablet which has better support etc.

[jTemplar]

Remember that if you bought your Omni 10 inside the European Union (EU) then you always have the right to a minimum two-year guarantee period at no cost in addition to any warranty offered by the manufacturer.

See: EU Shopping guarantees: repairs, replacements, refunds

Explain this to HP and ask to speak with their customer relations dept.

[swaaye]

I did the drain + charge + hold volume buttons and power on trick but it just cycles between short and long vibrate pulses.  If I let go it is either off or it comes up to the 'boot drive not found' error.    I wonder if the recovery system is actually stored on the EMMC in a hidden partition and isn't accessible if the EMMC isn't working correctly.

[foroughi9300]

I am going to re-program the bios chip using Jtag. I will inform you the results in the following 4-5 days. Currently I'm seeking a compatible programmer for winbond w25q64f. (My warranty has expired and I have no access to HP support in this doomed wretched miserable poor unfortunate sanctioned helpless desperate country of mine, Iran )

[swaaye]

I would like to try to downgrade the BIOS to the previous version, but I can't get the flasher to allow it.  I searched the web for ways to downgrade an Insyde BIOS and there is a tip to edit the plaform.ini and disable version check, but it is insufficient in the case of HP's Omni 10 flasher.

Looking through the platform.ini is concerning though.  There is a lot of configuration in there. Different BIOS segments and firmware parts.  I'm not sure just one BIOS EPROM is involved here...

I also have a Dell Venue 8 Pro and have been able to downgrade its BIOS with a modified utility. The DV8P has some quirky BIOS revisions (surprise right?)   I think it uses an Award BIOS though.  But its flashing behavior is similar to the Omni 10.  It does the Windows flash, then reboots and the BIOS itself flashes some EC firmware.

[foroughi9300]

As far as I got to know HP bioses are encrypted (RSA signed) and you are right it is not just Platform.ini, you should decrypt the .bin file with insydeflasher.exe then use Phoenix tool to open the rom and search its structure for an ID or something...

BUT I will never take this risk...maybe the situation gets worse and the tablet completely die