HP Mini 5103 BIOS Update Tool

[JeffreyTull]

My school district has a set of HP Mini 5103 mini laptops.  With the atom processor and 2 GB of RAM, they do not run windows very well.  I want to install CloudReady from Neverware so they can run a version of Chrome OS.  That requires a BIOS update.  I have located and downloaded the package to update the BIOS with a USB key.  I cannot get it to run.

The first error is that it gives a warning that device media is write protected:
Write-Protected error message

I've done this multiple ways.  I've run the utilitiy on three different USB drives; same result.  I've gone into the registry to change the Storage keys to ensure WritePolicies is set to 0.  I've used DiskPart to remove all read-only attributes.  I've even used DiskPart to create a botable partition on the chance that I could copy files over.  That actually worked, somewhat.  It does not consistently work when I've tried to recreate a process.

This led to the second error: when I did manage to trick the tool into working, it runs the format and copies files over to the USB but doesn't actually run anything:

That same device that was write-protected was formatted and had these files copied over, but the process just stops.  I've tried booting from this which failed, not that I am surprised because I have hidden files showing; there are no other files to run at boot.  I've tried running the eRompaq.exe and i get an error that it cannot run on my operating system.  My hypothesis is that not all files are being copied over correctly.  I've manually copied over files but it is still not seen as a system disk.  WhenI boot from EFI file, I can get the BIOS system update to run, but it fails when it starts.  

Bottom line is that I need to get the BIOS updated so that I can install a different OS and it is not working.  Please help!!

Thanks in advance.