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BIOS Update Fail (Help Needed)

B

Badgercat

Weaksauce
Joined
Feb 24, 2005
Messages
124
Hey all,

So I have an HP Pavilion DV6000 series laptop. The service tag is DV6660se.

I got it from a friend, and it was working fine. I formatted the hard drive, put windows 7 on it, got all the drivers etc etc. Everything was beautiful until I decided to flash the bios. I discovered the unit had BIOS version F.07 (2007) and they were all the way up to F.34 (2011). Seemed sensible to update the BIOS.

So I download the BIOS update, which is an exe run through windows. It flashes the BIOS and re-writes all 16 blocks. Everything is good. Computer restarts, and BOOM, I now have a beautiful paper weight. I get a series of extremely loud beeps (1 longer beep followed by 2 shorter beeps, looping for as long as I leave it on)

I can't even get into the BIOS, there isn't even a post screen. The screen is now black and I can't do anything. After a lot of reading on the internet it seems like this sort of thing has happened to many other HP owners (which makes me go WTFFFFFFF HP). I have tried most suggestions but can't seem to find a way to fix it.

Please help. It would be a damn shame to send this thing to the big recycling depot in the sky
 
If it ain't broke don't fix it? Pretty sure you are SOL.
 
try to get the BIOS file (not. exe) and flash BIOS again from external floppy or SD card if your laptop got a cardreader.
 
They may be glimmer of hope if your bios has a shadow copy, but it sound slike it doesnt. ASUS etc. tend to have a backup bios for situations like this.

From experience I learnt 2 things.

Do bios updates either from the bios or a dos boot.
Dont update bios without a specific reason to, not simply because its newer.
 
At this point I think your only option would be to replace the chip the bios is stored on.

They are usually soldered to the board these days, but sometimes they are replaceable. If it is, you might be able to find one on ebay or something.

There used to be something you could buy that you would install between the bios and mobo that you could store a second copy of the bios on for occasions just like this.
 
never flash in windows, never...lot of guys got paper weights after trying...ck ebay for a replacement..
 
From experience I learnt 2 things.

Do bios updates either from the bios or a dos boot.
Dont update bios without a specific reason to, not simply because its newer.
Click to expand...

Yeah I can't find the .bin bios file anywhere to even attempt to flash it in the bios.

The only thing HP offers is the exe to do it through windows, which is what got me into this problem in the first place....

fak
 
Try to call HP support and see what they say. Maybe they have a process that can restore the BIOS. Worth a try.
 
Yes, my own dealings with the HP support process is for you to pay them several hundred dollars for a new motherboard rather than tell you that there is an undocumented recovery feature which involves placing a correctly named file on a usb stick and pressing a certain key combination on power up. Luckily I managed to find the right file name.

That was for an Insyde BIOS, AFAIK the OP's BIOS is phoenix and AFAIK there is a crisis recovery for it but not ever having used it I can not give you directions other than point you to google. Try here to get you started off. Looks like you'll need to create a crisis recovery disk and maybe rename your BIOS file something like BIOS.WPH Note that your BIOS update exe for the DV6660se (SPxxxxx.exe) contains 2 BIOS ROMS so you will have to pick the right one. You can use 7zip or similar on the exe to extract the BIOS rom image which ends in .wph. GL
 
wesleys_dad said:
never flash in windows, never...lot of guys got paper weights after trying...ck ebay for a replacement..
Click to expand...

such a crock :rolleyes:

I've flashed hundreds Dell machines with the executable they provide, from within Windows. Never had an issue.

We even had to push out a similar BIOS update with our software distrribution platform, to resolve some issues the existing BIOS on a bunch of new machines had.

I have yet to have a machine brick due to flashing the BIOS from within Windows.
Maybe back in the Win95 days...
 
Flashing in Windows is definitely more risky than any other method. There are too many variables in a Windows environment for me to have confidence that their QA caught all the issues.
 
Hey guys,

Thanks for all the tips, links, and help. This is what I have come up with. I have two options:

1. Send it to HP and pay to have it flashed again (Eff that)
2. follow the suggestions listed here involving a crisis recovery disc.

I have downloaded what I know to be the BIOS version that was on it before this whole issue happened (F.07) I extracted the exe, to which there are two .WPH files in there.

Here is what I need to do. I need to create a crisis recovery floppy (or perhaps a USB by some accounts) and then I need to follow instructions and put that WPH file in one of the directories on that disk. After that I need to put it in the computer and hold down Win+B while starting it up. Supposedly it boots to the recovery disk, reads the BIOS, and flashes away.

Sounds magical. I have even managed to wrangle up a USB floppy if needed. Kick in the pants is that I can't seem to find this so called crisis recovery disc. All the links I find seem to be bad or two old.

Anyone?
 
Thanks a lot cyclone, that is a big help. Any idea how I go about making it into a floppy? should I just drag the files over and drop them? or do I have to run one of the exe?

Cheers
 
Badgercat, AFAIK you need to

1. Extract the folder (crisdisk) from the compressed archive you downloaded to your working PC.

2. Extract your BIOS xxxxxxxx.wph from your BIOS update SPxxxxxx.exe and rename it BIOS.WPH.

3. Place BIOS.WPH in the crisdisk folder.

4. If the OS you are using is after XP then right click WINCRIS.EXE in the crisdisk folder and set admin priv plus XP compatibility.

5. Insert a USB flash drive, that you don't have any data on that you want to keep as it might be lost, run WINCRIS.EXE and select your USB flash drive and press start.

6. After completion, place the USB flash drive in the laptop and start the recovery process, whether that's holding the 'win' key and 'b' key down then pressing the power button idk. Some laptops also require that the battery is disconnected and run on AC only.

7. Cross fingers.


It might help if your USB flash drive has a flashing LED when being read to give some confidence that the recovery is doing something.

GL.
 
Good luck on this.Most laptops do have a way too recover from a bad bios flash.I know mine has a specific set of instructions.
 
I think a lot of people here didn't notice that the OP says the machine doesn't post.

That makes it a lot more challenging.

OP, have you tried manually flashing the bios with the board jumper?
Also try unplugging the PSU from the wall and unplugging all cards and headers from the motherboard except for one stick of ram and the cpu.

See if you can get it to post.

Do the fans spin up?
 
Badgercat, AFAIK you need to

1. Extract the folder (crisdisk) from the compressed archive you downloaded to your working PC.

2. Extract your BIOS xxxxxxxx.wph from your BIOS update SPxxxxxx.exe and rename it BIOS.WPH.

3. Place BIOS.WPH in the crisdisk folder.

4. If the OS you are using is after XP then right click WINCRIS.EXE in the crisdisk folder and set admin priv plus XP compatibility.

5. Insert a USB flash drive, that you don't have any data on that you want to keep as it might be lost, run WINCRIS.EXE and select your USB flash drive and press start.

6. After completion, place the USB flash drive in the laptop and start the recovery process, whether that's holding the 'win' key and 'b' key down then pressing the power button idk. Some laptops also require that the battery is disconnected and run on AC only.

7. Cross fingers.


It might help if your USB flash drive has a flashing LED when being read to give some confidence that the recovery is doing something.

GL.
Reply With Quote
Click to expand...

OK so this seems like a good start. I have followed these instructions and when I put the USB in and hold down Win + B the light starts to flash on the USB and it starts to make a series of different beems for about 2 minutes. The light on the USB is flashing away the whole time. Right before the beeps end, it makes this god awful beep of death, and then it all stops (I assume this means it is done). When I restart, nothing has changed. What a tease. I am going to keep trying it with different BIOS versions



I think a lot of people here didn't notice that the OP says the machine doesn't post.

That makes it a lot more challenging.

OP, have you tried manually flashing the bios with the board jumper?
Also try unplugging the PSU from the wall and unplugging all cards and headers from the motherboard except for one stick of ram and the cpu.

See if you can get it to post.

Do the fans spin up?
Click to expand...

This is really going to be my last ditch effort. It is a laptop and I really don't want to take it all apart and try this unless I have to. But you know what, maybe I will if none of this works
 
Dude,

Sounds like you have a nice paper weight! If this was a desktop i would say just swap bios chips but a notebook is tricky. You need to talk to tech support. I have had a couple bad flashes once from within windows 98 years ago. Since then i never flash within windows.

Maybe you could buy a similar model and swap bios chips if possible.. Anyone with notebook bios flashing experience help this guy out!
 
Isnt this beep code a video issue. A lot of people with your model have had issues with the GPU solder. You can try and use the blanket or towel method to let it overheat and see if it will start afterwards, then you'll know it's the GPU.
 
That's a good point captmeach7, nvidia did have some major problems with the solder used on GPU's sometime back in which case it might not be a BIOS problem at all.
 
Zangmonkey said:
I think a lot of people here didn't notice that the OP says the machine doesn't post.

That makes it a lot more challenging.

OP, have you tried manually flashing the bios with the board jumper?
Also try unplugging the PSU from the wall and unplugging all cards and headers from the motherboard except for one stick of ram and the cpu.

See if you can get it to post.

Do the fans spin up?
Click to expand...

The methods that I posted are for systems that do not post. They worked for me on a system that was completely dead, no lights, no fans, after a bad bios flash.
 
I doubt this is video card related. It literally happened first boot after the bios flash and has been the case ever since
 
First the beep code your getting is unable to view or display, doesn't mean bad video chip, just means your BIOS is unable to use the graphic chip to display. Second if you didn't save a copy of the .bin file to external storage source like USB storage drive. You are risking continued damage to the BIOS chip if you use second source code off the internet.

Suggest buying a new chip and have someone to swap the bios chip. Ebay has this seller, have not used him yet but seems legit to me, biosdepot ratings look good.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/BIOS-CHIP-H...341934305?pt=Motherboards&hash=item588e2558e1

If the BIOS chip is a flat pack type IC your in luck. Solder wick, good hot soldering iron and solder is all you need. Now if the chip is J lead type IC you need to have someone replace it. Reason is hot air is best when dealing with J lead parts, this ensure minimal PCB damage, if done correctly no PCB damage.

HP is not the only manufacture that causes issue like this with their product. ASUS is one recent BIOS update on desktop motherboard, like you did from Windows and poof dead. No way around it but replace the chip. I even did a complete research online on forums and ASUS website before upgrading BIOS code. I did sent a nasty email, also called them and they were sorry but could not do anything unless I paid them, yea right.

I do upgrades and fixes all the time. One time I used ASUS app software to do the upgrade I get burned. I do all my upgrades via DOS now. Yea DOS, who uses DOS anymore well hardware dudes like me.

Good Luck!
 
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Thanks for the all the help guys. Given the age and quality of this laptop, I am likely going to scrap it. Thanks HP. I second the last posters comments, I am never going to flash from windows again. What a mistake
 
Seems if you wanna update by the desktop you need to remove all OCing, set the BIOS to default, stop all running programs, and disconnect from the internet.

I usually update thru DOS but I've also done it many times from the desktop with no problem.
 
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