dlewix
11-23-2011 02:13 AM (111 days ago)
Any guidance on resolution of this will be much appreciated.

Currently my laptop boots into a completely black screen, with a continously flashing Capslock (Wifi on/off button is red, all the other buttons on the top right at base of screen are lit white). This doesn't appear to conform to the Capslock diagnostics information provided by HP. The fan will also start after a short interval.
It looks as if the problem had been progressively getting worse.
Initially the laptop was displaying a messange in the BIOS to do with being in (Intel) ME Recovery Mode
Then a couple of days in booted into a screen BIOS Application Error (501)
On the same screen it is listing Part Number, Serial Number, MAC Address etc as Blank!!
It still let me boot into Windows at this point.
However now the has the black screen (no beeps no display),

Attempts have been made to reflash/recover the BIOS Blind using a USB key and also using the Windows + B, Windows + Arrow Keys combinations. This hasn't worked either but the laptop behaviours is different, as it switches itself on and off a couple of times (as if trying to access recovery files) and also tries to access the USB key if inserted (key flashes a couple of times). The Capslock light goes static at this point.

On removing the HD and connecting to another PC, I find it has an HP_Tools partition with a Hewlett-Packard folder and a directory/file listing as follows ... :

BIOS\Current\68SVD.BIN
BIOS\Current\68SVD.SIG
BIOS\Previous\68SVD.bin
BIOS\Previous\68SVD.sig
BIOSUpdate\HpBiosUpdate.efi
BIOSUpdate\HpBiosUpdate.sig
BIOSUpdate\HpBiosUpdate.s09
BIOSUpdate\CryptRSA.efi
BIOSUpdate\HpBiosUpdate32.efi
BIOSUpdate\HpBiosUpdate32.sig
BIOSUpdate\HpBiosUpdate32.s09
BIOSUpdate\CryptRSA32.efi
BIOSUpdate\HpBiosUpdate.log
SystemDiags\SystemDiags.efi
SystemDiags\SystemDiags.sig
SystemDiags\SystemDiags.s09
SystemDiags\CryptRSA.efi
SystemDiags\VideoMem.udm
SystemDiags\SystemDiags32.efi
SystemDiags\SystemDiags32.sig
SystemDiags\SystemDiags32.s09
SystemDiags\CryptRSA32.efi
SystemDiags\VideoMem32.udm

Are these any use for recovery?

The other possible cause of corruption could be difficulty I have had on occasion switching on PC ie it would power up for a few seconds then power off - sometimes requiring me to remove battery before being able to switch on successfully. This could be a separate issue that is contributory to the problem.

I have been using HP Connection manager to handle BIOS updates and one was uploaded earlier this month, so haven't tried anything dodgy to cause this situation.

On the basis of the information provided, is it possible to recover the BIOS without a major intervention ie (soldering on replacement BIOS Chip or changing the motherboard)?

Thanks in advance for your help.

eb8560w
02-15-2012 03:12 AM (27 days ago)
Hi,
did you find an answer to your question? It seems related to to this

I'm just curious when HP found out about these issues..
dlewix
02-15-2012 01:12 PM (27 days ago)

eb8560w wrote:
Hi,
did you find an answer to your question? It seems related to to this

I'm just curious when HP found out about these issues..

Hi

Interesting posts, with the timings of the failures, similar to mine but also the number of system boards that are faulty.

My laptop has been with specialist BIOS repairers for a while. Machine is a refurb not covered by guarantee.
As yet no fix, wating for replacement eeprom. So far they haven't been able to read/program the BIOS. A motherboard problem hasn' been ruled out, but we are looking at changing the chip first.. Machine is a refurb not covered by guarantee.

eb8560w
02-15-2012 02:04 PM (27 days ago)

dlewix wrote:

eb8560w wrote:
Hi,
did you find an answer to your question? It seems related to to this

I'm just curious when HP found out about these issues..

Hi

Interesting posts, with the timings of the failures, similar to mine but also the number of system boards that are faulty.

My laptop has been with specialist BIOS repairers for a while. Machine is a refurb not covered by guarantee.
As yet no fix, wating for replacement eeprom. So far they haven't been able to read/program the BIOS. A motherboard problem hasn' been ruled out, but we are looking at changing the chip first.. Machine is a refurb not covered by guarantee.


What some guy at HP support told me was that it was related to humidity in production of the BIOS chips at Macronix. It does sound like it could have the same root cause.