HP Compaq BIOS Crisis Recovery from a Failed BIOS Flashing Using a USB Flash Disk
Posted on In SoftwareI tried to flash my HP Compaq CQ35-240TX’s BIOS to F.15 but unfortunately failed. The computer turned to white screen. When I restarted (powered off then boot again), this is no response any more: the hard disk and caps lock’s LED keep blinding. I thought “Oh my God! I must send it to HP to repair it!”.
But after searching on the Internet and find there is a “crisis recovery” mechanism to recovery the BIOS even the CMOS don’t work. I finally managed to recovery the BIOS with a help of USB flash disk. I will introduce the procedure to crisis recovery my HP Compaq laptop. You need to prepare a USB flash disk and another computer that is connected to the Internet (we need to download the BIOS image from HP).
The steps to recovery the BIOS are as follows.
1. Format the USB flash disk’s filesystem to FAT16 on another computer.
2. Get the BIOS image from HP’s website (I use F15 version).
Download the BIOS update file from HP’s website (an exe file). Execute the BIOS update file on another computer. It will decompress the files. Select a directory to store the files and you can close the program. In the directory selected, we can get WinFlash.exe. Unzip WinFlash.exe using a program like WinRAR. We can find two .FD files. For my computer and the BIOS version I use, the two files are 306DF15.FD and 306EF15.FD. There are two model for Compaq CQ35 computers, so there are two .FD files. You may try one by one to see which model your computer use. Actually this model can be found in “BIOS Setup” (we can’t start it as the CMOS is bad)
3. Copy the file 306DF15.FD to USB disk’s root directory and rename it to 306D.bin. (the file may be different depending on the model)
4. Remove the AC power and battery from the lapttop.
5. Plug in the USB flash disk to the laptop.
6. Hold two keys: WinKey + B.
7. Plug in the AC power.
8. Hold the Power Button for 5 seconds, then release.
9. Push the Power button as normal to power on the computer.
10. After the laptop starts short beeping, release WinKey+B.
11. The laptop will keep short beeping for about one minute, it will power off itself after recovering the BIOS. If the laptop keeps long beeping or beeping for more than 3 minutes, the recovery fails, possibly because of the wrong image file or the USB flash disk doesn’t work on the laptop. In this case, you may try another image file or another USB flash disk.
Normally power on the laptop after recovering the BIOS and you will see the Compaq logo appearing again.
Disclaimer: I just tested the method in the post with my laptop and am not sure whether it works with one specific model (although it seems work for some others according to the comments). The method in the post is just one example solution. If your data is critical, contact a professional, such as the customer service from HP, to repair it for you.
Update 1:
Vadim‘s experience with HP Pavilion dv6740er may help if you have a similar model:
HP Pavilion dv6740er
After bios update my notebook failed to start – black screen+blue lights.
the BIOS recovery:
Table of Contents
Dude you saved my laptop….
In the past 7 days I tried all kind of methods and yours did the trick.
Its important to understand that BIOS recovery can be done with USB flash drive lower than 2GB (FAT16 format is needed)
Also , bios version that contains 2 *.FD files are actually two versions so you must try them separately.
Thanks again
thanks you so much :X oh my god i did it :X I’m really really thanks :X
thanks you so much :X oh my god i did it :X I’m really really thanks :X Merry christmas :X
I am happy to know that this post helps. Merry Christmas to you too.
i think i got a bios f.22 in my compaq 435 laptop… the problem is this version got limited options and i want the latest version… i need the latest version in order to fix some booting order to my system to try to fix this “no bootable device insert boot disk and press any key windows 7” problem. I did some first aid to my laptop but failed… my last resort would be using gparted live software but it will delete all my data… i cant get the correct version and the right way to make the bios software bootable in my USB T_T
Hi.. I downloaded a bios for my presario c500 .. after extracting the .exe file the result was some files including .wph and .dll files But my presario won’t boot — flash disk not blinking= presario not reading it but the power led isn’t blinking what can I do
You only need the .FD files. Is there any beeping? If the laptop keeps long beeping or beeping for more than 3 minutes, the recovery fails. In this case, I only suggest that you try another image file (.FD file) or (and) another USB flash disk.
the .wph file is the bios update file needed.
there are no .fd files for the bios of the c500 series
hope this helps
..how to formate with fat16
..I have f66 which name should i rename to
..my model is cq40 133tu
..
i have hp pavilion dv6 2020ax. and i am facing the same problem of black screen after bios update failure. My laptop supports f13 bios version and it contained 3635F13.FD and i followed the above procedure but the problem still persists. Also i have tried different version but still not solved.So please help
My friend , you are a god!!!!!!
Really, thanx a lot , it worked just fine for me exactly as you described.
By the way, I formatted my USB disk to NTFS32 and worked ok…
Ight nigha i have a Presario CQ61 411wm. The flashing light is 2 at a time which is bios i have done everything on here and it still doesnt work, plus I dont hear no beeps.
Please, I have an acer aspire. It is not even a year old. One day I started my notebook only to realise that it beeps loudly with the cursor (i.e _) blinking for about 60s b4 windows starting or resuming appears. Please i want to stop it help. I am using WINDOWS 7. Thank u in advance
I guess there are some hardware errors but these errors are not so critical. I think you may contact acer technical support for some suggestions.
the hp website gives me an InsydeFlash.exe and now a WinFlash… when i extract it, i get a bunch of other files, but none of the files you’ve mentioned :S i have a HP G56 130sa, i REALLY need to recover my bios, i use(d) this laptop for performing
This tutorial is only for compaq and only tested on my own laptop by me and some others in the comments. With different model from HP, I am not sure whther it applies.
I understand your situation but am sorry that I can’t help.
sir i was updating the bios of my hp6735s ,i followed all the instructions but unfortunately an error occured and bios procedure didint proceed futher,after 2 hours when i restarted my laptop it didnt start even hp logo didnt appear,what can i do now,plz give me sincere suggestion
hallo thank u for ur recomment but the problem is i cANt find the bios that perfect for may labtop ,if u can help me .
persario cq58
I do not know the file for a specific model of the laptop. You may try to search in HP’s website and the Web.
Hello,
I have a compaq presario cq56 219WM. i tried updating my bios and ended up with a similar issue. I am trying to follow your steps but i dont get a winflash.zip but i get 3 .FD files. I am wondering what i should rename the files into? Where can u find the right name for the model?
For my situation, I delete the version (F15) from the file name and it works for me. You may try this method if you can not find any clue from HP’s website.
merhaba pc format atım acilen tüm driver lar lazım modeli hp presario cq57 cok acil lazım şimdiden tşk
Hello, I took pc format hp presario cq57 model urgently need all the driver s very urgent need tþk already
i was updating the bios of my hp 6735s by using hp bios update driver,i followed all the instructions but unfortunately an error occurred an updating process didint proceed further.After 2 hours when i restarted my laptop it didnt start,and lcd was blank and capslock light continously blinkig even hp logo didnt appear,plz give me sincere suggestion thad what i should do now?
Hi hassan, I just tested the method in the post with my laptop and am not sure whether it works with one specific model (although it seems work for some others according to the comments). The method in the post is just one example solution. If your data is critical, contact a professional, such as the customer service from HP, to repair it for you.
HP Pavilion dv6740er
After bios update my notebook failed to start – black screen+blue lights.
the BIOS recovery:
download bios file from HP site
http://h10025.www1.hp.com/ewfrf/wc/softwareDownloadIndex?softwareitem=ob-57224-1&cc=ru&dlc=ru&lc=ru&os=2100&product=3658256&sw_lang=
extract (unzip) 30CFF27B.wph file from sp38261.exe [1/1, 3.09M]
rename 30CFF27B.wph to bios.wph
insert USB flash to another computer
use WINCRIS.EXE to create a bootable USB disk.
copy bios.wph, MINIDOS.SYS, PHLASH16.EXE to usb disk
remove batery pack from HP Pavilion, unplag power
insert USB flash to @dead@ computer
hold Win+b, plug power, push power button
release Win+b after usb start blinking.
Wait 2 minutes till HP Pavilion shut itself down.
Thats all.
Good Luck.
Vadim: thanks for sharing your experience. This definitely helps others. Great work!
Hi Vadim,
Thanks for sharing your experience.
I have a Compaq CQ60-130ED and followed all your steps, but it is not booting from USB…..so I thought , should there not be an autoexec.bat also on the USB drive which point out what Phlash need to do? Could you confirm? Thanks in advance.
Hi,
I have an older HP Compaq NC6320 with corrupted bios; my laptop doesn’t boot at all, all I have is a blinking led. I’ve tried your method, but my laptop is still dead. Would you be so kind to give me detailed instructions?
Thanks!
I just worked out this on my own laptop and have no experience with other models. For your situation, I am afraid I have no additional suggestions.
EMERGENCY ! PLEASE HELP ! :(
-COMPAQ CQ40-330TU 2009
-Deleted System Partition while installing OS
-Now, only & only the “COMPAQ” screen appears with no functionality to either launch “Startup Options”,”Boot Up Options” or the BIOS.
(Nothing happens even if I press Esc.,F9,F10 or Del.)
After some time when a key is pressed,it stats beeping along with it. HELP!!
Hallo I have CQ60-220US, Can’t start with led power and wifi lighting, i have try to recovery bios with usb 4GB Fat sytem but no respon, no beep whats something wrong? or any my hardware thats problem? can help..
Great work.
question:
I have a cq56 (AMD) laptop; BIOS functions perfectly, and that is the problem; this version of bios will not let me choose between native and non-native SATA support, which prevents XP from operating; will this method work in replacing currenct bios with an XP-friendly bios ? which bios image would I have to download, and from where ?
Yes, you can update the BIOS to a lower version. I ever did this on my laptop.
I am not sure which version supports Windows XP. You may try to find it on HP’s website.
Remember to back up your critical data. Updating BIOS may fail.
Followed the 3 different instructions on this blog; nothing happened, laptop did not beep; caps lock blinked; 10 seconds later machine re-started itself; as it stands, I can’t even demage this bios, much less modify or replace it.
If I boot laptop using the USB_stick, none of these executables execute under DOS
Thank You Very much mate, it 100% function on my HP G61-401SA.
I just change name of bios version after extracted fom exe file.
I Renamed from FD file to Bin, i send this file to a USB,pressed Win key + B for 5 seconds and wait till Laptop turned off while beeping.. after one minutes i turned on and HP logo displayed and windows Start
I am very glad to know that this tutorial helps and thanks for sharing the information.
I have a hp compaq dx2300 and has a black screen and white line in a left what can I do?!
Hi Daisy, in my case, there is totally nothing on the screen. I guess your situation may be different.
I have a pc compaq presario CQ71 fentere planted at the start (compaq)
-Keyboard not detected
I restored the bios [in the pile up] but nothing change
-I changed the processor and RAM
I tried this but it didnt work for my CQ56 trying to load F18 BIOS. My computer had quit with the flashing LED indicating a CPU failure. I replaced the CPU but nothing changed. I downloaded the BIOS file and followed the directions but my computer never beeped at all. It still shows a flashing LED indicating CPU failure. On startup all I get is a black screen with the power light on and the flashing LED on the Caps Lock button. I’m thinking it’s a hardware failure, possibly in the power supply. Ideas?
After what operation, does your laptop fail? That may indicate the reason or failure part. If you were trying to update the BIOS, it is possibly caused by a corrupted BIOS.
hp 630, bios cant read bootable usb please help me
Vadim’s experience with a newer model may help: http://www.fclose.com/3022/hp-compaq-bios-crisis-recovery-from-a-failed-bios-flashing/#comment-494
Hi,
I’m trying to restore bios on HP DV 6274ea who refused to boot properly after a bios upgrade with hp bios upgrade exe.
At startup the laptop lights up but screen remains dark and very loud beeps (one long and two shorts) never stop.
I have tried with usb stick and floppy disk. I dowloaded the latest bios from HP, extracted the XXXXX.WPH and renamed it in BIOS.WPH and copied it in the usb stick or floppy with WINCRISIS (and making it bootable of course).
When i try the classical restoring process with Windows+B key, the laptop reads the floppy (or usb key) content and shut off after some minutes. But when i start it up again, the same beeps and nothing en screen.
I also tried to only put bios on floppy (or usb key) renamed in .BIN. Nothing more…
Any suggestion ?
Thanks.
Joss
My CQ61-315SG does everything as described, exept it does not power off after recovery – and after force off and restart, it comes again with the blinking bios error code…
How to update BIOS for COMPAQ 515 using thumb drive.
Hey i have same error with yannick. The bios instalation seems to be installed… but the computer doesnt shut down on its on….
Need method for HP Envy (Hawell) models now.
Haswell (2013) models like mine is 17-J029nr. Bricked BIOS and tried to copy many things over to the flash drive and tried .fd/.bin/.this&that and nothing works…
Compaq presario cq61 laptop is on but not work keyboard and mouse in windows mode how problems plz help
my Email. kishorraj100@gmail.com
I,m using HP 630,I3 Laptop.i’m also have the problem with power on with black screen please help..
Have you tried the method in Update 1 (Vadim‘s experience)? If it does not help, I am afraid the models and BIOS recovery method from HP have already changed since my CQ35 is bought in 2009. After that, I have not touched any other HP laptops.
can i try this with samsung laptop ?
this is not working for HP mini 100e any help please
Hi, i have compaq presario cq61-322sl, how i resolve the problem of update bios?
Thanks
Hi, i have a compaq presario cq61-322sl, the your sistem don’t work ,how i can resolve the problem?Thanks!
My compaq 420 is not power on black waifi led blinking But after searching on the Internet and find there is a “crisis recovery” mechanism to recovery the BIOS even the CMOS don’t work. I finally managed to recovery the BIOS with a help of USB flash disk. I will introduce the procedure to crisis recovery my HP Compaq laptop. i need to prepare a USB flash disk and another computer that is connected to the Internet (i need to download the BIOS image from HP)
this method works using a cd/dvd-rom?
I did not try it. It may not work.
Hey I am using a cq57 and I’ve tried extracting the bios exe and found 2 (bin) files and no .FD files with also no winflash but Insydeflash… Tried using the bin files but was unsuccessful… Any advice?
hi i have hp cq62 laptop .it beep for 1 min. then shuts down but when i turned it on nothing has changed still black screen. is it possible that the bios is damaged?! pls. HELP thanks
That’s Dude it worked the first time too! Just completed an hot air gun reflow on a dv6700
My laptop hp compaq presario cq61-303sv With windows 7 It doesn’t boot up I hope its a problem of bios i cant find a link of bios from hp website could you please provide me any?
Thanks in advance
i have hp pavilion g6 2240sa notebook pc and having same problema. please let me know the solution and how and where to bios update file. i want to install Windows 7 ultimate 32 bit on it. please help me
thanks :)
You’ve saved my old Laptop!
Thanks for help.. but help me my PC has a problem the Image is corrupt and the system cannot boot how can i solve this?
my compaq 515 is blinking 5 times
but i just download bios from hp. and didn’t find .FD or WPH after extract sp46875
rom.cab
hpqflash.exe
sp46875.cva
wssp46875.rtf
rom.cab\
efibios.sig
rom.bin
rom.sig
ver.sig
ver.txt
i was try to copy that file in usb fat16 and do step by step. and stil no beep or nothing happen..
please help me.
Hi,
Can you let me know what should be on the USB stick please to update the BIOS?
At the moment I have 1 file which is the *.fd file.
Should there be something on USB to allow it to update the BIOS?
I have another problem. When i put battery to laptop – POWER ON light flashing and CHARGING led flashing. Laptop won’t turn on.
same thing happend when put power adapter to laptop
Thank you, you just saved me a ton of money by not needing to send it off to get fixed!
I have followed these steps for my QC61-410US — screen shows bios loading with ‘percentage complete’ updates and then attempts to restart — at which point it goes back to the blank screen and flashing LEDs indicating corrupt BIOS.
Any thoughts?
All ur step is work, but after i on
My notebooks compaq presario cq40-140tu…
The logo compaq remain there, n not go to Windows…. Can u help me sir???….
Have a 110-3000 here with this fault, in my case the BIOS chip is socketed. Its been working for a while (7+ months) but today decided for no apparent reason to give out on a routine restart withthe infamous black screen, BIOS is a 25×16
Checked chip, seems OK but may be electrically damaged.
I have a pile of salvaged chips from AOA110 and AOA150 laptops, is any of these likely to work? Already established that socket is electrically OK and
the chip meters fine; have some 25×128 etc on breakout boards as well.
I tried a possibly working x16 IC from AOA150, no go.
Going to attempt a readback from the damaged chip to see if anything can be salvaged and particularly need the bootblock as without this nothing will happen, reading 1.56V in the forward direction on diode test range compared to 1.79V on the “new!” 128.
Perhaps copying chip in combination with the crisis recovery will work?
Also have an HP 630966-001 faulty MB here with DDR3, possibly also worth a try?
These are very similar otherwise and the Atom chips do share many features so hopefully this could work
I have another problem. When I put the battery to laptop – POWER ON light flashing and CHARGING led flashing. Laptop won’t turn on.
This procedure helped in my case. My BIOS update failed and my CQ71 didn’t wanted to boot. When tried to turn it on, it just starts blinking. I think the problem was that I started to flash BIOS with a dead battery.
I extracted BIOS exe file and renamed .fd to .bin. formated USB flash drive to FAT32 and copied BIOS file to it.
Removed the battery and AC plug. Inserted USB flash drive, pressed Win+B keys, inserted AC plug, pressed power button for 5 seconds, then pressed it again. Laptop started beeping, and when it started beeping shortly I released Win and B keys.
After less than a minute of random beeping my laptop came to a life :)
THANKS!!!
Great to know this method still works for CQ71.
Thank You for this.
With thanks for sharing your good websites.
Many thanks very handy. Will certainly share website with my pals.
Hello,
Can anyone tell me if there is something different on a probook 4520s? I do not get any beeps whatsoever, tried different usb’s as the bios was easy to identify. My laptop died soon after a win 10 upgrade and hardware upgrade (cpu, ram and storage-ssd), not sure which one to blame. Components are all in working order, tested on an identical device(with gpu issues, kept as a spare). Only beeps i get are from win+v and those while i keep them pressed. If i press again beeps also untill i release the keys
HP pavilion g6 1B60us I extracted the exe file from HP website and found 3 bin files how should I rename them
Hello. Bios bricked i suspected om ny hp elite 8300 sff.
What it needed was the external video card and then it light up and starts.
Power off, battery out, bios reset and everything else recomended did not work.
Just a tip to test…
I could update bios from v. F33 to v. F54 using Vadims’s method.
Create a FAT FreeDOS bootable usb stick with “Rufus” and copy the renamed bios image (bios.WPH) + minidos.sys and PHLASH16.EXE to be obtained from
https://www.bios-mods.com/bios-recovery/phoenix-bios-recovery/
onto the usb stick.
Boot up as adviced, accept the keyboard settings and at the minidos command promp enter “dir” to see files on the stick.
Run the command “PHLASH16.EXE bios.WPH” to update bios.