Laptop dead after BIOS update. How do I restore original BIOS?

Question

• Model: HP Pavillion m7-1015dx
• Original OS: Windows 7
• Current OS: Windows 8 64 bit

Problem:

I tried to update the BIOS using this file.

• Released: 2013-10-08
• File name: sp63801.exe [1/1, 6.56M]
• Version F.29

It gave me a Blue Screen of Death and the computer restarted. After restarting I only get a black screen, the fan turns on but there's no text and no way to access the BIOS nor the boot menu. The Caps Lock led starts blinking twice, then stops for 1~ second, then blinks twice again and again, indefinitely. This, according to HP, suggests a BIOS Corruption Failure.

What I've tried:

I don't have the HP recovery partition, so I've tried installing both HP UEFI BIOS Update SoftPAQ and HP UEFI Support Environment SoftPAQ to a FAT32 USB drive named HP_TOOLS. I have tried these tools separately, not at the same time. I've tried them with 3 different BIOS versions downloaded from the HP site for my laptop model. I hold Win + B, then turn on the computer. Nothing happens. I have tried Fn and B, holding them for different lengths of time, there's no beeps, no text on the screen, nothing. The led on the USB drive flashes over ten times at the beginning and then stops, then caps lock starts blinking again. I have tried placing the .bin file in different folders in the USB, including the root path, same results. There's no .sig file in the BIOS versions I have downloaded.

I am on mobile, excuse the errors. What am I missing?

Solution

I asked the same question on the HP forums:

http://h30434.www3.hp.com/t5/Notebook-Recovery/Laptop-dead-after-BIOS-update-How-do-I-restore-original-BIOS/m-p/3567557#M45032

And someone pointed me towards the answer:

http://h30434.www3.hp.com/t5/Other-Notebook-PC-Questions/How-to-use-the-HP-BIOS-update-uefi-utility/m-p/2451463#M62022

The only step I was missing was generating the .sig and .bin files with Phoenix Tools.

A few pointers for others with the same problem:

• Make sure you have at least .Net Framework 3.5 installed. Phoenix tools wouldn't generate the files until I installed it.

• Not every BIOS version on the HP site can be installed with this method. I had to click on "previous versions" and only the three oldest ones were able to generate the required files with Phoenix tools.

Comments

[Ramhound]

You don't. At this point the firmware likely is corrupt. Any fix would require access to the BIOS itself which you don't have.

[Luis Gonzales]

Can the BIOS be physically replaced or do I need an entire new motherboard?

[Jack]

The last and only time I bricked a computer was years ago. It was a desktop, but the only way to boot it again was to pull the chip and order another specific to my motherboard. 45 USD later it was up a going again. This may only be a gratuitous post since it was for a desktop with a socketed BIOS. I am not aware of any laptops with a socketed BIOS.

[Luis Gonzales]

I was able to restore it. I added an answer with more information.

[ganesh]

Possible duplicate of Is it possible to recover a computer from a failed BIOS update?