HP elitebook power and bios password issues

[bondoao1]

I bought a refurbished HP elitebook 820 G2 (windows 10) for my daughter's online classes. 

At first it was working good and she has been using it for class, but then I noticed that when you shut it down after about a min. it will turn itself back on.

This isn't a deal breaking problem that I would send it back for since I only paid $100 for it, and otherwise it works great. 

 

I did google it and I came across a forum post with the same issue, and the fix that was posted was to do the bios update. 

I downloaded the latest bios from HP's website and tried to install it. 

(now problem 2) The bios update would not install due to a bios password. 

I called HP support and they can not help with resetting the password and the only fix they suggested was replacing the motherboard. 
I'm not going to buy a $150 mother board for a $100 laptop, so I was wondering if there are any other ways to reset the BIOS password on an HP Elitebook 820 G2.

 

Also does anyone else know of what would cause or fix the laptop turning itself back on?

 

Thanks for any help.

[kelvinhall05]

Remove CMOS battery and put it back in after a minute or two. Should get rid of the password.

[BlueChinchillaEatingDorito]

17 minutes ago, kelvinhall05 said:

Remove CMOS battery and put it back in after a minute or two. Should get rid of the password.

I've tried that at my old workplace and that did not fix the issue for these EliteBooks. The previous technician set the password wrong and we essentially had to write it off. 

 

31 minutes ago, bondoao1 said:

I bought a refurbished HP elitebook 820 G2 (windows 10) for my daughter's online classes. 

At first it was working good and she has been using it for class, but then I noticed that when you shut it down after about a min. it will turn itself back on.

This isn't a deal breaking problem that I would send it back for since I only paid $100 for it, and otherwise it works great. 

 

I did google it and I came across a forum post with the same issue, and the fix that was posted was to do the bios update. 

I downloaded the latest bios from HP's website and tried to install it. 

(now problem 2) The bios update would not install due to a bios password. 

I called HP support and they can not help with resetting the password and the only fix they suggested was replacing the motherboard. 
I'm not going to buy a $150 mother board for a $100 laptop, so I was wondering if there are any other ways to reset the BIOS password on an HP Elitebook 820 G2.

 

Also does anyone else know of what would cause or fix the laptop turning itself back on?

 

Thanks for any help.

There is no other method of resetting the BIOS passwords on these HP EliteBooks as the password is stored on non-volatile memory so removing the CMOS Battery or RTC Cell to clear the CMOS will not reset the password. This is just one of the added security measures on these EliteBooks compared to your regular consumer Pavilion laptops. Your only options are to replace the BIOS chip entirely (which comes at huge expense in labor or requires equipment and expertise), replacing the entire mainboard (which as you mentioned is the only method HP will tackle such an issue), or their Business Support would send you a SMC.bin file to reset the password. Now they no longer provide these SMC.bin files anymore. Even when we had extended warranties and Government level support back in my old workplace, this was just a service they no longer provide. 

 

In addition, because no one can verify whether or not this laptop was stolen at some point, replacing the entire board should be the only logical option in my opinion. 

[Guest]

17 minutes ago, BlueChinchillaEatingDorito said:

I've tried that at my old workplace and that did not fix the issue for these EliteBooks. The previous technician set the password wrong and we essentially had to write it off. 

 

There is no other method of resetting the BIOS passwords on these HP EliteBooks as the password is stored on non-volatile memory so removing the CMOS Battery or RTC Cell to clear the CMOS will not reset the password. This is just one of the added security measures on these EliteBooks compared to your regular consumer Pavilion laptops. Your only options are to replace the BIOS chip entirely (which comes at huge expense in labor or requires equipment and expertise), replacing the entire mainboard (which as you mentioned is the only method HP will tackle such an issue), or their Business Support would send you a SMC.bin file to reset the password. Now they no longer provide these SMC.bin files anymore. Even when we had extended warranties and Government level support back in my old workplace, this was just a service they no longer provide. 

 

In addition, because no one can verify whether or not this laptop was stolen at some point, replacing the entire board should be the only logical option in my opinion. 

Maybe treat it like a bad bios flash? 

Do a bios recovery? 

 

Have no idea if this will work honestly. But worth a shot?

https://support.hp.com/us-en/document/c02693833

[BlueChinchillaEatingDorito]

7 minutes ago, ShrimpBrime said:

Maybe treat it like a bad bios flash? 

Do a bios recovery? 

 

Have no idea if this will work honestly. But worth a shot?

https://support.hp.com/us-en/document/c02693833

It's worth a shot. Though I'm not 100% sure if that would still trigger a BIOS password verification step. 

[Guest]

8 minutes ago, BlueChinchillaEatingDorito said:

It's worth a shot. Though I'm not 100% sure if that would still trigger a BIOS password verification step. 

If I'm not mistaken, the password is on the bios recovery partition. 

I dont know if this is integrated through windows or not. Did see some silly software you make a bootable with, but it looks sketchy to me. 

[BlueChinchillaEatingDorito]

9 minutes ago, ShrimpBrime said:

If I'm not mistaken, the password is on the bios recovery partition. 

Quite possible as that would have to be a non-volatile partition as well. 

13 minutes ago, ShrimpBrime said:

I dont know if this is integrated through windows or not. Did see some silly software you make a bootable with, but it looks sketchy to me. 

Well I remember having to upgrade a BIOS on one of these EliteBooks I believe it was a 830 G5, I had to use that utility and I think it was optional to provide the BIOS password. This essentially was to make the process automated as you otherwise had to input the password manually prior to updating. The reason I had to do this was because our network had a Proxy server so there was no way for the BIOS to directly communicate back to HP for the update file. 

[Guest]

21 minutes ago, BlueChinchillaEatingDorito said:

Quite possible as that would have to be a non-volatile partition as well. 

Well I remember having to upgrade a BIOS on one of these EliteBooks I believe it was a 830 G5, I had to use that utility and I think it was optional to provide the BIOS password. This essentially was to make the process automated as you otherwise had to input the password manually prior to updating. The reason I had to do this was because our network had a Proxy server so there was no way for the BIOS to directly communicate back to HP for the update file. 

Not sure how it all goes with a recovery vs an update. 

 

But OP did mention that HP recommended to replace the board.

Or replace the chip like you mentioned....

 

But if the bios is volatile, why would this even work? That would be the same as a clear cmos essentially, if the new bios chip was installed with identical revision?

 

 

 

 

 

[brian105]

Why would you replace the chip to begin with? Why not use a CH341A chip programmer to just re-flash a new BIOS?