Bricked from Windows Update BIOS - HP All-in-One - 22-df0120m and No Support from HP

[MichiganBroadband]

15 hours ago, BiotechBen said:

It is supposed to have a backup image saved in a recovery partition on the drive, except if the board doesn't support bios flashback like mine, it's kinda a moot point.

It is apparent that the Windows update updated this "backup recovery image" on the hard drive.  (NVMe SSD actually)
The original firmware update (after reboot that I watched is identical to what happens when I try the (Win+B) on powerup bios recovery.  
It recovers the bad updated bios that is on the hard drive and it successfully flashes, then reboots back into the "the bios flash update failed can can't find bios image" error where it shows this as a 15 second countdown timer and then it reboots back into the same error and repeats this loop forever.
The computer has "something of a BIOS" on it but this "error thing" is what that BIOS is doing.
If I remove the SSD this no longer happens and all it does is turn on the backlight for a few seconds and reboot. 
Then it does an endless cycle of backlight comes on for a few seconds backlight goes off and it reboots. 
If I put the SSD back in you get the ""the bios flash update failed can can't find bios image" . 

Oddly without any hard drive plugged in - where you only get backlight coming on (no graphics or text) and rebooting continuously..  
If you hit ANY keys on the keyboard during this rebooting you get one single frame of video that has text for 1/60th of a second. 
You see a flash of white but it's only a single frame.. it goes by far to fast to be able to read anything, but you can tell it's white text in the upper left hand corner. 
Only way to know what it says was to record a video and put it into a video editor and find the single frame that has this text in it. 
Please see attached:  It's a BIOS init screen. 
But it's only there for 1 frame and it never appears if you don;t hit keys on the keyboard while it is rebooting.
It also only ever appears IF and only if the the SSD is removed from the board and you hit keys on the keyboard as it is rebooting.



 



 

[MichiganBroadband]

 

Plugging my serial number into HP parts surfer seems to indicate my mother board is: MBD, Monk-D, AMD Dali, Athlon 3150U

I discovered or found out about HP parts surfer by search means other than HP or HP support which is totally non-existent.

For my model I am not given ANY options for replacement parts or where to find them via any HP support site page.  

 

Doing searches on BIOS: 86F3 cF.01 (obtailed rom my video and frame pull)  indicate it is for a different board:  

    HP name: MonkP
    SSID: 86F3

    Which of course also seems to have no associated firmware or BIOS available from the HP site,
    Yet they are pushing this via Windows Update.

 

[MichiganBroadband]

19 hours ago, manikyath said:

have you tried going trough the steps of the cloud recovery tool HP does actually list for this thing?

Yep- sure did. 
Detailed that in one of the newer posts.
It was not bootable it needs a working bios to function.
As well as not having any directly available BIOS files on it or BIOS recovery utility directly on it.  
I'm It's there in that if it were used to restore the hard drive (SSD) to factory it would include a BIOS and BIOS recovery software (Win+B).  
However the system in it's current state is unable to boot USB.  
The cloud recovery USB media just looks like a WIM Disk image restore like the common Windows 10/11 USB install USB.
It's of course not bootable here in this situation.

 
 
 

[MichiganBroadband]

16 hours ago, BiotechBen said:

It is supposed to have a backup image saved in a recovery partition on the drive, except if the board doesn't support bios flashback like mine, it's kinda a moot point.

This ^^^ at least appears to have been overwritten by the BAD BIOS from Windows update.
(WIN+B) executes and fully runs the bios recovery as expected.
It completes flashes the bios and checks it without error.
Upon it rebooting the system it boots up into this "other" (graphical) utility screen "The BIOS update failed and can't find the BIOS image" 
Shows a 15 second countdown then reboots and does the same thing infinitely. ("The BIOS update failed and can't find the BIOS image" ) forever
and every 15 seconds.

It's unclear confusing exactly what "BIOS image" it wants or what it is trying to do with this image as this is not the same exact BIOS recovery screen.
I don't know if this referring to an image it just wants to load (boot the system) having after having flashed it or what. 
The on hard disk (SSD) bios recovery program when invoked by WIN+B on power up find's the image it intends to flash just fine and without error.
and it flashes as expected and then then reboots.
This "can't find the BIOS image" error and a non bootable system results after flashing.
Ad we appear to be stuck in this loop because when running the BIOS recovery we are just re-flashing a bad BIOS from the hard drive
that was just updated by Windows Update.

I need a good BIOS recovery that has the correct BIOS.
And bottom line is HP broke this and really should provide an Image I can stick on a USB drive and fix it with.
If this system is capable of doing that. 
I'm pretty sure it is. 
The system does appear to try to access the USB drive when booted.
Both when and when not executing the WIN+B BIOS recovery.
You see some activity flashing on any USB thumb drive if it is plugged in.
HP has dropped a really bad bomb here.
 

[MichiganBroadband]

On 5/13/2023 at 7:19 PM, MichiganBroadband said:

Rant removed - Topic Updated. 
Once I get through this (or don't get through this)
I will post a clear concise public rant that makes a lot more sense and contains the relevant data and experiences. 
This is not really the place for that.
 

 

 

 

 

 

[MichiganBroadband]

Still could really use a hand or insight here.  
I feel like (most) everyone jumped on this and spent their time to make sure they were telling me I didn't post what the actual product was and that my formatting was a mess.  
I fixed all of that, made it easier to follow and posted much more relevant information  and I am still stuck on the problem and it seems like everyone just went away.
 
 

[MichiganBroadband]

Should I post this all over again? 

 

[MichiganBroadband]

I get the impression nobody wants to dig in technically but they are plenty available to be a critic of formatting and if I forgot to post
what exact computer I was referring to. 
I post more details and I cleaned up my text and it goes totally silent here.

 

[MichiganBroadband]

Thanks for all of the help and pointing out all of my mistakes.
And then just dropping off. 
 

[E-waste]

Don't get upset with lack of support from community, but thanks to your repeat posting, I just happened to hop over to the laptop section today.

 

Usually it's full of "what laptop should I get" so I just quit visiting this section.

 

I would research online the available BIOS files available for this pc outside of HP's website.

 

It can't be worse than what it is now, and if it doesn't work, try another.

 

So it is reading the files from the SSD on some partition.  If yoy can pull the ssd and plug it in to another PC, and replace the BIOS file inside whatever recovery partition is there, with a different file, maybe it will install that.

 

I don't know what website to use to download such a bios file, but you could try bios files for other models of HP products first, and try those, even for different hardware.  Risky, but seems like it will allow to reflash even if it doesn't work, so worth a try.

 

I know how annoying this is, I have a device that won't boot due to some update.  It requires taking out all components, screen, and all, and small connectors, then, I'd have to purchase another "bios board" for it, and use a raspberry pi with a special cable to connect to that board, hopefully find a working bios file, flash it to that board, connect that to the original device, then connect all the other little wires back and put all the comoonents back together.  All because of an update.

 

Windows should NEVER modify the bios. Before you do this next time, perform a FULL storage backup with open-source clonezilla

 

https://clonezilla.org/

 

This way, whatever happens, you have a complete backup.  Windows has various issues, so it's nice to have a backup, even a monthly backup us useful, even a yearly backup would help in this case.

[MichiganBroadband]

Hey!  
Thanks for taking the time to reply.

I have already before even posting here tried pretty much all of your recommendations to some degree and I even have a full image backup of the system 
Which in this case (without going into great detail) is not doing me or my customer any good.
Ultimately this really is on HP (I mean it's on me as well as I "allowed" the advanced windows updates to be checked when I was asked), but it is really on HP for pushing this bad update out to Microsoft * and then not doing a damn thing to support it or the customers while it bricked any matching system (to my post) that it hits.
There is no way that I could find to locate and download a valid/compatible BIOS version or restore utility.  
I am stuck at this stage. 
My customer is out a 500-$600 piece of crap all-in-one computer and HP is basically telling to F_off with zero options do do anything. 
They do not even offer any paid or send it in support option because it's just barely out of warranty. 
You can't chat with them, you can't call anyone and you can't email anyone that will respond (and I have tried). 
We are a reputable company in South East Michigan and service roughly 500+ GOOD customers out this way.
I have been working with this stuff for 20+ years and have done thousands of BIOS updates (manually)
So I have experience with this and know the risks and usually have a plan in place if anything were to go wrong.  
I've had a flash failure only ONCE in this 20 year span and had to re-burn/flash a chip on the motherboard.  
And even then the good/valid bios file was actually available.
This is absolute crap. 
Yep, It happens but it doesn't usually happen like this. 
I will make it a point over the next ten years to see to it that I very actively inform people against ALL HP products and services
and point out this event to each and every one of my customers and future customers.
This is not a company anyone should do business with in 2023 and beyond. 
I have since advised my (new) customer that they purchased a 1-year lifespan throw-away computer with no support options whatsoever after one years time. 
They understand. 
I still tried to help them anyway. 
This event is extremely well documented on my end and I'll eventually publish it in a well organized readable form to share with the Internet.
 

 




 

 
 

[ToddlerWit]

Hello, I know it's probably a little late for this issue but I had the same problem on the same computer today and I solved it here. https://h30434.www3.hp.com/t5/Desktop-Boot-and-Lockup/HP-BIOS-update-failed/m-p/8860291#M78416. I'm going to copy and paste the post below as well. 

 

Hi:

 

It appears that any HP AIO PC with a MonkD motherboard such as yours has, the latest BIOS update fails.

 

There has to be 30 - 40 posts about this problem in the last two weeks.

 

The background to the problem is found in this discussion.

 

Solved: Re: HP 24-DF0040 BIOS update fail loop - HP Support Community - 8851023

 

Link to the F.41 BIOS update.

 

https://ftp.hp.com/pub/softpaq/sp141501-142000/sp141980.exe 

 

The is link explains how to create a BIOS recovery flash drive.

 

I've already provided the BIOS file you need, which is good for either W10 or W11.

 

Updating the BIOS on HP Consumer Desktops outside of Windows 11| HP Computers| HP Support - YouTube

 

Here is how to use the BIOS recovery flash drive after it has been successfully created:

 

After you create the USB BIOS recovery drive, follow the instructions that show up after the USB recovery drive has been successfully created.

 

1. Power off the device to be recovered.

 

2. Insert the USB flash drive into a USB port.

 

3. Power on the device.

 

4. The device may reboot up to 3 times with indicator lights on the keyboard flashing, or the screen appearing blank for short time.

 

Hopefully, that will fix the problem for you.

 

That would be the only suggestion I can offer.

[MichiganBroadband]

I still need to circle back to this..  
I really appreciate all the help and extra info.   
Bottom line is I think I'm going to have to go back to my original approach which is the burn an SSD from my macrium backup image. 
None of the HP USB recovery creator stuff will work on any system I have access to.  
Way back when I originally had this issue I was able to run the USB recovery creator that they had available for download but did not work.  
All it did was reflash the bios with the incorrect one that I have now and does not work.  
I think what is posted here would work if I could actually run and create it but that does not work (on anything IO have) either.  
So I'm back to square one with my macrium reflect backup of a working system which may be able to flash the correct (or working) firmware back onto the motherboard.
It will be a bit time consuming to try when I get around to this.  
So I've been putting this off due to other stuff that is more pressing.  
But I WILL get back to it and follow up here eventually.  
 

[MichiganBroadband]

And repeat:  None of those flash creators will run on any non-HP system.   
I tired on 5 different systems we have here.  
The .exe just runs and exits without any errors.  
So I am unable to create the boot media.  
 

[E-waste]

On 5/13/2023 at 7:19 PM, MichiganBroadband said:

Windows update BIOS upgrade bricked this system.

Same thing happened with most microsoft surface pro 3, 4, 5, 6, 7.  it's almost like a planned obsolesence conspiracy to forcibly, knowingly brick computer BIOS to force new hardware sales.  I wouldn't be surprised.

 

There is a way to flash a different bios file to a microsoft surface 3 and up, but requires taking off the screen, serial to usb cables, and a raspberry pi, because Microsoft and HP figured there would be no profit from a recoverable backup bios.

 

Now you know, to never, ever apply bios updates through Windows, they are purposely put there to brick your devices.