HP ZBook 15u G3 won't boot up after BIOS update

Question

After updating my HP ZBook to the latest BIOS version 1.39 it won't boot up anymore. All it does while booting is stay at a blank screen with the fans spinning. Sometimes (but not always) the Caps Lock and Num Lock lights will flash 2.2 times (https://support.hp.com/us-en/document/c01732674 indicates this is a BIOS corruption issue).

I've tried to create a recovery USB using the BIOS update tool on HP's site. The version for 1.39 won't install the BIOS as it says "The system BIOS update file is missing or corrupt" but older versions of HPBIOSUPDREC.exe work.

The computer attempts to read the USB for a short while if you hold Windows+B but it won't accept it. I've tried putting N75_0139.bin in the root directory, Hewlett-Packard/BIOS/Current and Hewlett-Packard/BIOS/New. I've tried formatting the USB as both MBR and GPT, and both FAT16 and FAT32.

I've also tried older BIOS version all the way back to 1.13.

Is there anything I'm doing wrong here or is the computer just gone? I've also found documentation for HP Sure Start which should recover the BIOS automatically but it doesn't seem to. "Manual Recovery" is Up+Down+Esc which won't do anything either.

Answer 1

try this:

1.the laptop should be powered off and unplugged from charger.

2.press & hold power button + mute button for 45 seconds.

3.if it doesn't turned on by itself, press power button once and wait.

4.it should show the Windows 10 Recovery System with different options to recover.

5.go to more options and try startup recovery option.