How to Update BIOS on A HP Desktop/Laptop

BIOS stands for Basic Input Output System. It’s a set of code that resides on a chip on your system’s motherboard. When a computer boots up, it looks in the chip for BIOS for instructions on where to find the operating system and among many other things, BIOS also further facilitates communication between the operating system and the hardware.

Updates for BIOS may fix or enhance features and aspects of your system’s performance. But installing a wrong update or the wrong version can leave your system in an unusable way. So you’ll have to be very specific while following this guide.

First, you’ll have to know the version of the current BIOS installed on your system. To update your BIOS on your HP computer/laptop, you will first have to check which version of BIOS is currently running on your system.

Hold the Windows key + R. In the run window, type msinfo32 and press Enter. A System Information window will open. In the window, make sure System Summary is selected in the left pane. In the larger right pane, locate BIOS Version/Date. The value against it will be your BIOS version. Note it down.

Value against OS will be your Operating system. Value against System type will be its bitness. If its x64, you have 64-bit windows. If its x86, you have 32-bit windows. Value against “System Mode” will be your exact system model. Note all of this, you’ll need it in further steps.

Method 1: Updating Through Windows

You can try the following to update Bios through Windows.

1. Go to HP Software & Driver Downloads.
2. Below “Enter my HP model number”, type your system’s model name you noted earlier, and press Enter.
3. In the search results, click on the model that exactly matches yours. The support page for your model will open.

   

4. Click under the “Operating systems in English:” and select the operating system you noted down earlier.
5. In the result list below, click on (+) sign beside the BIOS category to expand it if you can see one. If not, then the original BIOS version is the only BIOS version available for your model
6. After clicking the BIOS category, if the BIOS version available is newer than you currently have, then click on the Download button. If the available BIOS versions are older or the same, then you already have the latest version of BIOS.
7. Save and close all other applications. It is also recommended that you temporarily disable your antivirus for this activity. Now run the downloaded updated BIOS setup.
8. Click next. Accept the Eula agreement. Click next, and the setup will first extract. Copy its extraction path, which will be something like c:\SWSetup\SP73917.Click Next.
9. When the extraction is complete, press Windows key + E. In the explorer window, paste the previously copied path on the address bar above and press Enter to navigate to it.
10. Open the folder hpqflash.
11. Now run the file similar which will be similar to something like SP73917_E. The numbers might be changed in your file name, but the “E” character, at last, is the same.
12. Select the option “Initiate BIOS update on this system.” And click OK. Follow and confirm the on-screen instructions and patiently wait for the installation to complete. Do not turn off your laptop in any case during the updating process. Make sure the battery is present in the laptop and the AC adapter is connected with it the whole time. Don’t interrupt the updating process once it has started. Reboot when asked and you’ve got the latest BIOS version in town.

Method 2: Through Bootable USB

To update BIOS through a USB, the USB needs to be of 1 GB or less. Any more than that won’t work.

1. Keep tapping the F10 key to enter the BIOS settings menu. On some systems, the BIOS settings menu is accessible by pressing the F2 or F6 key. You may have to try them all or search against your system model on the HP webpage. Once on the setup, you can see your BIOS version against BIOS Revision in the Main menu.
2. Go to HP Software & Driver Downloads on any other pc you can access which has an internet connection.
3. Below “Enter my HP model number”, type your system’s model name which must be written somewhere on the body of your CPU or Laptop, and press Enter.

   

4. In the search results, click on the model that exactly matches yours. The support page for your model will open.
5. Click under the “Operating systems in English:” and select your operating system.
6. In the result list below, click on (+) sign beside the BIOS category to expand it if you can see one. If not, then the original BIOS version is the only BIOS version available for your model
7. After clicking the BIOS category, if the BIOS version available is newer than you currently have, then click on the Download button. If the available BIOS versions are older or the same, then you already have the latest version of BIOS.
8. Save and close all other applications. It is also recommended that you temporarily disable your anti-virus for this activity. Now run the downloaded updated BIOS setup.
9. Click next. Accept the Eula agreement. Click next, and the setup will first extract. Copy its extraction path, which will be something like c:\SWSetup\SP73917.Click Next.
10. When the extraction is complete, press Windows key + E. In the explorer window, paste the previously copied file path on the address bar above and press Enter to navigate to it.
11. Open the folder hpqflash.
12. Now run the file similar to SP73917_E. The numbers might be changed in your file name, the “E” character, at last, is always the same.
13. Make sure no USB is attached now.
14. Select the option “Create a bootable USB disk on key” And click OK. Attach a USB and back up the data from it when it says Insert the USB to be formatted and click OK. Press Yes to format USB. In the HP USB Disk Storage Format Tool window, select FAT32 from the dropdown menu of File System and click Start. When completed, a confirmation message will be shown. Confirm and close all windows.
    Note: You can also select the USB as a boot device from the Bios.
15. Now attach the USB to the target system and power it on. Tap Esc button to access Startup Menu and select Boot device options and from the list, highlight and select your USB drive.
16. Follow and confirm the on-screen instructions and patiently wait for the installation to complete. Do not turn off your laptop in any case during the updating process. Make sure the battery is present in the laptop and the AC adapter is connected with it the whole time. Don’t interrupt the updating process once it has started. Reboot when asked and you’ve got the latest BIOS on your system up and running.