Any custom BIOS for HP EliteBook 8760w?

Let's be honest here: I love the model, design and overall components of my laptop (removable CPU and GPU, baby ) but I hate its BIOS. This is the most trashy thing I've seen in a long time. Sure, cosmetics are spot on, but functionality is awful. I cannot set BIOS password (at least after 5 hours of digging) and other options are also very limited — usually only miscellaneous options are available: delay after boot screen, some phony proprietary system of "keeping my information safe" straight from HP themselves. There isn't even a section that allows control over battery consumption, let alone voltage regulation... I can expect as much from a company like HP, *especially* when dealing with a workstation. It makes me quite angry when I think of the potential that could be unleashed if only companies weren't so greedy.

I know that there are many amazing BIOS mods out there. One of the most shining examples is @Prema's BIOS mod, but it's made only for Clevos (*sob* ). So yeah, if anyone knows a viable alternative for my model, please let me know. Cheers.

 

These days OEMs pretty much locks everything and if you flash modded BIOS you will brick it, so do a research if there's a secret key combination like Fn+F1, Ctrl+F1 etc...

 

Figuring out how to set a BIOS password isn't the main issue... I just don't like my system crippled and bound to one company even after I buy it, that's all.

 

Same issue as I'm having. I flashed to the latest F66 my 8770W Elitebook, but still have problems with my GTX 980M graphics card. It's vbios is stock CLEVO.

 

I don't know man, flashing a Clevo vBIOS on a HP machine seems a little risky to me... Just saying. I'd never have the balls to do that. As far as my knowledge of flashing goes, you do not flash an unsuitable BIOS version let alone on a wrong model! If I did something like that, I'd be 100% sure that I bricked my device. If this was possible, I'd equip my puppy with Prema BIOS a long time ago. How did you manage to do such a stunt?

 

Good point man. Issue was (and still is) every time I close the lid - screen goes blank. Cold start - blank. Brightness up/down don't work. Dock it to my dock station - blank (Only external monitor works). Tried fresh copy of Win7 - blank after .inf modded driver install.

Tried to flash the 980M GTX vbios however a strange thing occurs:
nvflash says:

WARNING: Firmware image PCI Subsystem ID (1462.1140)
does not match adapter PCI Subsystem ID (103C.176C).

The laptop "thinks" I have installed K4000M (my original gpu).
I tried and tried and tried. No result yet.

Interestingly I tried 780M GTX with factory vbios - works perfectly. Brightness keys work, no blank screen issues.

 

Hm, sounds like a whitelist (for GPUs) from HP somewhere on the motherboard is interfering with the processes described. This could be why your WARNING directs you towards the best GPU for your particular device (I think that the "official" upgrade path ends at K5010M which is very hard to get your hands on — it's a rarity I'd claim; anyway, it seems that HP baked the GPU model into your motherboard). I've discussed the upgrade to GTX 980M with some of the best members of this forum here and here. It seems that my concerns were justified. I suspect that you permanently handicapped your device (which is always a risk when you flash Clevo firmware on a HP device). In this case I can't help you. Perhaps your only option is to completely disassemble your device, get a physical BIOS programmer (a device which will write the official HP onto your BIOS chip bit by bit in raw binary), restore the official HP version of BIOS and start fresh. The GPU is another story... I have no idea how to handle that problem. Best of luck, man.

 

Maybe my card is G-Sync

 

Yeah, good idea, could be. It would explain why the system goes mad over V-Sync (I believe it is in K4000M) being replaced by architecture unknown to the system — G-Sync. In that case, a little more modding is required, which is waaay over my head. Try posting another thread regarding incompatibility of V-Sync based systems and G-Sync GPUs. Gurus like @Prema , @Phoenix and @Mr. Fox should be able to resolve your problem. And while you're at it, link me this future thread so I too can learn something new from these tech savvies. If your GTX 780M works, then I suspect the crux is in minor tweaks. Cheers and good luck.

 

Can anybody tell me why after successfully upgrading my GPU to GTX 780M (brightness works, drivers too) my screen starts to flicker after waking up from standby mode?
I have to restart the whole system to get it working again...