HP Zbook BIOS replacement

Hi guys, I've recently bought a Zbook17G2 workstation but have been scammed by the seller who refused to accept the return so I have to make the most out of it 'as is'.
The laptop works but throws all kinds of EC/TPM/BIOS related errors at bootup. I've opened the service lid and was shocked that the BIOS chip has been replaced and the whole plastic foilcal arond has melted away...they probably didn't even bother removing the MB when replacing the chip.

According to the serial number in BIOS it now identifies as a Probook 250G3....and won't accept any official Zbook 17 G2 BIOS updates...even though Aida64 says it is indeed a Zbook.

Is there any way to fix it with a force flash or is replacing the BIOS IC again, the only option? If so, do the EC/TPM have to be replaced as well?
BIOS recovery from a USB key didn't work, got Error #500.

 

Can you post pictures of the errors and what it looks like on the inside?

 

The errors are:

"Embedded controller flash failed" (translated)
"The Embedded Controller MUD data is not valid while MPM is locked. Please unlock MPM and lock again to capture valid MUD data"
And sometimes it says something about TPM not being active.

When trying to do a BIOS recovery for the 17G2 it says:
"A System BIOS Recovery has occured.
BIOS Recovery (500)
Enter - Continue"

Flashing the newest BIOS from HP's website doesn't work, it says that it's not compatible.

What CPU-Z Says about the MB:
Hewlett-Packard model 2225, KBC version 03.12
BIOS M70 ver. 1.20

 

If you have been scammed, you should contact your bank and get a proper refund.

Did you buy through ebay and/or pay through paypal?

 

There is no way to do that. The guy made a drama after I confronted him with the condition of the notebook and requested to delete his account from the site..it wasn't bought through Ebay or anything.

 

From what website?

If you paid by paypal you can request a chargeback from paypal.

You also have your bank / credit - debit provider company which you SHOULD contact on this issue.

 

I'm not from the US, it went through bank transfer and the banks here don't act as middlemen, if it's paid then it's paid. Tough luck, they say.
It was an IT portal, actually a quite renown here, the guy had good feedback but pretty much ran away when the community and the mods confronted him and asked to take the notebook back (I had to open a public thread).

Anyways, the question remains - is there a way to force flash the BIOS to the correct Zbook one? Maybe through DOS?

 

Well first thing that doesnt make sense, is how a BIOS for some other laptop works on this laptop, unless either one is a variant of the other.
And from what i could find, these 2 laptops are not really similar to each other.
So unless the person you bought it from swapped out the motherboards, going to need a few pictures of the BIOS chip area that you mention to be sure of whats going on.

 

As crazy as it might sound - I've entered the serial number from the BIOS on HP's website and no matter how often I tried it reports that it's a Probook 250G3 !
This is some Frankenstein'ery going on as those boards aren't even remotely compatible indeed.
Someone must have been tinkering with the .rom file or something to get this to work or this is some shady BIOS chip from Ebay China.

When trying to update the BIOS through the internet, it says it's already the newest version, which is gibberish as the Zbook 17G2 does have v1.40 (I have 1.20)

The chip itself has been replaced, that's for sure: http://nl.tinypic.com/r/fvwsax/9
You can see the foil tape melted all around the chip.

 

You would probably need to use a hardware flasher to write new information into the chip. The only reason that chip was removed was probably to write a custom bios (but for what reason???)

I'm pretty sure that the bios flashed to that chip was the wrong one at any case.

What happens if you attempt to contact your bank to reverse that transfer?

 

Absolutely nothing would happen they'd just say that you're 100% responsible of where you transfer your money too, same goes if you'd enter wrong acc.number and send the money to someone else by mistake. Once it's transferred, it's final and cannot be undone.

There could be more reasons of why the chip has been replaced or reprogrammed but I hope that they're not the case...
I'm thinking about buying a different BIOS chip thats pre-programmed for the 17G2 but would it work?

 

Umm easiest way to test if it would work or not would be to, download the latest the BIOS, extract the BIOS file from it, not sure how HP packages it, and then flash it manually using a programmer.

This way you can backup your existing BIOS chip and just incase the flashing doesnt work, you can always go back and at the very least have a working machine.

 

From the picture you posted it seems that the bios chip has been replaced with the hot air welder. You should get a chip with bios right and replace it again, maybe disassembling the notebook to do a better job. Good luck