HP8510p won't boot after flashing BIOS F.15 pls help!

(I'm keeping this main post updated so you don't have to read the entire thread)

My HP 8510p was at BIOS F.14, and I noticed F.15 was available. I've had no problems upgrading twice from previous versions (F.11 to F.13 then F.14).

As soon as I rebooted after flashing F.15, Windows (XP SP2) shows the fade-up Windows logo & progress bar then a second later a brief blue-screen flashes up and it reboots itself! Same happens if I try Safe Mode.

The error which appears on the brief blue-screen says:
" The BIOS in this system is not fully ACPI compliant."

This is where I got the update from, as well as my previous updates:
http://h20000.www2.hp.com/bizsuppor...sId=3355678&swEnvOID=1093&taskId=135&swLang=8

I've tried flashing F.15 again from the FreeDOS bootable CD, same problem occurs, so I doubt it was a bad flash. When I try to flash back to a previous BIOS version, like this one: http://h20000.www2.hp.com/bizsuppor...&swLang=8&taskId=135&swItem=ob-62294-1&mode=3, the flash utility won't allow it, saying " This is an older version of BIOS which is not compatible with your system configuration." That seems odd, as I had that version before going to F.14 and now F.15! So I'm lost as to how to restore my old BIOS version.

[resolved] I had to re-install XP, now it's ok. Still have the F.15 BIOS but something in my XP installation was not agreeing with it, no idea what though. After re-installing, it seems ok.

 

I managed to take a photo of the blue-screen with a 2-second exposure at the time of the crash. It says:

"The BIOS in this system is not fully ACPI compliant." etc etc

How could that be, if I've simply upgraded to a newer version? Seems I'll have to find a way to go back to my previous BIOS (F.14) but lacking a link to a DOS version, I have no idea how.

 

Check the BIOS for a hard drive mode. If it's in AHCI, change it to ATA. If it's in ATA, change it to AHCI.
Also, you can get a better look at that BSOD by hitting F8 repeatedly on boot, and disabling automatic restart on system failure.
Did it come with XP or did you downgrade yourself?

 

Hi, thanks for the help. It came with XP, yep, as a "recovery disk".

I wanted to install from scratch from my own copy of XP Pro, and noticed it wouldn't recognise the disk. So I had to slipstream a few extra drivers into my XP install so I could use it with this laptop, one of which I think was ACPI, but mainly HD drivers.

How do I check the BIOS for a HD mode? Do you mean look in the actual BIN file? If so, where exactly, and is that advisable? What if I screw it up completely?

 

Not in the BIN file, actually open up the BIOS with the setup entry key, probably escape or F10, I forget what HP uses (it will tell you when you first turn on the laptop)
Look for the mode in there.

 

Thanks for the help, I ended up reinstalling XP (still going!) It's stable so far, at least it's booting now. Still the F.15 BIOS, but XP is working. Thanks for the help though!

 

I'm pretty sure what happened was the drive mode got changed. You can still check the BIOS if you care to confirm.

 

So if it happens again, it's just a matter of changing it back in the BIOS?

I didn't even think to check that..

 

I do believe that is the problem, yes.

 

I just updated the bios on my 8510p and ended up with the same problem.. but where in the bios can i find that option that was talked about earlier?

I've been looking but can't find it

Reinstalling is not an option..

Thanks

 

I found this problem can occur if you have previously adjusted the ACPI\DSDT table (fan speed settings) using the technique described here:
http://eddietse.blogspot.com/2008/03/patching-dsdt-table-for-8510p-to-reduce.html

The original settings need to be restored before doing the BIOS update, otherwise they may be incompatible in some way. Since I couldn't boot into Windows at all, I just reinstalled Windows and it was ok again.

In your case, you might benefit from booting from an external HDD which has Windows already installed on it, then diagnosing your primary Windows installation from there.

HTH