HPdv4000 BIOS update to support USB upon Startup

[Rondo]

Hi, I have an HP dv4000 (p/n PC253AV). I would like to mod the BIOS to support booting from the USB drive at startup.
When using the embedded Phoenix BIOS setup utilityon the PC, and I select the USB as the primary boot device and try to save and exit the utility, the utility freezes and the USB related change is not saved (i.e. the PC still boots from the HD). So I’m assuming that the BIOS did not like the change and not the tool.  To make things more challenging HP no longer supports this laptop.   I cannot find as copy of the current BIOS on the web (F.16). I tried a CMOS copy tool that did not provide any useful information but was eventually successful in copying the BIOS.  When using  the Phoenix BIOS editor tool I did not see a way to accomplish my goal of adding a USB startup option.
The PC is running windows XP Pro SP3 X86. The motherboard HP board ID is 09BC and is using the Intel i915GMS/i910GML (Rev B) chipset.
Any thoughts on how to proceed?  Can this BIOS be modded to support USB boot? Is there a newer version of this BIOS that supports USB boot for this pc? Where can I find a repository of the correct BIOS?
Thanks, any help would be appreciated.
I have attached the Phoenix BIOS version F.16 file.

I how have an official copy of the HP Bios F.16 downloaded from the HP FTP site