SOLVED: Need help with UEFI recovery HP Pavilion 17

[AemJay]

Hi all,

FINAL UPDATE: I managed to find System Board CT Number, MAC and UUID in the saved UEFI image with the help of this thread:

https://winraid.level1techs.com/t/please...ne/32789/7

I inserted these and turned MPM mode off with the description and tool from here:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YhP7FmoRkoY

Machine is up and running again as should be. Will never buy an HP laptop myself after this, that's for sure!

FIRST UPDATE: I was able to extract the botched UEFI from the machine with the CH341A (twice and compared via Hex Editor to make sure there is no read error). I searched the bin file for the IDs of the bins provided in the Updaters and found one match.

I then flashed the matching bin and the machine is up and running again!

There is only one problem left: On startup, it says it is still in MPM unlocked mode and several IDs are missing.

I found Build ID, Feature Byte, Product ID, Serial Number, model and board type on various stickers and etchings, but I am missing the following:

- System Board CT Number

- UUID

- MAC Address

Can these be extracted from the botched UEFI I saved?

What tool do you recommend to lock MPM and reinsert the above informations?
_____________

I am new to this forum and unfortunately I while I actually caught interest in the opportunities a modded BIOS can bring, I am opening this thread because I am rather desperately in need of help.

I consider myself a slightly above average user - enough though to be considered a "pro" by my family and friends, with all side-effects. One of them being the fact that I end up having to help people every now and then.

I have done and continue to do BIOS updates regularly and never had any problems whatsoever in more than twenty years now for sure. Not this time.

It seems I have completely bricked an HP Pavilion notebook, a HP Pavilion 17-ab004ng to be exact, going from UEFI version F55 to F56.

The update started as usual with a restart and an automatic flash procedure. I was distracted for a few moments while the process ran through, but as I came back the device was active (fans and harddrive spinning, power ledu active, but fully unresponsive with a dark screen. It stayed that way after power cycle and this is the state since then.

I tried to clear the CMOS-RAM via Win-B and Win-V. Win-B seems to do nothing, Win-V triggers a power cycle after a few seconds but nothing changes.

I also prepared a Recovery Stick and tried the Win-B/Win-V recovery method, but the stick is not being accessed at all, Read LED stays dark.

I hope there is a way of recovering the laptop. This is what I have prepared:

I quickly got a CH341A and Test Clip and I believe I have identified the proper IC, a Winbond 25Q64 sitting next to the chipset.

I have the old and new firmware bins (hp updaters) ready.

I guess I would need to dump the existing firmware (despite it being broken?) and then reflash one of the images in the updater.

How do I find the correct bin? the installers contain several. Can I damage the laptop by flashing the wrong one?

One of the resources below states that I need to transplant the Board ID to the new firmware. I guess that is correct? What if the dump is too corrupted?

Do I need to remove the RCT Battery? For this, the board needs to be removed, so I would like to avoid this if not necessary.

My first step would be to dump the existing content and get back here with the result. Does that seem reasonable? Would you recommend another route? 

I would use the following resources for the procedure:

https://www.ifixit.com/Answers/View/7343...d+bootloop
with this reference:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FJ0rAM-N7tY

This thread on the forum:
https://www.bios-mods.com/forum/showthre...5#pid74575

Thanks alot for your feedback!

Kind regards,
Michael