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Full Version: [REQUEST] HP Compaq Presario CQ40-313BR Whitelist Removal
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I have a really old HP Compaq Presario CQ40-313BR with Insyde BIOS F.66 and I wish to remove the whitelist so that I can replace the wifi card without getting the dreaded "Unsupported wireless" message on startup.

I tried hard but could not find the bios files and flasher on HP website because the model is unsupported for a long time. I also do not have the original disk that came with the notebook.

I used the Universal BIOS Backup ToolKit 2.0 to download a BIOS backup and I also used an SPI-programmer with a SOIC8 clip to download the BIOS directly from the chip, which is of model MX25L8005M2C. I don't know why, but checking with a hex diff tool I see that backups do not match exactly (although they mostly match). I don't know which of the two I would use in case I need to restore. I attached both to this request.

By searching this forum I found a reference to a bios which is perhaps close enough to mine:
ftp://ftp.hp.com/pub/softpaq/sp48501-49000/sp48847.exe

This one was once modded by TTAV134 as discussed here, but the files (posted in 2011) are nowhere to be found.
https://www.bios-mods.com/forum/showthread.php?tid=4396&pid=24820#pid24820

Even if the modded files are around somewhere, I don't know if they are compatible with my machine, and maybe it would be safer to mod my own bios backup files.

I tried to follow this guide https://www.bios-mods.com/wiki/How_to_Re...nsyde_BIOS to edit the bios code, and although I did found and replace the relevant bytes in the ImHex hex editor on the running EzH20 proccess, I could not complete the procedures. It seems to me that HzH20 does not perceive that changes were made by other proccess, so when I "save as.." the file is equal to the original. I tried using different versions of HzH20, but maybe it is because Windows 11 has stricter memory protections? Don't really know.

Anyway, I noticed that there is still someone else reading this forum in 2023. Maybe you can point me in the right direction? Thank you in advance.
Now I can say for sure that the BIOS currently installed is this one:

Insyde BIOS F.66 REV: A
https://ftp.hp.com/pub/softpaq/sp48501-4...48847.html
http://ftp.hp.com/pub/softpaq/sp48501-49000/sp48847.exe

To be more specific, it is the 30F7F66U.FD variation that is running.

I know that now because I installed another BIOS and had to recover.

It happened that I found the modded BIOS "sp45765_NWL_ByCamiloml.exe" on the bios-mods file repository. This is for the Insyde BIOS F.55 version. I installed it on my notebook, but unfortunately it didn't work. The computer shuts down immediately when it is started.

I was able to recover my computer using the USB stick method containing the renamed file 30F7.BIN from the original 30F7F66U.FD, and all went back to normality.

I also installed the original BIOS upon which the Camilo mod is based on:

https://ftp.hp.com/pub/softpaq/sp45501-4...45765.html
http://ftp.hp.com/pub/softpaq/sp45501-46000/sp45765.exe

It also didn't work, the effect was the same. I wonder whether it is not possible to downgrade from the F.66 version, I remember reading something like that in the forums.

Just for the sake of completeness, I also tried to use version F.65 of the bios (unmodded) and it didn't work either.

Unfortunately the TTAV134 mod that I mentioned before (version F.66, same as mine) is not on the file repository, and existing links on forum messages are long broken.
For me the modded BIOS sp51483_NWL_ByCamiloml did the job. It is available in the file repository https://www.bios-mods.com/BIOS/index.php?p=Whitelists

It is based on the Insyde BIOS F.67 REV: A, which is an update over my current BIOS.

https://ftp.hp.com/pub/softpaq/sp51001-5...51483.html
http://ftp.hp.com/pub/softpaq/sp51001-51500/sp51483.exe

Unfortunately I could not mod the BIOS myself, but more importantly, the problem is solved, and a brand new Intel AX210 chipset network adapter with WiFi 6E and Bluetooth 5.2 is working flawlessly in this ancient machine.