Not all stories can have a happy ending...

Yes, they will have no problem filashing the BIOS back up...

Happy Holidays..
Paul

Thanks so much, did you ever figure out if my model has a dual-BIOS or if the BIOS chip is soldered?

I just talked to HP and they said that the BIOS chip was embedded in the motherboard, and the entire motherboard needed replaced. The motherboard will be $550 to replace, and I think that it is stupid that everything is embedded in the motherboard, but I am willing to pay the extra money to have it replaced, being the fact that it is a good, reliable notebook. In the future, when this computer gets a little slow for my programs I think I am going to buy a Dell or Alienware, but I am not sure...anyhow, thanks for your support.

There are alot of places that will pull it off and put on a socket then flash the chip for alot less money...

You can always ask for the old board back...
Although they will probably want it as a core..
Then replace the $5 chip and resell it for $500

Send it away for repair as a spare...

I agree, Dell makes a great laptop/notebook

I have two of them...

$550 for a motherboard? wow thats kinda steep. :eek:

Hello,

The BIOS chip is soldered on this model. This is the same as a Presario 2500. We've repaired about 4 of these systems in the past two weeks.

The problem is in the Winflash utility I'm starting to think.

We can remove the chip and place a socket on the board to allow services such as Badflash.com or Us to re-program the chip should it happen again.

There is work involved here, it's not free. It's going to cost you about 1/4 of the price of the new board.

Joe K

AQS Computer Services
http://www.aqstech.com
http://www.laptopbios.com

aqs12@adelphia.net

I just gave it to someone that works on laptops that I know for sure can fix it. He said he would overlook it and fix the necessary problems. He charges around $75/hour and includes the charges to fix the machine.

I'll get back to you on the diagnostic.

Finally! I have the exact same problem. I updated my bios using the update given by Hp on their website. What the program said when you tried to update is entirely true. That bios revision is NOT for the ze5155, although the smart asses from hp say so. All you can do now is take it to someone who will take out the bios ic from the motherboard and reflash it with the correct version (which would be on your harddisk, if you let the program save a backup before the update). OR you can buy a new motherboard for 450 usd. Anyway, i took the laptop to this guy and he said he reflashed it with the revision found on the hp website for this model, but it didnt work. Now he's gonna try to look for the backup on the harddisk and i will know more on monday. If it goes well, i could email you the correct version. Good luck

adrian

oh btw, this guy said it would cost me about 100 usd ) so i guess that's one of the situations where im lucky that i live in eastern europe lol

I realize this is sort of an old thread, but none the less I have just flashed my ZE5155 to crap and am just trying to figure it out.

First of all HP is lying when they say that the BIOS chip is integrated onto the motherboard. It isn't even on the motherboard. Believe me... I took this thing all the way down.

And Secondly the BIOS chip is removeable and is done very simply. There are 2 panels on the underside of the unit. One of them is for RAM. The other has some type of slot I believe which is for some type of modem and THE BIOS CHIP!!!

I have been trying to Hot Flash the chip using my desktop but have yet to find a .rom that will work. Has anyone determined what the correct .rom is and where to find it. The original on my machine was KD.M1.60. I have not been able to find this .rom anywhere.

When searching for the ZE5155 on the HP page I keep noticing references to the Omnibook XE4400. I am going to try to find a BIOS rom for that pc and try flashing the chip with it. I will let you guys know if I have any luck.