HP ProBook 430 G1 Ubuntu BIOS Upgrade
I recently got an HP ProBook 430 G1 which came preinstalled with Windows 10. I have several Windows 10 devices, but needed a Linux system while on the go. I had given my HP Chromebook a try using Crouton. This worked okay. However, I was limited by the specs of the Chromebook and wanted something with more power for development purposes. Therefore, I erased Windows 10 on the ProBook and installed Ubuntu. The PC worked well. My only problem with it was that I found my battery meter was inaccurate and would reach a percentage in the 60’s before suddenly dropping to zero and shutting down. This was not something I could have, especially during the middle of a work session where I might lose some/all of my work.
Immediately, I assumed it had something to do with drivers/BIOS being out of date. To my surprise, BIOS updates were only available for Windows. Fortunately, through some research I was able to find a solution that allowed me to update my BIOS and fix my battery problems.
Prerequisites:
- Make sure PC is connected to the charger
- 4GB USB Drive
Procedure:
- Format USB drive. (FAT32 required)
- Create folder inside USB drive called Hewlett-Packard\BIOS\New
- Download latest BIOS .exe file from HP Support website
- Unzip .exe file. While 7Zip is not required, I found this to work well.
- Copy .bin file to Hewlett-Packard\BIOS\New folder
- Copy entire BIOSUpdate folder to Hewlett-Packard folder.
- Restart PC
- Continuously press F10 to enter BIOS Setup
- Select Update System BIOS menu option
- Select Update BIOS Using Local Media option
- Select Accept
At this point, the installation process will take effect and the PC will restart itself at which point the your BIOS should be up to date.