# Bad BIOS Checksum - need hpbios.rom



## Gene Niesen (Jul 25, 2005)

I have an HP Pavilion a250n with an ASUS P4SD-LA motherboard. 
It will not boot because the BIOS has been corrupted. 
Message on screen is: Bad BIOS Checksum - Starting BIOS recovery
It is looking for a file called "HPBIOS.ROM" on either a diskette or a CD.
Neither my recovery CD or the Tools CD has this file.
Clearing CMOS does nothing. Battery has been replaced. 
Pressing F1 at boot time does not get into setup.
I need the file "HPBIOS.ROM" in order to restore the BIOS. 
HP Support was no help at all. They told me to take it into Radio Shack!!
Please help if you can!


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## Immortal (Nov 21, 2004)

http://www.pcguide.com/ts/x/sys/booterrGBER03-c.html Take a look at that, and hopefully solves your problem.


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## Gene Niesen (Jul 25, 2005)

*BIOS chip is not replacable*

Thanks for the reply and the link. There is definitely some good information there, but I'm afraid that it won't help in my case. The BIOS chip is soldered onto the motherboard and would be very difficult to replace. If I can't get the BIOS image file for this motherboard, the only other option is to replace it. If anyone out there has a HP Pavilion a250n with a ASUS P4SD-LA motherboard, they might have this file, or be able to create it by copying the BIOS contents to a file. I am sure that HP has it someplace, but getting them to give it to me is worse than pulling teeth!!


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## CaptainMorgan (Aug 4, 2005)

Gene, I've got the same problem with my P4sd-la board. Did you get yours fixed?


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## robertjwarren (Aug 10, 2005)

*MB ASUS P4SD-LA is garbage ASUS wont replace....*

I have the same problem, with my MB ASUS P4SD-LA I crashed in the middle of reading e-mail. I called HP Won't help me, I called ASUS they said HP only made so many they don't have them anymore. ASUS said this is a good replacment OPTION 1 
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16813131462 

I will tell you more later

Rob


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## robertjwarren (Aug 10, 2005)

*Re: Hpbios.rom*

I have anouther solution we can start a Lawsuit against HP ?
We could tell them that they have a bad Product and they should relpace it because MB's should not go bad, nor should they not offer to fix the problem.
Does anyone else have any solutions? Did anyone get it fixed I payed 1500.00 for my computer from HP and they won't fix it.

I am Mad Now... !


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## Gene Niesen (Jul 25, 2005)

*Here is the solution!!*

Download the latest BIOS update file from the HP web site.
Run the .exe file on another PC up to the point that you see
a window that says "Windows Based BIOS Update - Please close
any applications and save your files before proceeding."

DO NOT CLICK OK!!

Bring up a Windows Explorer window and browse to the following:

C:\Documents and Settings\%username%\Local Settings\Temp

Sort the files/folders in this directory by date and look for
a directory that was just created. In my case it was:
pft3B9.tmp. Now go into that directory and copy all of the 
files to a new directory or to the desktop. Be sure to cancel 
the "Windows Based BIOS Update" window after the copy is complete 
so that you don't accidentally try to update the BIOS on the 
working PC. One of the files that you copied will be 512K bytes 
in size and end in ".rom". Rename this file to "hpbios.rom" 
and copy it to a diskette (or CD). Insert the diskette (or CD)
into the HP system with the corrupted BIOS. Once the PC 
recognizes the file, it will automatically restore the BIOS.

Be sure to send HP a letter of thanks for being so helpful and
point out how stupid they are for not knowing how to support 
their own hardware!!!


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## Bowsa (Mar 9, 2006)

I had the same problem with my Compaq Presario SR1199AN. It has an ASUS PTGD1-LA motherboard. When I rebooted once after making some changes it came up with the Bad BIOS Checksum message.

I followed Gene's helpful tip and it worked fine as long as I included all the files in the uncompressed BIOS update directory onto the CD and having renamed the 512 KB ROM file to HPBIOS.ROM.

A life saver. HP support still can not assist with this problem. They had not idea.

Thanks Gene


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## HarleySheffield (Apr 24, 2006)

I have a presario sr1044bb and can't get it to do anything. I just tried the bios reload proceedure mentioned above but got nothing. When I power the computer up, the processor light on the front panel stays solid yellow and there is no monitor output. I just replaced the memory, everything seems to work fine, (the cd/dvd drives / hard drive, etc..) but I can't get anything in the monitor. Any ideas - could the video card on the board be fried or could something else be freezing it up???? :4-dontkno


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## marleyfan (Dec 19, 2007)

I know this is an extremely old thread and I probably wont get a reply, but ill try none the less. I had this same issue, and followed gene's advice, but it Starts erasing, then Starts programming, then I get "Failed to Flash" I dont know where to go from here. Any ideas. Thanks in advance for the help.


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## philb7 (Dec 22, 2007)

Usually the Checksum error indicates that there has been a change in the configuration since the last boot. If no changes had been made the battery may be bad or there may be a virus attack. Normally the checksum is fixed by opening the bios and checking for any changes and then SAVING again. If your flash failed after it had deleted the old bios you may have a new paperweight. Hopefully it is still there.


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## airhead137 (Jan 3, 2008)

I had the same problem, but fixed as follows:

1. Download BIOS update 3.28 from HP
2. Change the extension to RAR and unpack
3. Copy 328.rom to floppy and insert
4. As soon as you power on the a250, press and hold Ctrl + Home
5. Let EZ-Flash run it's course.
6. Voila! You're set.

I did this last year and it worked like a charm. I'm having another unrelated problem. My onboard LAN and PCI slots are inop. I ran AIDA and the PCI Vendor ID's are wrong for the Realtek 8139 LAN controller and whatever cards I have in the PCI slots...


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## airhead137 (Jan 3, 2008)

I forgot to mention to rename 328.rom hpbios.rom


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