[SOLVED] HP Omni 100 PC (all in one) reflash BIOS jumpers

[exploradorgt]

Hi, took my time searching before posting, but found no info about this on the forum specifically.

Do ALL the HP Omni 100PC have the jumper option for bios recovery? sadly the HP Omni 100PC family involve a diverse number of sub-models and I can't find the specific information about the motherboards. HP already removed the data as they no longer support these models, and the Way Back Machine has no backup pages for that.

Suddenly there are multiple all in one computers (HP Omni 100 PC) on sale locally, really cheap. These are different models like "hp 100-5116la" (latin america), belonging to the same Omni 100PC family, and they all have the same corrupted BIOS issue. Some HP computers provide a way to recover the BIOS via hardware without chip programmers, this is done moving one jumper, powering on for about a minute and then restore the jumper to the original position, then restart. I have tried searching for the motherboard pictures but only found images for some specific big models, I don't know if all the family has this option. There are some cached pictures on Google but on low resolution, not enough to figure this out.

I know this question might be odd due to this being an old model of AIO, but the computers are being sold complete (hard drive, memory, etc), it's worth a shot researching. Will appreciate any light on the matter.

 

[Lutfij]

HP Omni 100 is a series, there's an SKU number after that series number to help identify what the specs on said prebuilts are. If you've seen a number of prebuilts in that same series piled up at a store but are out of order, then there must be something terribly wrong with them to end up in said pile. You could take the chance/risk and invest in one of the prebuilts but chances are highly likely that the prebuilts were shown to another (professional)individual and had ended up unable to revive them hence why they're in that pile you speak of.

Also, if you look through this;
https://support.hp.com/gb-en/document/c02620410
going off of that spec list, they're so old that you're better off investing in a netbook in 2022 which is more power efficient and has Windows 10 and beyond support, as opposed to the AIO's you're looking into which are more of a vintage, perch-up-your-shelf, kind of a item. Not a functional piece of hardware.

it's worth a shot researching.
Not worth it at all. Sorry.

 

[exploradorgt]

HP Omni 100 is a series, there's an SKU number after that series number to help identify what the specs on said prebuilts are.

Thanks for stopping by. Yes, the problem is, in latin américa there is a sub set of models that are often hard to find specs for, I've come across this with some HP/Compaq computers and HP printers, the common thing is HP. Also some specific Canon printer models, so in short: the product exists, distributed locally, but almost impossible to find any info on the web, it's like ghost products.

If you've seen a number of prebuilts in that same series piled up at a store but are out of order, then there must be something terribly wrong with them to end up in said pile.

Never seen them at stores, just appear on local sale ads from time to time, and YES, there is something wrong with them as the descriptions always fit (what's wrong with those).

chances are highly likely that the prebuilts were shown to another (professional)individual and had ended up unable to revive them

True. But most times with old models, people just push them to the trash bin untouched as they don't think it's worth the time.

https://support.hp.com/gb-en/document/c02620410
going off of that spec list, they're so old that you're better off investing in a netbook in 2022 which is more power efficient and has Windows 10 and beyond support, as opposed to the AIO's you're looking into which are more of a vintage, perch-up-your-shelf, kind of a item. Not a functional piece of hardware.

Well, it worked, and pretty well while it lasted, the specs were modest but functional. Yes I tried repairing one just yesterday. Yes I checked the link you provided, but the local model is specifically xxx-la, and I was interested on the specifics of pins for bios recovery. These one had 3/3 for 2 and 2 configs, allowing automatic bios recovery without a programmer or cables, or at least it seemed to, as there are no specific documentation anywhere to confirm this, the other models I've seen had a different layout for pins.

it's worth a shot researching.
Not worth it at all. Sorry.

Yeah, it wasn't worth it, but perhaps it was, sort of. I will post a separate text for this answering my own question for anyone finding it useful as reference in the future.

 

[exploradorgt]

Well I'll answer my own thread, so anyone looking for this info can get it as a reference.

Pins/Jumpers specific information. After repeated efforts I couldn't find any specific information about the pin layout, but yes, the hp 100-5116la model comes with two sets of JUMPERS. One set has text for what it seems to be screen model selection (LG, etc). The other model is identified for bios recovery, it's 3/3 pins, allowing 2/2 jumpers configuration, but it doesn't match ANYTHING I've seen on other models for bios recovery, wired or not, and as said there is no official specific documentation anywhere, not even the wayback machine/internet archive has the pages on it's cache.

As for the issue, classic problem of black screen and only fans spinning, could be the bios, could be the video chipset. In the case of the machine I got, it was the video chipset. One baking was enough to get it back to life then it failed, another bake and it came to life again . The performance was surprisingly good, decent, it was an athlon processor, performance was better than the Atom intel chips.

The video chip gets INSANELY HOT. So I tried placing a small computer 5V fan near, it worked like a charm. But then something went wrong when I tried attaching it to the heat sink, I'll call it repair man error, probably not being gentle enough with the chip, or hitting some SMD component while securing the heat sink, anyway it stopped responding.

So that's all. Would I try again? for pennies yes, weekend project only. Worth the shot? I'll say YES if you take your time and do it carefully, but yes, there are other things to invest the time.

These are the details I was searching for, these apply for this specific model hp 100-5116la only. I can't tell for sure similarities or differences with others in the same family unless I get to check them out.