Trying to update BIOS but it's for an older OS

[Mohammed_Hamza]

My computer is getting pretty old, It's a HP pavilion a6120.me. So I decided to overclock the CPU just to squeeze out some extra performance from its 2GHz core 2 duo. I loaded into the Bios as usual only to find that the options for overclocking have been grayed out and that my bios is locked. After some digging around in HP's support website, I finally found a BIOS update, but it's for windows vista, so when I try to upgrade it I get the message: "Your computer does not meet minimum requirements".
My MoBo is a Leonite-GL8E or P5LP-LE
Phoenix/Award BIOS version 5.20
I'm running windows 10 pro

 

[voltoid27]

I can almost guarantee you that the HP-provided update won't enable overclocking either. You'd need a modded BIOS for that, and my hat's off to you if you find one. Anyway, it's been a while since I've done a BIOS update on an HP, but I've had this problem before. I don't remember if I just ran the installer in Vista compatibility mode or if I used something like Universal Extractor to tear open the .exe and get to the actual BIOS update program inside. I've updated 2 HP systems with that same error one of these 2 ways IIRC, and it might've taken me about a half hour to fiddle with it so it'd work. I'd give those a try and see what you can do.

BTW, if your OC'ing doesn't end up working, you can always buy a Core 2 Duo E6700 off eBay for ~$10 and get a nice boost in performance.

 

[Mohammed_Hamza]

Thanks for replying. I searched for a modded version of my BIOS and I found one on The Bios-mods forum https://www.bios-mods.com/forum/Thread-HP-P5LP-LE-Leonite-Mainboard I'm going to try and update it through DOS, wish me luck!

 

[voltoid27]

AFAIK all that mod does is change the SLIC, which is basically a way that OEM copies of Windows can be activated by accessing that portion of the BIOS. I don't think it actually unlocks any OC options. You're welcome to try it, but it's more likely to mess up your Windows licensing than anything else.