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HP Recommended
HP Z4 G4 Workstation
Microsoft Windows 11

Hello,

 

I want to buy an external Thunderbolt 3 storage array i.e. with 4 disks. My HP Z4 G4 is equipped with the original HP Dual Thunderbolt 3 card (3UU05AA) in slot 4. Please share your experience with external storage devices - thank you. 

5 REPLIES 5
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I couldn't find much information about Thunderbolt and the HP Z4 G4. I installed my 3UU05AA in slot4 and connected the cable to the motherboard. Next I bought an OWC Thunderbay 4 mini and installed 4 Samsung SSDs.

 

No matter if I tested Linux (Ubuntu 22.04.3) or Windows 11 it never worked reliably and yes I tested several HP Z4 G4. No matter what BIOS settings I configure, after a cold boot (remove power cable from the HP Z4 G4) no Thunderbolt device gets detected.

 

Once the external Thunderbolt device was detected it stay's useable as long as I only do soft boots (shutdown -r now ...) so ... please share your experience.

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@Vasquez67 wrote:

so ... please share your experience.


I have used the Western Digital G-RAID SHUTTLE 4 (48TB) with my Z4 G4 and the HP Thunderbolt card with no issues with Windows 11. I have the 3UU05AA as well.

 

Thunderbolt 3 are troublesome with some cables. Since my Shuttle is located in another room i use an optical Thunderbolt cable since i needed the length. Point being, make sure to use good cables and not too long cables unless they are optical.

 

Thunderbolt™ Optical Cables | OEM Optical Communication Solutions | Corning

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Hello Z440Roger,

 

thank's for the information. Currently I am using the original 70cm OWC cable. 

 

So, the Western Digital G-Rai SHUTTLE 4 connected to the 3UU05AA was recognized everytime when you startet your HP Z4 G4? Even when it was previously switched off (cold boot)? 

 

Maybe some more information / sum up can help:

 

- I use Ubuntu 22.04.3, all updates installed.

 

- Results with Windows 11 where the same.

 

- The card is installed in slot 4, the GPIO-cable is connected to the HP Z4 G4 motherboard. I've tried this on several HP Z4 G4.

 

- In the BIOS the Thunderbolt option was secure.

 

- The ThunderBay 4 Mini TB3 is a certified thunderbolt device.

 

When everything works as expected, it looks like this:

boltctl list -a

● HP WS TBT3 AR 2-Port Card
├─ type: host
├─ name: WS TBT3 AR 2-Port Card
├─ vendor: HP Inc.
├─ uuid: c9030000-0090-8f18-a3bd-888d8223a002
├─ generation: Thunderbolt 3
├─ status: authorized
│ ├─ domain: c9030000-0090-8f18-a3bd-888d8223a002
│ └─ authflags: nokey
├─ authorized: So 11 Feb 2024 18:12:20 UTC
├─ connected: So 11 Feb 2024 18:12:20 UTC
└─ stored: Sa 10 Feb 2024 12:06:28 UTC
├─ policy: manual
└─ key: no

● Other World Computing ThunderBay 4 Mini TB3
├─ type: peripheral
├─ name: ThunderBay 4 Mini TB3
├─ vendor: Other World Computing
├─ uuid: 002568c4-34eb-5a00-ffff-ffffffffffff
├─ generation: Thunderbolt 3
├─ status: authorized
│ ├─ domain: c9030000-0090-8f18-a3bd-888d8223a002
│ ├─ rx speed: 40 Gb/s = 2 lanes * 20 Gb/s
│ ├─ tx speed: 40 Gb/s = 2 lanes * 20 Gb/s
│ └─ authflags: none
├─ authorized: So 11 Feb 2024 18:12:21 UTC
├─ connected: So 11 Feb 2024 18:12:21 UTC
└─ stored: no

 

root@bserv:~# shutdown -h now

 

Okay. Now lets power the HP Z4 G4 on again:

 

... and check:

 

boltctl list -a

○ HP WS TBT3 AR 2-Port Card
├─ type: host
├─ name: WS TBT3 AR 2-Port Card
├─ vendor: HP Inc.
├─ uuid: c9030000-0090-8f18-a3bd-888d8223a002
├─ generation: Thunderbolt 3
├─ status: disconnected
├─ authorized: So 11 Feb 2024 18:12:20 UTC
├─ connected: So 11 Feb 2024 18:12:20 UTC
└─ stored: Sa 10 Feb 2024 12:06:28 UTC
├─ policy: manual
└─ key: no

root@bserv:~#

 

The card is "disconnected" and the external device is missing ...


To solve this problem, reboot and change the thunderbolt security option
in the HP Z4 G4 BIOS.

 

... and voila:

 

● HP WS TBT3 AR 2-Port Card
├─ type: host
├─ name: WS TBT3 AR 2-Port Card
├─ vendor: HP Inc.
├─ uuid: c9030000-0090-8f18-a3bd-888d8223a002
├─ generation: Thunderbolt 3
├─ status: authorized
│ ├─ domain: c9030000-0090-8f18-a3bd-888d8223a002
│ └─ authflags: none
├─ authorized: So 11 Feb 2024 18:49:43 UTC
├─ connected: So 11 Feb 2024 18:49:43 UTC
└─ stored: Sa 10 Feb 2024 12:06:28 UTC
├─ policy: manual
└─ key: no

● Other World Computing ThunderBay 4 Mini TB3
├─ type: peripheral
├─ name: ThunderBay 4 Mini TB3
├─ vendor: Other World Computing
├─ uuid: 002568c4-34eb-5a00-ffff-ffffffffffff
├─ generation: Thunderbolt 3
├─ status: authorized
│ ├─ domain: c9030000-0090-8f18-a3bd-888d8223a002
│ ├─ rx speed: 40 Gb/s = 2 lanes * 20 Gb/s
│ ├─ tx speed: 40 Gb/s = 2 lanes * 20 Gb/s
│ └─ authflags: none
├─ authorized: So 11 Feb 2024 18:49:43 UTC
├─ connected: So 11 Feb 2024 18:49:43 UTC
└─ stored: So 11 Feb 2024 18:49:46 UTC
├─ policy: iommu
└─ key: no

 

The card and external device are present again. Is this a bug or am I missing a setting?

 

Greetings,

 

Vasquez

HP Recommended

@Vasquez67 wrote:

 

So, the Western Digital G-Rai SHUTTLE 4 connected to the 3UU05AA was recognized everytime when you startet your HP Z4 G4? Even when it was previously switched off (cold boot)? 


I use my shuttle as a backup drive so i start it maybe once or twice per week. I always connect it to the computer when the computer is on. Shuttle off+computer on=works every time for me.

 

As far as i remembered i did not change anything in BIOS, i just installed the card.

 

- Have you tried a different cable?

- Have you tried another TB card?

- Have you tried to set the BIOS to factory defaults to rule out a bad setting in BIOS?

HP Recommended
All Firmware and BIOS were updated to the latest version. The HP Z4 G4 BIOS CMOS battery was replaced, BIOS was set to default. Certified Thunderbolt device and cables were replaced. The BIOS was configured according to the HP Image Assistant. I tried many different recommendations concerning the BIOS, but nothing changed.
 
So let’s sum up:
 
If I remove the power cable from my HP Z4 G4, wait 10 seconds, reconnect the power cable, switch the computer on and boot into Ubuntu 22.04.4 everything works fine. My thunderbolt devices get detected and performance and functionality is fine. Even Ubuntu reboots (shutdown -r now) work as expected, on reboot all devices get detected.
 
But if I do a "shutdown -h now" and power the system on again either by Wake on Lan (WOL) or HP Z4 G4 power button no device shows up and no tip or trick I found using google will correct that. One common fix is to rescan the PCI bus with "echo 1 > /sys/bus/pci/rescan" - that doesn't fix it. The card is dead until the next power cord remove / reinsert cycle. This also applies to USB devices connected to any of the ports of the HP Thunderbolt 3 PCIe 2-port I/O Card (3UU05AA). No power cycle with power cord removal from the HP Z4 G4 - no card.
 
The temporary "method" to fix this is to change the Thunderbolt options in the HP Z4 G4 BIOS settings ... until you power down (e.g. shutdown -h now) the HP Z4 G4 ... then you need a power cord removal / reinsert cycle ...
 
... based on my observations, this is an HP Z4 G4 BIOS BUG where the HP Thunderbolt 3 PCIe 2-port I/O Card (3UU05AA) is not correctly initialized during boot but during a power cord removal / reinsert cycle.
 
... and lastly, I tried several HP Z4 G4 in different configurations.
 
HP please evaluate my observations and if confirmed please provide a new BIOS to fix this. Thanks.
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