Firmware Rollback F.57 to F.55 " Unable to open Signature file"

[ihutch101101]

I ran windows updates and installed optional updates, which included  HP firmware updates.

This has put the firmware to F.57, which has power issues when trying to shut down and has to be forced to turn off by pressing the power button.

I have tried to rollback the firmware, but I have an issue where it says "unable to open signature file" of the BIOS image.

Any advice on what I am missing would be greatly appreciated.

[DGroves]

before you jump the gun and start blaming the bios update (which it almost never is)

consider these points

if it was/is a bios bug for your system model it stands to reason that many other would also be having this issue and that it would have people reporting it in the HP forums and on other sites that can be found by a google search

people would also be calling HP support and as such HP would post a advisory on it detailing what to change and/or remove said bios from the download page until a corrected one is posted

since neither of these appear to be true,...........the actual cause of your problem most likely is the Windows OS or a application that is installed or perhaps a bios setting that you may have changed (set the bios to factory defaults)

there are thousands of posts on people with the "windows will not shutdown problem" and very few of those posts mention the bios, most state a windows update or that it started out of the blue

you might try uninstalling software or using the OS rollback feature and if both fail simply backup your data and reinstall the OS which useu 

[ihutch101101]

Hi DGroves and thank you for your reply

I would not be reaching out like this if I did not believe there was an issue,   I might have to make a phone call to HP at some point, but a web-based answer with possible instructions like "rename a file to X, or you have put a file in the wrong place, it should go in Y " would be an easy fix.

So far, on the product page, there was an official  F.57 Rev.A, but this has subsequently been removed from the product page as the latest BIOS update.    If you look below (see URL), you will see the latest if F.55 Rev.A  on the products support download site.  This is confirmed by the reports from WSUS from the Windows 2019  server.

The firmware F.57 was installed via Windows Update  servers and not via WSUS and as I said originally it was a Windows 10 Optional Update.

I have an office with 37 identical models, and I have only applied this one optional update to  10 computers 

Driver downloads for HP 285 G3 Microtower (Business) 

I would think your reply is jumping the gun as you asked me to consider some points without actually asking me for more information, which I have provided above...

Kind regards
Iain

[ihutch101101]

Just so you all know which Optional Update from Microsoft is the problem, take a look at this link 
Microsoft Update Catalog Search 

This is an optional update, "HP Inc - Firmware - 15.57.0.0,"  and clearly, it puts the system BIOS to version F.57, which, I had hinted to before, was momentarily available and an official download from HP, but no longer appears as an official available download for the product HP 285 G3 MT.

[ihutch101101]

Well, it looks like I will fix the problem myself 

I at least now know what the issue is when I have been getting an "Unable to Open BIOS signature file"  it has been trying to find a .s12

From the  SystemDiags.log on the EFI partitions, I have the following for previous attempts to roll back the Firmware.

Failed Reading BIOS Signature File \HP\BIOS\Previous\08434.s12

Failed Reading BIOS Signature File \EFI\HP\BIOS\Previous\08434.s12

The signature file is generated either by creating a USB BIOS recovery Key from the F.55 download binary or by copying the BIOS image from another tower which is Version F.55, creating a signature file with a .sig file type ( not it is not the s12 which the log above is trying to open, but cant since it does not exist.

Yes, I have tried changing the file type. sig to .s12 for the signature file, and I get a different error message when trying to rollback the BIOS (see below), so it looks like it needs a.sig and s12 files

Failed Reading .sig file. (Not Found)  => no .sig  as it is type renamed as s12

The BIOS Image did not pass signature validation (Security Violation)  => when sig is copied, and the copy is type renamed to s12.

Regards

Iain

[ihutch101101]

Looking at one of the computers, which is still BIOS version  F.55, the EFI HP BIOS updater utility says it looked for a. signature file type  s12 for the current version F.54, but the file did not exist, and it skipped past this rather than hitting and error and stopping the update.

So now I am puzzled why the HP Diagnostics Untility ( F2) cannot do a BIOS rollback and says it cannot open the file signature ( .sig  and missing  .s12) for version F.55 and trying to trick it  gave the message " The BIOS Image did not pass signature validation (Security Violation) "

Regards

Iain

[DGroves]

which bios rom family are your systems? 8434 or  the 8435 NetClone BIOS

again since you have multiple systems with the problem, pull one and do a HP cloud recovery on a test hard drive it's a quick and valid way to rule out a OS/Software based issue before you spend time on a assumed bios issue

[ihutch101101]

Hi  

I believe from looking at the  BIOSCopy.csv file in the "HP PC Hardware Diagnostics 4-IN-1 USB KEY"   

The "bios rom family" for the systems are   "8434   HP 285 G3 MT", with officially branded HP machines ( brand new at purchase), but they are now out of warranty.

I won't be back in the office until Monday, but I can easily try and make a visual inspection then.

Considering I have copied the BIOS image file and signature file ( BIN and SIG) from the EFI partition on one of the units, which is still version F.55 BIOS  and put them on a FAT32 memory stick,  which, when using the built-in F2 Diagnostic utility on a unit with version F.57 BIOS,  I still get the issue with the signature files for the BIOS.

Just in case the SIG files found next to the BIN files in the EFI/HP/BIOS/Current are machine-specific signature files, I even tried using the SIG file from an F.57 BIOS  with the F.55 BIN file.    

As for the Hardware diagnostics, I had already run " HP PC Hardware Diagnostics UEFI – v8.9.0.0"  from a USB stick, and I know the units are good as they past the basic Fast Test.

I never said that the affected computers do not power on, they do, and they work fine, apart from trying to restart or shut down, where they hang,  with the spinning white dots in windows 10, and only the ones which have had the firmware update to F.57 are affected, all the other units are fine and had their usual Patch Tuesday windows updates applied, and there is no change in usage across any of the units. 

The number of affected units with the issue is 10 out of 40, and I have spare units if necessary.

Telling me not to assume it is a BIOS issue when I have version F.57, which does not exist on the official download page, is rather rude.  You have yet to explain how I could have an 8434  with version F.57 when there is no version number for the official download site, and the highest one there is F.55

I have asked for help rolling back the BIOS version,  and I have diagnosed the issue regarding the logs from my attempted rollbacks. 

Regards
Iain

[DGroves]

hp usually will prevent a bios downgrade when doing so will reintroduce a known security risk or major a stability issue

they prevent this downgrade by having the new bios use a stored checksum which is compared to the bios's checksum that is being flashed and if not a valid match the actual flash will fail even if the flasher says completed successfully

i do know that on some workstation models HP does allow you to bypass this check, but they rarely document it on their website.  Your business class system may also have this feature, but that will entail a call to HP support

[RadAway]

We are experiencing the same power issue on a HP 285 G3 MT after upgrading to BIOS F.57 two weeks ago. The system locks up on reboot and has to be forced off by holding the power button. This box has been running without a hitch for 4+ years. The power issue began occurring the day after we upgraded to firmware F.57 (which has now been pulled from the HP website), so it's definitely the culprit. Re-flashing with an earlier BIOS release does not work.