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HP Recommended
Z420 Workstation
Microsoft Windows 10 (64-bit)

I was attempting to update the BIOS on my HP Z420 workstation from version 3.92 to 3.94A through Windows 10 64-bit.

 

My last update from 3.91 to 3.92 was a successful one using the same method, through Windows 10 64-bit.  The executable ran as it should showing no errors during the save process and the updating process.  After the update finished the system rebooted automatically, after which I only had a blank screen and all system fans running at full speed.

 

I have already tried clearing the CMOS by pressing the clear CMOS button on the motherboard, as well as removing and re-seeding the system battery.

 

Looking for additional ideas.

 

Cheers

6 REPLIES 6
HP Recommended

Well, this is not cheery at all.

 

My guess is that you have not read my posts about updating BIOS from within BIOS (worth knowing how to) and that we have noticed a trend that bricking of ZX20 motherboards is happening more with running the BIOS updater from within the W10 OS than from within the W7 OS.

 

I had upgraded BIOS from within the OS for years until I learned how to do it from within BIOS, and the logic of why that is better is that BIOS is a very primative OS to work within, and that the chances of a screw-up is less from within BIOS than from within an actual OS, let alone an OS (W10Pro64) that did not exist when the BIOS update applications from HP were developed for W7Pro64.

 

Hello!  Why would anyone update BIOS from within W10?  And yet I did that once recently, taking a shortcut from my usual practice.  And bricked my first motherboard in about 10 years.  Actually it was from forever.  So, search out our post here on the crisis recovery jumper and reloading a corrupted BIOS from a USB drive, and Bambi's breakthrough, and the discovery of a black jumper and a lime green jumper, and how I got my motherboard unbricked, and how I promise to never do that again.

 

Use the search bar top left.....  I just gave you a bunch of search topics.

 

 

HP Recommended

one thing i have noticed on updating z800/z820 systems that may also carry over to the z600/z620 is that the update process will install, then reboot the system to a black screen for about 1-2 min, the the fans will go full speed and the frontlights will blink,  a short time later the fans ramp down and the post screen displays.

 

i wonder if many of the people updating are killing the power/resetting the computer when it reaches the black screen and pauses for 1-2 min

 

also not every z800/z820 i have updated  has paused at a black screen before continuining, only about a third did

and i never bothered to see if it was related to the systems hardware config/installed cards or current bios revision

 

so for those updating,  wait if you get to a black screen that lasts for several min before doing anything!! if the update resumes post back here in the forum so we can confirm the system pauses sometimes with the z600/z620 and z4xx systems

HP Recommended

Thanks for the response DGroves,

 

Your description in the first paragraph prety much describes what was happening to my Z420, although I did not notice if the frontlights were blinking or not.

 

I must have waited at least two or even over three minutes before doing a hard shutdown of the system which may have lead to the current state of the system, although I must admit that I didn't follow my advice that I tell other to not do BIOS updates if the system is stable and working.

 

I have subsequently tried waiting over five minutes and the results are the same:  blank screen, no post beeps, the fans ramp up to max after about 30 seconds.

 

I have gone throught other forum posts and have found some mentioning an undocumented jumper that may work:

https://h30434.www3.hp.com/t5/Business-PCs-Workstations-and-Point-of-Sale-Systems/Crisis-Recovery-Ju...

 

I will try your suggesion first, waiting a few more minutes before shutting down.  I that does work, perhaps HP should included the blank screen post update for future documentation.

 

Cheers

HP Recommended

ONCE YOU POWER OFF OR RESET THE SYSTEM WHEN IT'S AT THE BLACK SCREEN, YOU BRICK THE SYSTEM AND NOW HAVE A CORUPTED BIOS.

 

 

HP Recommended

ONCE YOU POWER OFF OR RESET THE SYSTEM WHEN IT'S AT THE BLACK SCREEN, YOU BRICK THE SYSTEM AND NOW HAVE A CORUPTED BIOS.

 

 at this point you can only try the recover steps SDH has previously posted in this forum, no amount of rebooting cmos resets will fix the corupted bios, only the recovery steps might have a chance of bios recovery

HP Recommended

Hello,

 

Recover proceedure posted by SDH was the way to go.  We're back up and running.

† The opinions expressed above are the personal opinions of the authors, not of HP. By using this site, you accept the <a href="https://www8.hp.com/us/en/terms-of-use.html" class="udrlinesmall">Terms of Use</a> and <a href="/t5/custom/page/page-id/hp.rulespage" class="udrlinesmall"> Rules of Participation</a>.