Solved: HP Z440 Worksation with HP P420 Smart RAID Controller - Hang... - HP Support Community

gmatj · ‎07-10-2019

Hello everybody

I got an HP Z440 which was on Bios ver. 01.55 (23Apr2015) with a P420 Smart Controller.

PC was running Ok . - Boots from SSD on SATA and uses RAID as storage

Yesterday I upgraded BIOS to latest version v2.48 (11April2019) and when PC is booting initializes Smart Controller and then hangs.

Taken out the P420 Smart Controller and system runs fine

A couple of questions

a) Any idea what is causing this problem ?

b) Is it possible to downgrade BIOS back to v1.55 or similar so I can get my system working with the P420 ??

c) If it is where can I get the .bin file (M60_0155.bin) in order to do the downgrade. I have searched on the previous versions Tab on the relevant page but it goes as far v2.32.

Thank you all for your time and effort to read and contribute

George

gmatj · ‎07-11-2019

Hello again

Just to report back to the forum - Here is my 2 cents :

After a nerve braking say and a strong wish to put the controller (and the PC) under the wheels of my car and hear withe pleasure the crashing sound I have found a solution to the problem.

I went to BIOS PC and specifically to PCI Express settings and I disabled in the particular slot PCI Express slot ( Gen3 x8- Slot 4) the ability to download its Option ROM.

Result : Everything runs fine.

The only drawback on boot you do not have the chance to manage the array controller - But you can do this with HP Array Configuration utility (HP ACU), and/or with HPE Smart Storage Administrator.

P.S. When getting info from HP ACU for the Array Controller - all temperatures (i.e. Controller Temp, Cache module temp and Capacitor Temp) are reported 0 degrees. So there must be some kind of problem on sensor readings being conveyed to S/W. - It could even be why the P420 option ROM was hanging - Remote but surely possible

Finishing my report I would like to thank anybody who read my post it but could not contribute or even bothered to..

Regards from sunny Athens

G.

View solution in original post

gmatj · ‎07-11-2019

Hello again

Just to report back to the forum - Here is my 2 cents :

After a nerve braking say and a strong wish to put the controller (and the PC) under the wheels of my car and hear withe pleasure the crashing sound I have found a solution to the problem.

I went to BIOS PC and specifically to PCI Express settings and I disabled in the particular slot PCI Express slot ( Gen3 x8- Slot 4) the ability to download its Option ROM.

Result : Everything runs fine.

The only drawback on boot you do not have the chance to manage the array controller - But you can do this with HP Array Configuration utility (HP ACU), and/or with HPE Smart Storage Administrator.

P.S. When getting info from HP ACU for the Array Controller - all temperatures (i.e. Controller Temp, Cache module temp and Capacitor Temp) are reported 0 degrees. So there must be some kind of problem on sensor readings being conveyed to S/W. - It could even be why the P420 option ROM was hanging - Remote but surely possible

Finishing my report I would like to thank anybody who read my post it but could not contribute or even bothered to..

Regards from sunny Athens

G.

HP Z440 Worksation with HP P420 Smart RAID Controller - Hangs on BOOT after upgrading to latest BIOS

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