Latest Bios Update

[LightningZ]

Is the latest bios update released in May 2019 safe? I am currently on 2.29 and want to know if I should upgrade. I got my pc used and it has a weird issue that may be related to the 2.29 bios. It basically powers on the pc after each power loss and the bios is set to stay off after each power failure. I suspect the bios version I have  is the problem, but either way, is the latest bios version safe? 2.29 sucks

[DGroves]

while i'm tempted  to tell you the latest bios makes your system expand into a car............ would you believe me? or would you consider that the date of the Last (current/latest) bios which was released some time ago and has not had any recalls or complaints which would indicate there are no known issues that would have prompted a recall of it.

to locate the latest bios look under the win 7 x64 drivers you want sp96026.exe

which is bios 00.02.33 Rev.A from May 1, 2019

https://ftp.hp.com/pub/softpaq/sp96001-96500/sp96026.exe

please take the time to read the description on what was fixed/changed  on the bios revisions, HP posts this with the bios file

and you can determine yourself what changes were made and if any apply to you

next, in order to provide help you need to actually specify which options you enabled/disabled in the bios,.... without that it's quite hard to determine why you are having a power on issue

once the bios is updated you should also update the Intel ME firmware using sp80282.exe and use the dos updater not the windows updaters

https://support.hp.com/za-en/drivers/selfservice/hp-compaq-8200-elite-small-form-factor-pc/5037931

[LightningZ]

Ty. The only setting I have ever changed in the Bios is setting thr EMBEDDED SECURITY DEVICE to DEVICE HIDDEN but whether this is emabled or not, the system randomly chooses when the video card is the video source or if the onboard is the video source. 

I read the fixes but they dont seem to address my issue. If not a bios issue I guess it is a motherboard or graphics card issue then

[DGroves]

i really don't know why people always seem to to blame the BIOs when having problems........in my years in this field i've seen people who almost always are having problems due to software or OS related issues, blame the bios for their problems perhaps it's just human nature

you do have several options ranging from

a bios reset to factory settings (this is different than a user reset, as the 8300 allows custom reset settings to be stored) read the 8300 user docs on how to do a factory reset

installing a temp drive and doing a basic windows install ( no user apps installed) and note if this resolves the problem

this is the best method however it does require a cheap ebay 10/20 dollar drive

trying to uninstall all installed apps one by one, and testing after each uninstall/reboot if the auto on issue is fixed

last, the 8300 bios defaults are to disable the onboard video when a discrete video card is installed and this should be left as is unless you have a specific requirement for the onboard video to also be active

[LightningZ]

I have an 8200 not an 8300; I'm not sure if that matters for the bios user settings you are speaking of but I only suspected the bios because that particular version has had so many complaints and I had already updated my video card drivers. I will try your suggestions and do a factory reset then a clean install on another hard drive and install no apps at all at first other than video card drivers. TY FOR YOUR SUGGESTIONS!