Problem updating BIOS HP Thin Client T640 Automatically

[Harm001]

Hello Everyone,

We have nearly 2000 HP T640 thin clients, the number is still growing. Some computers with certain emmc hard disks are quite slow. A BIOS update seems to improve the problem. I am trying to automate the update process because of the high number of clients. Unfortunately up till now I have not had any success.

What I have tried so far:

Method A.

0. Disable the write filter

1. Use the newest BCU and older versions to remove the password from the BIOS. This succeeds and has been verified by entering the setup without a password. command: BiosConfigUtility64.exe /cspwdfile:"BiosPW.bin" /nspwdfile:""

Also a WMI query on the namespace "root/hp/instrumentedBIOS" confirms that no password is set. 

2. Reboot

3. Run the BIOS update M43_0108.exe or M43_0109 from command (\s), or manually via the GUI. The result is always the same. I get the message the setup could not continue because the BIOS password is set, but this is really not true.

If I now enter the BIOS (without it asking for the password), don't make any changes, and just exit right away. When retrying step 3 it suddenly works... 

Method B.

0. Disable the write filter

1. I used HPDM to download the template for both M43_0108_Win_x64 and M43_0109_Win_x64. The template is modified so the password.bin resource is downloaded to the extraction folder.

2. Send the task to a Thin Client. The return is green with an all jobs succeeded. The return also states the password was accepted and the bios was changed to "Bios Update: Auto".

3. The computer automatically reboots. 

4. The HP logo becomes visible but nothing seems to happen. There is no activity on the Disk LED. The computer stays like this indefinitely (waited for a couple of hours). When I eventually press the power button it shuts down right away. Another press and the computer boots normally without any applied update.  

Hopefully someone here has some form of experience with automatically updating the T640. 

[Harm001]

Here is the logging from the HPDM task.

2021-07-21 12:08:06 Map repository to: Master Repository
2021-07-21 12:08:06 Successfully sent task to the HPDM Gateway
2021-07-21 12:08:13 Task has been retrieved by the Agent.
2021-07-21 12:09:00 Deploy files using repository Master Repository.
2021-07-21 12:09:00 Successfully downloaded M43_0108_Win.exe to C:\TEMP from /Repository/Files/ToDeploy/M43_0108_Win_x64.
2021-07-21 12:09:00 Successfully downloaded BiosConfigUtility64.exe to C:\TEMP from /Repository/Files/ToDeploy/M43_0108_Win_x64.
2021-07-21 12:09:00 Successfully downloaded biospswd.bin to C:\TEMP from /Repository/Files/ToDeploy/M43_0108_Win_x64.
2021-07-21 12:09:00 Successfully executed DeployFiles task.
2021-07-21 12:09:00 C:\TEMP>set TMP=C:\TEMP
2021-07-21 12:09:00 C:\TEMP>set TEMP=C:\TEMP
2021-07-21 12:09:00 C:\TEMP>cd C:\TEMP
2021-07-21 12:09:00 C:\TEMP>M43_0108_Win.exe -y
2021-07-21 12:09:00 7-Zip SFX 9.20 Copyright (c) 1999-2010 Igor Pavlov 2010-11-18
2021-07-21 12:09:00 Processing archive: C:\TEMP\M43_0108_Win.exe
2021-07-21 12:09:00 Extracting HP\BIOS\New\M43_0108.bin
2021-07-21 12:09:00 Extracting Install.cmd
2021-07-21 12:09:00 Extracting InstallForWES7.cmd
2021-07-21 12:09:00 Extracting EnableToollessUpdate.txt
2021-07-21 12:09:00 Extracting HP\BIOSUpdate\BiosMgmt.efi
2021-07-21 12:09:00 Extracting HP\BIOSUpdate\BiosMgmt32.efi
2021-07-21 12:09:00 Extracting HP\BIOSUpdate\CryptRSA.efi
2021-07-21 12:09:00 Extracting HP\BIOSUpdate\CryptRSA32.efi
2021-07-21 12:09:00 Extracting HP\BIOSUpdate\HpBiosMgmt.efi
2021-07-21 12:09:00 Extracting HP\BIOSUpdate\HpBiosMgmt32.efi
2021-07-21 12:09:00 Extracting HP\BIOSUpdate\HpBiosUpdate.efi
2021-07-21 12:09:00 Extracting HP\BIOSUpdate\HpBiosUpdate32.efi
2021-07-21 12:09:00 Extracting HP\BIOSUpdate\BiosMgmt.s09
2021-07-21 12:09:00 Extracting HP\BIOSUpdate\BiosMgmt32.s09
2021-07-21 12:09:00 Extracting HP\BIOSUpdate\HpBiosMgmt.s09
2021-07-21 12:09:00 Extracting HP\BIOSUpdate\HpBiosMgmt32.s09
2021-07-21 12:09:00 Extracting HP\BIOSUpdate\HpBiosUpdate.s09
2021-07-21 12:09:00 Extracting HP\BIOSUpdate\HpBiosUpdate32.s09
2021-07-21 12:09:00 Extracting HP\BIOSUpdate\BiosMgmt.s12
2021-07-21 12:09:00 Extracting HP\BIOSUpdate\BiosMgmt32.s12
2021-07-21 12:09:00 Extracting HP\BIOSUpdate\HpBiosMgmt.s12
2021-07-21 12:09:00 Extracting HP\BIOSUpdate\HpBiosMgmt32.s12
2021-07-21 12:09:00 Extracting HP\BIOSUpdate\HpBiosUpdate.s12
2021-07-21 12:09:00 Extracting HP\BIOSUpdate\HpBiosUpdate32.s12
2021-07-21 12:09:00 Extracting HP\BIOSUpdate\BiosMgmt.s14
2021-07-21 12:09:00 Extracting HP\BIOSUpdate\BiosMgmt32.s14
2021-07-21 12:09:00 Extracting HP\BIOSUpdate\HpBiosMgmt.s14
2021-07-21 12:09:00 Extracting HP\BIOSUpdate\HpBiosMgmt32.s14
2021-07-21 12:09:00 Extracting HP\BIOSUpdate\HpBiosUpdate.s14
2021-07-21 12:09:00 Extracting HP\BIOSUpdate\HpBiosUpdate32.s14
2021-07-21 12:09:00 Extracting HP\BIOSUpdate\HpBiosUpdate.sig
2021-07-21 12:09:00 Extracting HP\BIOSUpdate\HpBiosUpdate32.sig
2021-07-21 12:09:00 Extracting HP\BIOSUpdate
2021-07-21 12:09:00 Extracting HP\BIOS\New
2021-07-21 12:09:00 Extracting HP\BIOS\Current
2021-07-21 12:09:00 Extracting HP\BIOS
2021-07-21 12:09:00 Extracting HP
2021-07-21 12:09:00 Everything is Ok
2021-07-21 12:09:00 C:\TEMP>Install.cmd
2021-07-21 12:09:00 <BIOSCONFIG Version="" Computername="TC0074" Date="2021/07/21" Time="12:08:19" UTC="2">
2021-07-21 12:09:00 <SUCCESS msg="Successfully read password from file" />
2021-07-21 12:09:00 <SETTING changeStatus="pass" name="BIOS Update" reason="Success" returnCode="0">
2021-07-21 12:09:00 <OLDVALUE><![CDATA[Disable]]></OLDVALUE>
2021-07-21 12:09:00 <NEWVALUE><![CDATA[Auto]]></NEWVALUE>
2021-07-21 12:09:00 </SETTING>
2021-07-21 12:09:00 <SUCCESS msg="No errors occurred" />
2021-07-21 12:09:00 <REBOOT msg="Reboot required to perform BIOS settings updates.May need a shutdown if settings not take effect." />
2021-07-21 12:09:00 <Information msg="BCU return value" real="0" translated="0" />
2021-07-21 12:09:00 </BIOSCONFIG>
2021-07-21 12:09:00 .\HP\BIOS\New\M43_0108.bin
2021-07-21 12:09:00 .\HP\BIOSUpdate\BiosMgmt.efi
2021-07-21 12:09:00 .\HP\BIOSUpdate\BiosMgmt.s09
2021-07-21 12:09:00 .\HP\BIOSUpdate\BiosMgmt.s12
2021-07-21 12:09:00 .\HP\BIOSUpdate\BiosMgmt.s14
2021-07-21 12:09:00 .\HP\BIOSUpdate\BiosMgmt32.efi
2021-07-21 12:09:00 .\HP\BIOSUpdate\BiosMgmt32.s09
2021-07-21 12:09:00 .\HP\BIOSUpdate\BiosMgmt32.s12
2021-07-21 12:09:00 .\HP\BIOSUpdate\BiosMgmt32.s14
2021-07-21 12:09:00 .\HP\BIOSUpdate\CryptRSA.efi
2021-07-21 12:09:00 .\HP\BIOSUpdate\CryptRSA32.efi
2021-07-21 12:09:00 .\HP\BIOSUpdate\HpBiosMgmt.efi
2021-07-21 12:09:00 .\HP\BIOSUpdate\HpBiosMgmt.s09
2021-07-21 12:09:00 .\HP\BIOSUpdate\HpBiosMgmt.s12
2021-07-21 12:09:00 .\HP\BIOSUpdate\HpBiosMgmt.s14
2021-07-21 12:09:00 .\HP\BIOSUpdate\HpBiosMgmt32.efi
2021-07-21 12:09:00 .\HP\BIOSUpdate\HpBiosMgmt32.s09
2021-07-21 12:09:00 .\HP\BIOSUpdate\HpBiosMgmt32.s12
2021-07-21 12:09:00 .\HP\BIOSUpdate\HpBiosMgmt32.s14
2021-07-21 12:09:00 .\HP\BIOSUpdate\HpBiosUpdate.efi
2021-07-21 12:09:00 .\HP\BIOSUpdate\HpBiosUpdate.s09
2021-07-21 12:09:00 .\HP\BIOSUpdate\HpBiosUpdate.s12
2021-07-21 12:09:00 .\HP\BIOSUpdate\HpBiosUpdate.s14
2021-07-21 12:09:00 .\HP\BIOSUpdate\HpBiosUpdate.sig
2021-07-21 12:09:00 .\HP\BIOSUpdate\HpBiosUpdate32.efi
2021-07-21 12:09:00 .\HP\BIOSUpdate\HpBiosUpdate32.s09
2021-07-21 12:09:00 .\HP\BIOSUpdate\HpBiosUpdate32.s12
2021-07-21 12:09:00 .\HP\BIOSUpdate\HpBiosUpdate32.s14
2021-07-21 12:09:00 .\HP\BIOSUpdate\HpBiosUpdate32.sig
2021-07-21 12:09:00 29 File(s) copied
2021-07-21 12:09:00 Successfully executed Script task.
2021-07-21 12:09:00 Successfully deleted M43_0108_Win.exe.
2021-07-21 12:09:00 Successfully deleted BiosConfigUtility64.exe.
2021-07-21 12:09:00 Successfully executed Deletefile task.
2021-07-21 12:09:00 Successfully executed Reboot task.
2021-07-21 12:09:00 Successfully executed common task.