• ×
    Information
    Need Windows 11 help?
    Check documents on compatibility, FAQs, upgrade information and available fixes.
    Windows 11 Support Center.
  • post a message
  • ×
    Information
    Need Windows 11 help?
    Check documents on compatibility, FAQs, upgrade information and available fixes.
    Windows 11 Support Center.
  • post a message
Guidelines
Are you having HotKey issues? Click here for tips and tricks.
HP Recommended

This same process is used in HP workstations starting with the ZX40 and going forward. It even is used in some HP Business Class computers that are of the same era and newer, and I have found this to be the very safest way to update BIOS versus updating BIOS from within an operating system when antiviral and other programs and OS settings may interfere with the process.

 

The newer type of BIOS HP uses is quite a bit more complex than what was used in the ZX20 family of workstations and older. Upgrading BIOS from within BIOS for those older workstations used simpler approach, with the .bin file simply being placed on the top level of a FAT32 formatted thumb drive that was of a smaller size. Otherwise the concepts are the same. The newer BIOS can be upgraded using a FAT32 or NTFS formatted USB, and even can use the internet to go check for and harvest a newer .bin file from HP directly from within BIOS and install that without leaving BIOS. That is not something I advise doing, however, and it requires special BIOS settings for it to work. Here are the steps we use (for a Z440, for example):

 

1. Download the April 2023 ZX40 BIOS 2.61 update SoftPaq from HP (SP146166). Run that as an administrator. That will automatically create a folder on the root level of your C drive called SWSetup. Inside that folder will be a folder called SP146166. Inside that will be multiple things including two folders called Capsule and HPBIOSUPDREC. Inside both of those will be the same .bin file, called M60_0261.bin. Copy one of those out to have safe for use in #3 below.

 

2. Use a freshly FAT32 or NTFS formatted smaller USB drive and name it anything you wish. In there at the top level create the nest of three folders. These are, top to bottom, spelled exactly this way. This is exactly what BIOS is programmed to look for and use in the Z440. This specifically would not work for a ZX20 workstation:

Hewlett-Packard\BIOS\New

 

3. Down in the bottom folder (New), put the .bin file you saved earlier.

 

4. Plug the thumb drive into your fully shut down Z440, Z640, or Z840 and cold boot the computer, go into BIOS and find the Update System Bios feature, and select that. BIOS might want you to confirm. Proceed with that. Walk away for at least 10 minutes because there may be one or more auto-shutdowns and auto-restarts. You don't want to touch anything until the upgrade is fully done. It is better to wait too long than to touch anything too early.

 

Fully shut down the computer, remove the thumb drive. Cold boot up. You're done.

 

(PDF copy attached below)

† 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>.