Will POST new BIOS to Support Kaby Lake CPUs?

[Tony-TL]

I bought a Z240 SFF and i3 7350K CPU, and found it's not compatiable.

As we know, most of C236 mainborad support Kaby Lake CPUs after upgrade BIOS, it's same Socket 1151, and not higher TDP.

Will HP post a new BIOS version to support these 7th generation CPUs?

[Skylarking]

HP z240 supports 6th generation Intel CPU's.

Sometimes, HP makes microcode updates available via BIOS updates. In fact, Bios v 1.54 Rev A updates the microcode to 0xA0 for Intel 6th generation Core processor product family and Intel Xeon processor E3-1200 v5 product family. As such, i'd assume previous to this update, for early releases of z240, 6th gen CPU's wouldn't boot if installed.

Oddly, consumer OEM's usually seem to have no issue making microcode updates available on their motherboards to support the latest CPUs for a given socket.

However, the situation with HP systems is a little different in that if you want a later generation CPU, then usually you will need to buy a later generation workstation (even though a microcode update could resolve boot issues and allow later CPU to work).

Such consumer OEM's seem to be much more proactive at updates in one respect as compared to HP.

So, 7th gen CPU isn't supported according to z240 Quickspec or according to microcode updates documented within z240 BIOS updates. Guess your i3-7350K wont boot as a result.

I wouldn't hold my breath for an z240 update as HP hasn't seen fit to provide the simple microcode update within z210 BIOS needed for Xeon v2 CPU's for countless years. 

Guess that reminds me, if i want v2 CPU's in my z210, i must get around to looking at updating the microcode within z210 BIOS (to allow V2 CPU's to boot in my old system... since HP wont play the game and help out...)...

[editied to add following]

Oops, according to latest z240 SFF Quickspecs, 7th Gen CPUs are supported, specifically:

7th generation Intel® Core™ processor family
Intel® Core™ i5-7500 3.4 6M 4C SFF CPU
Intel® Core™ i5-7600 3.5 6M 4C SFF CPU
Intel® Core™ i7-7700 3.6 8M 4C SFF CPU

Obviously your i3-7350K isn't listed above but installing a K series CPU in a workstation that does not provide overclocking support* is a little pointless and something HP would not support via microcode update.
Maybe going for a supported i5 or i7 would be better and should work without problems.

* i haven't looked at z240 bios for overclocking features but all other HP z worksatations i've seen don't support overclocking so i'd think it's also not a supported feature of z240. Also, overclocking on a workstation seems counter-intuitive since it's reliability and support people pay big $$ for these workstations so i'd be shocked if HP released a microcode update to suport this i3 k series CPU.

[Tony-TL]

Thank you, after swapped a mainboard, it's okay to work with my i3 7350K now.

However, it still cannot reconganize my samsung PM951 M.2 SSD...

[MtothaJ]

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@Skylarking wrote:

* i haven't looked at z240 bios for overclocking features but all other HP z worksatations i've seen don't support overclocking so i'd think it's also not a supported feature of z240. Also, overclocking on a workstation seems counter-intuitive since it's reliability and support people pay big $$ for these workstations so i'd be shocked if HP released a microcode update to suport this i3 k series CPU.

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In this scenario it is worthwhile to try Intel Extreme Tuning Utility - it is entirely likely that on an unlocked multiplier CPU one will be able to increase core ratio multiplier as well as change some other parameters.

[JulianLawn]

Hi, you said you changed the mainboard and now it works.  Did you swap for a replacement HP Z240 workstation board or go third party?  I am having exactly the same issue as you with an i3-7350K

[Tony-TL]

It's third party way to swap motherboard, however, the key point is make sure the BIOS up to date.

The new fireware contains new CPU micro code to support i3-7350K.

[JulianLawn1]

So you swapped to a 3rd party board.  Sorry to trouble you, could you let me know which one?   I did think of this option but the backplate seems to be riveted in place and all the boards I have looked at would have the headers in the wrong places.

I tried updating the BIOS BTW to the latest version, but no success.

Thanks for your help, much appreciated!