Z2 G9 Workstation - Thunderbolt BIOS Settings

[Justindd]

HP doesn't seem to have a clue, does anyone on here know how in the heck to re-enable the BIOS setting for PCIE Tunneling so that Thunderbolt will work correctly?

This was working great for me right up until I had to reinstall Windows because an application I was running had some massive corruption.  Ever since then, it is disabled and there are no security level settings in the BIOS for Thunderbolt on this machine.

[SDH]

That sounds more like a driver issue rather than a BIOS issue, especially if you did not change BIOS settings during your install.

Do you know of the HP Cloud Recovery system? HP builds may have special drivers that the Microsoft Windows Update system does not know about and thus it is worth downloading the custom clean installer for your workstation. This method has given us more recent and improved builds from HP versus the CD/DVD kit that came with the box originally.

Try this to see if your product number will get you a build: Cloud Recovery (d34z73bbtpzgej.cloudfront.net)

Note that this is for HP Windows-licensed computers and thus one that came from HP built for a Linux install will not be able to use this approach.

These builds generally get you to a W10Pro64 older installer that can then be updated later with Windows Update without losing the HP special drivers. Some HP Cloud Recovery kits for W11Pro64 are now also available this way. Keep us posted if you can...

[DGroves]

HP desktop systems with thunderbolt do indeed require a driver before it will work, and the install of said driver can be problematic as it must be installed in the correct way following the provided directions

"SDH" recommendation of the HP restore image will not usually have this driver included as thunderbolt was a option on most desktop systems not standard

TBolt win 10 driver (under driver-Storage)

https://support.hp.com/us-en/drivers/selfservice/hp-z2-tower-g9-workstation-desktop-pc/2100987204

sp139473.exe  Windows 10/11 version 21H1 and later (64-bit)

https://ftp.hp.com/pub/softpaq/sp139001-139500/sp139473.exe

[Justindd]

Clearly some of the folks trying to help don't have a machine with Thunderbolt - the driver is where the system tells you that PCIE Tunneling is disabled so it isn't the driver (thanks for trying).  Besides that, my video was actually using Thunderbolt with an eGPU when I first got the machine while I was in the BIOS when the NVMe drive was completely not present.  Now absolutely nothing will turn that on.

HP claims it is a defective part that I have been waiting for now since October.  I'm just about ready to try small claims court so I can go get a Dell because clearly HP doesn't know how to build a BIOS correctly on their workstations - and waiting this long for a part while they sell brand new machines with the part has to be some sort of warranty fraud!

[DGroves]

pci-e tunneling is a method of xfering data over a usb 4 interface (usually a usb c type connector) the HP z2 g9 does this via the optional Flex I/O module for both the SFF/Tower models and the Thunderbolt card for the tower, must be in slot 4

as SDH points out if the hardware/bios  has not been touched ( and not a failed Flex I/O TBolt card) then it's a software issue

if the os has been reinstalled, and no bios or PCI-E card changes made then again it's likely software issue which can be driver related as the HP restore image does not include the thunderbolt drivers as this was/is a optional "custom" configuration

[Justindd]

Not sure why people bring up USB 4, this is Thunderbolt 3 not Thunderbolt 4.  The BIOS refuses to allow Windows or Linux to change  the thunderbolt security level, which is set to nopcie.....the **bleep** bios doesn't have a way to set the thunderbolt security level....which means a motherboard replacement every time the setting gets changed (by what I have no clue)....and HP Support is waiting to send me a new TB controller PCIe card.....

Linux can see the devices plugged in, but can't change the value of the security setting which can only be changed in the BIOS except the BIOS doesn't let you change it because someone forgot to put Thunderbolt into the BIOS on this **bleep** machine!

[DGroves]

Per Intel:

USB4 Specification Compliant

Both Thunderbolt™ 4 and Thunderbolt™ 3 technologies are compatible with the USB4 specification, allowing users to use Thunderbolt™ 4 and Thunderbolt™ 3 products with USB4 ports.

your computer implements the USB 4 Spec via the USB "c" type connector on the flex I/O board