Z420 Bios Upgrade for Windows 10

[JimInAlaska]

Z420 Bios Upgrade for Windows 10

Question: Can I go directly from "J61 v01.02" to "3.90 Rev.A 8-Aug-16" on my Windows 10 PC? If not, what is the BIOS migration path?

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I have a Z420 Workstation (Product # b2b96ut#ABA) that is running Windows 10 Pro 64-bit OS. The BIOS is "J61 v01.02; boot block date 12/28/11" which appears to have been the initial release BIOS (based on https://community.spiceworks.com/topic/319873-hp-z420-bios-confussion). See the last post on that thread which was made by HP staff.

The above referenced article says, in part: "We do recommend that customers upgrade to the “latest” BIOS; however, the Z420 BIOS situation is a little complicated. The Z420 (and Z620 and Z820) BIOS went through an unprecedented amount of change between initial release and the introduction of Windows 8. The UEFI ingredients necessary for Windows 8 were simply not available in time for initial release. One unfortunate side effect is that BIOS 1.02, which shipped for the first 2 months of Production, cannot upgrade directly to any 2.XX or 3.XX BIOS. Any system with BIOS 1.02 must first upgrade to a higher-numbered 1.XX BIOS before being upgraded to a 2.XX or 3.XX BIOS. Because of this, we need to keep the latest 1.XX BIOS on the web as a “stepping stone” for customers that need to upgrade from BIOS 1.02. We are not actively updating the 1.XX BIOS stream, but have been updating that BIOS with any critical, security-related bug fixes. It just so happened that 1.21 (with recent critical fixes) was released just after 3.06 (the latest, greatest BIOS). Customers should upgrade to 3.06 as the “latest” BIOS."

HOWEVER, the above article was dated in May 2013 -- which precedes Windows 10.

The Windows 10 download page (http://h20564.www2.hp.com/hpsc/swd/public/readIndex?sp4ts.oid=5225034&swLangOid=8&swEnvOid=4192) lists only "3.90 Rev.A 8-Aug-16" and "3.88 Rev.A 19-Jun-15" BIOS revisions.

Question: Can I go directly from "J61 v01.02" to "3.90 Rev.A 8-Aug-16" on my Windows 10 PC? If not, what is the BIOS migration path?

[SDH]

You came to the right spot.....  a link that will get you near the answer:  HERE

http://h30434.www3.hp.com/t5/Business-PCs-Workstations-and-Point-of-Sale-Systems/Unable-to-update-BI...

You'll need to step up through just two BIOS updates, I believe, and when you do please post here to let others know how things went, for future reference.

Go here....   http://h20564.www2.hp.com/hpsc/doc/public/display?docId=emr_na-c04037460

The links that end with .exe work for me today..... note that you want the one that is listed as working for both the Z420 and the Z620.  The Z820 one looks like it is only for that particular workstation.

Then, the most recent BIOS update is from June of this year.... to 3.90

[JaroslavKL]

Hi, I have BIOS version 1.02 I want make BIOS update but first must be version 1.XX,

I found only 1.14 and this is to high version.

I need version like 1.07/1.08 I think.

Where I can find it?

I have this link ftp://ftp.hp.com/pub/softpaq/

but I don know SPXXXXX number.

[DGroves]

take the time to read the 2 links that SDH provided just above the request you posted

if you had then you would most likely not be asking  how to update your bios

i checked the links and they are very detailed as to what is required,

and how to do the updates and why the updates need to be done this way

[SDH]

There are a number of HP workstations that may have shipped with very early ("way old") versions of BIOS that require stepping up to a certain less old level before you can finally upgrade to the latest BIOS.  This is the case with the Z420/Z620 BIOS...... they need to be "stepped up" out of the very old version to an intermediate version, and only then can they go through a final step of loading the very latest BIOS.  Here is a HP quote:

"System requires a BIOS version of 1.07 or greater to update to the new 02.00 or 03.00 code base".  So, if you are at 1.02 you first need to get to a 1.x version that is 1.07 or later before you can update to a version 2.x or version 3.x of BIOS.  The latest as of 2/18 is 3.91, which is the one you want.

The HP support communication C03993436 link about this issue that works currently is HERE.

https://support.hp.com/us-en/product/hp-z420-workstation/5225033/document/c03993436

Here is a link that works today to get the 1.23 version of the Z420/Z620 BIOS... copy and paste this into your browser address bar and then hit Enter, or right click on the link and choose Open link in a new tab:

ftp://ftp.hp.com/pub/softpaq/sp64501-65000/sp64701.exe

Download the SP64701 via that.  Run that (best way to update BIOS is from within BIOS, but my guess is that you'll want a more simple approach).

Once you update to 1.23 you'll then be able to update directly to the latest 3.x version.  These BIOS updaters and the process is identical for the Z420 and Z620.