Z440 Workstation. TPM wont update

[SDH]

Frnzl,

I think you have provided the key to solving this issue. Thank you. The problem I have is that I can see only the most recent and the next two older BIOS versions available on the HP ZX40 drivers website. I'd like to obtain the older October 2020 BIOS you mentioned in your 8/4/23 post above to test with. Any ideas? PaulT?

For all... HP BIOS updates more recently have included a lock mechanism that prevents easy "downgrading" from recent to older versions. I remember that our friend Bambi needed to reverse a BIOS update he had installed that whacked one of his Z620 workstations. He was able to work up the HP support chain to a woman who advised he remove the "lime green" password protection jumper located near the front edge of his Z620 motherboard about 3" above the bottom edge. He was then able to do the downgrade, shutdown, replace the lime green jumper, and then cold boot. That worked to circumvent the BIOS-version-lock. So, that lime green jumper appears to do more than just its official duty documented in the service manual. His post on that is HERE

In a bunch of HP workstation manuals it is described as blue, but it really is lime green in all the workstations I've worked with. In the Z440 and Z640 the 2-pin header for that has shifted to the left and higher, but the jumper is still lime green, and no other jumper is that color. Don't lose it by taking it out and setting it aside. Just pull it off, rotate it 90 degrees so you can then stick it back down on only one of the 2 pins. Don't forget to put it back on in its normal default position after shutting down, pulling power cord, and rotate it back so it is "shorting" its two pins properly, then power back up.

Regarding the process I'll try to find some added info and add it in to this string. I also have a PDF version of how to harvest the .bin file from a HP BIOS SoftPaq that I'll add, and the difference between how you use a thumb drive to change BIOS in the ZX40 vs the ZX20 workstations... the .bin file goes in the bottom folder of a set of 3 folders versus the ZX20 way where it only needs to be placed at the top level of the thumb drive. 

Also, don't forget DGroves' advice to set BIOS to factory defaults before attempting TPM upgrade/downgrade flashes. These firmware changes go into a small Infinion chip on the motherboard, not into BIOS itself. There is a limit of something like 40 up/down changes you can make. If you're doing this only for W11 compatibility you don't need to do that... look up PaulT's Rufus method of moving beyond that, and DGroves also has recommended the Rufus method. I also am using that now on my Z Turbo Drive projects with the ZX40 workstations and will hold my "hybrid" method in reserve if needed.

[SDH]

Found the older 2020 BIOS softpaq SP10413 Frnzl refers to as providing an earlier BIOS version that allows the TPM firmware flash process to actually work. HP could likely use his discovery to fix the current version of BIOS... turn on a software switch? I don't believe that HP would purposefully cause the newer versions of BIOS to not allow TPM firmware changes, at least without telling us about it and why.

Direct download of the older 2020 2.54 SoftPaq.exe from a functioning HP FTP server link:

https://ftp.hp.com/pub/softpaq/sp104001-104500/sp104013.exe

Same for the associated 2020 2.54 HP ReadMe document... this BIOS was actually released 5/14/20:

https://ftp.hp.com/pub/softpaq/sp104001-104500/sp104013.html

At the bottom of that ReadMe HP provides the WRONG DIRECTIONS. They state: "4. Copy the binary from C:\SWSETUP\SP104013\HPBIOSUPDREC\M60.0253.bin to the following directory on the USB key: [Drive Letter:]" which is incorrect. 

THIS IS WHAT IT SHOULD SAY:

4. Copy the binary from C:\SWSETUP\SP104013\HPBIOSUPDREC\M60.0253.bin to the following directory on the USB key: [Drive Letter: Hewlett-Packard\ BIOS\ New]

For the Zx40 and ZX G4 generations of workstations (and some of our newer HP business class computers) you harvest the BIOS .bin file from the SoftPaq for use in updating BIOS from within BIOS using a thumb drive... but you don't just place that .bin file on the top level of the thumb drive. You need to first create a sequence of nesting folders into which you put the .bin file. The older 2020 that is reported to allow TPM firmware changes is M60_0254.BIN, and you copy that into a folder you name New. Then you put New into a folder you name BIOS. Then you put that into a folder you name Hewlett-Packard (no more no less). That then goes into a FAT32 or NTFS formatted thumb drive at its "top" level, and the thumb drive plugs into a rear USB2 port. I personally prefer to do this with a FAT32 driver but it can work from a NTFS thumb drive now. These newer workstations actually also have native USB3 support built into their BIOS so you could use a USB3 port but I still prefer using a rear USB2 port. "Rear" because those ports are directly attached to the motherboard rather than via cables where some increased risk of interference is conceivable.

I'll shortly add the PDF that explains in more detail this process.

[SDH]

Attached is the PDF showing how to update BIOS from within BIOS on the ZX40 and later workstations. This same method can be used to downgrade the BIOS version assuming the Lime Green jumper trick found by Bambi works, linked above.

As noted, many newer HP BIOS upgrades have a lock engaged that prevents downgrading from a newer to an earlier BIOS version. Bambi reports a workaround for that roadblock, from a HP rep, that allows us to downgrade BIOS versions. In this circumstance I'd upgrade back up to the latest BIOS version after doing the TPM chip firmware version change under the older BIOS. Of interest, I've seen the HP factory defaults for BIOS slightly change over time as needed.

[Frnzl]

This is exactly what I did. I suspect that also other BIOS version will doe the job. I suspect the lock up started at a moment after MS has been selling W11 on scale and the big parties had come to an agreement about speeding up the obsolescense of their "older" products.

I also found the instruction for using a USB drive but with the correct information. All is not lost.

[erico]

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@Frnzl wrote:

As mentioned applying the latest BIOS to tthe latest version might be the cause. Did you try the TPM update after rolling back the BIOS to somewhere three years ago?

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@Frnzl 

If that worked for you, feel free to mark your own post as the solutions so other can find it easily.

I am glad that you managed to get this sorted out.

[Frnzl]

Hello Erico,

Thanks for your remark. I guess SDH's post from 08-10-2023 12:41 PM says it all including the right instruction. That would be the better one to mark as the solution. However I have never done this and I don't see any button to press. Maybe cause this subject is not mine? I only responded. It might be that SAT1600 sees a button like that. If you have an instruction...

Frans

[KarolOSS]

I also do confirm rolling back bios to the one mentioned works. You can upgrade it later. TPM upgrade was success after that.  Thanks for Your help.

[Hammer331]

Hi, I can also confirm rolling back the bios on my z440 allows the TPM update to 2.0 to finish.  Thanks everyone for your help!  On my Z440, the jumper is J49 and is green.

[erico]

@Frnzl 

Only the original author of a thread, in this case @Sat1600  or an HP Moderator or HP Admin has the ability to mark a thread as solved.

No one else will have a "mark this as the accepted solution" button in a post.