(very) previous BIOS version for Z440

[ManoaNosea]

can you provide the HP Z440 BIOS file version 2.40 ? it is not available in the BIOS section

I would like to avoid speculative execution vulnerabilities mitigation because the performance cost is too high

[DGroves]

the actual performance loss on  z440 due to spectre patches is MINIMAL

downgrading the bios will not get you any real improvement

read this link, and download the app it allows software control over meltdown patch

https://www.grc.com/inspectre.htm?rel=%22nofollow%22

[ManoaNosea]

thanks I will check this 🙂

[ManoaNosea]

BIOS update freeze on 70% and when I restart it go back 1.53 but system working, what is the problem ?

update from BIOS itself worked 🙂

[DGroves]

When the HP Tools EFI Partition is full or missing, using HPBIOSUPDREC or HPBIOSUPDREC64 in Windows or hp-flash in Linux may cause the system to hang. The issue occurs only when the system has BIOS version 1.53 or 1.55.

Unfortunately, you have to use the F10 BIOS update method to update the BIOS from a USB drive. Once you update it to v1.58 or later you will not have this problem anymore.

Again, this problem happens only with v1.53 or v1.55.  The v1.58 or newer will NOT have this issue.

download and run  sp104013 file

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

it will extract to a folder and start the bios update, cancel the update and go to the extracted SP104913 folder and copy the  HPBIOSUPDREC folder onto a formatted fat32 USB key in this folder is the actual bios file " M60_0254 "

now insert the usb key with the HPBIOSUPDREC folder into a usb 2.0 port (no usb 3.0 ports!!) and power on the system, enter the bios and select the flash system rom option and point it to the usb key\folder that has the actual bios file " M60_0254 "

To access the Computer Setup (F10) Utility menu:

1. Power on or restart the workstation.
2. When the display is active and F10=Setup appears in the lower right corner of the screen, press F10.
   If you do not press F10 at the appropriate time, try again. Turn the workstation off, then on, and press F10 again to access the utility. You can also press the Ctrl + Alt + Delete keys before starting if you miss the opportunity to press F10.
3. Select the language from the list and press the Enter key.
   In the Computer Setup (F10) Utility menu, five headings are displayed: File, Storage, Security, Power, and Advanced.
4. Use the left and right arrow keys to select the appropriate heading, use the up and down arrow keys to select an option, and then press Enter.
5. Choose  File then  Flash system Rom

[SDH]

DGroves,

For some reason HP changed their BIOS upgrade method with the Z440/Z640/Z840, with a new twist.  They even put out their HowTo with new versions of BIOS for the prior ZX20 workstations to include this new twist until I pointed out to them that it was only meant for the ZX40 generation and beyond (!).  That was corrected.  Here it is:

For the ZX40 and ZX G4 generations of workstations you can harvest the BIOS .bin file as you describe, but then you need to create a sequence of nesting folders into which you put the .bin file.  For example, the latest Z440 BIOS 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 the thumb drive at its "top" level, and the thumb drive goes into a USB2 port.  These newer workstations actually also have native USB3 support built into their BIOS boot so you can use a USB3 port but I still prefer using a USB2 port so the habit is well established for me for older workstations that have both USB2 and 3 ports but no USB3 support built into their BIOS boot.

Why HP did that I have no idea, but it is necessary to use this nesting of folders.... the BIOS in these workstations is programmed to look for exactly that and if it does not see the nest it won't upgrade the BIOS.  This same method will not work for the prior Z420/Z620 workstations because their BIOS is programmed to look for the .bin file right at the top level of the thumb drive.

We have so many different HP workstations that I made a thumb drive with one folder containing the proper .bin file or nest of folders for each type of workstation inside, and I just copy the correct thing from that folder to paste out onto the top level of that thumb drive.... that USB drive does not need to be blank of everything else for it to work.  It just needs the right thing at the top level for BIOS to recognize.