z400 BIOS Update 3.61

[chwhnd]

I recently got the following email from HP:

Critical Driver Alert - Mar 06 2018
HP Z400 Linux Workstation System BIOS (ver 3.61 Rev.A)
Products: HP Z400 Workstation
OS: Linux,Other Legacy OS

My z400  is a v2 with BIOS v3.6a and Win10 PROx64.

Does anyone have an opinion or advise as to weather I need to update?

[DGroves]

i recomend that you take the TIME to read the description file that hp takes the time to include with their bios updates

and then decide if you need to update, simply clock on the "DETAILS" tab to read the current bios changes.

Description:

This package contains the System BIOS image and local and remote BIOS flash utilities for the HP Z400 Workstation. These utilities can be used to restore or update the System BIOS. System BIOS is operating system independent.

Fix and enhancements:

• Updated to latest Intel microcode to provide mitigation to CVE-2017-5715. HP strongly recommends promptly transitioning to this updated BIOS version.

[chwhnd]

That I did.

The problem this update , apparently only address the specter (spelling?) leak / hack issue, which I'm not really worried about.

HP, to my knowledge does not support Win10 on the z400, which I'm running.  I did update to BIOS v3.6a knowing full well that that update did not support Win10.

What I was looking for was feedback from a user who has already updated to 3.61.  I recently had an issue with an upgrade to a W3690 that involved several CPU swaps and BIOS updates.  I finally concluded that the WS3690 had failed in a very unusual way.  I now have a W3680, BIOS v3.6a working just fine and I hesitate mucking around with a working system.  I'm just a little gun shy.

[chwhnd]

Another odd thing.  I run HP Support Assistant and it still to this day does not report this BIOS update.

[DGroves]

In reguards to HP and windows 10, you have to understand that this model was allready "EOL" (end of life) in reguards to support before windows 10 was even released in beta state. as such hp will not take the time, resources, money to certify

this os on the the z400 hardware.

the above does not mean that windows will not run, simply that you are own your own in reguards to support or locating drivers (if required) many many peole have installed win 10 on this model and there are no known issues

bios updates are allmost allways not os dependant , as the bios simply sets up the system  before/so a operating system can load.    in rare cases the bios may be tweaked to enhance a new feature of a later os, but in general  most bios updates are for things that happen that are not OS related.

in the future i recomend you be a little more descriptive when asking for help your reply contained information that should have been included in your first post

" I was looking for was feedback from a user who has already updated to 3.61.  I recently had an issue with an upgrade to a W3690 that involved several CPU swaps and BIOS updates.  I finally concluded that the WS3690 had failed in a very unusual way."

[SDH]

Worked fine for me.  The last phase had the hourglass going for a while.... wait it out.  Then it auto-shuts down.  Then, it auto-cold boots.  All good after that.

I did this from within my W7Pro64 OS environment.  When you do this there will not be a 32- or 64-bit option..... just choose HPQFlash.  I usually do BIOS updates from within BIOS, as you know, but wanted to do this update in the way that most would use.