Bios Update says not enough space to install.

[pmiles123]

Trying to update bios via HP Support Assistant.  

HP Consumer Desktop PC BIOS Update (ROM Family SSID 8928)

SoftPaq number: 150299  Version F.16  Size: 14.2MB

File downloaded to C > SWSetup > SP150299

Plenty of free space.

Says insufficient space to install update when I try to install it.

Currently on F.15 according the system.

[Bill_To]

Hi @pmiles123 

Welcome back.

The 100 MB Windows EFI System partition may be saturated. This is very unusual to see this error. Something else may be going on pointing to a problem that is above my paygrade. Maybe you should sit tight if the PC is working correctly.

Don't fix it if it isn't broke.

Or you could download the BIOS update at this Link. Try the BIOS update again to see if you get the same error.

Or try the USB BIOS flash drive option when running sp150299. You should be able to create the USB drive on your PC or use a second PC to create the USB BIOS flash drive.

Run the BIOS update outside of Windows by booting to the USB BIOS flash drive.

Check this HP video for more info on using the USB BIOS update option.

Regards

[pmiles123]

Download link resulted in the same outcome.

Hesitant to do the manual bios approach at this time.  Odd thing is that it did do a previous bios update a while back without a hitch.

Could you explain what you mean by the EFI partition being saturated?  How would I check?

[Bill_To]

Hi @pmiles123 

The EFI System Partition is hidden and protected. You really don't want to mess with this partition because it is required to load Windows.

I am pretty sure HP places the BIOS' .bin and .sig files in this partition. This is done to prevent the user from installing an older BIOS version and for recovery purposes if the MB 's BIOS gets corrupted..

You can check the partition's free space by downloading and running Partition Expert portable available at this Site. Run the x64 version to check your system drive contents.

The following image shows my EFI System partition characteristics. I have about 68 MBs of free space.

What BIOS version are you running now? I checked your first post, you are running BIOS version F.15.

I would not worry about the BIOS update if your PC is okay. However F.16 provides additional security and support for newer RAM modules.

But you should be able to do the USB BIOS update if desired. The USB BIOS recovery option is supposed to fix the PC when the BIOS gets corrupted.

Regards

[pmiles123]

I just used Disk Management and it shows as healthy with 100 MB capacity and 100 MB free.  My system drive is 95% free and also healthy.  No need for 3rd party software to access that information.

Could it possibly be BitLocker s not actually allowing me to install it even though is does show as disabled in Windows Explorer when I attempted to run it?

Seems odd that it allowed a previous Bios update back in September (15.15) and others before it.  Seems like it should be straight forward like all the other times.  The latest Bios is at 16.

[Bill_To]

Hi @pmiles123 

Disk Mgt. on my PC also shows 100 MBs of free space in the EFI System partition. I would guess that is incorrect since Partition Expert shows 68 MBs of free space in my EFI System partition.

You could resize this partition using partitioning software if it is full. That is why I suggested Partition Expert.

I don't use BitLocker on Win Pro versions nor do I use Device Encryption on Win Home versions. The key is stored in the TPM. You could get locked out of the system drive and will lose data if the TPM gets corrupted and you don't do data backups. I set Drive Encryption or BitLocker to disabled in Control Panel.

Are you now using BIOS version F.15 or F.16?

I don't know why you can't update the BIOS from F.15 (if you are running F.15) to F.16 within Windows.

Try the USB method. Did you look at the HP video link in a previous response?

Regards

[Bill_To]

Hi @pmiles123 

A different Forum member is having the same problem you are having using a different HP product. Can't say if this fact points to a faulty BIOS update or it is a PC problem.

Some bad BIOS updates were pushed to some HP products in late 2022 and early 2023. It is too early to conclude this is happening again. But two different HP products having the same issue is very unusual.

Check this Link.

You might want to wait for the next HP BIOS update.

Update, the other Forum member updated the BIOS using the USB BIOS flash drive.

Regards

[pmiles123]

Well, the problem resolved itself.  Came home from work and the update in question was all queued up ready to install.  Went without a hitch.  Go figure.

Thanks for all your assistance.  Maybe because several of us were mentioning issues they decided to push the update out again.  Wish I could click your posts as a solution, but HP beat you to it.