Current BIOS is not compatible with Windows 10

[ThomKing]

Issue -

Current BIOS is not compatible with Windows 10

History -
Acquired reconditioned PC on eBay with a one year warranty and at a significantly reduced price.
The plan remains to obtain several more units so that we can outfit a small working office area dedicated to special needs adults.
Shame on me.

The system arrived with Windows 8 and one day auto upgraded to Windows 10.
Since updating to Windows 10, the PC works great with the one exception of issues with restarting.  
I have contacted the company that is still selling these units on eBay.
Initially they responded quickly stating that I needed to update the bios to K01 V2.85.
I responded asking what is the BIOS update and where can it be found.
Unfortunately for two months they have now ignored all further communications from me.

Assemptions?
The current BIOS K01 V02.05 does not support Windows 10.
I may need to update to BIOS K01 V2.85 (and no further).
A BIOS update to a legacy system has the potential to turn the unit into a boat anchor if done incorrectly.
I don't have a clue where to obtain the BIOS update or how to update the BIOS on this system.

Do your experts have any polite thoughts or suggestions?

============================================================================================ 

Model

HP Compaq Elite 8300 Convertible Minitower

System -

BIOS Version K01 V02.05
Manufacturer Hewlett-Packard
Name Default System BIOS
[personal information removed]
Version HPQOEM - 1072009

Device specifications -

Processor Intel($) Core(TM) i5-3470 CPU @ 3.20GHz 3.20 GHz
Installed RAM 32.0 GB (31.9 GB usuable)
Device ID 6B2E5D46-4BB3-44E8-B481-212AC7691B7F
Product ID 00330-50000-00000-AAOEM
System type 64 bit operating system, x64-based processor
Pen and touch No pen or touch input is available for this display.

Windows specifications -

Edition Windows 10 Pro
Version 20H2
Installed 7/1/2020
OS build 19042.804
Experience Windows Feature Experience Pack 120.2212.551.0

============================================================================================ 

Symptoms -

When starting/restarting, for several minutes there is no noticeable activity.
Then there is a loud spinning sound similar to a fan motor and is reaching its maxiumum RPM.
Sound slowly goes away.
A blue screen appears on monitor with option to either select 'Windows' or 'Recovery'.
Once 'Windows' is selected, and the unit starts back up at Windows menu and runs flawlessly (until next time).

[Paul_Tikkanen]

Hi:

You can use the F10 Setup BIOS flashing method to update the BIOS without being in Windows.

I am pretty sure the 8300 Elite's with W10 work fine with the latest BIOS which is v3.08.

The problem is that HP only has the older BIOS versions to v2.98.

v2.85 is no longer available.

What I am going to do is to give you the version 2.99, which is the same as v2.98, but it allows you to update the BIOS to v3.08.

If you install 2.98, you will have to go to v2.99 before you can update to one of the 3.0x versions.

So...hopefully v2.99 will resolve the problems you are having on W10 and you can either leave it there or update to a newer version.

https://ftp.hp.com/pub/softpaq/sp73001-73500/sp73099.exe

Fix and enhancements:

- Customers MUST flash this BIOS first, before flashing to the v03.xx versions.
- Added enhancement to allow for flashing forward to v03.xx.
- This is the same version as v02.98.

OK, so here is what you do...

Get a USB flash drive.  Format it with the FAT 32 file system.

Run the above BIOS update.  An info page will open.

Read the instructions under this section...

                                                                               Startup Menu / F10 Setup BIOS Flashing

The HP Business Desktop systems provide a BIOS upgrade option through both the Startup Menu and the F10 Setup utility using the "Flash System ROM" feature.  Reboot the PC and press the Escape key to display the Startup Menu. Use the arrow keys to select Utilities, and then select the Flash System ROM option. Alternatively, reboot the PC and press F10 to access the BIOS Setup utility. In the File menu, select Flash System ROM.  Either method requires that removable media be present (USB storage or data CD) that contains the BIOS binary image file in the root directory. The binary image file can be found in the DOS Flash folder and is named xxx_MMmm.bin where "xxx" is the BIOS family, "MM" is the major version number, and "mm" is the minor version number.  To create a CD for updating the BIOS, use a blank CD-R or CD-RW disk on a system with a CD-RW or DVD+RW drive, and write the binary to the disk using any CD-burning software (Windows 7 and Vista support burning data CDs without additional software). If a BIOS Setup password has been set, the password will be required before being able to access the "Flash System ROM" menu. The user is notified when the process is completed.  The new BIOS code will not take effect until the PC is restarted.

View Contents of DOS Flash Folder

Copy the file contents of the DOS flash folder to your USB flash drive.  Just the files, not the folder.

Restart the PC and immediately press/tap the ESC key to get the menu of options.

Select the F10 Setup option.

Select the File tab>Flash System Rom command.

Select the USB flash drive.

The PC should 'see' the BIOS files on the flash drive.

Follow the on screen instructions to update the BIOS.

If you want to update to v3.08 which is currently the latest BIOS revision, here is the link to that one.

https://ftp.hp.com/pub/softpaq/sp95501-96000/sp95971.exe

Fix and enhancements:

- Provides latest Intel Microcode versions 0x21 for Ivy Bridge processors and 0x2F for Sandy Bridge processors.

NOTE: Due to security changes, after loading this BIOS, older versions cannot be installed.