Purchased HP Elite 8300 MiniTower

[i386]

Somehow I got lucky and found this brand new never opened Purchased HP Elite 8300 on eBay. Yes I know you have to be careful on eBay.

I have had my eyes on this a few weeks and today it was still Available so I purchased it. I also purchased a 2 Year warranty with it. 

I am wondering some things. It does come with Windows 7 Pro 64 Bit. So I am going to upgrade to Windows 10. I see there is a BIOS update.

Should I update the BIOS before Upgrading to Windows 10? 

If I decide to keep Windows 7 (Yes I know it's not safe) Did these systems come with a Recovery Partition or Disk? I got a HP Windows 7 Pro OS DVD already. I was just wondering if they were included? Or did it come with a Recovery Partition? 

The reason for possible keeping Windows 7 is because I program 2 way radios. I have had issues with the software crashing on Windows 10 before. So I may have to keep Windows 7 and use offline. 

This is what the listening showed.

What you get:

• One (1) HP Elite 8300 MiniTower
• Intel i5-3470 3.2GHz
• 250GB HDD
• 4GB RAM
• Windows 7 Pro
• HP Keyboard
• HP Mouse

Testing/Refurbishing:

• Unit is new in the box.

Shipping:

- Shipping is free for the 48 State

It also shows it has Graphics Processing Type: AMD Radeon HD 7450.

My old HPE 270f kicked the bucket. And I got this for a Backup. I took the memory and the Video Card ATI 5770 out and also the Ballistic memory 12 GB I purchased. And the Samsung SSD If it comes with a OS DVD I will use that and Install Windows 7 and keep the hard drive in a safe place.

I am excited and I hope this will be what it really said.

[erico]

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@i386 wrote:

Somehow I got lucky and found this brand new never opened Purchased HP Elite 8300 on eBay. Yes I know you have to be careful on eBay.

I have had my eyes on this a few weeks and today it was still Available so I purchased it. I also purchased a 2 Year warranty with it. 

I am wondering some things. It does come with Windows 7 Pro 64 Bit. So I am going to upgrade to Windows 10. I see there is a BIOS update.

Should I update the BIOS before Upgrading to Windows 10? The latest BIOS update is for Windows 8.1 and it just updates the microcode. I would consider a clean installation of Windows 8.1 instead of Windows 10, since the drivers are available at the HP support portal. Windows 10 is not supported for the Elite 8300.

https://support.hp.com/au-en/drivers/selfservice/hp-compaq-elite-8300-convertible-minitower-pc/52328...

If I decide to keep Windows 7 (Yes I know it's not safe) Did these systems come with a Recovery Partition or Disk? I got a HP Windows 7 Pro OS DVD already. I was just wondering if they were included? Or did it come with a Recovery Partition? 

The reason for possible keeping Windows 7 is because I program 2 way radios. I have had issues with the software crashing on Windows 10 before. So I may have to keep Windows 7 and use offline.  I am a  Technician licensed Ham radio operator. I program my Baofeng and RadioOddity handheld radios with a utility in a Windows 10 environment. I have never had any crashes of the programming utility.

This is what the listening showed.

What you get:

• One (1) HP Elite 8300 MiniTower
•  3.2GHz
• 250GB HDD
• 4GB RAM
• Windows 7 Pro
• HP Keyboard
• HP Mouse

Testing/Refurbishing:

• Unit is new in the box.

Shipping:

- Shipping is free for the 48 State

It also shows it has Graphics Processing Type: AMD Radeon HD 7450.

My old HPE 270f kicked the bucket. And I got this for a Backup. I took the memory and the Video Card ATI 5770 out and also the Ballistic memory 12 GB I purchased. And the Samsung SSD If it comes with a OS DVD I will use that and Install Windows 7 and keep the hard drive in a safe place.

I am excited and I hope this will be what it really said.  The memory probably won't be compatible.  

Compatible memory

https://www.crucial.com/compatible-upgrade-for/hp-compaq/hp-compaq-elite-8300-small-form-factor?gcli...

---

[i386]

@Erico

I understand you said you program radio's also. I have just had a few times it crashed. Could be not OS related. I use Chirp for my Boafeng and some other program I have a few Arshell I use for Business Radio because I also have a farm and they are used around the Farm. 

But I also seen these models for sell with Windows 10 and they are 3rd party vendor for drivers like snappy driver. I have used them and they work.

Thanks for the good info.

[Paul_Tikkanen]

Hi, @i386 

I have the older 8200 Elite CMT--actually two of them, and they both run W10 Pro just fine.

If the 8200 Elite can run W10, so should the 8300 Elite be able to.

You can most likely still get the free upgrade from W7 to W10 by clicking on the blue Update Now button at the link below.

Download Windows 10 (microsoft.com)

See this link for more info about why you still can get the free upgrade.

Here's how you can still get a free Windows 10 upgrade | ZDNet

You should only need one driver after the upgrade, and that is for the PCI serial port & PCI Simple Communications Controller, which are both installed by this driver...

This package contains the Intel Active Management Technology (AMT), including the Active Client Manager Host Embedded Controller Interface (HECI) device driver, and the Intel Local Management Service (LMS) and Serial-over-LAN (SOL) support for the supported desktop models and operating systems.

https://ftp.hp.com/pub/softpaq/sp67001-67500/sp67118.exe

[i386]

@Paul_Tikkanen

Thanks for the reply and you are right it will run Windows 10. My HPE 270f from 2010 ran Windows 10 just fine. And there was no drivers from HP either.

The serial port may come in handy with programming radios because I can not program some older radio's. I still get them sometimes. And some require a serial port and I also see some of these shipped with a printer port that connected to the board. 

And more good news for me. The Computer is only like 460 miles from me and UPS is showing it will be here tomorrow. I hope UPS is correct. I already gave permission in my UPS account to release and leave it but I should be home. It just surprised me I would get it tomorrow the next day.

[Paul_Tikkanen]

You're very welcome.

You asked about updating the BIOS prior to upgrading to W10.

It would depend on what BIOS revision your PC shipped with, but if you decide to update the BIOS, you have to do a two step BIOS update to go to the latest version.

You must first update to v02.99 before updating to any of the v03.xx versions.

Read all of the release notes to see if you want to update the BIOS from where it is at.

00.03.08 is the latest release.

HP Compaq Elite 8300 Microtower PC Software and Driver Downloads | HP® Customer Support

Click to expand the Previous version info, on that update and you will find all of the available previous versions and the release notes.

Version: 00.03.08 Rev.A- Provides latest Intel Microcode versions 0x21 for Ivy Bridge processors and 0x2F for Sandy Bridge processors.

Version: 00.03.07 Rev.A

Fixed in this release: NOTE: Due to security changes, after loading this BIOS, older versions cannot be installed. - Provides latest Intel Microcode versions 0x20 for Ivy Bridge processors and 0x2E for Sandy Bridge processors.

Version: 00.03.06 Rev.A

Fixed in this release: - Provides the latest Intel Microcode versions 0x1F for Ivy Bridge processors and 0x2D for Sandy Bridge processors.
- Adds a new BIOS Setup policy to allow the Power On Password prompt when Wake On LAN is enabled. NOTE: This new setting will be enable by default, and will prompt for Power On Password during a Wake on LAN event.
NOTE: Due to security changes, after loading this BIOS, older versions cannot be installed.

Version: 03.04 Rev.A

Fixed in this release: - Added Security Update.

Version: 03.03 Rev.A

Fixed in this release: - Fixed F10 "BIOS Power On" issue where TIME was not getting saved unless cursor (focus) remained on TIME setting in F10 menu. *** ALERT *** ALERT *** ALERT ***
If upgrading from a v02.xx to this version, v03.00, the user MUST FIRST FLASH TO v02.99.
If not, upgrading to v03.xx will be rejected.

Version: 03.02 Rev.A

Fixed in this release: - Fixed issue where TPM was enabled without Setup Password enabled.
– Fixed issue where AMT Enable was getting grayed in F10 when not properly provisioned.
- Fixed Wake On LAN (usually wake by magic packet) to Disable (BIOS) Fast Boot so Remote Wakeup Boot Source will execute.
- Fixed BiosConfigUtility in setting Legacy and UEFI Boot Sources.
- Fixed the Master Boot Record Security in F10 Menu and to allow MBRBackup to be updated.
- Updated the BIOS Power On support.
- Updated USB support. *** ALERT *** ALERT *** ALERT ***
If upgrading from a v02.xx to this version, v03.00, the user MUST FIRST FLASH TO v02.99.
If not, upgrading to v03.00 will be rejected.
- Implemented Roll Back prevention.
- Added improved Security Updates.
*** ALERT ***
This release improved Security Updates implementation. HP strongly recommends promptly
transitioning to this BIOS version. Due to security changes, after this BIOS
update has been installed, previous BIOS versions cannot be reinstalled.

Version: v02.99 Rev.A

Fixed in this release: - 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.

Version: v02.98 Rev.A

Fixed in this release: - Fixed for AMT Watchdog Timers when disabled in F-10 the timers are no longer active.
- Fixed the Boot Order status and sequence listed in CPQSetup.txt to be the same as in F10 Menu, Setup.
- Fixed the possible TXT/TPM issue in F10 Menu where both TXT and TPM options could be greyed-out in the F10 Setup.
- Fixed intermittent S3 hang during the resume cycle.
- Fixed the Boot Order displaying incorrectly in F10=Setup when the Network Controller is Disabled.
- Fixed the TPM1.2 device not being accessible in Device Manager and TPM.MSC after resetting the TPM. - Flash Back Restrictions to previous BIOS versions.
ALERT: This BIOS includes critical updates. Once the system is updated to this
version, rollback to previous versions is restricted. This restriction
also applies to BIOS recovery files.
- Added UEFI and UEFI Variables Security Updates.

I use the F10 Setup BIOS flashing method on my HP PC's so that I don't need to do the update in Windows.

For example if your PC has come with W10, you can still update the BIOS using the F10 Setup BIOS flash method.

You could update the BIOS even if you didn't have a hard drive installed for that matter, using the F10 Setup BIOS flash method.

I'm sure you are going to like your 8300 Elite MT a lot.

[i386]

@Paul_Tikkanen

This should be as described never opened box so it's going to have the BIOS version from  the Factory. I am pretty sure it's going to be.

2.05 Rev. A

Release date:

Jul 5, 2012

That is the earliest date on the download page. But there could be one before it.  I see what your saying now I got to update to v0.299

I see a 2.90 Rev. A from August 2013.

Updating a BIOS I have done may times. But it has always been nerve recking I am always scared something will go wrong.

[Paul_Tikkanen]

I agree with you...BIOS updates always raise my pulse.

I do my best to minimize the risk of turning my PC into a doorstop by using the F10 Setup based flash method.

It is easy to do, and you eliminate Windows as the 'middleman' to execute the actual BIOS update file and then transfer it to the BIOS.

[i386]

I remember having a HP ProBook 6560b and I also bought it refurbished. It wasn't used much it still had the HP Recovery Partition. But it also had a HP_TOOLS partition very small FAT32 partition. That was for updating the BIOS outside Windows. 

I wish I would have kelp that Laptop it was an i5 and could be upgraded unlike my Dell Inspiron with an i3. I might upgrade the HP 8300 CPU. But with just the SSD and the memory I got if the memory works. 

And I am thinking it may not hurt to get a new CR3032 battery because it's been in the box since 2012 so IDK if may be dead.

[Paul_Tikkanen]

It probably wouldn't hurt to put in a new battery but I don't recommend you so that until after you have run the PC through its paces.

Here is the link to the service manual for the PC, so you can familiarize yourself with it.

c03612798 (hp.com)

I know when I got my 8200 Elite I wanted to add a graphics card, and it was the first time I ever saw a PC where the motherboard had two identical looking PCIe x16 slots, but one was black and one was white.

So which slot do I install the graphics card in?  The black one or the white one?

I actually saw YouTube videos where the guy installed the video card in the wrong slot.

The service manual tells you which slot to install the graphics card in...the black one, which is PCIe x16. 

The identical looking white one is PCIe x4.