System bios for HP Elite 8300 Minitower

[davejyd]

I have a HP Elite 8300 Convertible Minitower PC.  It originally came with Windows 7 Pro installed, and had been upgraded to Windows 10.   The product label is missing, so I can't find the model # or serial # - there is a tag on the back with the number MXL30621L7.  I also have numbers off of a tag inside the PC and also off of the motherboard.  It was purchased thru a government surplus auction, if this helps - - -

Recently the hard drive crashed, so I replaced it with an exact replacement, and went to reinstall Windows 10.  I initially reinstalled Windows 7, and then reinstalled Windows 10, and ran updates until it was to the point of installing Creator's Update.  Creators Update would not install - I kept getting the message "Unable to determine if this PC has enough hard drive space" and the upgrade would stop.   

As per instructions from other forum posts, I then attempted to do a "clean install" of Windows 10 creators upgrade to the PC.  I got the error message :  "error code 0xc0000034, the boot configuration data file is missing", and the next line is "File/BCD".   

I know that this model will run Windows 10 Creators Update, as I have 2 other identical machines that upgraded to creators upgrade with no issues at all.  Part of the research to fix this one involved checking the system, so I ran dxdiag on this unit, as well as one of the other HPs that properly upgraded to creators update.   The only difference between the 2 machines is this one states "K01 v0.257" for the Bios, and the "good" machine states "Default System Bios".   I checked on HP's website, and the info states that the K01 is the most updated version of the bios for this machine.  

When I initially went to do the "clean install" of Windows 10, I selected clean install (of course).  It went to the hard drive section, where there were 4-5 partitions showing (very unusual, to be sure) so I deleted all of the partitions down to one, and started fresh.  This is where the boot configuration error showed up, and where I am at now.   All of the other posts that I have found assume that you have Windows installed, but my HD is blank.   So first off - what BIOS should my system have, and where do I go from here??

[Paul_Tikkanen · Accepted solution]

Hi:

You should be able to see the product number, model number and serial number in the BIOS's system information window.

The MXL30621L7 is the serial number.  It was manufactured in 2013 during the 6th calendar week of the year. 

306 of the serial number tells me that.

The serial number in the BIOS should match what you see on the tag in the back.

K01 is the BIOS family, not the revision.

The most recent BIOS update is this one... 03.04 Rev.A   Nov 7, 2016

But in order to update to the latest version, you must first update to v02.99 Rev.A   Oct 19, 2015

Support page...

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

I would suggest updating the BIOS using the F10 Flash system ROM option, and not the windows based flash.

Use a USB flash drive formatted with the FAT32 file system.

When you run the BIOS download file, an information window will open and give you the various methods to update the BIOS.

Unfortunately, I wouldn't have any idea why you can't install W10 on there.

You may want to make sure that legacy mode is enabled in the BIOS and secure boot is disabled.

If you are booting from a DVD, secure boot must be disabled.

[davejyd]

OK - will try updating the BIOS - however how about a bit of guidance on how to ensure that legacy mode is enabled and that secure boot is disabled - I have been all through the settings in Bios & can't find anylace where these settings are settable/changeable?

Here is what I see in the system info in Bios -

 

[davejyd]

Also, I have NO O/S installed - I have downloaded the BIOS files I need - but how to do the update with no O/S?   

[davejyd]

I figured out how to upfrade the BIOS , and now have 0.304 for bios - however I still get the same error message - aqnd am still unable to proceed on from there - - - 

[davejyd]

I figured out how to upgrade the BIOS , and now have 0.304 for bios - however I still get the same error message - aqnd am still unable to proceed on from there 

[davejyd]

Well, updating the BIOS to the latest version seemed to fix my problem  - so far - - however I had to install Windows 7 first, then install Windows 10.  Otherwise it looks as if everything is now working the way it should (keeping fingers crossed).