BIOS

[CaryBrown]

I am using HP Elite Desk 800 (approx 300)

I would like to schedule all my HP pc’s at my office to power on at 3am on a particular morning to receive updates, I know I must make the appropriate one time BIOS configuration changes per PC, and am aware of what BIOS options I must change.

 Is there a way I can broadcast / automate the BIOS change to all 300 PC's at the same time instead on me touching each device one at a time ?

Thanks

Cary

[mdklassen]

>>  Is there a way I can broadcast / automate the BIOS change to all 300 PC's at the same time instead on me touching each device one at a time ?

Given that your request is reasonable, there must be software "out there" that will accomplish this, once each "managed" PC is configured to power-on at a scheduled time, and once you've configured this "management" software to list all the PCs that need to be "touched", and to schedule the day/time to do the update.

Try a Google-search for "remote network administration software", to find a software package.

[CaryBrown]

When running BiosConfigUtility on my HP Elite desktop, I keep receiving the following error message

     <ERROR msg=”System Not Supported. Unable to connect to HP WMI namespace:

Root\HP’ “ />

     <ERROR msg=”BCU return value” real=”

Does anyone know what this message means?

I am using the latest BCU.

The message shows in red.

Thanks

Cary

[mdklassen]

> msg=”System Not Supported. Unable to connect to HP WMI namespace: Root\HP’ “ />

> msg=”BCU return value”

I think that "System Not Supported" is clear, as is "unable to connect".

Definition: WMI ==>  Windows Management Instrumentation

A "namespace" can be compared to a tree with a "root" and with "branches".

Definition: BCU ==> BIOS Configuration Utility.

So, on your computer, open a command-line prompt, and type 'SERVICES.MSC'.

It's an alphabetically-sorted list, with 'Windows Management Instrumentation' near the bottom.

Double-click this service.

Click to 'Stop' this service.

Click to 'Start' this service.

Try again, to see if BCU now can "connect" to the WMI service, and navigate through the "root" to the 'HP' branch, to retrieve some value within that branch.

[CaryBrown]

Thanks for your reply, I had already checked the services (one of the 1st things I did)  But I again did a restart, and again not working.

Also the strange thing is BCU works perfectly for the password option (which is the third option on the BCU the list)

selecting this I am able to open a password config to make changes.

[mdklassen]

Are you trying to change the BIOS software on your "local" (HP Elite) system,

or to change the BIOS "settings" on your "local" system,

or are you trying to connect (over the network) to change one of the "remote" computers?

I can imagine that changing a "setting" is allowed, but updating the BIOS "software" would be doing additional checking.

Changing a "setting" can be undone, but recovery after loading a "wrong" BIOS might be impossible.

[CaryBrown]

Hi

I want all my PC’s to power on one night a week (Wednesday) at 3am so scheduled updates will be installed on all 300 of my buildings PC’s

I already know how to change the BIOS settings,  what I  need is a way to make the same BIOS change on all 300 network PC’s around the building without me having to walk to each PC to make the change

I want to find a way to push the BIOS change over the network.

The BIOS Configuration Utility is supposed to create a BIOS configuration file that I can edit. Once I have edited the file I can push this file to all 300 pc’s, however the BIOS config utility fails when I try to create the config file.

The failure  message is the one I described at the start of this thread.

Thanks

[mdklassen]

Since there's no such thing as stupid questions ...

1. Are you running the BCU as an "elevated" program, not just from an 'Administrator-level' ID ?

2. Is your "master" PC the same hardware as the 300 others?

3. Have you tried the BCU on a different computer, just in case there is something "wonky" on the "master" computer?