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Compaq 8000 - Elite Convertible Minitower PC Manual

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Updated December 2009

Table of Contents:

Introduction ...........................................................................................1
What are the files and directories in a BIOS softpaq? ....................................... 2
In what operating systems can I update the PC BIOS? ....................................... 4
How do I update the BIOS in a DOS environment? ........................................... 5
or DOS? ......................................................................................................... 6
and recovery? ............................................................................................... 13
BIOS update? ................................................................................................ 14
Can the BIOS POST splash screen be modified? .............................................. 19
Summary ...................................................................................................... 23
For More Information ........................................................................... 25

Introduction

This whitepaper outlines Hewlett-Packard Business PC dc class BIOS flashing
options beginning with the 2005 products (e.g. dc7600). The BIOS (Basic Input
Output System) is the set of routines typically stored in read-only memory that

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Summary of Contents for Compaq 8000 - Elite Convertible Minitower PC

  • Page 1: Table Of Contents

    Updated December 2009 Table of Contents: Introduction ...................1 What are the files and directories in a BIOS softpaq? ........2 In what operating systems can I update the PC BIOS? ........4 Will I lose my setup configurations when updating the BIOS? ......4 How do I update my PC BIOS in Windows 7, Vista, or Windows XP? ....

  • Page 2: What Are The Files And Directories In A Bios Softpaq

    enable a computer to load the operating system and communicate with the various devices in the computer, such as storage drives, keyboard, monitor, printer, and communications ports. As new processors, devices, and operating system features are made available, the BIOS must be updated or flashed, in some situations, to take advantage.
  • Page 3 After acknowledging the license agreement, the softpaq will allow the user or administrator to extract the contents to any directory. The following files and directories are an example of the extracted from a typical BIOS softpaq: 786xx.cab – Compressed BIOS image which can be used by System Software ...

  • Page 4: In What Operating Systems Can I Update The Pc Bios

     HPQPswd.txt – Text document describing HPQFlash use and syntax  ROM.CAB – Compressed BIOS image file used by HPQFlash ME Flash (directory):   Local-DOS (directory) FWUpdLcl.exe – DOS-based application to update the ME firmware Readme.txt – Text document describing FWUpdLcl DOS-based utility use and syntax Local-Win (directory) ...

  • Page 5: How Do I Update The Bios In A Dos Environment

    How do I update the BIOS in a DOS environment? The Flash Bin Firmware Upgrade Utility (Flashbin.exe) can be executed in a DOS environment to upgrade or restore a PC BIOS image. The utility uses a driver (flsh.cpu) for specific hardware flash operations. The BIOS binary image should be included in the same directory as the utility and driver with the name format XXX_MMmm.bin.

  • Page 6: How Do I Update The Bios When Not Running Windows 7, Vista, Windows Xp, Or Dos

    How do I update the BIOS when not running Windows 7, Vista, Windows XP, or DOS? BIOS can be updated using the F10 setup “Flash System ROM” feature. Reboot the PC and press F10 to enter setup. In the File menu, select the “Flash System ROM” item.
  • Page 7 When the media is selected, the user is presented with a list of valid binaries. If the BIOS cannot read the media or media files, an error message will be displayed and another media source can be selected.
  • Page 8 Once the desired binary image is selected and confirmed, the BIOS will begin the flashing process. The flash process should not be interrupted. The percentage completion will be displayed during the process. The user is prompted when the process is completed. The new BIOS code will not take effect until the PC is rebooted.

  • Page 9: What Are The Steps Necessary To Execute The Hpqflash Utility

    Alternatively, the user or administrator can use a Preboot eXecution Environment (PXE) to boot to a PXE server, such as Altiris. The Flashbin utility can be executed in the PXE DOS-like environment to perform the BIOS upgrade. What are the steps necessary to execute the HPQFlash utility? The HPQFlash application is executed in the Windows environment by selecting the HPQFlash.exe file.
  • Page 10 If the user selects the Next button, entered the correct password (if needed), and has the appropriate rights, the application will interrogate the current PC BIOS image and compare it to the BIOS image file (ROM.CAB) in the same directory as the FLashbin.exe.
  • Page 11 If Next is selected, the BIOS flashing process will begin, and the user is warned not to interrupt the flashing process. Interrupting the flashing process can corrupt the BIOS image. If the BIOS does not update successfully, the business PC would enter flash recovery when rebooted.

  • Page 12: What Are The Steps Necessary To Execute The Hpqpwsd Utility

    What are the steps necessary to execute the HPQPswd utility? The HPQPswd application is executed in the Windows environment by selecting the HPQPswd.exe file. The initial HPQFlash application window will be presented as follows options to the user or administrator. As indicated in the image, this utility will create an encrypted password file required to execute the HPQFlash application in a silent mode on an administrative/setup password protected PC.

  • Page 13: What Are The Steps Necessary To Create A Bootable Cd For Bios Update

    1. Insert a blank, floppy diskette into the PC. 2. From Windows Explorer, right-click the 3 1/2 Floppy (A:) drive and choose Format. The Format 3 1/2 Floppy (A:) window appears. 3. In the Format Options section, select Create an MS-DOS startup disk. To format the disk, choose Start.

  • Page 14: What Are The Steps Necessary To Create A Bootable Usb Flash Media (Dok) For Bios Update

    The following steps describe how the file can be used: 1. Obtain a blank CD and place it in the CD-R/RW drive. 2. Execute XXX_MMmm.iso. This will launch the CD burning software. 3. To make the BIOS binary image CD, follow instructions provided by the application.

  • Page 15: What Are The Steps Necessary To Use Ssm For Bios Update

    5. Select the format option “Create a DOS startup disk”, set the dropdown menu box to the device containing the DOS system files, and select “Start”. After the USB flash media is made bootable, the Flashbin.exe, Assignpw.exe, and BIOS image file (XXX_MMmm.bin) can be copied to the media. Boot the PC to be updated from the USB media and execute the Flashbin.exe as prescribed previously in the “How do I update the BIOS in a DOS environment?”...
  • Page 16 successfully configured. The basic steps required for BIOS update through the Altiris Deployment server is as follows: 1. Copy Flashbin.exe, Adminpw.exe, and BIOS image to the server 2. Create Flash.bat 3. Create the Altiris ROM Flash Event 4. Connect the Client PC to the Altiris Console Step 1: Copy Flashbin.exe, Adminpw.exe, and BIOS image to the server 1.
  • Page 17 7. Click on the “folder” button  The button to the right of “Run the script from file”, button has image of a folder on it) 8. Select the file “flash.bat” created in the previous section 9. Click “Open” 10. Select “DOS (from BootWorks)” 11.

  • Page 18: What If The Pc Does Not Complete The Bios Flash Process

    What if the PC does not complete the BIOS flash process? HP business PC products provide flash disaster recovery if the BIOS flash process fails to complete. The BIOS will automatically detect that the BIOS flash process did not properly complete and boot in recovery mode. With most business PC models, the user or administrator will be presented with the following screen.

  • Page 19: How Can A Processor Microcode Update Be Executed In Windows

    the BIOS, a processor microcode softpaq is provided to update the BIOS. Processor microcode changes can be updated in the BIOS without having to change the entire BIOS. Binary file microcode image is uXX_MMmm.bin where the “u” indicates microcode, XX is the general BIOS family, MM is major version, and mm is the minor version.

  • Page 20: How Do I Update The Me Firmware In Windows 7, Vista, Or Windows Xp

    images found can be viewed and a background color and a foreground color can be chosen from the colors in the image's palette. The utility also has a command line option to quickly flash a new image. The image stored in the BIOS will be compressed with RLE4. If the image being flashed is already in RLE4, the image flashed will be identical to the original except the second byte in the Bitmap Header will be a checksum.

  • Page 21: How Do I Update The Me Firmware In A Dos Environment

    After the update is complete, the ME firmware is executing the update image, a system reboot is not immediately required. How do I update the ME firmware in a DOS environment? Another FWUpdLcl.exe version is included for ME firmware within a local DOS environment.
  • Page 22 Step 1: Copy FWUpdLcl.exe and ME firmware update image to the server 1. Create a “MEFlash” folder in the Altiris eXpress folder 2. Copy the following files to the MEFlash folder: a) FWUpdLcl.exe (located in softpaq subdirectory “ME Flash\Local- DOS”) b) XXX_bbbb.bin (located in softpaq subdirectory “ME Flash”) Step 2: Create Flash.bat 1.

  • Page 23: What If The Me Firmware Does Not Complete The Update Process

    12. The Events Properties Form should show: Task: Run Script  Details: [path of the file]  13. Click “OK” Step 4: Connecting the Test Unit to the Altiris Console 1. Connect the client PC to the LAN with the Altiris Server 2.

  • Page 24: Appendix A - Modifying A Dos Boot Diskette For Flashbin.exe

    operating system. The Flashbin utility provides a traditional DOS upgrade operation for local or remote situations. Administrators can use the remote management capabilities of such tools as SSM and Altiris to deliver enterprise wide upgrade ability. Regardless of the BIOS flash method, business PC products provide a high degree of upgrade reliability and offer failure safe recovery.

  • Page 25: For More Information

    For More Information For the HP sales office nearest you, refer to your local phone directory, or call the HP regional office listed below. Corporate and North American headquarters Hewlett-Packard 3000 Hanover Street Palo Alto, CA 94304- 1 185 Phone: (650) 857- 1 501 Fax: (650) 857-5518 Regional headquarters Latin America...

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