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Hi !

I'm wondering these post messages make pressing F1 a requirement:

If yes, has anyone managed to get these ports "sensed".

I've just ordered a Z800 board and I need to get this problem solved, It'll be used as a server!

I hope this is my last post before I get my hands on the board!

According to this thread: http://h30434.www3.hp.com/t5/Business-PCs-Workstations-and-Point-of-Sale-Systems/z820-e5-2600-v2-ivy-bridge-upgrade/td-p/5086052/page/7 , there's hope:

"I was pretty excited when I was able to dump the Descriptor section from my bios using FPT to a file desc.bin (fpt.exe -desc -d desc.bios). The result is a 4kb file. Then, using Intel Flash Image Tool (FITC) I edited Decriptor Region \ Master Access Section to remove the read / write locks. A problem however arouse on the last hurdle - flashing back the modified descriptor to the bios (fpt -desc -f desc.bin) as FPT reports that 'host CPU does not have write access to the target flash region'. It suggests modifing the descriptor settings (clearly just tried that with no success) to give host access to this region."

here
https://h30434.www3.hp.com/t5/Business-PCs-Workstations-and-Point-of-Sale-Systems/Z440-640-840-is-there-a-boot-block-issue-like-in-the-Zx20/td-p/5895487

and here
http://h20564.www2.hpe.com/hpsc/doc/public/display?docId=mmr_kc-0112039

Here's a picture of the "crisis recovery jumper"


Fingers crossed!

Anyone willing to give it a try?

I just can't help myself.... I'm anxious
I've just found out confirmation that the 64k final block of the chip is indeed the Bios Boot Block.
All Z series include a crisis recovery jumper, when closed, it forces this bootblock to run to recovery from bad bios flashes.

"HP Workstations include 64 KB of write-protected boot block ROM that provides a way to recover from a failed update of the system BIOS ROM, for instance in the event of a power loss.  Fail-safe BootBlock Recovery Mode will detect that the BIOS is unusable and boot the workstation in a recovery mode and search the root folder of any FAT/FAT32 file system on any USB media source (hard drive, flash drive, etc.) for a compatible binary image. The binary (.bin) file in the DOS Flash folder should be copied to the root of the desired storage device, and the system powered on. Once the binary image is located, the BIOS recovery process will be attempted. The automatic recovery will continue until the BIOS is successfully updated or restored."


Source: https://h30434.www3.hp.com/t5/Desktop-Boot-and-Lockup/Z820-Bricked-Bios-after-Firmware-update/td-p/5718307


Long story short:
Aren't we all "jumping the gun" ?
I mean, isn't the boot issues related to PSU ( excessive draw ), thus leading some users having success using Westmere ( those without power graphics etc ) ?

Any story about people with V1/V2, and the whole workstation with 850W or 1100W PSU? I read somewhere an absolute requirement for the 1.110W PSU when using 130W TDP CPUs ( eg: x5690 ).

There's no need to use Andy's dumped flash to get the new bootblock. All we need is the v3.60 and find a way to disable write protect. The updated bootblock is included in every release, it's simply not written because it is write protected.

My bet is that using my ch341 programmer kit I've mentioned will be enough

Having a good server to learn stuff is a difficult task when you're in Brazil, good hardware is EXTREMELY EXPENSIVE for an independent consultant to have at home office.

The board I mentioned had some bent cpu pins in it, thus making it a bargain, so I'm taking the risk and I'll try to get the bent pins fixed.
I've already done this before when I once messed up 2 pins in a customer's PowerEdge.


Looking again at the absent SPI flash header.... there's a 2 pin header ( a jumper probably ) right beside the SPI header markings.... maybe that's the Write Unprotect jumper!?

[I repeat: I'd love to get my hands on V1 and V2 boards dumps to compare.]

I've found a source for a BIOS v3.19 ( the same version as Andy's Dump )
http://avid.force.com/pkb/articles/en_US/Compatibility/Legacy-HP-Bios-Information
I'm cutting the files in 1/32 parts to check differences.
Andy's Dump and the original v3.19 bios don't differ at the last 64kb ( probable protected area ), the same results when comparing v3.57 and v3.60 .
When comparing the last 128k there's a lot of diff.

The chip is protected in powers of 2 : 1/32, 1/16, 1/8, 1/4 and 1/2 ( 2^5, 2^4, 2^3, 2^2, 2^1 )

A few more testing about the last 64k ( 1/32 ):
v3.07, v3.13, v3.15, v3.19, v3.20, v3.21 and andy's 3.19 dump are equal

About the last 128k ( 1/16 ):
v3.57 and v3.60 have a few diff:
000071E0 D9 0C
0000E02B 33 36
0000E079 33 36
0000FFF6 37 32
0000FFF8 31 32
0000FFF9 35 34
0000FFFC 33 36
0000FFFF 1B E4

The other diff combinations all differ a lot.

I repeat: I'd love to get my hands on V1 and V2 boards dumps to compare.

Andy, would you mind dumping your latest bios, please ?

I was unable to jump to any conclusion yet, not without other samples.
But, my *guess*  is that the last 1/32th is the BootBlock that needs update.

This latest 32k block always have ths string "IFXTPMDRV-MA-BRSEG16 v0.96 Copyright 2006, Infineon Technologies" at offset 0x1F00E0

That's all ( I think ) I know the moment.

The *BIG* question is: are there any other hardware changes from V1->V2 and V2->V3 ? I don't think so, because making big changes in a not so "mass production" item would cost too much. I don't think HP sells as many units as a consumer grade motherboard from Asus, Gigabyte, etc.

I think this is enough research before I get my hands on the Motherboard!

[[ a few hours of research later, and the rest of this post is: ]]

Hi all

I'm about to begin my Z800 build. It is somewhat "affordable" now. ( Technology in Brazil is EXPENSIVE ).
I've just ordered the board, but I'm not sure about the hardware revision.

After reading through your Z800 page and the forum, I'm wondering if a CH341 programmer would work to perform the BootBlock upgrade using a clip such as this:


I'm not sure if this will fit, but I guess the answer is yes.

I've already brought 2 dead motherboards back to life using this programmer and clip, programming using the clip, without taking the chip out, flash were both MX25L8005.

It is a bit tricky to get the clip perfectly in place, but it works.

My kit also included this socket:

http://www.ebay.com/itm/SOIC8-SOP8-to-DIP8-EZ-Programmer-Adapter-Socket-Converter-Module-150mil-/140938311821
so I think, hacking gadgets wise, I'm good to go 

I'm going to use it as a NAS/VM Server, simple nvidia card (VMware console only ) ( run FreeNAS into VMware, passthrough PCIex SAS2008 HBA ), so I think my current Corsair HX750 PSU might be enough ( I hope! ).

[ a few hours of research later, and the rest of this post is: ]

After reading the Z800 manual, and reading the SST25VF016B datasheet, I've come to conclusion that it is doable somehow.

Both the bios update and the bios.bin posted by Andy start at the same offset: 0x4000, but Andy's includes a few bytes mostly with hex 0x20 before the actual bios begins at hex offset 0x4079.

I guess I'll have to do some hacking ( I like it! )


I've been delaying to get/learn arduino, and now it might be the right timing 

https://github.com/nullboundary/SST25VF/blob/master/SST25VF.cpp looks capable of disabling the wp areas.

I'll dig deeper later to find out how to do it.

Anyone kind enough to dump V1 and V2 board bioses?