HP 8000 BIOS Flash Q&A White Paper - Page 2

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. The BIOS can be updated or restored in several methods. Users or administrators can choose the best method depending on the operating environment of the computer(s). BIOS updates are available in a softpaq downloadable containing the BIOS image and upgrade instructions for the various methods. Regardless of the BIOS flash method, business PC products provide a high degree of upgrade reliability and offer failure safe recovery. Starting with some 2006 products (e.g. dc7700), the biggest change is the integration of an embedded Intel Management Engine (ME) which is used to provide Active Management Technology (AMT), Alert Standard Format (ASF) management, and other functions. Some HP Business PC products will only offer ASF as configured from the factory. AMT capable PC products will allow the user or administrator configuration of the management mode. AMT provides remote access to a system regardless of the state of the operating system or power state as long as the system is connected to a network. This ability to manage a system when it is not powered on and/or fully operational is called Out-of-Band (OOB) management. ASF is a subset of the monitoring features of AMT and does not offer the rich range of OOB management options. ME is a hardware and firmware platform resident solution. BIOS update softpaq images for systems incorporating ME will contain a separate utility and binary for updating the ME firmware. Another new feature for this product offering is the ability to update processor microcode patches through HPQFlash in a Windows environment. The remaining sections of this document attempts to ask about the typical BIOS flash scenarios and provide the BIOS softpaq answers to these questions. What are the files and directories in a BIOS softpaq? BIOS updates are delivered to customers through downloadable softpaqs. Softpaqs are self-executable programs which contain the BIOS image files and utilities to allow the BIOS to be updated in various manners. Regardless of the upgrade manner chosen by the user or administrator, HP business PC BIOS provides flash recovery in the event of a BIOS flash failure. The softpaq is executed by selecting the file SPXXXXX.exe where XXXXX is a unique identification number assigned to each softpaq. The softpaq will present the user with information about the softpaq contents, how to use the softpaq, and a brief explanation as to the PC enhancements offered.