HP Sure Start Automatic Firmware Intrusion Detection and Repair System - White Paper

May 2016
902696-002
HP Sure Start Technical White Paper
© Copyright 2016 HP Development Company, L.P.
4 HP Sure Start user experience 13
NOTE:
Manual Recovery Mode is only intended for scenarios where the machine owner would prefer to perform forensics on the
system flash contents before it is repaired and is not recommended for the typical user. In the case of the HP Sure Start
Embedded Controller finding an issue with the Boot Block code, the system will refuse to boot and flash a special LED
sequence until the special key sequence is input by the local user.
Table 5 HP Sure Start Indicators
Description
Notebook
Tablet w/o keyboard attached
(Elite x2)
Desktop
HP Sure Start
Active
Pulsating White/Amber
Battery charging LED
Pulsating White/Amber Battery
charging LED
Major/Minor Power LED blink code = 2/4
(Only during recovery operations)
BIOS
Manual Recovery
Required Indication
CapsLock + Numlock LED
blinks 8 times
Battery charge indicator LED
blinks 8 times
Major/Minor Power LED blink code = 2/3
Machine Unique
Data Manual
Recovery Required
POST on screen warning
Message.
POST on screen warning Message.
POST on screen warning Message.
Table 6 HP Sure Start Manual Recovery key sequences
Description
Traditional Notebook
Tablet w/o keyboard attached
(Elite x2)
Desktop
BIOS
Manual Recovery
Sequence
Up Arrow+Down Arrow+ Esc
Volume Down button
Press Power Button twice within 2
seconds
Machine Unique
Data Manual
Recovery Sequence
Up Arrow+ Down Arrow+Esc
Volume Down button + Rotate
button
Up Arrow+ Down Arrow+Esc
The following process is used to interpret the Major/Minor blink codes for desktop computers:
 Power Button red LED turns on for 0.6 seconds / off for 0.6 seconds the number of times corresponding to Major number
 1 second pause
 Power Button white LED turns on for 0.2 seconds / off for 0.2 seconds the number of times corresponding to Minor
number
 2 second pause, then repeat from the beginning
4.2 Boot Messages
HP Sure Start will display a warning message to the user on the next boot after any significant event is detected or action is
taken. However, with default settings under normal operating conditions, HP Sure Start is invisible to the user, even though
it is performing the integrity checks on every power state change and while the OS is running (in the case of Dynamic
Protection) .