BIOS Flash Q&A White Paper

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.