HP Compaq 8200 Elite SFF won't boot from USB drive

Question

Can't get an HP 8200 Elite Small Form Factor to boot from USB. It's done so in the past & the USB boot drive works in a different machine (HP 8440p laptop).

Have tried upgrading BIOS (from 2.09 to 2.15a, then back to 2.14a) with no luck.

USB drive appears in BIOS "Device Configuration" list, but not in "Boot Order". USB Hard Drive is set highest in the BIOS "Boot Order" list.

What simple, obvious thing am I missing here?

Solution 1

The 8200 uses UEFI, not traditional BIOS; in the Boot Order menu, there are submenus titled "EFI Boot Sources" and "Legacy Boot Sources".

One method for USB booting this machine is to disable the EFI boot sources and enable USB Floppy/CD under Legacy boot sources; we're using the Legacy Boot option to set PXE network boot. It should also possible with an EFI-configured USB drive, but I've not tested that.

Solution 2

EDIT 2 - have heard back from HP - there is a note in the Release Notes for versions from 2.09 on saying you need to Apply Defaults from the File menu in BIOS. This fixed the problem.

It's only required for machines that have been upgraded from a pre-2.09 version - those delivered with 2.09 or higher will already have this done.

EDIT - I've struck this problem with BIOS firmware 2.14 & 2.15, but going to the next version back (2.06) results in success. Still not a fix as we need the higher BIOS level to overcome a USB keyboard/mouse lockout problem during preboot.

Further testing reveals the following:

• it doesn't seem to matter whether or not EFI Boot Sources are enabled
• disabling (F5) and re-enabling (F5 again) "Hard Drive" under "Legacy Boot Sources" in the Boot Order seems to make the USB key available as a boot device under the F9 menu
• unplugging the USB key, rebooting, then plugging the USB key back in results in the USB key no longer being available in the F9 menu, so not being able to boot off it. Disabling and re-enabling the Hard Drive as a boot source, as in the step above, is then required in order to see the USB key in the F9 menu again

So, a workaround, but a painful one when we have 500+ machines to image. Might have to sort out PXE.

Will probably report this to HP as well, see if they can replicate it.

Same problem occurs with two totally different USB keys, with the same workaround.

Solution 3

Update BIOS to 2.23 - problem solved

Solution 4

I discovered a bug in BIOS. During start up press ESC -> F10 to go to Computer setup (BIOS settings).

In the BIOS go to STORAGE -> BOOT ORDER

In the "Please select boot device:" menu, you have the following list or similair:

• EFI Boot sources
• Legacy Boot sources
• ATAPI CD/DVD Drive
• SATA2
• Hard Drive
• SATA0

Scroll down the list (by using down arrow key). When you are on the last item on the list, scroll down one more time. Then you will see that there is one more entry in the list, which is not being showed. I do not know what exactly this item is, but it let me boot from the USB stick.

Press F5 to Enable this item. Press F10 to accept then change in the menu.

Then go to FILE -> Save changes and exit. The system will now reboot.

During start up hit ESC again and press F9 in the Startup menu. This takes you to the boot menu and your USB will now be shown in the list and you can install the image.

I noticed that the hidden item which you enable in the BIOS resets by itself. For me it reset after I had installed the image and taken out the USB stick. When trying to reinstall the image once more, I had to re-enable the hidden item in the BIOS, because the memory stick did not show up.

View more solutions

Comments

[slag]

Sorry, I'm old and refer to everything as BIOS - I should know better. I tried disabling the EFI boot sources, but the USB still didn't show up in the F9 boot menu. I went back in and faffed around disabling and re-enabling various things, and at some point, it worked! Not entirely sure what made it work, but appears to be something to do with disabling the EFI boot sources. Thanks very much!

[slag]

Have done some more testing, will post the results as an answer to this question, but can't do this until tomorrow as I don't have a good enough ServerFault reputation yet!

[pauska]

You're imaging 500 desktops with USB sticks? Sounds like a lot of work compared to PXE. Also out of curiosity; what kind of imaging software is this?

[Thomas Berger]

@slag told in his question, that the entry is missing in the boot order menu.

[Admin]

This is what did the trick for me. I had upgraded the BIOS on an 8200 Elite from 2.01 to 2.24 and then lost the ability to boot to USB. Entering the BIOS and selecting Apply Defaults from the File menu made all of my USB drives show up again in the Boot Menu. Thanks for the help.

[mindex]

updated from 2.01 to 2.25 and USB keys work fine for me