How NOT to FIRMWARE Update a HPE DL380 Gen9 - 1157 

I run into the same issues with a pare of DL380s (Gen9). I ended up reaching out to someone that had a support contract on similar models and they downloaded the individual firmware updates and sent them to me. Dell is so much easier to work with on older off support servers.

It's funny to me that this is your experience with HP, I've never had any issues finding drivers on any of my HP servers (around 10), but when I tried getting drivers for my IBM ds3524 I was told by support that it is outside warranty and I would have to purchase extended warranty to get drivers. Ended up having to find the drivers on some sketchy Russian FTP server.

On HP Machines if you hold down F11 when pressing the power button it will default to the boot menu, allows you to walk away and come back without missing it (not sure if you enable that but its a feature)

I'm impressed you have all these problems, i have 10x Gen9 servers currently, and they have been some of the smoothest to update of all the HP/E servers iv'e had (also easier than Dell Rx30 for the record!). That being said, i'm certain your USB drive is corrupted, that message means something is messed up. Mounting an ISO through the client works a lot better than Dell's iDRAC, but, it works even better if you put the iso on a web server and point ilo to it, it will boot much faster this way. The BIOS .flash file and the ILO .bin file can all be extracted from the SPP. Personally i can recommend the Interactive mode, as you will get much better insight into what's going on. The automatic mode is really only good for mass-updating servers.

Thank you Morten. Try to mount the file from within windows, you will find the BIOS automatically updated to 2019. Beside many other drivers.

We have "secure" servers now, where the entire chain is verified (vendor locked CPUs for example). On the other hand you have to get your updates via torrent or 3rd hand websites. Well done :D

Even if the device is still in warranty, it is still not gauranteed to be able to get the SPP When my HP Microserver Gen10+ was still in warranty, I tried to download SPP and it just say unable to process my reuqest. I contacted HP and they said I need to provide company information. I explained my device is only for my personal use and they just say they policy has changed and company information is a must.

I seem to like the Cisco UCS platforms a lot now! I retired my old HP ProLiant DL380 from being my main production server, and I have 2 new Cisco UCS C240 M3s. They are amazing servers!

When the Raid controller battery of these servers is degraded, this will impact write performance considerably because it will disable all cache on the controller. Thank you for making these videos!

With these servers the image doesn't work unless you use the specific HPE usb key utility. The usb must be no bigger than 32GB - hope that helps!

Ya this whole firmware behind a paywall thing was frustrating me this last week. I had to do the same thing and get someone else to get it for me. One note that battery write back cache battery will significantly improve disk performance if it is installed and working. Also you will want the latest system board firmware and ILO firmware. With out that the fans will stay at 100% and be loud as hell until you reset ILO then it will creep back up in a few hours.

Why do you go to legacy? Instead of the normal uefi boot menu? I've never had an issue running SPP updates so I am a bit surprised it failed on you. One note though my servers have v4 cpu’s instead of v3. I can ask someone if you like?

I tend to like to upgrade the firmware via the ILO if you have the advanced Key. It is only like 40 bucks extra even second market.

Updated to HPE dark mode….. I have only worked with all generations of DL380 and DL360 up to Gen 8 (and modeles like the Compaq Proliant 3000 and 7000 before that). Updating wasn’t a problem on those. The pay wall started around the Gen8, if I’m correct. I always used the CD player in the server, if my memory serves me right. Maybe an external USB DVD player on the latest series. Updating the OS with the Proliant Support Pack (PSP).

At work we buyed an HPE server like 3 years ago, and i had to download an ISO, because that "online SPP one-button firmware upgrade" stuff didn't work at all, even when they recommended to use it in their documentation. I prefer to just use a DVD drive on the server, or some USB DVD drive to do the upgrade, and save the hassle of trying to get the server to upgrade from an USB flash drive, which should be the easiest thing to do, but for some strange reason, it frequently isn't 🤷‍♂

Hello, From my experience, which "I've been there" firmware update multiple generations of servers, G8's G9's and G10's for ex. I never had those kind of issues with the HP SPP iso, so are you certain that your ISO is not damaged? I mean, did you for ex. compared md5 or sha1 hash with the calculated one from the ISO you're using to make sure is not damaged? BTW booting into linux boot menu and exchanging to another image via iLO mostly does not work/boot correctly in that way... anyway booting in UEFI or Legacy BIOS, the SPP image should work fine.

I just bought a DL380 Gen9, and was surprised that firmware updates aren't given to non customers =(. My previous servers were DELLs and never had any issues downloading updates.

Hi, you should create the bootable usb with usb key utility and this will work

I powered up my home rack while watching this video. Those sudden fan noice really bugged me. :) On Dell servers, while updating thermal firmware, all the fans are running top speed for about 3 minutes and those are freaking loud. I also wonder if I could legally obtain HP firmware after support contract. My friend has a lot of older HP hardware. Still pretty expensive stuff and rock solid.

The Gen9 generation is probably the worst choice for the homelab setup or anyone that didn't buy into the entire HP vertical. Here's a couple reasons I've personally ran into: 1.) Plug in anything (PCIe or HDD/SSD) that isn't HP branded and with HP firmware, and the server will automatically ramp every single system fan to max. Don't know if there's workaround these days, it didn't when I tried around 2 years ago. 2.) G9 was about the time when they started locking the newest (non-critical) updates behind a service contract paywall. The problem is, their definition of critical and mine are not aligned. 3.) The ILO4 versions I tried were buggy as hell, with barely working KVMs. Going through the web console was completely broken, luckily the standalone ILO application was ok. I think that's why they finally came out with an html5 console, just to allow working access. All in all, I think they are just pushing people who are not directly making them money away from their products, which is too bad because their hardware is decently solid. But I've moved my own equipments to dell now, and have consulted on a few other shops (few thousand nodes all together now) to make the switch on one of their two primary suppliers, so far everyone's happy with the switch. The earliest batch are nearing replacement time now and that shop is perfectly happy to stick with dell. Turns out when a company decisions causes another company's vp of infra a few inconveniences and restless nights for no appearent reason, they really remember that and even with the accountants holding the purse, they still have enough pull to justify a few % difference on commodity hardware.

As much I have dealt with it then the BIOS firmware is signed for that particular system and you just can not download it for the other system, transfer it around or whatever. For the HPE if it is outside of warranty then it is all for that (the same fate is with a lot of HPE gear). Only thing freely upgradeable firmware is the Ilo4 part there.

I am not a huge HP enterprise fan either and only have ever had one HPE which was gifted to myself from a good friend within google. -I usually only really play with firmware when it's absolutely required for whichever application I need for it to run, such as the Mellanox GridDirector which for some reason would not even pick-up on some connections but FW fixed it and the same happened with IBM 2node, both machines required the same versions in order to operate with one another. To be fair I steer clear from FW as best possible even though I am required to kinda write my own for my own devices I create. FW can be a bitch which can brick! -Amazing video buddy.

we have like 160+ DL360 and ML350 g9 and g10's and not a single one posed the problems you encountered, BUT: I just mount the ISO in windows and run the HPSUM. It will schedule the firmware upgrades on the next boot. We had them at our HQ or did site-visits to perform hardware-upgrades on slow-link sites so sending them over the internet wasn't really an option. I have used multiple versions of the SPP and all of them performed as expected. Looks like you found about everything that could go wrong besides bricking your server :p

I just got myself a HP ML310E Gen8 And updated the ILO from 1.4 something to 2.81 or something and now i get a error saying the Internal SDcard for the Intelegent Provisioning is not finding the Firmware or something.. and the new ILO4 Firmware has a option to wipe the SDcard but not helping lol :P seems a lot of people with the same issue.. Server runs fine but not impressed Realy Want to get my Hands on a Dell R710 or another IBM X3750 M2/M3 That my Buddy Andy Banks Gave me a year or so ago. Hi Andy. (Yes he Watches you're Videos and is a Patrion :P)

in short - do not let notebook hibernate while updating firmware or was it something else?

I've always done a "load system defaults" before / after BIOS upgrades, seem loads of issues with USB boot / memory timing things which can't be explained. maybe that's it !? Hope you get it sorted!

I work with HPE different generations a lot…. Driver and all firmware is avaialble free on the support web site just with free login. But consolidated SSP … where all drivers and firmware is consolidated, it is availalbe for free for very old servers and for new G10 generations… g7, 8, 9 all are under the same policy… either downlkoad individual components for free or get a support contract and have access to bundeled patches. But other vendors are also going that route…..

I dunno you know, I'm less then 6mins in to this and maybe if the firmware fails it could be a dodgy DL, have you error checked the software you've downloaded because not all just shows as faulty off the bat. -Just a kinda guess ahead of seeing the end.

maybe just simple rtfm... you are supposed to mount the iso on the other machine, and use the hp tool on the iso to make the bootable drive... thats working like a charm

speaking of updating HP servers, how would you update an HP DL160 G6? i have some newer CPUs for it but they currently don't work with it despite HP claiming they're compatible.

I managed to find an internet archivist who had the latest firmware for my gen9, my firmware was so back dated it was giving me errors that i think meant that the firmware was mismatched somehow. It went away after updating it. Now just trying to update the raid controller without installing windows.

You can upload the ROM file through the iLO, just like the iLO firmware. Download that for free from HPE. All other firmware components are a pain to use. But you could have a old ISO, that doesn’t work anymore. when a new one releases the older ones are "deactivated" in some way.

That issue with the smart storage battery may actually have been false. You bios predated the fix where battery status was incorrectly reported.

So I gave a Gen8 it took me 2 years to get the SPP I was lucky because a friend I know works for a company and they have HPE servers so he gave me a copy otherwise I wouldn’t be able to do much. Buy DELL or IBM/LENOVO way better than HPE

Do you a way to share bios upgrades for DL580 gen 9 trying to go up from 1.40

great video bro...higly appreciate if you can provide the firmware download link

does any one know where i can get the latest bios for my dl360 gen 9, 1u p89 v1.50 at the moment. I'm running expenology on it fine at the moment. DSM 7.1.1-42962

I just tried to update my 360p gen8 with ventoy usb. System was looking for a physical cd. Didn't see an option for HBA mode on 420i controller either.

I have the same server and mine fails and I did it the same way as you. Every time I have the latest update and all back.

I've yet to work with a HP that didn't give me some sort of bull****. We have some HP servers and desktops at work and there is always some issue, nothing is just easy. I wanted to swap a PSU in a pc, turns out that HP used an inverted power good signal on that model so it wasn't possible to use a regular PSU from the shelf. Want to change to a less noisy fan in a HP Microserver - for some fucked up reason HP uses 0% pwn for full speed and 100% pwn for off, so you can't use a regular pwm fan it HAS to be a modified one. I get regular 404 errors when I try to get a patch or a driver from hp support, it's just not updated. And then there is the paywall issue if you try to run a slightly older server. It's like HP deliberately tries to be a pain in the rear for no other reason than being so.. HP can suck my left one!

Try to go for the UEFI boot menu (not legacy like in this video, that helps a with a lot of errors of this kind), also dload the windows ilo .exe console it´s quite old by now, but works (v 1.3.1.1846) and mount .iso via that ilo.exe console tool .

It this very reason why I abandoned HP all together. You have to pay to expand storage for their RAID controller. When I ran into that and at the time was unable to find a solution, I sold all my hardware and went DELL.

Have you tried making the bootable USB using Belena Etcher?

Also, the 2020.09 SPP has many bug and the final version will be 2020.09.2

Hi, like your video . I own HP dl380 gen9 I am looking for this frame update where I can find the iso. Not from the hp website help

Dl380 G10 freezes when I enter the intelligent provisioning screen. I tried installing Spp 2023 but the problem persists. I installed recovery media and the problem still persists. how can i solve this problem

Yea.... I am working on a video on a Dell PE 805 ADM server... It the first version of the modular mainboard design but thank the lord, that is still does CLI BIOS updates. Yea! Don't get me wrong... Dell server have their headache but not on the BIOS side... Yet!

If you have the iLO advance license, we highly suggest you use the remote console to mount the SPP for updates. This will prevent the issue during creating bootable USB flash drives.

Do you have the link for the file? ISO file

I install SPP's or larger ISO's I prefer the iLO Standalone Console to load it visual CD-ROm mode. In Gen9, should not use the legacy mode to boot, some setting in bios need to change.

I have done that update for my ml30 gen9 servers without any issues.

Normally we suggest the customer use the interactive firmware update and the UEFI boot mode. Also, the customer might have to backup the data to prevent unexpected issues. If you still have an issue, I will suggest you update the BIOS or iLO first and use the SPP update later.

It seem to not like the 2020 update.

I get the error: file '/vmlinuz' not found

in Cisco UCS it is only a policie in fiberinterconnect ucs central no hp or dell nonsense you click 2 buttons reboot wait 15m that is it.. for blade and rack servers...

Looks likes file is corrupted, try run sum .Bat file inside iso from Windows

Search Digiboy website for latest SPP, just run the launch_sum from a windows server (browser), never use automatic. Start with flashing your bios and ILO on latest version. Raidcontrollers that fail flashing most of the time do flash when you tempory disconnect battery and cache memory block.

Hello, have you already found a solution to the problem? I cannot configure the array controller via the BIOS in the SSA. Error:Your controller was configured with newer software than the one you have in BIOS.Yes, I know that, but without OS I can no longer configure and the HDD are defective.OK, where and how can I update the SSA in BIOS? There is no support from HP on the server, I can't find the iso I need to download to boot.Unfortunately, this doesn't appear to have updated the BIOS.Please can you help me to use my server again?

Du skal ikke bruge rufus til at lave bootable USB for SPP, men i stedet bruge der noget der hedder USB key utility fra HPEs hjemmeside. 99 ud af 100 funger :D

the focusing of this video was really bad hopefully you can fix the auto focus soon it really took away from the video

For burn the SPP, HPE will suggest you use HPE official software call USB Key Utility for Windows.

And i always thought firmware update on Lenovo servers is terrible...

And this is why I run Supermicro hardware.

When they were Compaq they cared about their customers. Then HP---the company that thinks their inkjet ink is worth a King's ransom---purchased and gutted Compaq. So, are you surprised that HPE charges for firmware updates? I'm not.

The fact that they lock updates behind a paywall is actually a security issue. How many HP servers are out there like sitting ducks because HPE is too greedy. Perhaps the EU should mandate that computer manufacturers need to supply free updates for some minimum amount of years after they stop selling those models. I'm thinking 10 - 15 years is reasonable. Otherwise, you're prematurely generating e-waste.

Just let boot up to CD rom don't press f 11 or anything that's how do it on mine

It's cute to see the PC hardware guys are just like car guys... LOL

use backup rom to boot

super

The hardware qualitiy is really bad, they earn all the moneys via enterprise support, which you defenitely need if you want to use that miserably hardware in production. Some other company starting with named like D**L, is not one bit better. Once handeled a load of 100 expensive buissness notebooks, of which 10% were support cases...

I have the a much newer iso if anyone needs a link

This is why i refuse to sell HP, i mean they are good BUT Lenovo IMO is better Plus you can go get firmwares & drivers WAY easier !!

next time flash a usb stick with the included usb key utility, mount the ISO and run the usbutility :-D also works for G8/G9/G10/G11,, Ilo ISO mounting s**ks

If you do not have a good reason to upgrade the firmware, just don't. Especially if you don't have a service contract.

We’ve purchased HPs for many years at my company. Now we’re throwing them out. HP asks for $5000 per server model as a service fee to get past the pay wall where the drivers and BIOS for their hardware are. Ridiculous is my opinion on that.

HP=Heavy Problem. I hate to fix hp printer and computer. In your case , you update wrong 2020.9 frimware. The only way to fix that it use ch341a rom programer from ebay

HP Literally does not care about its' products, they force you to pay a lot for stuff you don't need

not impressed, disappointed.

Another HP(E) Yay.. So yeah... Some tips for working with ProLiant: 1. Use iLO Standalone Console (You can get it here: support.hpe.com/hpesc/public/swd/detail?swItemId=MTX_bc8e3ffa59904ec3b505d9964d#tab1) 2. Use Ventoy or HP's USB Utility for writing SPPs to USB Drives 3. Get a current iLO Update 4. If everything fails.. install Windows on the Machine and run the SPP from there... That never failed for me. 5. If you need current SPPs, you can send me a message. I have a bunch for Gen5,Gen6, Gen7, Gen8 (v2) and Gen9