What a day.

I bought an HP MICROSERVER G7 N54L on eBay, 12/13 years old but still in
its unopened box with the massive bag of silica get they came with. AMD
2.2 GHz CPU and a whole 2 GB RAM. I put Linux Mint xfce 64bit on it (250
GB spinner) and it ran (that's exaggerating a lot) fine.

Put in 16 GB PC3 RAM and re-booted and it was recognised OK, spec says 8
GB max but it seems to depend on the RAM. Had a play and re-installed to
an SSD and it's not a bad little machine.

I though I'd try Windows so a disk swap and Win 10 went on OK. Problem is although there's no blobs oh Device Manager the Broadcom network adaptor doesn't work in Windows (it's fine in Linux).

It needs a BIOS update - SP64420.exe. I managed to find it after what
seemed like forever Googling (HP don't make it available). It includes a utility to make a bootable Thumbdrive but even though I've tried to do so
on a couple of machines it gets so far then says the Thumbdrive is write protected (it isn't).

I then thought I'll make a DOS Thumbrive (using FreeDOS) and copy over the files it needs. This worked to the extent I got a bootablle Thumbdrive and
it booted from it but using Rufus and the FreeDOS image I ended up with a
full Thumbdrive so no room for he needed files.

Anybody tried this or got any ideas? If I can create a DOS bootable
Thumbdrive and copy the files over I could be in business but when I was
using DOS there was no such thing as a Thumbdrive.

Incidentally I spent a couple of hours this morning swapping power cables,
data cables and eventually complete DVD drives between machines because I
just couldn't read the drive. Discovered in the end the DVD itself is
damaged.

All good fun!

--
Jeff Gaines Dorset UK
The world will not be destroyed by those who do evil but by those who
watch them without doing anything. (Albert Einstein)

--- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
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Jeff Gaines <[email protected]> wrote:

What a day.

I bought an HP MICROSERVER G7 N54L on eBay, 12/13 years old but still in
its unopened box with the massive bag of silica get they came with. AMD
2.2 GHz CPU and a whole 2 GB RAM. I put Linux Mint xfce 64bit on it (250
GB spinner) and it ran (that's exaggerating a lot) fine.

Put in 16 GB PC3 RAM and re-booted and it was recognised OK, spec says 8
GB max but it seems to depend on the RAM. Had a play and re-installed to
an SSD and it's not a bad little machine.

They're nice... I've failed to upgrade my two - the Gen7 series chassis is more flexible than the successors, even though they're very slow. Currently pondering repurposing the chassis with Pi5 + Penta SATA HAT, or using it as
an external disc box for something else.

The VGA ports are a weak spot, so don't apply too much bending force on
them.

It needs a BIOS update - SP64420.exe. I managed to find it after what
seemed like forever Googling (HP don't make it available). It includes a utility to make a bootable Thumbdrive but even though I've tried to do so
on a couple of machines it gets so far then says the Thumbdrive is write protected (it isn't).

For the record, there's some hacked BIOSes floating about which switch the DVD/external SATA ports from pretend-IDE (necessary to get XP to boot on it)
to proper-SATA (faster and more stable). They also unlock some other BIOS options.

https://n40l.fandom.com/wiki/HP_MicroServer_N40L_Wiki
has lots of info.

I then thought I'll make a DOS Thumbrive (using FreeDOS) and copy over the files it needs. This worked to the extent I got a bootablle Thumbdrive and
it booted from it but using Rufus and the FreeDOS image I ended up with a full Thumbdrive so no room for he needed files.

Anybody tried this or got any ideas? If I can create a DOS bootable Thumbdrive and copy the files over I could be in business but when I was using DOS there was no such thing as a Thumbdrive.

All I can remember is having a 2GB SD card with DOS and the BIOS reflasher
on it (booted via a USB reader)

Not sure what the current way to install FreeDOS to USB is but I'd do that
and then copy the BIOS files on there. It's just a FAT drive after all.
The Gen7 doesn't use UEFI so it's just traditional MBR boot.

Theo

--- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
* Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)

On 16/05/2024 in message <[email protected]> Jeff
Gaines wrote:

I then thought I'll make a DOS Thumbrive (using FreeDOS) and copy over the >files it needs. This worked to the extent I got a bootablle Thumbdrive and
it booted from it but using Rufus and the FreeDOS image I ended up with a >full Thumbdrive so no room for he needed files.

Anybody tried this or got any ideas? If I can create a DOS bootable >Thumbdrive and copy the files over I could be in business but when I was >using DOS there was no such thing as a Thumbdrive.

Blimey, it's built into Rufus, who'd have thunk it (probably everybody
except me I suppose).

Anyway it worked, BIOS updated, re-booted and the Broadcom NIC works under Windows.

I was going to make this a Linux box but it's tempting to use it as a intelligent backup, need to think about it.

--
Jeff Gaines Dorset UK
George Washington was a British subject until well after his 40th birthday. (Margaret Thatcher, speech at the White House 17 December 1979)

--- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
* Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)

Jeff Gaines wrote:

It needs a BIOS update - SP64420.exe. I managed to find it after what
seemed like forever Googling (HP don't make it available).

They don't make anything downloadable without a paid CarePak now ...

--- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
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