I'm building a system from scratch and I've discovered that the MB manufacturer has a BIOS update that I need to install. The manufacturer says to use the Windows flashing program WinFlash or, failing that, make a (MS)DOS bootable floppy, put the DOS-based awdflash utility and the BIOS image on it, and boot from that. 2 problems with those options.. 1) I have no Windows OS on the system. in fact, I have no Windows system on the premises. I bought the system as parts, so I don't even have a disc I could install Windows from. 2) I have no floppy on the system to boot from, even if I could make a bootable (MS)DOS floppy. So my questions are, is there a linux equivalent of the Windows-only WinFlash utility that I can use under Linux to flash the BIOS? If not, how do I make a bootable CD from the items at hand that I could use to run the (MS)DOS utility from and flash the BIOS? The new system is in working order - the SuSE 9.3 eval and Knoppix 3.9 booted and ran just fine - but the HD only has a test installation from the eval DVD which I was planning on scrapping anyway. In addition, I have an old 8.5 SuSE system and a Mac PowerBook laptop that I could use, both of which have CD/DVD burners on them, but no floppy drives. A (smug) friend with a Windows PC has offered to help, but he doesn't have a floppy on his system either. I'd prefer a Linux-only solution if at all possible anyway, otherwise I'll never hear the end of it. :P Sorry this isn't a SuSE question per-se, though it is in preparation for installing 9.3.. hope that's close enough! ;) TIA, -John
On Wednesday 24 August 2005 09:58 pm, John Grant wrote:
I'm building a system from scratch and I've discovered that the MB manufacturer has a BIOS update that I need to install. The manufacturer says to use the Windows flashing program WinFlash or, failing that, make a (MS)DOS bootable floppy, put the DOS-based awdflash utility and the BIOS image on it, and boot from that.
2 problems with those options..
1) I have no Windows OS on the system. in fact, I have no Windows system on the premises. I bought the system as parts, so I don't even have a disc I could install Windows from.
2) I have no floppy on the system to boot from, even if I could make a bootable (MS)DOS floppy.
So my questions are, is there a linux equivalent of the Windows-only WinFlash utility that I can use under Linux to flash the BIOS? If not, how do I make a bootable CD from the items at hand that I could use to run the (MS)DOS utility from and flash the BIOS?
--snip--
Sorry this isn't a SuSE question per-se, though it is in preparation for installing 9.3.. hope that's close enough! ;)
John, how about creating a bootable cd with the utility on it? Then simply boot from the cd and run the utility. I'm sure there are a bunch of people who can tell you how to create a bootable dos cd. I havent had the need so cant give you more than the suggestion. An alternative may be to make a usb flash drive bootable in a similar fashion. Just some thoughts, Best of luck, Richard
You can go to http://www.bootdisk.com/ an get a dos boot disk image an make a bootible cdrom an use that. I'm doing something similar for a clients machine im working now , only he needs the boot disk to boot back into dos for the dos version of wordperfect. he is a blind person an knows the dos version of wordpect in an out an the speech software he uses to know what is on screen does not work week with ms word. I'm planning on pointing out to him open office tooo. Hope this helps. jack At 09:58 PM 8/24/2005, John Grant wrote:
I'm building a system from scratch and I've discovered that the MB manufacturer has a BIOS update that I need to install. The manufacturer says to use the Windows flashing program WinFlash or, failing that, make a (MS)DOS bootable floppy, put the DOS-based awdflash utility and the BIOS image on it, and boot from that.
2 problems with those options..
1) I have no Windows OS on the system. in fact, I have no Windows system on the premises. I bought the system as parts, so I don't even have a disc I could install Windows from.
2) I have no floppy on the system to boot from, even if I could make a bootable (MS)DOS floppy.
So my questions are, is there a linux equivalent of the Windows-only WinFlash utility that I can use under Linux to flash the BIOS? If not, how do I make a bootable CD from the items at hand that I could use to run the (MS)DOS utility from and flash the BIOS?
The new system is in working order - the SuSE 9.3 eval and Knoppix 3.9 booted and ran just fine - but the HD only has a test installation from the eval DVD which I was planning on scrapping anyway. In addition, I have an old 8.5 SuSE system and a Mac PowerBook laptop that I could use, both of which have CD/DVD burners on them, but no floppy drives.
A (smug) friend with a Windows PC has offered to help, but he doesn't have a floppy on his system either. I'd prefer a Linux-only solution if at all possible anyway, otherwise I'll never hear the end of it. :P
Sorry this isn't a SuSE question per-se, though it is in preparation for installing 9.3.. hope that's close enough! ;)
TIA,
-John
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On Thu, 25 Aug 2005 12:58, John Grant wrote:
I'm building a system from scratch and I've discovered that the MB manufacturer has a BIOS update that I need to install. The manufacturer says to use the Windows flashing program WinFlash or, failing that, make a (MS)DOS bootable floppy, put the DOS-based awdflash utility and the BIOS image on it, and boot from that.
You could try freeDOS there are ISO's for boot CD's and floppys. http://www.freedos.org/ http://www.freedos.org/freedos/files/ -- Regards, Graham Smith
Graham Smith wrote:
On Thu, 25 Aug 2005 12:58, John Grant wrote:
I'm building a system from scratch and I've discovered that the MB manufacturer has a BIOS update that I need to install. The manufacturer says to use the Windows flashing program WinFlash or, failing that, make a (MS)DOS bootable floppy, put the DOS-based awdflash utility and the BIOS image on it, and boot from that.
You could try freeDOS there are ISO's for boot CD's and floppys.
http://www.freedos.org/ http://www.freedos.org/freedos/files/
Below C&P from an email I sent to a friend. My Acer x86_64 laptop without a floppy, has the Acer XP recovery CD's - after the first boot I'd blasted away XP from my HD. I booted up the downloaded win98-boot.img from CD, but the BIOS and tools on another CD couldn't be accessed, it was still looking for the 98 CD. Next I tried to grow the iso image to include that stuff, it complained of space which needed to exceed a floppy's worth of data. I burned a CD to include everything, but when I booted up it couldn't see the directories where the BIOS and tool was located, it seemed to only be aware of the win98 boot stuff. With freedos, no luck either - couldn't read the BIOS file I think. ============================================== What a carry-on, I had to restore eXtraPlonky to a 10G HD I had around, when the paint dried, reboot came up with grub, so I had to boot up freedos and fdisk /MBR. When I rebooted, I was able to flash the BIOS, rebooted the crap to make sure, then put the 9.3 HD back in. Sid. =============================================== From my long trials and even trying to remotely install using YaST, that's the best I could come up with. I'd recommend you accepting the friend's invite and be done with it. Some mature mobo makers have a BIOS update feature built-in, so no M$scrap is needed. If the friend tries to give the impression that he has everything by having Windows, here's a fitting reply .... the lion in the cage may consider himself better off because he gets slung daily chunks of meat, but his territory is measured only in square feet (Hey! inadvertently I have the opening stanza of a poem here) and he even gets to lie down in his own shit - that proud lion is like many MicroSerfs I encounter. Regards Sid. -- Sid Boyce ... Hamradio License G3VBV, Keen licensed Private Pilot Retired IBM/Amdahl Mainframes and Sun/Fujitsu Servers Tech Support Specialist Microsoft Windows Free Zone - Linux used for all Computing Tasks
John Grant wrote:
I'm building a system from scratch and I've discovered that the MB manufacturer has a BIOS update that I need to install. The manufacturer says to use the Windows flashing program WinFlash or, failing that, make a (MS)DOS bootable floppy, put the DOS-based awdflash utility and the BIOS image on it, and boot from that.
2 problems with those options..
1) I have no Windows OS on the system. in fact, I have no Windows system on the premises. I bought the system as parts, so I don't even have a disc I could install Windows from.
2) I have no floppy on the system to boot from, even if I could make a bootable (MS)DOS floppy.
John, As someone has mentioned, it is possible to create a bootable DOS CD. To this CD you can add the DOS utility for flashing the Bios, plus the updated Bios. i would start by entering flashing bios linux in Google. Lots of sites will come up. Below is a link I found helpful, but there are others as well. http://www.nenie.org/misc/flashbootcd.html In any event, I have a Linux machine with no floppy and no windows, and I updated the Bios with no problem. One thing i would mention, is that after I falshed the Bios the machine wouldn't Post. i had to move a jumper on the motherboard to clear the CMOS, and then the machine booted with the updated Bios. don't know if this will apply to your motherboard. Mine is an ECS KN1 Extreme. So don't despair if after flashing the Bios the machine just beeps. Mike -- Michael A. Coan Woodlawn Foundation 524 North Avenue, Suite 203 New Rochelle, NY 10801-3410 Tel 914-632-3778 Fax 914-632-5502
Mike Coan wrote:
John Grant wrote:
I'm building a system from scratch and I've discovered that the MB manufacturer has a BIOS update that I need to install. The manufacturer says to use the Windows flashing program WinFlash or, failing that, make a (MS)DOS bootable floppy, put the DOS-based awdflash utility and the BIOS image on it, and boot from that.
2 problems with those options..
1) I have no Windows OS on the system. in fact, I have no Windows system on the premises. I bought the system as parts, so I don't even have a disc I could install Windows from.
2) I have no floppy on the system to boot from, even if I could make a bootable (MS)DOS floppy.
John,
As someone has mentioned, it is possible to create a bootable DOS CD. To this CD you can add the DOS utility for flashing the Bios, plus the updated Bios. i would start by entering
flashing bios linux
in Google. Lots of sites will come up. Below is a link I found helpful, but there are others as well.
http://www.nenie.org/misc/flashbootcd.html
In any event, I have a Linux machine with no floppy and no windows, and I updated the Bios with no problem.
One thing i would mention, is that after I falshed the Bios the machine wouldn't Post. i had to move a jumper on the motherboard to clear the CMOS, and then the machine booted with the updated Bios. don't know if this will apply to your motherboard. Mine is an ECS KN1 Extreme.
So don't despair if after flashing the Bios the machine just beeps.
Mike
In my case, this was not possible because the files I needed made the image much larger than could fit on a floppy, over 5M -rw-r--r-- 1 root root 1474560 2005-08-04 22:53 win98-boot.img -rw-r--r-- 1 root root 5165056 2005-08-05 01:13 /ISO/win98.iso Checkmate! Regards Sid. -- Sid Boyce ... Hamradio License G3VBV, Keen licensed Private Pilot Retired IBM/Amdahl Mainframes and Sun/Fujitsu Servers Tech Support Specialist Microsoft Windows Free Zone - Linux used for all Computing Tasks
On Aug 25, 2005, at 04:05 PM, Sid Boyce wrote:
Mike Coan wrote:
As someone has mentioned, it is possible to create a bootable DOS CD. To this CD you can add the DOS utility for flashing the Bios, plus the updated Bios. i would start by entering flashing bios linux in Google. Lots of sites will come up. Below is a link I found helpful, but there are others as well. http://www.nenie.org/misc/flashbootcd.html In any event, I have a Linux machine with no floppy and no windows, and I updated the Bios with no problem. One thing i would mention, is that after I falshed the Bios the machine wouldn't Post. i had to move a jumper on the motherboard to clear the CMOS, and then the machine booted with the updated Bios. don't know if this will apply to your motherboard. Mine is an ECS KN1 Extreme. So don't despair if after flashing the Bios the machine just beeps. Mike
In my case, this was not possible because the files I needed made the image much larger than could fit on a floppy, over 5M -rw-r--r-- 1 root root 1474560 2005-08-04 22:53 win98-boot.img
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 5165056 2005-08-05 01:13 /ISO/win98.iso
First I'd like to thank Graham for the link to the freedos page and Mike for the link to nenie.org. Thanks Graham! Thanks Mike! :) With those I was able to come up with something substantially(*) similar to the following procedure. I post it as a reply to Sid's message because it allows more room for your files than a floppy image. No sense trying to wrangle room from the 1.4M on the floppy boot image when 90%+ of the space on the CD is going unused! 1) download both the freedos CD iso and the floppy image from the freedos.org site 2) mkdir old 3) mount -o loop freedos.iso old/ 4) mkdir new && cd new 5) tar -zcf ../for_next_time.tgz . 6) cd .. && umount old && rm -rf old 7) mkdir new && cd new 8) tar -zxf ../for_next_time.tgz 9) unzip ../sn95s3x7.zip 10) cp ../freedos.img ../awdflash.exe ../sn95s3x7.bin ./ 11) mkisofs -r -b freedos.img -c boot.cat -o ../boot.iso . 12) cdrecord dev=ATA:1,0,0 ../boot.iso 13) reboot notes: - (*)This is from memory & some scribbled notes since I'm not at the system right now. It should be pretty close though. - I did it this way because I could not figure out how to mount the iso image read/write (so I could just add the 2 files I needed). This may be simply due to me doing this as I was rushing around getting ready for work this morning. If anyone knows a better way, please speak up! It would save a couple steps here. - The "sn95s3x7.zip" is the file I downloaded from my motherboard's manufacturer. It contains the flash utility "awdflash.exe" and the BIOS image "sn95s3x7.bin". - "freedos.img" is the floppy image from freedos.org. It was called something else I'm sure. - likewise, "freedos.iso" is the ISO for the freedos.org CD. - I tried just making an ISO from the boot floppy, but I think it broke some dependancy that caused the freedos cdrom driver to not be loaded because I could not find the flash utility or the BIOS image when I booted from a CD created that way. The only drive that seemed to be accessible was "A:", which just contained the files in the floppy image. - when you boot from the cd, you'll be in a menu system that is designed to help you install freedos on your HD, so BE CAREFUL. Read the menus. I kept pressing "1" until I got to a page that let me drop to DOS. - Once I found the DOS prompt, I found the awdflash.exe and the BIOS image on the X: drive. Odd, but it worked.. .. well kinda. The awdflash utility did run, but it claims that the BIOS file is "not an Award BIOS", and quits. Also, there's supposed to be a feature built in to the utility to compute the checksum of the BIOS image and presumably let you compare it to the cksum listed on the MB maker's web site. Unfortunately the utility just kept saying "not an Award BIOS" and quitting no matter what I did. Anyway, none of that's a linux issue, so I'll take it up with the MB maker via email (the .zip file was one I dl-ed off their ftp site.. guess QA is not a priority with these people). Thanks to everyone who made suggestions. If anyone can simplify the above procedure, please feel free. Future Googlers will no doubt thank you. :) -John
participants (6)
-
Graham Smith -
Jack Malone -
John Grant -
Mike Coan -
Richard Atcheson -
Sid Boyce