BIOS under linux

Mr Green · 2006-09-17 13:48:21

Hi,

Has anyone here ever flashed bios via Linux ?

Had a quick gg but I'm not sure about if its possible would solve aa few problems I am having with me mobo

/me does not want to use Windows ;-(

entvex · 2006-09-17 14:32:02

well you can do it with a flobby

test1000 · 2006-09-17 14:54:57

I recall doing it with wine and a flasher tool I think it even was recommended on the hw site since they didn't have linux binaries but maybe fantasy is playing me for a fool here..

iBertus · 2006-09-17 16:16:52

I've used a Video BIOS editor under Wine before but never flashed the BIOS from linux. You should follow the advice of the previous poster and boot from some sort of alternative media and flash from there. Usually, the hardware vendors provide MS-DOS disc images that you can use or you can grab one from the web (google:boot disc images) and give that a try. Don't flash from linux if you're not sure that recovery is possible if things FUBAR.

Mr Green · 2006-09-17 16:25:04

Thats cool thanks .... its sytem temps in Bios are a bit high ... known problem bios upgrade would fix it

ms-dos disc emm will check that out ....

entvex · 2006-09-17 17:11:05

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Floppy_disk

Mr Green · 2006-09-17 17:24:45

no dude .... most new systems do not have floppy drives any more including mine

test1000 · 2006-09-17 18:10:22

if you use wine to flash your bios you can still return to the old one should something awry happen by removing the battery on your motherboard and put it back on, right? or does that just store settings? naw i think it will work.

Mr Green · 2006-09-17 18:18:55

ok thanks ....

Cerebral · 2006-09-17 19:13:53

----
Edited in afterward: I was an ass here - sorry. Gotta learn to keep my bad moods off the forum, as it's totally inappropriate. I've removed my offending post.

Apologies to Mr. Green.
----

Mr Green · 2006-09-17 19:17:21

lock thread,, :cry:

iBertus · 2006-09-17 21:39:55

It is possible to emulate a floppy with a bootable cd. I do not recall how easy this is to accomplish on linux. I know Nero has an option to use floppy emulation. Perhaps a quick browse through k3b would provide answers.

iphitus · 2006-09-17 23:57:18

most bios offer some sort of bootable medium to flash from. in the past its always been a floppy, but im sure theres some out there that do it from a CD. Just take a look at your vendor's website and see what they offer. Chances are you wont have a choice to do it any other method anyway.

James

iBertus · 2006-09-18 00:35:50

In general, you can flash the BIOS from any bootable device. The only requirement is that the OEM flashing software functions on the OS booted from the device. Some boards (ASUS, IIRC) have a direct flash feature that allows you to update the BIOS without booting an operating system and simply having some medium with the BIOS image accessable on boot.

Again, as iphitus said, you should stick with the method suggested by your vendor or risk major pains in the ass.

Dusty · 2006-09-18 01:23:52

Cerebral wrote:

Note: multiple levels of rhetoric and sarcasm here. Nothing constructive to see in this post. Move along.

/me searches in vain for Cerebral's "Forum Advisor" title.

This post was a little harsh. Mr. Green's asking for help here.

Dusty

Cerebral · 2006-09-18 04:39:33

Dusty wrote:

Cerebral wrote:
Note: multiple levels of rhetoric and sarcasm here. Nothing constructive to see in this post. Move along.
/me searches in vain for Cerebral's "Forum Advisor" title.
This post was a little harsh. Mr. Green's asking for help here.

Yeah, I know, and I apologize to Mr. Green - I was in a bad mood earlier, and shouldn't have let it come onto the forums.

That's part of the reason I said my post is nothing constructive.

Anywho, apologies again.

Mr Green · 2006-09-18 07:39:17

My mistake dude not everyone understands my English Humour (should have know that by now!)

I did gg but I wondered if any Archer had done bios upgrade ..

Turns out after Reading The (F) Manual (mobo one!) you can upgrde bios using EZ Update which can pull in bios file either by floppy (which I do know what they are I use 'em for coasters lol) or USB pendrive (fat format!)

Now all I have to do is figure out lm_sensors for my board ;-) ... got some sensors working but not all yet!

No If someone has a problem with any post of mine please then tell me the last thing I want to do is upset anyone ....

Guess I should get out more lol

8)

iBertus · 2006-09-19 00:10:30

So you DID get the BIOS flashed sucessfully? If so, congrats!

Mr Green · 2006-09-19 17:58:24

Not got round to it yet lol

d/l bios ready will let you know .....

phrakture · 2006-09-19 19:05:45

Anyway, back on topic - take a note of you motherboard's driver CD. The last 3 I've gotten were bootable into FreeDOS or DrDOS or something - one of the dos derivatives that gives you raw bios access. Most flash tools are dos-based anyway.
Try booting from your motherboard CD, or else make a FreeDOS bootable CD.

Mr Green · 2006-09-19 19:16:30

No you can use EZ Flash tool with Asus boards .... put bios on pendrive load from that (another option!)

Me use dos (shudders!) will try that way first if no go then I will use CD

nicholai · 2006-09-19 23:15:36

I just updated my laptop (no floppy, cd-drive or windows partition) with FreeDos.

1. Obtained a FreeDos kernel (memdisk) and a FreeDos initrd (fdboot.img).
2. Added the bios upgrade tool to the initrd and added as a grub entry.
3. Booted the FreeDos, updated the bios, and then back to Linux.

No need for a bootable media. Of course you need a dos based bios updater, but I guess most of them are?

/Cheers

Mr Green · 2006-09-20 06:43:15

cool....

Its just from what I have read on Overclocking/Modding forums that you can only upgrade BIOS under windows ..

Will get round to update soon

Anyone like know where I can find out about setting up my mobo under lm_sensors ....?

Conky works ... but I do not like to look at it all the time ... mostly temps fan speed cpu speed etc ...

Not sure about setting up RAID1 would be cool but I'm not sure If I need it ... though a clean install may be in order ...

FUBAR · 2006-09-20 10:20:26

test1000 wrote:

if you use wine to flash your bios you can still return to the old one should something awry happen by removing the battery on your motherboard and put it back on, right? or does that just store settings? naw i think it will work.

Lol. The battery is only there to keep custom BIOS settings in place. As soon as you pull it out, the CMOS is cleared and the default settings from the EPROM are used.

Flashing your BIOS reprograms your EPROM, so if you scew it up, you're properly screwed. Although it is possible with certain mainboards to hot swap a BIOS chip and then reprogram it, it's clear that it's not a trivial operation. A friend of mine screwed up his nForce2 BIOS and apparently I could reprogram it with my nForce4 Ultra board, but I wasn't comfortable enough with it to risk my month old board.

You can usually get a replacement BIOS chip from the mainboard's manufacturer for a relatively small fee (~ 10 Eur).[/search]

Mr Green · 2006-09-20 10:37:33

UPDATE ok put downloaded BIOS rom on pendrive ....rebooted ... Alt + F2 EZ Flash screen came up hit enter (USB drive is C:) off it went

Power off.....Restarted ...

Warning Go in BIOS & check it ... flash wipes 'em

phew...

Arch Linux

#1 2006-09-17 13:48:21

BIOS under linux

#2 2006-09-17 14:32:02

Re: BIOS under linux

#3 2006-09-17 14:54:57

Re: BIOS under linux

#4 2006-09-17 16:16:52

Re: BIOS under linux

#5 2006-09-17 16:25:04

Re: BIOS under linux

#6 2006-09-17 17:11:05

Re: BIOS under linux

#7 2006-09-17 17:24:45

Re: BIOS under linux

#8 2006-09-17 18:10:22

Re: BIOS under linux

#9 2006-09-17 18:18:55

Re: BIOS under linux

#10 2006-09-17 19:13:53

Re: BIOS under linux

#11 2006-09-17 19:17:21

Re: BIOS under linux

#12 2006-09-17 21:39:55

Re: BIOS under linux

#13 2006-09-17 23:57:18

Re: BIOS under linux

#14 2006-09-18 00:35:50

Re: BIOS under linux

#15 2006-09-18 01:23:52

Re: BIOS under linux

#16 2006-09-18 04:39:33

Re: BIOS under linux

#17 2006-09-18 07:39:17

Re: BIOS under linux

#18 2006-09-19 00:10:30

Re: BIOS under linux

#19 2006-09-19 17:58:24

Re: BIOS under linux

#20 2006-09-19 19:05:45

Re: BIOS under linux

#21 2006-09-19 19:16:30

Re: BIOS under linux

#22 2006-09-19 23:15:36

Re: BIOS under linux

#23 2006-09-20 06:43:15

Re: BIOS under linux

#24 2006-09-20 10:20:26

Re: BIOS under linux

#25 2006-09-20 10:37:33

Re: BIOS under linux

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