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lagagnon

Member

From: an Island in the Pacific...

Registered: 2009-12-10

Posts: 1,087

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Upgrade BIOS firmware via Windows .exe file without Windows ??

I want to try to update my BIOS firmware (Toshiba Satellite L300) - unfortunately the Toshiba provided file is a 1.7MB .exe file and I do not have Windows installed, nor do I particularly want it installed! I wonder if it is possible to use a Live CD of FreeDOS (or something along those lines) to do this task? Any ideas appreciated.

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Philosophy is looking for a black cat in a dark room. Metaphysics is looking for a black cat in a dark room that isn't there. Religion is looking for a black cat in a dark room that isn't there and shouting "I found it!". Science is looking for a black cat in a dark room with a flashlight.

Gen2ly

Member

From: Sevierville, TN

Registered: 2009-03-06

Posts: 1,529

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Re: Upgrade BIOS firmware via Windows .exe file without Windows ??

I experimented with this a bit, figured out how to do it expect getting the CD to boot (with FreeDOS).  Wrote about it here.  Notice the comment at the end that might show you how to make the CD bootable (haven't tried it yet).

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fluffylime

Member

From: Russia, Moscow

Registered: 2009-04-03

Posts: 47

Re: Upgrade BIOS firmware via Windows .exe file without Windows ??

I've tried different technique. I run the .exe under wine and copied the bios image it extracted from self.
If you have this image (usually .bin file), you can flash it using flashrom from AUR.
P.S. I have not tried to flash it, by that time my problem was resolved.

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English is not my native language, sorry.

nblock

Member

From: Austria

Registered: 2008-08-06

Posts: 123

Website

Re: Upgrade BIOS firmware via Windows .exe file without Windows ??

flashrom works pretty good. make sure your system is supported before using it.

.:B:.

Forum Fellow

Registered: 2006-11-26

Posts: 5,819

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Re: Upgrade BIOS firmware via Windows .exe file without Windows ??

I usually extract the executable with Wine (often it's just a batch script, a flash utility and a firmware file packed together) and put the firmware on a USB stick. Recent motherboards offer the possibility to flash the BIOS from within the BIOS itself, not only from floppies but also from USB sticks.

I just did this the other day with a GA-MA785GMT-UD2H, worked flawlessly.

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R00KIE

Forum Fellow

From: Between a computer and a chair

Registered: 2008-09-14

Posts: 4,734

Re: Upgrade BIOS firmware via Windows .exe file without Windows ??

Manufacturers should supply the bios image and just let people flash it through the bios, like B says I've tried it before and it works great from usb sticks.

Another option is to try Hiren's boot cd.

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R00KIE
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lagagnon

Member

From: an Island in the Pacific...

Registered: 2009-12-10

Posts: 1,087

Website

Re: Upgrade BIOS firmware via Windows .exe file without Windows ??

Gen2ly: thanks for the info - unfortunately the flash .exe file provided by Toshiba is 1.7MB, so cannot fit it the image size of FreeDOS. Any ideas?
fluffylime & b: I tried extracting the .bin file from the .exe file using Wine but wine eventually causes and error and does not actually extract the .bin file. Any ideas greatly appreciated...

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Philosophy is looking for a black cat in a dark room. Metaphysics is looking for a black cat in a dark room that isn't there. Religion is looking for a black cat in a dark room that isn't there and shouting "I found it!". Science is looking for a black cat in a dark room with a flashlight.

fluffylime

Member

From: Russia, Moscow

Registered: 2009-04-03

Posts: 47

Re: Upgrade BIOS firmware via Windows .exe file without Windows ??

lagagnon, what does wine exactly says (try to run exe from the console)?

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English is not my native language, sorry.

Gusar

Member

Registered: 2009-08-25

Posts: 3,605

Re: Upgrade BIOS firmware via Windows .exe file without Windows ??

I think there's an image of Freedos out there you can put on an usb stick and the content of the stick outside of the image will be available when booting from it. Quick googling found it: http://www.finnix.org/Balder - Try that, but I don't have personal experience with it.
Another thing to try, increase the image size and then boot the image from grub with memdisk (comes with syslinux): http://syslinux.zytor.com/wiki/index.ph … ppy_images
A third option, I have a win98 floppy image with Dos USB drivers. I can boot this from grub with memdisk and the Dos USB drivers give me access to the stick.

R00KIE

Forum Fellow

From: Between a computer and a chair

Registered: 2008-09-14

Posts: 4,734

Re: Upgrade BIOS firmware via Windows .exe file without Windows ??

Did you give Hiren's boot cd a try like I said?

It can start a light version of windows so it may work, probably you will need to edit the iso to include the bios update executable (I don't know if Hiren's boot cd comes with the generic usb drivers ... never tried it in a real machine ).

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R00KIE
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