DeskTux

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====== BIOS ======

Flashing the BIOS can be a big problem for a system which a) has no floppy drive anymore and b) doesn't run Windows. If you don't have a BIOS which can update itself (like Dell servers or Asus EZ Flash) then you might have some trouble.

But there's hope! Here is a quite easy way to flash your BIOS without Windows or a floppy disk drive.

===== Before you begin =====
<WRAP important>
Flashing your BIOS is a potential system-killer, i.e. it could render your computer unusable! So please take care and only follow these steps if you know what you are doing!

Naturally I can't take responsibility for any damage to your system which may occur by following the steps on this page!
</WRAP>

<WRAP round info>
Nowadays, most modern PC's have some kind of built-in function in their one-time boot menu to flash the BIOS from a (FAT32 formatted) USB stick or from a local partition. I personally like to use ''/boot/efi'' for that ;-)

Bottomline is: the information below might not even be necessary anymore.
</WRAP>

===== The procedure =====
{{ wiki:FreeDOS.png?300|FreeDOS running in a VM}}
This has been successfully tested on several [[http://www.asus.com/|Asus]] and [[http://www.msi.com/|MSI]] mainboards w/ [[http://www.ami.com/|AMI]] as well as [[http://www.award-bios.com/|Award]] BIOSes. And although the files seem to be Windows applications, you also can use this method with [[http://www.dell.com/|Dell]] BIOS update files (they contain a Windows program, DOS flash utility and the BIOS file in one file). I have successfully tested this on several Dell Latitude notebooks running [[http://www.debian.org/|Debian]] Etch'n'Half and later and a Dell Inspiron 6400 running Lenny (and later).

==== Common steps ====
You will need:
  * The BIOS flash utility and the BIOS file itself (usually available from your mainboard/computer manufacturer).
  * A disk image with DOS, I recommend a [[http://www.freedos.org/|FreeDOS]] [[http://www.fdos.info/bootdisks/|disk image]]. Take the ''FDSTD.144.gz'' or the ''FDSTD.288.gz'', depending on your space needs (e.g. the [[http://www.dell.com/|Dell]] BIOS might not fit on a single 1.44MB disk). Because the FreeDOS disk images seem to be unavailable all the time, you can download the {{wiki:Freedos-288.img.gz|FDSTD.288.gz right here}}.\\ If you need an even larger image, you should check the site of [[http://derek.chezmarcotte.ca/?p=340|Derek Marcotte]]!
  * Some installed tools, like ''mkisofs'' and VFAT support for mount.

Now, just follow these steps to make a bootable image with your flash utility on it. You can boot this image and use it to update your BIOS. You should follow these steps as 'root'!

  - Place the disk image into a directory called e.g. "iso" and gunzip it.
  - Mount the image: <code>cd iso; mkdir boot; mount -t vfat -o loop <your_disk_image> boot</code>
  - Copy the necessary BIOS files (flash utility and BIOS image file) into the ''boot/'' directory.
  - Unmount the floppy image: <code>umount boot; rmdir boot</code>

==== Bootable USB Stick ====
<WRAP info>Note: This procedure will erase the entire USB Stick; even though the FreeDOS images just are a couple of megabytes in size!</WRAP>

Although this seems to be more complicated than making an ISO image for a bootable CD, it actually is less time-consuming.

  * Connect your USB stick (or other USB device) you wish to boot from.
  * Check for the device name using ''dmesg'', there should be an output like this: <code bash>[62236.117840] usb-storage: device found at 8
[62236.117842] usb-storage: waiting for device to settle before scanning
[62241.116647] usb-storage: device scan complete
[62241.118242] scsi 11:0:0:0: Direct-Access     USB 2.0  Mobile Disk      PMAP PQ: 0 ANSI: 0 CCS
[62241.119532] sd 11:0:0:0: Attached scsi generic sg8 type 0
[62241.506600] sd 11:0:0:0: [sdh] 1967616 512-byte logical blocks: (1.00 GB/960 MiB)
[62241.508093] sd 11:0:0:0: [sdh] Write Protect is off
[62241.508096] sd 11:0:0:0: [sdh] Mode Sense: 23 00 00 00
[62241.508098] sd 11:0:0:0: [sdh] Assuming drive cache: write through
[62241.511092] sd 11:0:0:0: [sdh] Assuming drive cache: write through
[62241.511095]  sdh:
[62241.514093] sd 11:0:0:0: [sdh] Assuming drive cache: write through
[62241.514096] sd 11:0:0:0: [sdh] Attached SCSI removable disk
</code>
  * In this case, the device is ''sdh'', make sure it or any partition on it is not mouted. E.g.: <code>umount /dev/sdh</code>
  * Write the image to your USB device and synchronize the filesystem to make sure the cache is empty before disconnecting your device.\\ <wrap important>Make sure to use the correct device names, otherwise you'll be ending up overwriting crucial data!</wrap> <code>cat <your_disk_image> > /dev/sdh; sync</code>
  * Done! You can now boot from the USB device and use it to flash your BIOS.

==== Bootable CD ISO Image ====
  * Make the ISO image: <code>cd ..; mkisofs -r -b <your_disk_image> -c boot.cat -o bootcd.iso iso</code>
  * Burn the created ISO image ''bootcd.iso'' to e.g. a CD-RW using our favourite CD burning application.
  * That's it already! You can now boot that CD and use it to flash your BIOS.