HOWTO: Flash BIOS, The Ubuntu Way

[nss0000]

Hi, I can't be bothered with the hassle to update manually so get a biosflash company to do my work 4 me, got a new chip with latest bios and use the old one as a back up for future failure!!! hope not

Yes ... the risk of hosing a $200 mobo and trashing 6-mo of sys-integration effort far out-weighs any "mental" satisfaction gained by jumping_thru convoluted BIOS_flash hoops.

I didn't exactly count, but a guess is - start.to.finish - BIOS_flash requires several hundred key_strokes performed in_order without ONE (1) mistake. I'm sure some-few retros enjoy the jumping ....

[crankyadm1n]

Or save yourselfs alot of hassle and use flashrom from the coreboot guys. http://www.coreboot.org/flashrom

Flash your BIOS without having to leave or reboot linux.

[ciscosurfer]

Yes ... the risk of hosing a $200 mobo and trashing 6-mo of sys-integration effort far out-weighs any "mental" satisfaction gained by jumping_thru convoluted BIOS_flash hoops.

I didn't exactly count, but a guess is - start.to.finish - BIOS_flash requires several hundred key_strokes performed in_order without ONE (1) mistake. I'm sure some-few retros enjoy the jumping ....

Yes, well, it's not for the faint of heart, as I've clearly stated multiple times in the tutorial and throughout this thread. You should use (or not use) any method or action you see fit. This includes having someone else flash your BIOS for you, or ignoring updates related to your BIOS entirely.

If flashing your BIOS won't give you any significant gains or improvements as indicated by your manufacturer, then I agree that you must carefully weigh your options if presented with an intricately configured system and the possibility to flash your BIOS. No one likes hosing their system. This is especially relevant in systems that require as much uptime as possible (data centers, corporate environments, et cetera).

Tread carefully .

Or save yourselfs alot of hassle and use flashrom from the coreboot guys. http://www.coreboot.org/flashrom

Flash your BIOS without having to leave or reboot linux.

Flashrom has decent, albeit limited, support as stated previously. It is given as an option in the tutorial; use (or don't use) whichever method works best for you.

[dimeotane]

This how-to should also include how to creating a bootable USB with DOS for flashign the BIOS on netbooks without a CD drive or floppy.

Perhaps this method should be incorporated in this how to guide?

Here is one example: http://www.aselabs.com/articles.php?id=243


Also flashing the BIOS in Dells maybe should be added: https://wiki.ubuntu.com/DellBIOS

[Alex22]

Hello Everybody

Unfortunatelly, I haven't got a CD recorder.
So i tried method 3, but i failed. In GRUB boot menu, when i choose this prepared option, it only says "No such file".
I double checked the correctness of filenames&paths. :[]

No Windows and floppy access neither.


I have one question: Can i run this DOS programme (prepared by mainboard manufacturer) from DosBox emulator - right from the Gnome panel?
Coz i cannot transfer the sys to usb stick, there is no "sys" command in DosBox.

I have ECS K7S5A mainboard.

Thanks, Alex

P.S. Dimeotane, Dell howto is mentioned on 2 or 3 page.


ADDED: I tried something more.

1) I tried this:

If you can boot from USB you better go by that;
wget http://www.fdos.org/bootdisks/autogen/FDOEM.144.gz
tar xzf FDOEM.144.gz
dd if=FDOEM.14 of=/dev/$USB #!!!Will delete all files on $USB

Mount usb, (deplug, plugin)
unzip *BIOS_Dos ; cp *BIOS_Dos/* $USB
Umount usb ! umount /dev/$USB.

Reboot, start from usb, A:> flash… (start flash tool from your manufacturer ).

MKN

And the stick boots, says "FreeDOS" and freezes (maybe it's FreezeDOS ).
Maybe i should dd zeros the MBR in this method?


2) And also tried the method linked by Dimeotane, but Dosemu says, it cannot acces my stick (GEO data of it).

[Zyrtec]

Sorry for bumping the topic, but I may as well post it here rather than making a new one.

I have a few questions concerning all of this. I'm running Ubuntu 9.10 64bit. I want to flash my BIOS because I've read that some people with the motherboard I purchased said that their CPUs were overclocking out of the box until they flashed the BIOS. I'm not entirely sure (because I don't really know anything about overclocking), but my Processor is running pretty hot compared to what other people with the same processor say... It's running at about 48-50 degrees C when I boot up and look at the temperature in the BIOS. I used a couple of commands in the terminal to check on info about the processor, and it says that all 4 cores are running at 800MHz... so 4 x 800 = 3.2GHz (I dunno if this is how it works, lol...) when my processor is rated at 2.8GHz.


So that's my reasoning for wanting to flash the BIOS, even though I would classify as the "faint of heart". So my main question is, how would I go about backing up my current BIOS in case anything does go wrong? I haven't tried any of the methods posted here yet to flash the BIOS... I wanted to back things up first.

***I don't have a floppy drive!

[iponeverything]

Sorry for bumping the topic, but I may as well post it here rather than making a new one.

I have a few questions concerning all of this. I'm running Ubuntu 9.10 64bit. I want to flash my BIOS because I've read that some people with the motherboard I purchased said that their CPUs were overclocking out of the box until they flashed the BIOS. I'm not entirely sure (because I don't really know anything about overclocking), but my Processor is running pretty hot compared to what other people with the same processor say... It's running at about 48-50 degrees C when I boot up and look at the temperature in the BIOS. I used a couple of commands in the terminal to check on info about the processor, and it says that all 4 cores are running at 800MHz... so 4 x 800 = 3.2GHz (I dunno if this is how it works, lol...) when my processor is rated at 2.8GHz.


So that's my reasoning for wanting to flash the BIOS, even though I would classify as the "faint of heart". So my main question is, how would I go about backing up my current BIOS in case anything does go wrong? I haven't tried any of the methods posted here yet to flash the BIOS... I wanted to back things up first.

***I don't have a floppy drive!

48-50 degrees C

Is quite cool and the 2.8GHz. is per core.

The 800Mhz because of speedstep lowering the clock, because the processor is does not have enough work.

I don't think you need to mess with your bios, unless you just like taking chances..

[Zyrtec]

Well, other people are saying that their same processors are idling at around 35 degrees C, and go between 45-50 under load. When looking at mine, it's 45-50 all the time -- unless looking at the BIOS would be considered "under load".

I've got four case fans, the CPU fan and heatsink, and it's not sitting on the floor or anything

[iponeverything]

do what ya gotta do.

[Zyrtec]

So yeah, can anyone tell me how to backup the BIOS before I even attempt to flash it?