[gentoo-user] Flashing the BIOS

[gentoo-user] Flashing the BIOS

[Grant]

How do you guys flash your BIOS to a new version?  Are you all digging
up floppy drives?

- Grant
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Re: [gentoo-user] Flashing the BIOS

[Hemmann, Volker Armin]

On Wednesday 13 September 2006 03:23, Grant wrote:
> How do you guys flash your BIOS to a new version?  Are you all digging
> up floppy drives?
>
> - Grant

no I turn my swap-partition into a dos-partition, but all the bios stuff onto 
it, boot from a freedos cd and flash the bios/firmware.

If I touch a floppy drive, it dies. And flashing with a freedos cd works very 
well.
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Re: [gentoo-user] Flashing the BIOS

[Brett I. Holcomb]

Most BIOS programs save the existing BIOS so they need somewhere to write to.

On Tuesday September 12 2006 22:52, Grant wrote:
> > > How do you guys flash your BIOS to a new version?  Are you all digging
> > > up floppy drives?
> > >
> > > - Grant
> >
> > no I turn my swap-partition into a dos-partition, but all the bios stuff
> > onto it, boot from a freedos cd and flash the bios/firmware.
> >
> > If I touch a floppy drive, it dies. And flashing with a freedos cd works
> > very well.
>
> Would it work to burn a bootable CD with the BIOS files on it and
> flash that way?
>
> If anyone could get me specific information on this I'd really
> appreciate it.  My motherboard needs the latest BIOS to run my new
> Tualatin Celeron processor, and I know if I screw up the BIOS I screw
> up the system.
>
> - Grant

-- 

Brett I. Holcomb
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Re: [gentoo-user] Flashing the BIOS

[Hemmann, Volker Armin]

On Wednesday 13 September 2006 05:03, Brett I. Holcomb wrote:
> Most BIOS programs save the existing BIOS so they need somewhere to write
> to.
>

I never encountered a bios flasher that forced me to save the bios somewhere. 
A lot of them did not even had to save the bios, if you wanted to.

But even if you have such a crazy flasher - that is, what the dos-partition is 
made for. Just let it save the stuff to the harddisk.

No floppy, no cry ;)
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Re: [gentoo-user] Flashing the BIOS

[Mick]

On 13/09/06, Hemmann, Volker Armin <volker.armin.hemmann@tu-clausthal.de> wrote:
> On Wednesday 13 September 2006 05:03, Brett I. Holcomb wrote:
> > Most BIOS programs save the existing BIOS so they need somewhere to write
> > to.
> >
>
> I never encountered a bios flasher that forced me to save the bios somewhere.
> A lot of them did not even had to save the bios, if you wanted to.
>
> But even if you have such a crazy flasher - that is, what the dos-partition is
> made for. Just let it save the stuff to the harddisk.
>
> No floppy, no cry ;)

What happens with the latest BIOS updates that some idiotic
manufacturers only provide as WinXP executables?
-- 
Regards,
Mick
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Re: [gentoo-user] Flashing the BIOS

[Hemmann, Volker Armin]

On Saturday 16 September 2006 15:02, Mick wrote:
> On 13/09/06, Hemmann, Volker Armin <volker.armin.hemmann@tu-clausthal.de> 
wrote:
> > On Wednesday 13 September 2006 05:03, Brett I. Holcomb wrote:
> > > Most BIOS programs save the existing BIOS so they need somewhere to
> > > write to.
> >
> > I never encountered a bios flasher that forced me to save the bios
> > somewhere. A lot of them did not even had to save the bios, if you wanted
> > to.
> >
> > But even if you have such a crazy flasher - that is, what the
> > dos-partition is made for. Just let it save the stuff to the harddisk.
> >
> > No floppy, no cry ;)
>
> What happens with the latest BIOS updates that some idiotic
> manufacturers only provide as WinXP executables?

good luck, boy.

At least my manufacturers provide dos flash, or dos&windows flash files.

Maybe you should ask their support. Maybe the dos files are only hidden very 
well.
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Re: [gentoo-user] Flashing the BIOS

[Rumen Yotov]

Hemmann, Volker Armin wrote:
> On Saturday 16 September 2006 15:02, Mick wrote:
>> On 13/09/06, Hemmann, Volker Armin <volker.armin.hemmann@tu-clausthal.de> 
> wrote:
>>> On Wednesday 13 September 2006 05:03, Brett I. Holcomb wrote:
>>>> Most BIOS programs save the existing BIOS so they need somewhere to
>>>> write to.
>>> I never encountered a bios flasher that forced me to save the bios
>>> somewhere. A lot of them did not even had to save the bios, if you wanted
>>> to.
>>>
>>> But even if you have such a crazy flasher - that is, what the
>>> dos-partition is made for. Just let it save the stuff to the harddisk.
>>>
>>> No floppy, no cry ;)
>> What happens with the latest BIOS updates that some idiotic
>> manufacturers only provide as WinXP executables?
> 
> good luck, boy.
> 
> At least my manufacturers provide dos flash, or dos&windows flash files.
> 
> Maybe you should ask their support. Maybe the dos files are only hidden very 
> well
Hi,
Check if they aren't just a self-extract zip archive (unzip file.exe).
Rumen
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Re: [gentoo-user] Flashing the BIOS

[Erik]

My bios allows me to use a usb thumb drive, but I don't know how common that is.


On 9/16/06, Rumen Yotov <rumen@qrypto.org> wrote:
> Hemmann, Volker Armin wrote:
> > On Saturday 16 September 2006 15:02, Mick wrote:
> >> On 13/09/06, Hemmann, Volker Armin <volker.armin.hemmann@tu-clausthal.de>
> > wrote:
> >>> On Wednesday 13 September 2006 05:03, Brett I. Holcomb wrote:
> >>>> Most BIOS programs save the existing BIOS so they need somewhere to
> >>>> write to.
> >>> I never encountered a bios flasher that forced me to save the bios
> >>> somewhere. A lot of them did not even had to save the bios, if you wanted
> >>> to.
> >>>
> >>> But even if you have such a crazy flasher - that is, what the
> >>> dos-partition is made for. Just let it save the stuff to the harddisk.
> >>>
> >>> No floppy, no cry ;)
> >> What happens with the latest BIOS updates that some idiotic
> >> manufacturers only provide as WinXP executables?
> >
> > good luck, boy.
> >
> > At least my manufacturers provide dos flash, or dos&windows flash files.
> >
> > Maybe you should ask their support. Maybe the dos files are only hidden very
> > well
> Hi,
> Check if they aren't just a self-extract zip archive (unzip file.exe).
> Rumen
> --
> gentoo-user@gentoo.org mailing list
>
>


-- 
Erik
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Re: [gentoo-user] Flashing the BIOS

[Mick]

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On Saturday 16 September 2006 20:36, Rumen Yotov wrote:
> Hemmann, Volker Armin wrote:
> > On Saturday 16 September 2006 15:02, Mick wrote:
> >> On 13/09/06, Hemmann, Volker Armin
> >> <volker.armin.hemmann@tu-clausthal.de>
> >
> > wrote:
> >>> On Wednesday 13 September 2006 05:03, Brett I. Holcomb wrote:
> >>>> Most BIOS programs save the existing BIOS so they need somewhere to
> >>>> write to.
> >>>
> >>> I never encountered a bios flasher that forced me to save the bios
> >>> somewhere. A lot of them did not even had to save the bios, if you
> >>> wanted to.
> >>>
> >>> But even if you have such a crazy flasher - that is, what the
> >>> dos-partition is made for. Just let it save the stuff to the harddisk.
> >>>
> >>> No floppy, no cry ;)
> >>
> >> What happens with the latest BIOS updates that some idiotic
> >> manufacturers only provide as WinXP executables?
> >
> > good luck, boy.
> >
> > At least my manufacturers provide dos flash, or dos&windows flash files.
> >
> > Maybe you should ask their support. Maybe the dos files are only hidden
> > very well
>
> Hi,
> Check if they aren't just a self-extract zip archive (unzip file.exe).
> Rumen

Thanks.  I tried unzipping it, but no go:
========================================
# unzip SP27128.exe.part
unzip:  cannot find or open SP27128.exe.part, SP27128.exe.part.zip or 
SP27128.exe.part.ZIP.
========================================
-- 
Regards,
Mick

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Re: [gentoo-user] Flashing the BIOS

[Iain Buchanan]

On Sat, 2006-09-16 at 23:12 +0100, Mick wrote:
> Thanks.  I tried unzipping it, but no go:
> ========================================
> # unzip SP27128.exe.part
> unzip:  cannot find or open SP27128.exe.part, SP27128.exe.part.zip or 
> SP27128.exe.part.ZIP.
> ========================================

hey, I just jumped in on this thread - your file called
"SP27128.exe.part" sounds like mozilla or some other download manager
never finished downloading it, so it's probably incomplete...

-- 
Iain Buchanan <iaindb at netspace dot net dot au>

He who despairs over an event is a coward, but he who holds hopes for
the human condition is a fool.
		-- Albert Camus

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Re: [gentoo-user] Flashing the BIOS

[Mick]

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On Sunday 17 September 2006 06:33, Iain Buchanan wrote:
> On Sat, 2006-09-16 at 23:12 +0100, Mick wrote:
> > Thanks.  I tried unzipping it, but no go:
> > ========================================
> > # unzip SP27128.exe.part
> > unzip:  cannot find or open SP27128.exe.part, SP27128.exe.part.zip or
> > SP27128.exe.part.ZIP.
> > ========================================
>
> hey, I just jumped in on this thread - your file called
> "SP27128.exe.part" sounds like mozilla or some other download manager
> never finished downloading it, so it's probably incomplete...

Thanks Iain, you're right.  I redownloaded and tried again - but it's not a 
zipped archive:
=========================================
# unzip SP27128.exe
Archive:  SP27128.exe
  End-of-central-directory signature not found.  Either this file is not
  a zipfile, or it constitutes one disk of a multi-part archive.  In the
  latter case the central directory and zipfile comment will be found on
  the last disk(s) of this archive.
unzip:  cannot find zipfile directory in one of SP27128.exe or
        SP27128.exe.zip, and cannot find SP27128.exe.ZIP, period.
=========================================

That message is pretty categorical I think.
-- 
Regards,
Mick

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Re: [gentoo-user] Flashing the BIOS

[Matteo Pillon]

Hi,

On Sun, Sep 17, 2006 at 10:03:38AM +0100, Mick wrote:
> Thanks Iain, you're right.  I redownloaded and tried again - but it's not a 
> zipped archive:
> =========================================
> # unzip SP27128.exe
> Archive:  SP27128.exe
>   End-of-central-directory signature not found.  Either this file is not
>   a zipfile, or it constitutes one disk of a multi-part archive.  In the
>   latter case the central directory and zipfile comment will be found on
>   the last disk(s) of this archive.
> unzip:  cannot find zipfile directory in one of SP27128.exe or
>         SP27128.exe.zip, and cannot find SP27128.exe.ZIP, period.
> =========================================
> 
> That message is pretty categorical I think.

I thinks this is an update made with installshield (frow HP, I guess).
Try extracting files from it with:
   app-arch/unshield
      Latest version available: 0.5
      Latest version installed: [ Not Installed ]
      Size of files: 318 kB
      Homepage:      http://synce.sourceforge.net/synce/unshield.php
      Description:   InstallShield CAB file extractor.
      License:       MIT

Bye.

-- 
 * Pillon Matteo
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Re: [gentoo-user] Flashing the BIOS

[Daniel da Veiga]

On 9/17/06, Iain Buchanan <iaindb@netspace.net.au> wrote:
> On Sat, 2006-09-16 at 23:12 +0100, Mick wrote:
> > Thanks.  I tried unzipping it, but no go:
> > ========================================
> > # unzip SP27128.exe.part
> > unzip:  cannot find or open SP27128.exe.part, SP27128.exe.part.zip or
> > SP27128.exe.part.ZIP.
> > ========================================
>
> hey, I just jumped in on this thread - your file called
> "SP27128.exe.part" sounds like mozilla or some other download manager
> never finished downloading it, so it's probably incomplete...
>

In fact, that is the default name for a Compaq/HP Software Pack... And
its just a packed bios, so, you may want to extract it at another
computer with win OS and use the extracted files.

-- 
Daniel da Veiga
Computer Operator - RS - Brazil
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Re: [gentoo-user] Flashing the BIOS

[Friedrich Göpel]

On 14:02 Sat 16 Sep     , Mick wrote:
> On 13/09/06, Hemmann, Volker Armin <volker.armin.hemmann@tu-clausthal.de> 
> wrote:
> What happens with the latest BIOS updates that some idiotic
> manufacturers only provide as WinXP executables?

I had that problem with my burner because for some reason the dos tools
flat out refused to work, so I slapped the windows exe on a Windows PE
(=Preinstallation Enviroment) Iso burned it and booted from that.
That's basically a Windows LiveCD, except it takes half an hour to boot
and there's no applications.

It is a sucky solution, but not as much as having to actually install
windows/swap out the hardware.

> -- 
> Regards,
> Mick
> -- 

Cheers,


Friedrich Göpel
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Re: [gentoo-user] Flashing the BIOS

[Mick]

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On Saturday 16 September 2006 22:50, Friedrich Göpel wrote:
> On 14:02 Sat 16 Sep     , Mick wrote:
> > On 13/09/06, Hemmann, Volker Armin <volker.armin.hemmann@tu-clausthal.de>
> > wrote:
> > What happens with the latest BIOS updates that some idiotic
> > manufacturers only provide as WinXP executables?
>
> I had that problem with my burner because for some reason the dos tools
> flat out refused to work, so I slapped the windows exe on a Windows PE
> (=Preinstallation Enviroment) Iso burned it and booted from that.
> That's basically a Windows LiveCD, except it takes half an hour to boot
> and there's no applications.
>
> It is a sucky solution, but not as much as having to actually install
> windows/swap out the hardware.

Thank you.  I've used Bart's PE LiveCD, but it won't run to complete booting.  
It hangs at the "detecting hardware . . ." stage.  Same with a WinXP Pro 
installation CD that I tried to use a year or so ago.  Not sure if the 
hardware is faulty or this machine will only accept a manufacturer's image 
CD.

As it happens I've got all the important BIOS flash versions for this laptop, 
but I noticed that more recent computers don't offer the DOS flashing images 
anymore.
-- 
Regards,
Mick

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