On 17 December 2000 Ronald G Minnich <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
> First, get the standard FLASH disk image from intel. You should have this
> anyway. Now experiment with using this to load flash. You ought to know
> how to do this anyway.
I don't think this list is being archived (I searched pretty hard,
and couldn't find anything) but in case it is here are the steps I did
for the benefit of other beginners:
1. Download the System Update Package from Intel. This can be found under
http://support.intel.com/support/motherboards/server/l440gx/software.htm
2. Generate the floppy disk by running the .exe under Windows.
3. Boot from the Intel Resource CD ROM which came with the server, is
solely in order to run DOS! Still, I did it anyway. Use 'Quit to DOS' as
soon as the CD has booted. Enter "a:" and then "go", and select the bit
you want to upgrade, in this case the BIOS. This is fou. Someone on the
linux-kernel list says that one manufacturer is doing a similar thing but
they use FreeDOS.
But what if I want to back out of Linuxbios and restore the Intel
stuff? I presume I use the serial console to pass a commandline parameter
to Linuxbios to tell it to boot from a DOS floppy.
If for some reason that this completely fails, do you have to short out
the FLASH on the motherboard or something?
> > - a simple way of backing up the current NVRAM that has been tested
> > with the L440GX+
>
> You don't really need to backup NVRAM if you have the flash update disk.
Fair enough.
> > - an image that someone is already using with the L44GX+, and a source
> > tree that will build an identical image
>
> cvs checkout.
> cd romimages/RON_L440GX
> make
Done that. From the Makefile I see I need linux-2.4.0-test sources at the
top level. Downloading them now.
> Are you using IDE or SCSi?
SCSI. What's the impact? I don't see anything in the kernel patches in
freebios-20001123 that mentions SCSI. Ah, but I do see in the latest cvs
a ROM_L440GX_SCSI.
> > What are my chances? :-)
>
> They're pretty good. But you're only going to get serial console right
> now, so if that is a problem, you are out of luck.
Sounds good. I still don't quite know how the Makefile ends up generating
all the *PI? files, nor how to get the DOS program to put them into
FLASH, but I'm sure I'll work it out.
I notice the doc directory in the cvs tree is empty. How about a more
complete version of this message finds its way there? I'll keep note of
what I have to do from now on.
--
Dan Shearer
Open Source Manager
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
