Re: Updating motherboard BIOS without MS Windows
From: Nuno Teixeira Subject: Updating motherboard BIOS without MS Windows Date: Sat, 11 Nov 2023 10:56:58 + > Hello all, > > Maybe not the best mailing to ask it but... > > How do you update BIOS without Windows since most brands only have bios > software to windows? > > I'm about to buy a new pc without windows license and I'm looking for brands > that have bios-cli that work in FreeBSD. > > Thanks, I always buy PC parts and assemble them by myself. Currently I have 3 PCs that use motherboard of different brands. And BIOS of all 3 motherbords includes the way to update itself without the help of OS and/or utility program. Typically it works as following. 1. Enter BIOS menu. 2. Invoke the way to update BIOS. 3. Read input file from the media formatted with FAT file system. 4. Start updating BIOS. 5. After finished PC is rebooted. On the other hand, new versions of BIOS are provided on the web site of each brand as zip archive. So BIOS of motherboard can be updated with following steps. 1. Download zip archive of BIOS file from web site of motherboard brand. 2. Extract BIOS file from the archive with `unzip`. 3. Insert USB memstick. 4. Format the memstick with `newfs_msdos`. 5. Mount the partion with `mount -t msdosfs` and copy BIOS file to it. 6. Reboot PC and enter BIOS menu. 7. Invoke the way to update BIOS. 8. Select BIOS file in the memstick as input. 9. Start update of BIOS. Though I haven't check motherboards of eatch brand in detail, I think it rather common for recent motherboards to provide similar functionality. It seems you are going to buy already assembled PC. And I'm not sure if it's easy to know the brand and model of the motherboard used with the PC. But if it isn't diffcult there is good chance you can select and buy the PC that can update BIOS with similar way as above. HTH. --- Yasuhiro Kimura
Re: Updating motherboard BIOS without MS Windows
On Sat, 11 Nov 2023 10:56:58 + Nuno Teixeira wrote: > Hello all, > > Maybe not the best mailing to ask it but... > > How do you update BIOS without Windows since most brands only have bios > software to windows? > > I'm about to buy a new pc without windows license and I'm looking for > brands that have bios-cli that work in FreeBSD. > > Thanks, > I've used a few different mainboards (Asus, Gigabyte) and I've never used Windows to update the BIOS. Most BIOSes allow updating from 1) a thumb drive with DOS (FreeDOS) installed and the BIOS image present or 2) just a BIOS image on a thumb drive with a FAT32 file system. I always use the second option. You should be able to get the mainboard's manual as a PDF on-line and then take a look at the BIOS description. It should clearly describe all supported options for updating the BIOS. -- Gary Jennejohn
Re: Updating motherboard BIOS without MS Windows
Hi! > How do you update BIOS without Windows since most brands only have bios > software to windows? > > I'm about to buy a new pc without windows license and I'm looking for > brands that have bios-cli that work in FreeBSD. There's sysutils/flashrom which allows to flash some BIOS systems. The website is here: https://www.flashrom.org/ There's an old page which lists the hardware supported: https://wiki.flashrom.org/Supported_hardware -- p...@freebsd.org+49 171 3101372Now what ?
Re: Updating motherboard BIOS without MS Windows
Hi, > On 11 Nov 2023, at 10:56, Nuno Teixeira wrote: > > Hello all, > > Maybe not the best mailing to ask it but... > > How do you update BIOS without Windows since most brands only have bios > software to windows? > > I'm about to buy a new pc without windows license and I'm looking for brands > that have bios-cli that work in FreeBSD. Can’t speak to specific brands but it’s becoming pretty common to be able to update firmware from UEFI shell. > > Thanks, > > -- > Nuno Teixeira > FreeBSD Committer (ports) -- Bob Bishop r...@gid.co.uk
Re: Updating motherboard BIOS without MS Windows
On Saturday, November 11th, 2023 at 11:56, Nuno Teixeira wrote: > Hello all, > > Maybe not the best mailing to ask it but... > > How do you update BIOS without Windows since most brands only have bios > software to windows? > > I'm about to buy a new pc without windows license and I'm looking for brands > that have bios-cli that work in FreeBSD. > > Thanks, > Hello, I did such a thing about a year ago. I do not remember the details, but I think I had downloaded a windows exe file, then I extracted the firmware from it (I do not remember which software I used, maybe binwalk), I put it on a usb key and finally I installed it using the utility in the motherboard, available when powering the computer, before booting windows. Cheers, Lorenzo Salvadore
Re: Updating motherboard BIOS without MS Windows
On 11/11/23 11:56, Nuno Teixeira wrote: Hello all, Maybe not the best mailing to ask it but... How do you update BIOS without Windows since most brands only have bios software to windows? I'm about to buy a new pc without windows license and I'm looking for brands that have bios-cli that work in FreeBSD. Thanks, -- Nuno Teixeira FreeBSD Committer (ports) The board I have has one of the USB ports as "special". When you copy BIOS/UEFI update to it, stick it there and there's a button to update. I didn't try this myself, I read it from the board documentation, so I can't tell you the exact procedure and if it's doable from within FreeBSD. Regards, meka
