Re: [Freedos-user] usb stick for bios upgrade
> Honestly, I don't understand the need for Win98SE (MS-DOS 7.1) here. I did not mean to imply that Win98SE was definitely required, just that I used it in the attempt that ultimately was successful. I likely had this problem solved a few times without realizing it, since I made numerous bootable freedos usb sticks. They did not work in my bios upgrade attempts, but they may very well have worked if I had correctly guessed the right steps. I have not seen a DOS prompt in several years and I was worried about the boot menu because I expected the bios update to be unable to handle dealing with a menu. I was looking for a boot straight into the C: prompt, then I realized the A: prompt was more likely, and then realized the C: prompt would be the usb file system root. Then I decided just to try running the .exe file before buying a new mobo. In the documents you found there are two files discussed, one of which is a bios.bin, which probably would have worked. That was not the case with the MSI download for my situation -- everything was contained in the .exe file. My personal opinion is that after repeatedly warning that a bios upgrade can ruin your computer, there should be some effort to have directions that match the process, but that is just me. The whole thing was a learning experience, which I may never use again. It may be of interest to the FreeDOS community that the "M-Flash" process required a UEFI boot setup on the DOS usb stick, which seems to be a bit incongruous (not if UEFI is really about selling more product). However, it was happy to use my non-uefi stick when it found a bios.bin file, which was the old bios I backed up onto the usb stick. Directly running the .exe file did the upgrade, but you would not have known that from the bios screen or any directions I found. Regards On 04/14/2018 03:23 PM, Rugxulo wrote: > Hi again, > > On Fri, Apr 13, 2018 at 7:44 PM, Kevin McCormick <kev4...@fastmail.fm> wrote: >> Upgrade bios for MSI 7677 H61i-e35 (B3) mini-itx motherboard >> >> Here are the steps as best I can recall: >> ... >> >> In conclusion, a working DOS usb boot stick seems to be the key, and it was >> recommended to use the Windows 98 SE version in one MSI guide. However, for >> MSI owners, the lack of help and conflicting/confusing messages from MSI >> imply that one should proceed with great caution. > It seems MSI (Micro-Star International) is a company from Taiwan > (China). It's possible that something was lost in translation. > However, I do think support from the company itself is very important > here, and you should do whatever they tell you to do. > > Honestly, I don't understand the need for Win98SE (MS-DOS 7.1) here. > Without downloading it, the link you provided seems to imply a very > minimal image (1 MB), which is "probably" similar to what Windows 7 > (and RUFUS!) uses (DISKCOPY.DLL) to make a "system floppy", aka EBD > (emergency boot disk) or whatever. > > I did find two .PDFs via quick search: > > "BIOS Update Instruction By DOS Tool" (Revision 2.3, 2016/08/02) > * > https://www.msi.com/files/pdf/How_to_make_a_bootable_flash_disk_and_to_flash_BIOS_en.pdf > (uses UNetBootIn atop Windows [Vista? 7?] to install FreeDOS > [fdboot.img, 7/24/2011]) > (FreeDOS "safe mode", aka "don't load any drivers", FreeDOS 1.0 final > from 2006-July-30) > > * > https://www.msi.com/html/pdf/How_to_flash_MSI_Notebook_BIOS_under_DOS_mode.pdf > (also uses UNetBootIn atop Windows) > (FreeDOS "safe mode", aka "don't load any drivers", FreeDOS 1.0 final > from 2006-July-30) > > You basically said you tried other things that didn't work, so maybe > this is redundant for you. Still, it's hard to understand all of the > details from afar. -- Check out the vibrant tech community on one of the world's most engaging tech sites, Slashdot.org! http://sdm.link/slashdot___ Freedos-user mailing list Freedos-user@lists.sourceforge.net https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/freedos-user
Re: [Freedos-user] usb stick for bios upgrade
Upgrade bios for MSI 7677 H61i-e35 (B3) mini-itx motherboard Here are the steps as best I can recall: First download the Windows98SE image (Win98SE_bootdisk.iso) from http://www.allbootdisks.com/download/98.html Second download the bios update .exe (in my case msi_bios_upgrade_7677v63.zip) and unzip it # unzip msi_bios_upgrade_7677v63.zip Then you must be root to do all this. 1) Use gparted to format usb stick -- msdos partition table + partition (cylinder alignment) with fat32 file system + set partition boot and lba flag 2) install syslinux $ syslinux -s -i /dev/sdb1 (assuming usb partition is /dev/sdb1 -- make sure) 3) mount usb $ mount /dev/sdb1 /mnt/usb 4) copy files: $ cp /usr/share/syslinux/memdisk /mnt/usb $ cp /[path]/Win98SE_bootdisk.iso /mnt/usb $ cp /[path]/E7677v63.exe /mnt/usb 5) create the syslinux.cfg file (plain text file) and save to /mnt/usb/syslinux.cfg DEFAULT floppy_iso LABEL floppy_iso LINUX memdisk INITRD Win98SE_bootdisk.iso APPEND iso -- unmount the usb stick $ umount /mnt/usb 6) (possibly unnecessary) set bios boot order to USB HDD as first entry In AMI setup M-Flash screen, save the current bios to the usb (as a precaution) (interestingly, M-Flash offered to upgrade the bios using the bios I had just saved) 7) boot the usb stick, choose without cdrom support from usb boot menu you will see the DOS A:/ prompt, enter C: C:/E7677v63 (this will run the bios upgrade program, E7677v63.EXE, but use the one for your mobo) Do not remove the USB stick or power off the computer. There will be several restarts and the process goes on. After it was all done, there was a message indicating success. Then I dismantled computer and changed the cpu. Next boot gave a notice "processor changed, enter setup" or similar, so I entered "restore defaults" In conclusion, a working DOS usb boot stick seems to be the key, and it was recommended to use the Windows 98 SE version in one MSI guide. However, for MSI owners, the lack of help and conflicting/confusing messages from MSI imply that one should proceed with great caution. Now I am having trouble booting my Slackware OS, probably due to changing from IDE to AHCI, but maybe due to the bios upgrade or putting sata plugs in the wrong order. However, the upgraded processor is working and I think getting the OS to boot will be less trouble than figuring out the bios upgrade. Thanks for everyone's comments. On 04/07/2018 08:08 AM, Eric Auer wrote: > Hi Kevin, > > the point was that if you have a modern BIOS, it will > just look for a data file on a FAT-formatted USB stick > and then update *itself* - You do NOT have to boot any > DOS from the stick to do that. Of course you can exit > the setup of FreeDOS 1.0 or 1.2 or skip entering it. > > Trying to follow the "flashing BIOS" instructions for > cases when you had to use old DOS executables as flash > tool might be a waste of effort with more modern BIOS. > > Please check whether your BIOS really wants to run a > DOS exe file for anything. More likely, it does not. > If your BIOS just needs a data file, then you do NOT > have to install any DOS on the stick at all. Simply > make sure that the stick is FAT formatted and not > NTFS or ExFAT formatted, then copy your BIOS data > to the stick and let the BIOS do the rest at boot. > > Cheers, Eric > > PS: You could use GPARTED to check and modify which > filesystem your stick uses, with user-friendly GUI. > Just make sure to write the stick, not OTHER disks. > > PPS: IF you find out that you really want to run DOS > executables, you can install a boot floppy image on > a stick instead of using entire DOS distro images. > > > > -- > Check out the vibrant tech community on one of the world's most > engaging tech sites, Slashdot.org! http://sdm.link/slashdot > ___ > Freedos-user mailing list > Freedos-user@lists.sourceforge.net > https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/freedos-user -- Check out the vibrant tech community on one of the world's most engaging tech sites, Slashdot.org! http://sdm.link/slashdot___ Freedos-user mailing list Freedos-user@lists.sourceforge.net https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/freedos-user
Re: [Freedos-user] usb stick for bios upgrade
I omitted to say that my operating system is Linux, Slackware 14.2. The Windows solutions of Rufus or a dos formatted usb stick don't work for me since these require some form of Windows. Unetbootin also does not work with FreeDOS I.2, but even with a 1.0 image, the usb stick goes into the setup routine. I am now looking at: https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Flashing_BIOS_from_Linux and https://wiki.gentoo.org/wiki/BIOS_Update#FreeDOS_environment I do not want to brick the motherboard or reformat the hard drive, and since I rarely upgrade bios I am not familiar with the process. I do have a Windows virtualbox guest on the computer, but the usb stick is not accessible from that. I think there is some process for doing that, but I haven't looked into it. I have created several bootable usb sticks with syslinux and FreeDOS, but they enter the FreeDOS Setup menu when they are booted. I believe I want just the COMMAND.COM, IO.SYS, and a few other files to have the DOS functionality that will be needed for the bios update .EXE file. I imagine the .EXE has the bios rom image included, so some compression software is probably needed. The MSI bios upgrade process is in the initial boot, where you are supposed to press DEL to enter bios setup and then select something like M-FLASH or FLASH BIOS which then asks you to select a file from the USB stick. At this point the upgrade process stops with a message like unusable file or missing files or something which I don't remember exactly. Thanks On 04/06/2018 08:58 AM, Kevin McCormick wrote: > Hello all, > > I subscribed to this list because I am having a lot of trouble making > a simple dos usb stick to upgrade my computer bios. It is appalling > that the my motherboard manufacturer does not have the tools for linux > (or windows for that matter) and the AMI bios is equally appalling. > However, I really don't want to buy another motherboard. > > I have no trouble installing freedos into a qemu virtual disk, or > making a bootable usb stick, but I don't know how to get around the > freedos setup routine and just have the functionality of a dos boot > floppy. Basically, I think I want to copy the necessary "base" files > onto the usb stick and have the needed /sys files. I believe that is > enough for the bios flash to work. > > The motherboard is MSI 7677 E61 (B3) mini-tx intel socket 1155. > > Thanks > > > -- > Check out the vibrant tech community on one of the world's most > engaging tech sites, Slashdot.org! http://sdm.link/slashdot > > > ___ > Freedos-user mailing list > Freedos-user@lists.sourceforge.net > https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/freedos-user -- Check out the vibrant tech community on one of the world's most engaging tech sites, Slashdot.org! http://sdm.link/slashdot___ Freedos-user mailing list Freedos-user@lists.sourceforge.net https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/freedos-user
[Freedos-user] usb stick for bios upgrade
Hello all, I subscribed to this list because I am having a lot of trouble making a simple dos usb stick to upgrade my computer bios. It is appalling that the my motherboard manufacturer does not have the tools for linux (or windows for that matter) and the AMI bios is equally appalling. However, I really don't want to buy another motherboard. I have no trouble installing freedos into a qemu virtual disk, or making a bootable usb stick, but I don't know how to get around the freedos setup routine and just have the functionality of a dos boot floppy. Basically, I think I want to copy the necessary "base" files onto the usb stick and have the needed /sys files. I believe that is enough for the bios flash to work. The motherboard is MSI 7677 E61 (B3) mini-tx intel socket 1155. Thanks -- Check out the vibrant tech community on one of the world's most engaging tech sites, Slashdot.org! http://sdm.link/slashdot___ Freedos-user mailing list Freedos-user@lists.sourceforge.net https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/freedos-user
