What is best way to Flash Bios Update on a computer? WIth System Disk!

[Joe Donaldson]

What is best way to Flash Bios Update on a computer?


I have run into a few scenarios helping my friends to flash their
Bios. Gateway makes it a bit difficult for their older computers.

However to make it simple.
If I am running Windows 2000 with NTFS, can I take a WIN 98 DOS Boot
diskette with the system on it and then copy all the bios update files
to it and reboot the computer?

I ask this since Windows 2000 and am not sure about XP do not (to my
knowledge) have a way to create a DOS Bootable Diskette. I have of
course been to www.bootdisk.com

...however I am wondering if my proposed solution would work for all
Windows computers since we are flashing the BIOS and this a a pre
Windows load event.

Thanks, Joe

 

[Rob]

yes that would work fine. also fortunately, more and more vendors are
writing flash utilities that you can actually run under NT/XP.

 

[Jupiter Jones [MVP]]

Joe that is the usual way.
The installed OS is not relevant for the reason you mention, you don't
even need a hard drive installed.

Check with the motherboard/computer manufacturer for details of the
specific BIOS you are installing.
There are subtle differences with the different manufacturers.
Follow the direction carefully.
Flashing a BIOS is generally easy and safe but there is a remote
chance something can go wrong destroying the motherboard.

 

[Joe Donaldson]

Thanks much,
Gateway had a strange set of instructions on a friends machine and
would not easily let me find where it placed the extracted files from
their EXE (It said to look for a *.Cab file in the Windows
Subdirectory-strange....but this was a 2001 BIOS file). I decided to
do a SEND TO WInzip and even with the "EXE" extension (instead of
"zip", Winzip let me specify where to put the files so I could easily
find them.

Thanks again
Joe

 

[Donald McDaniel]

What is best way to Flash Bios Update on a computer?


I have run into a few scenarios helping my friends to flash their
Bios. Gateway makes it a bit difficult for their older computers.

However to make it simple.
If I am running Windows 2000 with NTFS, can I take a WIN 98 DOS Boot
diskette with the system on it and then copy all the bios update files
to it and reboot the computer?

I ask this since Windows 2000 and am not sure about XP do not (to my
knowledge) have a way to create a DOS Bootable Diskette. I have of
course been to www.bootdisk.com

..however I am wondering if my proposed solution would work for all
Windows computers since we are flashing the BIOS and this a a pre
Windows load event.

Thanks, Joe

By the way, Windows XP DOES provide a means of creating a "Plain vanilla"
MSDOS startup disk.
1) Place a 3.5" floppy in the drive
2) Open My Computer
3) Right-click on the floppy icon
4) Choose "Format" from the popup menu
5) Make sure "Make an MSDOS startup disk" is checked under "Format Options"
6) Click on "Ok", then wait for the job to finish

This startup floppy will contain only the system files, and can be used for
flashing many Bioses, since the MSDOS startup disk you want will only
contain the system files, the flasher program, and the new BIOS image.

You don't even want autoexec.bat or config.sys on this floppy, so don't add
them.

However, many modern motherboards use BIOS images which are 2mb or more in
size, necessitating a different method of flashing the BIOS. As an example,
my motherboard provides a means of flashing the BIOS without using a startup
disk. The motherboard chipset or BIOS itself contains the code necessary to
flash the BIOS. I assume the BIOS image would be on a HD or CD in this
case.

--
Donald L McDaniel
Post all replies to the Newsgroup,
so that all may be informed.
Remove the obvious to reply by email.
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

 

[Joe Donaldson]

Thanks good to know for XP-I have Win 2000 and luckily formatted it as
Fat-32. Now I need to figure out how to create a DOS boot disk that
can read/write NTFS for Win 2k and XP (if possible) OS based machines.
I have run into some scenarios in fixing PC's (while unemployed) where
it would be nice to get to DOS to replace files locked by Windows.
However I guess this sort of defeats the purpose of security but....

Thanks
Joe

 

[Donald McDaniel]

Thanks good to know for XP-I have Win 2000 and luckily formatted it as
Fat-32. Now I need to figure out how to create a DOS boot disk that
can read/write NTFS for Win 2k and XP (if possible) OS based machines.
I have run into some scenarios in fixing PC's (while unemployed) where
it would be nice to get to DOS to replace files locked by Windows.
However I guess this sort of defeats the purpose of security but....

Thanks
Joe

Since DOS cannot recognise NTFS volumes, you will be unable to create a DOS
startup disk which reads or writes to NTFS volumes, either in Windows 9x or
any version of NT (XP included).

However, see this link for useful information:
http://www.ntfs.com/products.htm

--
Donald L McDaniel
Post all replies to the Newsgroup,
so that all may be informed.
Remove the obvious to reply by email.
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

 

[Rob]

Since DOS cannot recognise NTFS volumes, you will be unable to create a DOS
startup disk which reads or writes to NTFS volumes, either in Windows 9x or
any version of NT (XP included).

However, see this link for useful information:
http://www.ntfs.com/products.htm

--
Donald L McDaniel
Post all replies to the Newsgroup,
so that all may be informed.
Remove the obvious to reply by email.
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

actually NTFSDOS Pro will allow you to read/write to NTFS from DOS. It's
$$$, though they do have a free version that's read only.

http://www.winternals.com/products/repairandrecovery/index.asp?pid=ap#ntfsdos

 

[Donald McDaniel]

actually NTFSDOS Pro will allow you to read/write to NTFS from DOS.
It's $$$, though they do have a free version that's read only.

http://www.winternals.com/products/repairandrecovery/index.asp?pid=ap#ntfsdos

NTFSDOS is not a DOS startup disk created from tools provided by Microsoft,
which I was referring to.

--
Donald L McDaniel
Post all replies to the Newsgroup,
so that all may be informed.
Remove the obvious to reply by email.
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

 

[Rob]

http://www.winternals.com/products/repairandrecovery/index.asp?pid=ap#ntfsdos

NTFSDOS is not a DOS startup disk created from tools provided by Microsoft,
which I was referring to.

--
Donald L McDaniel
Post all replies to the Newsgroup,
so that all may be informed.
Remove the obvious to reply by email.
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Your last paragraph made it sound as if the user had no options if they
needed to read/write NTFS from DOS. I was merely clarifying that there is
at least one option should that be the case. Perhaps someone googling down
the road will find the info useful.

 

[Joe Donaldson]

Thanks so much
Joe

NTFSDOS is not a DOS startup disk created from tools provided by Microsoft,
which I was referring to.