Help upgrading BIOS.

windz · Tux's lil' helper Joined: 07 May 2006 Posts: 89

Hello,

I have a Compaq v3252AU Laptop with Gentoo AMD 64bit installed. Occasionally I come across an error message during boot-up saying:

MP-BIOS bug: 8254 timer not connected to IO-APIC

Recently I checked the Compaq website and realised that there is a critical update asking me to install WinFlash. It is an exe file.

I tried to update the BIOS using FreeDOS by following the instructions on this website

However the FreeDOS utility only allows up to 1.44MB of storage, whereas the WinFlash utility from Compaq amounts to more than 4.1MB. Can anyone please advise me on what to do next?

Thanks

BradN · Posted: Sun Feb 24, 2008 9:27 am Post subject:

I'd say either run windows from a bartpe disc, or forget it... that winflash executable won't run in DOS.

schachti · Posted: Sun Feb 24, 2008 10:25 am Post subject:

I read about people who where able to flash their BIOS using wine - however, I do not know if it really works or if it will kill your system.
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windz · Tux's lil' helper Joined: 07 May 2006 Posts: 89

Thank you for all the replies.

Just to let you know that I ran the SoftPAC file downloaded from the HP/Compaq website using wine and extracted the BIOS flash utility (flasher.exe) and the BIOS file 30B5F39.WPH and made a floppy image using FreeDos. Upon booting up the CD with the floppy image and running the *.exe file, i get an error message saying that the *.exe file cannot be executed in a DOS environment. Output from "file flasher.exe"= MS-DOS executable PE for MS Windows (GUI) Intel 80386 32-bit. Guess I would really have to use Windows if I want to update my BIOS.

Another strange thing: Running flasher.exe using wine (Yes, I know it's not wise updating BIOS using wine. I wasn't going to do that. Just wanted to see what appears when I run is) resulted in this message: This BIOS is not for your Notebook PC.

That is so strange as I've entered the correct Product Name and Model to acquire this BIOS update.

robnotts · Posted: Sat Mar 29, 2008 7:55 am Post subject:

I got around a similar problem with a Compaq laptop by booting into the recovery environment from a Windows Vista boot disc and loading the required BIOS flash files onto a USB stick.

Rob.
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jmartos · Tux's lil' helper Joined: 23 Mar 2008 Posts: 76

hp also has a bootable usb flash drive image that you can use to copy the bios image and the flash utility. Do a google search for the compaq usb bootable image and you should find it. You can use a windows box to make the usb bootable dos image. You may also need a bootable floppy to copy the boot record off of it. That is how i do the flashing on my machine.

windz · Tux's lil' helper Joined: 07 May 2006 Posts: 89

jmartos · Tux's lil' helper Joined: 23 Mar 2008 Posts: 76

The file you are trying to run is for updating the BIOS from within windows and that's why you get that error. There should be ROMpac that does not use windows. the rompac will create a bootable floppy or usb key with the utility I mentioned before. key thing is to use the rompac and not the softpac for windows.

windz · Tux's lil' helper Joined: 07 May 2006 Posts: 89

BradN · Posted: Sun Mar 30, 2008 2:48 am Post subject:

If the bios file is an exact power of 2 in size (ie, the raw contents that go in the chip), then it may be flashable with flashrom (linux) or uniflash (dos), but YMMV.

jmartos · Tux's lil' helper Joined: 23 Mar 2008 Posts: 76

Not sure if you have tried this method. It will get you a windows environment where you may be able to run the softpac in. Been a long time since i've build one of these windows recovery disk, but its worth a try.

http://www.nu2.nu/pebuilder/

windz · Tux's lil' helper Joined: 07 May 2006 Posts: 89

BradN · Posted: Sun Mar 30, 2008 5:55 pm Post subject:

In all likelyhood, even if uniflash supports the chip, it probably won't work (I've only found one motherboard that could properly flash like that), since many chipsets have a special write protect setting for the BIOS.

Funny story with that though... I screwed up a flash on a 256KB BIOS for an ABit board because I was using too old of a utility that didn't recalculate the ROM checksum (I was trying to change the EPA logo), and then I had to reflash the chip in another board... Well, the only board that it would work with supported only 128KB, so I had to flash it in two parts... one with the high address line grounded and again with it set to +5V... a hell of a hacky way to do it, but it worked