[Gllug] Gigabyte + AMD AMIBIOS upgrade

[Chris Bell]

On Mon 28 Feb, John Hearns wrote:

> 
> You could use either a DOS boot floppy, 
> or download a Freedos floppy image http://www.freedos.org/
> Put a blank floppy in the drive, then dd if=freedos.img of=/dev/fd0
> 
> 
> 
> Believe me, this is a real lack in the Linux world.
> When it comes to updating BIOSes on large clusters, there is crying need
> for proper utilities. Have done upgrades with PXE booting a Freedos
> floppy image, then starting the BIOS upgrade program.
> 
> Maybe Theo de Raadt's new initiative will kick enough manufacturers:
> http://www.fsf.org/campaigns/free-bios.html
> 
> (And yes, I know about Linuxbios)
> 
> 
> 
   The original BIOS does have the facility to load a new version directly,
but the replacement file is provided as a DOS executable. I tried loading
the file onto a W98 DOS bootable floppy, but an error message appeared
stating that it must be run using 32bit M$. Tim Clarke offered to run the
self-extracting programme and email the resultant file, which the BIOS
Q-flash facility has now loaded, reported the checksum as 83c4, and
requested permission to proceed. It is now running on its new BIOS, but I
will download a more recent boot facility to try.

   I was getting hardware errors, so decided to try Memtest86+ from the
latest Knoppix CD, which reported memory errors, confirmed by putting the
memory in another box. I swapped that memory and again had reported memory
errors.
   I noticed that the SDRAM speed was reported to be 275MH/s even after I
reset the BIOS to 100MHz rather than auto, regardless of whether I tried
PC-100 or PC-133 SDRAM.
   I am now retesting with the new BIOS, but still getting the same reported
RAM clock speed. I had assumed that the real clock speed would be shown,
although it could be the RAM manufacturer's default speed as hard wired on
to the DIMM stick and reported by a software check facility. The CPU speed
is also different from that expected, 2133MHz for an Athlon 2.4GHz, but I
have heard that I should be suspicious of AMD specs. 

   There is now an Asian consortium working to extend the availability of
Linux in the far east, so I suspect that many barriers will fall soon. The
only problem then may be the language used.

-- 
Chris Bell

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