Introduction

The purpose of this article is to provide information on how to update the BIOS of a PC.

Computer vendor independent updating methods

• FreeDOS - http://www.linuxinsight.com/how-to-flash-motherboard-bios-from-linux-no-dos-windows-no-floppy-drive.html

• Windows 7 System Repair - http://askubuntu.com/a/237742

• Boot into Windows

Dell

• https://wiki.ubuntu.com/DellBIOS

• Install the package firmware-addon-dell

• See also http://linux.dell.com/firmware-tools

HP

• Go to http://welcome.hp.com/country/us/en/support.html and find your product. The BIOS can be downloaded as an exe file, such as sp40578.exe.

• Install the package 'cabextract'

• Type 'cabextract <filename> --filter ISO/rom.iso' and you'll get a directory 'ISO' with a file rom.iso

• Burn the iso to a CD.
• Reboot the pc from this CD and follow instructions. Backing up the BIOS did not work for me.

These instructions worked on a laptop, but it might be different for some other models. Then just cabextract all files to find your iso to burn.

FAQ

• Question: Is updating the BIOS of a host possible with a virtualized guest environment?
  Answer: No.

See Also

• https://wiki.ubuntu.com/BIOSandUbuntu

External Links

• https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Flashing_BIOS_from_Linux

• http://en.gentoo-wiki.com/wiki/Dell_BIOS_Upgrade