Sometimes in Linux things are easier than you think. I needed to upgrade the BIOS of a Linux machine and I was not optimistic. On top of the usual issue—what to do in Linux with the Windows executables that motherboard manufacturers provide—, the machine did not have a CD-ROM drive or a floppy drive.
But then we have search engines. A quick search led me to a promising howto by Uwe Hermann. There I learned about flashrom.
flashrom, to quote its man page,
is a utility for detecting, reading, writing, verifying and erasing flash chips. It’s often used to flash BIOS/EFI/coreboot/firmware images in-system using a supported mainboard, but it also supports flashing of network cards (NICs), SATA controller cards, and other external devices which can program flash chips.
It supports a wide range of DIP32, PLCC32, DIP8, SO8/SOIC8, TSOP32, TSOP40, and TSOP48 chips, which use various protocols such as LPC, FWH, parallel flash, or SPI.
Intriguing stuff, especially the “in-system” bit. More so for someone lazy like me. I had to try it!
Here is what it took...
The latest BIOS update I had downloaded from the manufacturer’s website was a self-extracting Windows executable. I extracted it manually with 7zr:
$ 7zr e motherboard-bios-ga-k8vt800(rev1.x)-f13.exe
The extraction revealed three files: One EXE and one BAT (which are not needed in Linux) and the BIOS image I needed for the operation: k8vt800.f13.
Next I installed flashrom using the package manager of the system:
$ sudo apt-get install flashrom
And I run flashrom to see what it knew about my hardware:
$ sudo flashrom
It seemed to recognize everything correctly. So, I proceeded to the next step, making a backup copy of the current BIOS image:
$ sudo flashrom --read bios.bak
Lastly, I flashed the BIOS with the image from the motherboard manufacturer:
$ sudo flashrom --write k8vt800.f13
The last step, writing and verifying the new image, took a few seconds and was completed successfully.
I was left with a big smile and with admiration and gratitude for the people who make flashrom.
Learn more about flashrom: flashrom.org
WARNING. An unsuccessful flashing operation with flashrom or with any other flashing method can leave your system inoperable. Don’t try this in a critical system unless you know what you are doing!
Thank you for reading.