flash bios dos usb stick

[Trent Shipley]

I am running Ubuntu 8.10 on a Dell Inspiron 530.

Something in the last kernel upgrade really hosed the boot sequence.  I figure 
I can't start complaining until I have an up-to-date BIOS.

On Wednesday 2009-02-25, Lisa Kachold wrote:
> Are you set on Gentoo?  [Other's are a bit more powerful?]
> (Don't flame me, I have hand scripted gentoo builds [For AZWSX.COM] but
> it's not the most secure distro or best for a pendrive)!
>
> Here's a fast Ubuntu (I have used):
> https://wiki.ubuntu.com/LiveUsbPendrivePersistent
>
> Here's a nice Knoppix USB:
> http://www.pendrivelinux.com/usb-knoppix-510/
>
>
> obnosis.com | wiki.obnosis.com| (503)754-4452
> PLUG HACKFESTS 2nd Saturday Each Month at Noon - 3PM
> Date: Wed, 25 Feb 2009 14:41:35 -0800
> From: trent_shipley at yahoo.com
> Subject: Re: flash bios dos usb stick
> To: plug-discuss at lists.plug.phoenix.az.us
>
>
>
> I haven't even gotten to the moment of truth where I try to boot from the
> usb stick.  I still need to get MBR, vfat-16, Grub, and FreeDOS all loaded
> correctly.
>
> I actually did burn a CD, boot successfully into FreeDOS, and launch the
> Dell BIOS flash package.  Then the BIOS flasher crapped out complaining
> that it couldn't write back to a drive.  So I need to flash from a
> read-write medium.
>
> From: Stephen <cryptworks at gmail.com>
> To: tshipley at deru.com; Main PLUG
>  discussion list <plug-discuss at lists.plug.phoenix.az.us>
> Sent: Wednesday, February 25, 2009 3:32:07 PM
> Subject: Re: flash bios dos usb stick
>
> I know this will depend on the bios i think and what order it places
> yoru USB devices compared to your Hard disk device.
>
> On Tue, Feb 24, 2009 at 9:56 PM, Trent Shipley <tshipley at deru.com> wrote:
> > I am trying to build a bootable DOS memory stick so that I can flash my
> > BIOS.
> >
> > The instructions (http://en.gentoo-wiki.com/wiki/FreeDOS_Flash_Drive)
> > say:
> >
> > And finally, you can install GRUB :
> > grub
> > grub> device (hd5) /dev/sdb
> > grub> root (hd5,0)
> > grub> setup
>
>  (hd5)
>
> > grub> quit
> > --------------------------
> > The line:  grub> device (hd5) /dev/sdb
> > is giving me trouble.
> >
> > I know that the stick is mounted at /dev/sdd  but I don't know how to
> > find the value that goes in the (hd5) part of the command.
> >
> > http://www.freesoftwaremagazine.com/articles/grub_intro/
> > suggests
> >
> > # grub
> > grub> find /boot/grub/stage1
> >  (hd0,1)
> >  (hd2,0)
> >
> > followed by
> >
> > grub> find (hd2,0)/boot/im<TAB>
> > grub> find (hd2,0)/boot/images/
> >
> > but this has been decidedly unsuccessful.
> >
> >
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