Finding BIOS Upgrades?

CrazyDwarf asks: "I dug up and old system that my company was about to toss in the dumpster and decided to load Linux on it. My problem: the BIOS will not recognize more than 500 MB of the HDD. I don't have a CD-ROM for this PC. I was looking for a BIOS upgrade download, but AWARD wants me to buy it from some third party. If I could afford to buy it from them, I wouldn't be doing all this, I'd just get a CD-Rom and move on. Where are some good places for me to go find a free (no cost) download to upgrade my BIOS? I have been searching for an hour on Google and have not really found anything."

Comments

How old?

[Jester998]

Hmm... depending on how old the system actually is, it might not even HAVE downloadable BIOS updates. IIRC, most 486 systems and even some 586-based systems didn't have Flash ROMs... to upgrade the BIOS, you had to physically replace the BIOS CMOS.

If the motherboard does, indeed, have a flashable BIOS, then try looking up the part/model number on either the manufacturer's site or Google.

- Jester

There is an workaround

[ljaguar]

Boot from floppy.

Your problem is that you can't _boot_ from a HD larger than 500MB -- because as soon as Linux kernel is loaded, BIOS isn't needed any more anyways. All you need to to is load the kernel somehow and all the limitations of BIOS doesn't exist anymore.

Then whatever you've got connected to IDE (zip, cdrom, any HD) will work because Linux kernel is up-to-date with things.

To repeat myself, after Linux kernel is loaded, the kernel takes over. BIOS simply isn't consulted again.

Of course, some other OS's like DOS still accesses disk through BIOS, so DOS wouldn't work.

Re:There is an workaround

[ninewands]

Wouldn't it also work to simply put a /boot partition in the first several cylinders of the disk? I think, then, that no floppies would be needed.

You are correct sir ...

It is my understanding that a separate /boot partition will force the kernel down into the part of the disk that the ROM-BIOS can handle. The first 10 MB should give room for multiple kernels, etc.

Once the kernel is loaded, the IDE drivers will handle the disk at the hardware level and BIOS limitations become moot.

I've never had to fight with the 500 MB limit, but the kernel handily defeated the 2 GB limit of my old P166-MMX mobo ...

Re:There's a special boot loader, er disk overlay

[PD]

OK, we were both wrong. It's EZ-Drive

I found the large disk howto, and it says:

Linux does support OnTrack Disk Manager since version 1.3.14, and EZ-
Drive since version 1.3.29. Some more details are given below.

And then below, it says:

5. Kernel disk translation for IDE disks

If the Linux kernel detects the presence of some disk manager on an
IDE disk, it will try to remap the disk in the same way this disk
manager would have done, so that Linux sees the same disk partitioning
as for example DOS with OnTrack or EZ-Drive. However, NO remapping is
done when a geometry was specified on the command line - so a
`hd=cyls,heads,secs' command line option might well kill compatibility
with a disk manager.

The remapping is done by trying 4, 8, 16, 32, 64, 128, 255 heads
(keeping H*C constant) until either C

What that means is that if you're using Linux, you probably don't need this thing. You just put your kernel in the first part of the disk that the BIOS can see and pass the parms to the kernel on the lilo boot line.

If you're dual booting with Windows, then you probably will need this EZ-Drive. And in that case, you do NOT want to specify the hd parameters to the kernel. The kernel knows about EZ-Drive and will do the right thing.

This guy sells programmed BIOS chips

[unitron]

Congratulations on not feeding the landfill. To look into replacing the BIOS chip for about $20 go to http://www.tuxshield.com/BIOS_order.htm and use the email at the bottom of the page to contact the guy. This assumes that you don't have a flashable bios chip and replacement is the only way to go. Of course you could be like me and have an old Zeos 486 board that has a flashable bios but they went out of business before writing an updated bios that'll recognize anything over 528. Bummer.

It sounds as though you're trying to load the Linux CDs on a big hard drive, hook that drive up to the computer temporarily and load Linux on the machine's hard drive from the bigger drive instead of from a CD-ROM drive which you say the machine doesn't have. Consider temporarily installing a CD drive from some other machine and installing from that or temporarily installing a NIC from some other machine and installing via network.

If I can help you with hard drive questions, get in touch.