How to upgrade BIOS the easy way?

Hi,

I'm trying to upgrade my BIOS on my Acer Aspire One A150 with Ubuntu 8.10, but it ain't that easy. I've downloaded and installed Unetbootin, made a bootable USB-stick with the freeDOS-thing(?), rebooted, and then, i'm stuck.


The problem i'm having with the FreeDOS(?)-method is that i don't know what drive my USB-stick is, cause when i'm making it bootable with Unetbootin, it says that my USB is drive "sdb1". Ok, but i don't think it will work with "CD:/sdb1 in DOS. Sorry, i've tried. I've also tried drive A, B, C, D, E, F, G, and so on. It won't boot.

So, my question is; is there an easier way to upgrade my BIOS in Ubuntu? In Windows, we can use Winflash, that makes BIOS-flashing very easy, but the thing is, i don't have Windows.

 

Hmm, it's been a while since I upgraded my own BIOS, but if memory serves you only need to type c: hit enter, and then (if your USB contains bios version 3309 for example) type 3309.bat on the next line. I think that's it. Are you sure c: or b: doesn't work?

 

Yepp. I've tried from A to Z. Nothing works

But doesn't it exist a flash-utility for Ubuntu? Why haven't people thought of that?

 

You could the BIOS recovery method documented here:

http://macles.blogspot.com/2008/08/acer ... overy.html

This does not rely on making a bootable USB stick, although I must admit that making a bootable FreeDOS USB stick has not been a problem for me.

Alternatively make a Live USB version of the Ultimate Boot CD (http://www.ultimatebootcd.com/) and select one of the FreeDOS images after copying your Acer BIOS update files to the same USB stick and booting from it.

XP users may be interested to learn that the v3308 BIOS update available from the Acer Europe Support site contains WinFlash binaries so that the BIOS can be updated from a running Windows XP environment.

 

Thanks, i'll check it out

 

I had to try a number of different USB drives before I could get it working.

 

Verify that the 3309.bat file is there. First time I did this the file was missing, so it could not perform the command.

 

Yeah, the 3309-file is there, but i think it's the USB-stick something wrong with.

 

This might be a daft question but what benefits does 3309 bios bring to the one? Ive had my machine for about 9 months now and havent reflashed the bios as the machine seems fine.

 

Seriously dude just bugger off. You are not helping anyone

 

How's it related to Ubuntu? Cause i have Ubuntu on my computer? Read the thread, and then comment. And yes, i've searched the forum, and yes i've googled.

And btw, i'm still stuck. LOL.

 

Ok, i'll try it again But i think it's something wrong with my usb-stick. But i'll give it a try again.