On Fri 31 July 2009 8:07:17 pm Trent Shipley wrote:
> (Dell's site does recommend  
> updating the BIOS for my motherboard but their program won't run from  
> a CD and I couldn't figure out how to make a bootable DOS flash  
> drive)

WHY doesn't it run from CD? What type of tool -is- it?

I've made a few before DOS boot flashes before. The easiest way is, imo, 
http://www.fdos.org/bootdisks/ the OEM CD Builder assistant
http://www.fdos.org/bootdisks/ISO/FDOEMCD.builder.zip <-- direct link

1) Extract that.
2) Add the DOS file to CDBTDSK/
3) Edit AUTORUN.BAT to autostart the DOS file you added.
4) Run wine bfi.exe -t=3 -f=CDROOT\isolinux\BTDSK.IMG -l=FDOEM -b=BOOTSECT.FD 
CDBTDSK
I've yet to find a bfi for GNU/Linux though it sounds like the source /may/ be 
available from mkbtdsk.bat
5) Run mkisofs -o fdoem.iso -b isolinux/isolinux.bin -no-emul-boot -boot-load-
size 4 -boot-info-table -N -J -r -c boot.catalog -hide boot.catalog -hide-
joliet boot.catalog CDROOT
That's one command, I took it out of makeiso.bat in that zip file.
6) download UNetBootIn from http://unetbootin.sf.net
7) Fire it up, select the ISO image you've created (fdoem.iso) and your drive, 
and install the iso to your flash drive.
8) reboot and tell your BIOS to boot into that USB drive.
9) After Freedos loads, it will automatically run your BIOS utility.

I can't guarantee this will work on $hardware or $software, but I've done it 
before. I think the only variable is bfi, which may or may not work in wine. 
You /could/ try ReactOS or that other one in a VirtualBox/QEMU session, but 
YMMV FOR SURE!

Ryan

*disclaimer: This post may cause damage to your flashdrive. Back up the MBR of 
the drive as unetbootin will edit it to make it bootable. These directions 
worked for me, but will NOT work for you. if you are up to hacking on it, feel 
free, otherwise, I'm not really providing any support for it. This post may 
cause other damage, though I doubt it; if you manage to make this work in 
GNU/Linux, my congratulations, elsewise, you probably won't have a boot disk 
to work with at all, and no harm will be done, but I don't think I'm going to 
help you make it happen. I'm just giving you the tools.

-- 
---
Ryan Rix
(623)-826-0051

quit   When the quit statement is read, the  bc  processor
       is  terminated, regardless of where the quit state-
       ment is found.  For example, "if  (0  ==  1)  quit"
       will cause bc to terminate.
	-- seen in the manpage for "bc". Note the "if" statement's logic

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