PXE booting for BIOS updates - Revision history

Adj at 23:43, 19 January 2011

2011-01-19T23:43:35Z

← Older revision		Revision as of 23:43, 19 January 2011
Line 79:		Line 79:
	O740-225.EXE is a Dell Optiplex GX740 BIOS update. It has been downloaded to /tmp. Copy it into our floppy image like so:		O740-225.EXE is a Dell Optiplex GX740 BIOS update. It has been downloaded to /tmp. Copy it into our floppy image like so:
	mcopy /tmp/O740-225.EXE z:		mcopy /tmp/O740-225.EXE z:

			= Put the floppy image into the TFTP server's root directory =
			install -o root -g root -m 444 /tmp/fdboot.img /var/lib/tftpboot

	= boot client machine =		= boot client machine =
			Tell it to PXE boot. Tell PXElinux to load the "dos" image. Get dumped into a COMMAND.COM session. Run the BIOS updater.

Adj: /* create a floppy image to netboot */

2011-01-19T23:41:21Z

create a floppy image to netboot

@@ Line 39: / Line 39: @@
 = create a floppy image to netboot =
 == Get FreeDOS bits ==
 * update /etc/mtools.conf:
 == copy FreeDOS programs into floppy image ==
 == copy BIOS updater into floppy image ==
 = boot client machine =

Adj: /* syslinux's memdisk module */

2011-01-19T21:42:57Z

syslinux's memdisk module

← Older revision		Revision as of 21:42, 19 January 2011
Line 36:		Line 36:

	== syslinux's memdisk module ==		== syslinux's memdisk module ==
	The syslinux memdisk module can load a disk image over the network and create a RAM-backed virtual floppy or hard drive. For our purposes, a floppy will perform nicely. Most BIOS updates are pretty small files (1.8Mbytes for our Dell GX740 update). memdisk assumes that images smaller than 4Mibytes are floppies. We'll be creating a 3840kibyte floppy image and putting FreeDOS and the BIOS update on it.		The syslinux memdisk module can load a disk image over the network and create a RAM-backed virtual floppy or hard drive. For our purposes, a floppy will perform nicely. Most BIOS updates are pretty small files (1.8Mbytes for our Dell GX740 update). memdisk assumes that images smaller than 4Mibytes are floppies. We'll be creating a 3840kibyte floppy image and putting FreeDOS and the BIOS update on it. The floppy image will be stored in <code>/var/lib/tftpboot/fdboot.img</code>. Complete documentation for the memdisk module can be found in <code>/usr/share/doc/syslinux/memdisk.txt.gz</code>.

	= create a floppy image to netboot =		= create a floppy image to netboot =

Adj: /* syslinux's memdisk module */

2011-01-19T21:41:00Z

syslinux's memdisk module

← Older revision		Revision as of 21:41, 19 January 2011
Line 36:		Line 36:

	== syslinux's memdisk module ==		== syslinux's memdisk module ==
	The syslinux memdisk module can load a disk image over the network and create a RAM-backed virtual floppy or hard drive. For our purposes, a floppy will perform nicely. Most BIOS updates are pretty small files (1.8Mbytes for our Dell GX740 update). memdisk ~~will~~ ~~support~~		The syslinux memdisk module can load a disk image over the network and create a RAM-backed virtual floppy or hard drive. For our purposes, a floppy will perform nicely. Most BIOS updates are pretty small files (1.8Mbytes for our Dell GX740 update). memdisk assumes that images smaller than 4Mibytes are floppies. We'll be creating a 3840kibyte floppy image and putting FreeDOS and the BIOS update on it.

	= create a floppy image to netboot =		= create a floppy image to netboot =

Adj: /* install pxelinux and create a config file */

2011-01-19T21:38:52Z

install pxelinux and create a config file

@@ Line 19: / Line 19: @@
 Running Debian, atftpd is installed with the command <code>apt-get install atftpd</code>.  The package maintainer scripts will add an entry to /etc/inetd.conf and will create a directory called /var/lib/tftpboot from which atftpd will serve files.
-= install pxelinux and create a config file =
+= Setting up pxelinux and create a config file =
-== default config file ==
+== installing pxelinux ==
 = create a floppy image to netboot =
 == Get FreeDOS bits ==

172.16.0.24: /* install a TFTP server */

2011-01-19T20:52:36Z

install a TFTP server

← Older revision		Revision as of 20:52, 19 January 2011
Line 17:		Line 17:
	I'm running the "atftpd" TFTP server. It's home on the web seems to be [ftp://ftp.mamalinux.com/pub/atftp/ ftp://ftp.mamalinux.com/pub/atftp/]		I'm running the "atftpd" TFTP server. It's home on the web seems to be [ftp://ftp.mamalinux.com/pub/atftp/ ftp://ftp.mamalinux.com/pub/atftp/]

	Running Debian, atftpd is installed with the command <code>apt-get install atftpd</code>. The package maintainer scripts will add an entry to /etc/inetd.conf and will create a directory called /var/lib/tftpboot		Running Debian, atftpd is installed with the command <code>apt-get install atftpd</code>. The package maintainer scripts will add an entry to /etc/inetd.conf and will create a directory called /var/lib/tftpboot from which atftpd will serve files.

	= install pxelinux and create a config file =		= install pxelinux and create a config file =

172.16.0.24: /* install a TFTP server */

2011-01-19T16:36:16Z

install a TFTP server

← Older revision		Revision as of 16:36, 19 January 2011
Line 13:		Line 13:

	= install a TFTP server =		= install a TFTP server =
			TFTP is the "trivial file transfer protocol" defined in RFC 1350 (and others). It's a UDP based mechanism often used to get boot images over a network.

			I'm running the "atftpd" TFTP server. It's home on the web seems to be [ftp://ftp.mamalinux.com/pub/atftp/ ftp://ftp.mamalinux.com/pub/atftp/]

			Running Debian, atftpd is installed with the command <code>apt-get install atftpd</code>. The package maintainer scripts will add an entry to /etc/inetd.conf and will create a directory called /var/lib/tftpboot

	= install pxelinux and create a config file =		= install pxelinux and create a config file =
	== default config file ==		== default config file ==

172.16.0.24: /* set up DHCP to point net-booting machines at a TFTP server */

2011-01-19T16:22:43Z

set up DHCP to point net-booting machines at a TFTP server

@@ Line 2: / Line 2: @@
 = set up DHCP to point net-booting machines at a TFTP server =
 = install a TFTP server =
 = install pxelinux and create a config file =

Adj: Created page with "So you're all about the free software. But you've just obtained a new (or old) machine. And its firmware is out of date and in need of updates. It doesn't have a floppy drive,…"

2011-01-18T23:37:24Z

Created page with "So you're all about the free software. But you've just obtained a new (or old) machine. And its firmware is out of date and in need of updates. It doesn't have a floppy drive,…"

New page

So you're all about the free software. But you've just obtained a new (or old) machine. And its firmware is out of date and in need of updates. It doesn't have a floppy drive, just a CD or DVD drive and USB hard drive support. There aren't any copies of DOS or Windows in the house that might be used to for a firmware update. Ah, but it will netboot!

= set up DHCP to point net-booting machines at a TFTP server =
= install a TFTP server =
= install pxelinux and create a config file =
== default config file ==
== PXElinux's memdisk driver ==
= create a floppy image to netboot =
== Get FreeDOS bits ==
== mtools to format ==
* update /etc/mtools.conf:
** specify a file instead of a floppy special device
** specify 12-bit FAT
* use FreeDOS boot sector
== copy FreeDOS programs into floppy image ==
== copy BIOS updater into floppy image ==
= boot client machine =