One for the PC experts, flashing bios.

Jon_01

Morning all,

I'm trying to flash the bios of a Gigabyte BXBT-3825 small format PC. It's on v1 of the bios and needs v3 to run any 64 bit op system.
The flash has to be run through dos.  I have no problem using dos as a rule, but this time I'm stuck!
The systems running W7 pro.
I restart, F8, run 'Safe Mode with Command Prompt', change dir to the usb stick and run the bat to start the flash and all I get back is 'this has to run in dos mode'!
I'm running as admin, so that's not the issue...  Where am I going wrong?

I'm trying to install W10 on an SSD. If goes through the install fine, but once it boot to the SSD to finish it falls over within a few seconds. I'm guess that it's loaded the 64 bit version...

Neil_Jones

"Safe Mode with Command Prompt" is not DOS.

You need a proper boot disk, like one of these, in particular the "Driver Free Disk For BIOS Flashing":

https://www.bootdisk.com/

You can

Jon_01

Neil_Jones said:

"Safe Mode with Command Prompt" is not DOS.

You need a proper boot disk, like one of these, in particular the "Driver Free Disk For BIOS Flashing":

https://www.bootdisk.com/

You can

Thanks Neil,  all those want to write to a floppy!  Even if I had one the mini doesn't...
I've found the info for using an HP format until to write a dos booting usb, but that say ALL my usb sticks are write protected!
I've given up, I wasted 3 hours on this. I'll just bin the thing and buy a new one with W10 on it already. . .

Neil_Jones

USB floppies do exist and dos bootable CDs are available.

Or bootable USB:

https://www.biosflash.com/e/bios-boot-usb-stick.htm

Were_Doomed

https://superuser.com/questions/884921/bios-update-for-pegatron-corporation-a15-motherboard

Those were the instructions I followed to upgrade the BIOS on my previous laptop. (I know your system is different, but the process should be the same). The linked files for creating a USB boot disk are at: https://files.extremeoverclocking.com/file.php?f=196

HereToday

Jon_01 said:

Morning all,

I'm trying to flash the bios of a Gigabyte BXBT-3825 small format PC. It's on v1 of the bios and needs v3 to run any 64 bit op system.
The flash has to be run through dos.  I have no problem using dos as a rule, but this time I'm stuck!
The systems running W7 pro.
I restart, F8, run 'Safe Mode with Command Prompt', change dir to the usb stick and run the bat to start the flash and all I get back is 'this has to run in dos mode'!
I'm running as admin, so that's not the issue...  Where am I going wrong?

I'm trying to install W10 on an SSD. If goes through the install fine, but once it boot to the SSD to finish it falls over within a few seconds. I'm guess that it's loaded the 64 bit version...

You would not have need to waste even five minutes if you were patient enough to wait for a reply...

If someone hasn't already done so by the time I've finished eating, I'll put together simple instructions.

HereToday

Decided to get it done quickly. Download and save: https://download.gigabyte.com/FileList/BIOS/embedded_bios_bxbt_f3.zip

Download Rufus: https://github.com/pbatard/rufus/releases/download/v3.12/rufus-3.12.exe

Plug USB Drive in and then double click to run Rufus, make sure that the right USB Flash drive is being recognised and then choose FreeDOS:


Then click Start.
Once complete, extract the files from the zip archive you downloaded earlier and send all the files to your DOS bootable USB drive.

Once complete, reboot and select  DEL to get into the BIOS boot menu.

1. Keep pressing the DEL key on the keyboard about twice a second until the BIOS screen appears.
   
2. In the BIOS boot menu, confirm the USB boot drive is detected. If it is not detected, you may need to boot one more time by powering the Brix off and then on again. In the BIOS boot menu, press the '+' key to move the USB boot drive to the top position.
3. Save and exit the BIOS.

When the Command Prompt appears, type: Flash.bat and then hit the ENTER key. Wait.

Jon_01

HereToday said:

Decided to get it done quickly. Download and save: https://download.gigabyte.com/FileList/BIOS/embedded_bios_bxbt_f3.zip

Download Rufus: https://github.com/pbatard/rufus/releases/download/v3.12/rufus-3.12.exe

Plug USB Drive in and then double click to run Rufus, make sure that the right USB Flash drive is being recognised and then choose FreeDOS:


Then click Start.
Once complete, extract the files from the zip archive you downloaded earlier and send all the files to your DOS bootable USB drive.

Once complete, reboot and select  DEL to get into the BIOS boot menu.

1. Keep pressing the DEL key on the keyboard about twice a second until the BIOS screen appears.
   
2. In the BIOS boot menu, confirm the USB boot drive is detected. If it is not detected, you may need to boot one more time by powering the Brix off and then on again. In the BIOS boot menu, press the '+' key to move the USB boot drive to the top position.
3. Save and exit the BIOS.

When the Command Prompt appears, type: Flash.bat and then hit the ENTER key. Wait.

Thank you fo that, I appreciated it.

I've got the bios updated, but now it refuses to see the SSD!
It shows under SATA config with the right info, but the only thing under boot order is EFI shell. +/- don't change anything and all it will do at boot is to run EFI shell.
It did see the SSD on the old bios and tried to load W10...

Edit: Just checked it with the 1tb drive it was running W7 under and, again, SATA config sees it, but nothing under boot options!

HereToday

Jon_01 said:

HereToday said:

Decided to get it done quickly. Download and save: https://download.gigabyte.com/FileList/BIOS/embedded_bios_bxbt_f3.zip

Download Rufus: https://github.com/pbatard/rufus/releases/download/v3.12/rufus-3.12.exe

Plug USB Drive in and then double click to run Rufus, make sure that the right USB Flash drive is being recognised and then choose FreeDOS:


Then click Start.
Once complete, extract the files from the zip archive you downloaded earlier and send all the files to your DOS bootable USB drive.

Once complete, reboot and select  DEL to get into the BIOS boot menu.

1. Keep pressing the DEL key on the keyboard about twice a second until the BIOS screen appears.
   
2. In the BIOS boot menu, confirm the USB boot drive is detected. If it is not detected, you may need to boot one more time by powering the Brix off and then on again. In the BIOS boot menu, press the '+' key to move the USB boot drive to the top position.
3. Save and exit the BIOS.

When the Command Prompt appears, type: Flash.bat and then hit the ENTER key. Wait.

Thank you fo that, I appreciated it.

I've got the bios updated, but now it refuses to see the SSD!
It shows under SATA config with the right info, but the only thing under boot order is EFI shell. +/- don't change anything and all it will do at boot is to run EFI shell.
It did see the SSD on the old bios and tried to load W10...

Edit: Just checked it with the 1tb drive it was running W7 under and, again, SATA config sees it, but nothing under boot options!

Did you choose the Set to Defaults option in the BIOS setup? Try it, then reboot to see if that makes a difference. I can't see the BIOS setup options, so cannot troubleshoot that way.

Are you trying to install Windows 10 to the SSD? If so, the SSD isn't yet Bootable, so won't be on that list.

Have you created the Bootable Windows 10 media?

Jon_01

HereToday said:

Jon_01 said:

HereToday said:

Decided to get it done quickly. Download and save: https://download.gigabyte.com/FileList/BIOS/embedded_bios_bxbt_f3.zip

Download Rufus: https://github.com/pbatard/rufus/releases/download/v3.12/rufus-3.12.exe

Plug USB Drive in and then double click to run Rufus, make sure that the right USB Flash drive is being recognised and then choose FreeDOS:


Then click Start.
Once complete, extract the files from the zip archive you downloaded earlier and send all the files to your DOS bootable USB drive.

Once complete, reboot and select  DEL to get into the BIOS boot menu.

1. Keep pressing the DEL key on the keyboard about twice a second until the BIOS screen appears.
   
2. In the BIOS boot menu, confirm the USB boot drive is detected. If it is not detected, you may need to boot one more time by powering the Brix off and then on again. In the BIOS boot menu, press the '+' key to move the USB boot drive to the top position.
3. Save and exit the BIOS.

When the Command Prompt appears, type: Flash.bat and then hit the ENTER key. Wait.

Thank you fo that, I appreciated it.

I've got the bios updated, but now it refuses to see the SSD!
It shows under SATA config with the right info, but the only thing under boot order is EFI shell. +/- don't change anything and all it will do at boot is to run EFI shell.
It did see the SSD on the old bios and tried to load W10...

Edit: Just checked it with the 1tb drive it was running W7 under and, again, SATA config sees it, but nothing under boot options!

Did you choose the Set to Defaults option in the BIOS setup? Try it, then reboot to see if that makes a difference. I can't see the BIOS setup options, so cannot troubleshoot that way.
But there may be an option to choose to add the SSD to the Bootable list somewhere in the BIOS setup Boot Menu.

Thanks again.
It needed the cmos batt removing and then a full bios setup and the drives came back.

The things is, I hadn't realized how badly an Atom would run under W10!  It's a complete joke, 10 seconds to load Firefox and then 5 or 6 more for the home page to build!  Youtube is just pointless.
My friend asked me to update it for him, but it's useless running W10.  I've ordered him a new box, I'll put the memory and SSD in that.
Thanks again for the help, it's a shame the thing doesn't run better. . .
(Before anyone says load it with Linux, he has to run a couple of packages that only run under windows)

Were_Doomed

Well if you've ordered a new box then you could put an old drive and RAM in the Atom and load Linux on that.