====== How to update your bios ======



===== Introduction =====

This page describes the different ways to update the BIOS on your eeePC.

Do **not** update your bios unless you encounter problems with your existing bios.  Also, check first if the bios you are updating to is not already the latest bios.\\
There is **always** a small chance that updating your bios will brick your eeePC!\\
Always make sure that your eeePC has a full battery and is connected to the power before doing an upgrade!\\
You use this tutorial completely **at your own risk**!

===== Upgrade mechanisms =====

There exist five different upgrade mechanisms, listed in order of complexity:
=== Add/Remove Software===  
If you are running default Xandros you can just go to Settings, Add/Remove software, click on Bios and ask to install any of the bioses listed there.
=== Terminal ===  
If you are e.g. running in advanced mode, or if you want to flash a bios that is not in the add/remove software list you can use:\\
<code>sudo /usr/sbin/biosupdate.pl --install <url to the zip file with the new bios></code>
E.g.
<code>sudo /usr/sbin/biosupdate.pl --install http://update.eeepc.asus.com/bios/701-ASUS-0703.zip</code>
Note that this will not work if you removed the last two partitions from your system.

=== EZ Flash ===
* if you removed the last two partitions of your system (e.g. to install XP, or to regain the space), you can download the zip file with the bios, unzip it, rename the resulting file to the model of your eeePC (eg. **701.ROM** **1005HA.ROM**) and copy that to a **FAT16** USB flash drive. Instructions on formatting a drive to FAT32 can be found [[http://www.ehow.com/how_4963426_format-usb-flash-drive-ubuntu.html|here]]. After that reboot your eeePC with the USB flash drive present (and no other USB devices connected), and press Alt-F2 during the bios splash screen. This will search for a file 701.ROM on your USB flash drive and upgrade to it.  (Note, 2G models will search for the file 700.ROM)\\
Note that if you get an error message like this one:
<code>
EZ-Flash starting BIOS update
Checking for USB device
USB Device found
Reading file "701.ROM". Completed
Failed to flash!
</code>
you probably used a non-FAT16 USB drive. Suggestion is to reformat or try another USB flash disk.
=== AFUDOS ===
Use afudos. This is the most complicated scenario. It requires you to make a bootable USB flash disk. See e.g. [[http://wiki.fdos.org/Installation/BootDiskCreateUSB]] for info.\\
After that download AFUDOS v2.19 from Asus: [[http://dlsvr01.asus.com/pub/ASUS/mb/flash/AFUDOS219.zip]]\\
Unzip that file to the bootable usb flash disk, add your .rom file, reboot from the usb flash disk and flash your bios using afudos.exe (type //afudos/h// to get a list of options for afudos).

  * [[http://www.blagblagblag.org/pub/BLAG/developers/jebba/eee/free_software/BIOS/freeeeeflash/|eee-flash-bios]] - A shell script to automate flashing the BIOS from the command line in GNU/Linux. The tool is self-explanatory: type "freeeeeflash" from a command line and read the output for understanding how to install your new BIOS.

===== Upgrading a 901 or a 900A =====

  * Download the zip file with the bios, unzip it, rename the resulting file to **901.ROM** (900A.ROM for the 900A) and copy that to a **FAT16** USB flash drive. Note that FAT16 is still mandatory here for the 901 and 900A. Failed with FAT32, possibly due to lower-case .ROM file extension (which it seems you cannot change in FAT32). After that reboot your eeePC with the USB flash drive present (and no other USB devices connected), and press Alt-F2 during the bios splash screen. This will search for a file 901.ROM (or 900A.ROM) on your USB flash drive and upgrade to it.

Note: /usr/sbin/biosupdate.pl does not seem to be present on Xandros for the 901.

===== Copyright =====

This page was originally authored by eFfeM on wiki.eeeuser.com, eFfeM holds the copyright to this.\\
You are free to use or improve this page provided that:
  * you leave this copyright message and all attributions intact
  * you clearly identify the parts that you modified or that you used from this (a wiki history trail and adding your name to Authors suffices)
  * if you copy the page: you provide a note that you copied it and a link to the place you copied it from.



===== Authors =====

This page is created by eFfeM\\
Modifications by: mrmot, Neil, SteveLawUK