Ubuntu – How to flash a BIOS when only a Windows binary is provided

biosexecutablewindows

I want to update the BIOS on Toshiba QOSMIO-G30. The exe file that I downloaded from the manufacturer web site is supposed to be Operating System independent! Yet using Wine I could not execute the file to FLASH System BIOS. Is there any way to update the BIOS in Ubuntu?

Best Answer

I would highly recommend not flashing a BIOS with an .exe using Wine. Flashing a BIOS can potentially turn your computer into a large paperweight if something goes wrong.

Some manufacturers (I know Dell does for example) have alternative BIOS upgrade methods for Linux.

However if Toshiba does not offer any Linux compatible options, your best bet is to:

  1. Determine if you really need to do the update. If you aren't having any problems with the BIOS currently and don't require any new features from it you can probably safely ignore the update.
  2. If you do require the update, either create a DOS boot disk (Mitch's answer links to a good how-to for doing this), install DOS/freeDOS etc. onto a new partition, or -gulp- install Windows. If you have an extra old hard drive around you could also install this hard drive, put windows on it, flash the BIOS and then switch back to your hard drive with Ubuntu on it.
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