Go to the Intel download site then download the
Recovery BIOS Update [RQ0017P.BIO]
setting Display F7 to Update BIOS.
1. Download and save the Recovery BIOS (.BIO) file to a temporary directory.
2. Copy the .BIO to a USB thumb drive.
3. Plug the thumb drive into a USB port of the target computer.
4. Shut down the target computer.
5. Enable the F7 prompt display:
a. Power the computer on.
b. Enter the BIOS Setup by pressing F2 during boot.
c. Go to the Advanced > Boot Configuration menu.
d. Enable Display F7 to Update BIOS
e. Press F10 to save and exit.
6. During boot, when the F7 prompt is displayed, press F7 to enter the BIOS Flash Update tool.
7. Select the USB thumb drive and press Enter.
8. Select the .BIO file and press Enter
9. Confirm you want to update the BIOS by pressing Enter.
10. Wait 2-5 minutes for the update to complete.
11. Remove the thumb drive.
12. Restart the computer.
Well, I took my time just for the fun of it to check all NUC Bios and Driver updates. It just so happen they use the same motherboard and offer the same BIOS Updates.
You can see the webpage where they all send me HERE
Since you do not have a keyboard, the option to press F7 when the system boots to read a pen drive and the Bios file in it is out of the question. This way only works when you boot the computer, after pressing the corresponding key it will read any pen drive you have inserted and look in the root folder of the pen drive for a BIOS file format for Intel.
Your only way is to Burn a CD with the BIOS update and boot from it. I will be assuming the computer tries to boot from a CD/DVD or a Flash Drive before going for the Hard drive. If this is not the case and it boots directly to your hard drive then you really need to get a keyboard since you are out of options.
You will need to get the GKPPT10H.86A.0036.BI.ZIP but for future reference, try to get either the file that ends in .ISO, .BIO or the one that ends in .ZIP. If you had the ISO file you just burn it to a CD/DVD and boot from it. In this particular case there is no ISO option.
The ZIP one, you decompress but here is the problem, the files need to be stored in a bootable CD/DVD or USB Flash drive in order to run (Again, assuming the BIOS reads this devices before the HDD). So you would need Windows to make it bootable as stated by the Intel Bios Update Instructions for this motherboard. After making it bootable you can proceed to copy the files to it and then later boot from it. The whole update process will be automatic.
Now that we have seen 2 options which depend slightly on having a keyboard or having the system boot into other devices before going to the HDD, we can now fall into the Bios Recovery option.
The Bios Recovery option found in the Bios Updates is just in case your BIOS fails to update but it is also used to update your Bios to that specific version, in this case, it will be updated to the latest. More information HERE
The part that you need to know is:
- Download the file that ends with .BIO. In this case it is the
GK0036.BIO
- Copy the BIO file to a CD/DVD (Either External or Internal CD/DVD unit).
- While leaving the CD/DVD connected to the PC, boot the computer. If the computer goes to the CD/DVD first, before the HDD, the Intel motherboard will see the BIO file and update the BIOS.
- If you happen to have a system that boots directly to the HDD then follow the instructions here to remove the jumper and make it boot first from other devices.
By default, this motherboard will first read any other device before going for the HDD. So if you have not yet changed anything in the boot process in the BIOS, you don't need to worry.
Best Answer
I found a few other references to using FreeDOS to flash the BIOS firmware - but none quite worked for me immediately. (Here and here for example)
So, this is what I did to get it working.
Scary warnings
Be very careful when updating motherboard BIOS firmware. If you flash the wrong file, or power is cut during the process, there is a good chance you will brick the motherboard. Only update the BIOS if you have a need to do so - typically, if the system is working with the current BIOS firmware then it is better to leave it alone.
1. Obtain BIOS firmware
In my case, there are files on the Gigabyte website which have the updated firmware. The latest firmware for my board is revision F4. So, download this ZIP file.
It should contain three files:
2. Download FreeDOS
We'll need the "USB Full" FreeDOS image, from their website.
Once downloaded, extract the
FD12FULL.img
file.3. Write FreeDOS to a USB flash disk
My machine has no CD drive (and obviously no floppy) - but is able to boot from USB drives just fine.
Take the extracted image file from above, and write it to USB flash disk with dd.
First check that
/dev/sdf
is the right path for your USB flash disk!!4. Copy BIOS flash files to USB flash disk
Copy the
Efiflash.exe
andJ190ND3V.F4
files to the root of the flash disk.Next, we need to change the FreeDOS scripts slightly so that instead of trying to install itself when it boots, it will run the flash tool.
Open the
autoexec.bat
from your Gigabyte download - it should contain a simple line like:Now open the
SETUP.BAT
file on the FreeDOS disk, and delete its entire contents and replace it with the one line from theautoexec.bat
file, i.e. the FreeDOSSETUP.BAT
should now contain the single lineEfiflash J190ND3V.F4
(of course if you have a different motherboard or firmware version this line will change).Note that the FreeDOS disk will also have a
AUTOEXEC.BAT
file - leave this one alone, it is needed to initialise the system when you boot from the FreeDOS disk5. Boot FreeDOS and flash the BIOS
Now you will be able to boot from the FreeDOS disk. You will most likely need to change the boot order from the BIOS menu to do this, or unplug the existing hard drives.
Once FreeDOS boots, it should then load the
Efiflash
tool automatically and flash the BIOS with no user input required. Wait until this is done and confirmed, then reboot the machine back into Ubuntu. The BIOS has now been updated.So, just to confirm it (since it was hard for me to find really anything about this motherboard on Linux) - the Gigabyte GA-J1900N-D3V works great with Linux, and the Mini-PCIe slot can be used for SATA controllers instead of just Wi-Fi as the product page suggests. (make sure to choose a SATA controller that has Linux support)