# [OmniOS-discuss] Supermicro BIOS updates

Saso Kiselkov skiselkov.ml at gmail.com
Tue Jul 9 08:25:10 UTC 2013

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    On 09/07/2013 03:21, Paul B. Henson wrote:
    > Sorry for two potentially OT supermicro posts in a row :), I just know
    > they are really popular for illumos servers and there's such a wealth of
    > knowledge on these mailing lists.
    >
    > I usually update firmware/BIOS on a fairly regular basis on my servers,
    > but supermicro has a fairly scary warning on their download page:
    >
    > ------
    > WARNING!
    > Please do not download / upgrade the BIOS/Firmware UNLESS your system
    > has a BIOS/firmware-related issue. Flashing the wrong BIOS/firmware can
    > cause irreparable damage to the system.
    >
    > In no event shall Supermicro be liable for direct, indirect, special,
    > incidental, or consequential damages arising from a BIOS/firmware update.
    > ------
    >
    > Where it seems they pretty much do not want you to ever update unless
    > you know of a specific issue the update will solve. Of course, they also
    > don't post changelogs with their bios updates, so it's kind of hard to
    > know 8-/. I can't remember the last time I had a box die due to a
    > corrupted bios update (most of the ones I've worked with won't even let
    > you try to flash the wrong firmware), I was wondering if that's a
    > problem with supermicro boards to the point where they actively
    > discourage updates?
    >
    > Their technical support sent me a changelog for the motherboard I'm
    > working with upon request (seems like it would be a timesaver for them
    > to just post it in the first place), and I think I do want to go ahead
    > and update the bios. I haven't had to boot DOS for a bios update in a
    > *long* time, my workstations for years have supported just sticking in a
    > USB flash drive with the image on it and updating from the bios itself,
    > and the servers I've been using supported bios updates via the IPMI web
    > interface or CLI. What's the preferred way to generate a bootable DOS
    > image with the bios update utility and image on it nowadays? I was
    > thinking of just downloading a freeDOS floppy image, loopback mounting
    > it to copy on the additional files, and then booting it via the IPMI
    > remote media option. Is there an easier way?
    >
    > Thanks much…

    Get something like Boot Flash DOS (BFD.exe) and create a bootable USB
    stick in Windows. Then load on it the additional files you need, boot
    and execute whatever monkey business you need to. I personally prefer a
    simple DOS flashing tool over some super-smart EFI clusterf**k any day
    of the week.

    Cheers,
    --
    Saso

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