How to flash firmware under Linux in practice?

Question

Well, I am feeling too old for jumping through several burning hoops to upgrade several firmwares via the usual vendor-specific way: Download some DOS tools, waste some time creating a (Free-)DOS boot medium and wasting more time to make the BIOS actually boot from that and finally flash the firmware upgrade.

This is so 1980-ies.

I come across some linux flash tool from the Coreboot project. It seems to support various FLASH-chips. But how does it work in practice?

I guess there are some pitfalls converting vendor supplied firmware upgrades into the right format. Or what about indentifying the right destination chip?

Currently I probably have to upgrade for example:

• the firmware of some Seagate 1.5 TB disks
• the firmware of an old Abit Athlon 64 board (Award bios)
• Bios/Embedded-Controller-Bios of a Thinkpad

How do you upgrade your devices firmware at a Linux system?

Answer 1

Flashing with FreeDOS, one reboot and no removable devices

1. Ensure you are using GRUB2 (check if you have the package grub-pc installed on Ubuntu)
2. Get hold of SYSLINUX's MEMDISK. On Ubuntu, install the package syslinux-common and your memdisk will reside in /usr/lib/syslinux/memdisk
3. Download fdboot.img, save it in your home directory, or some other directory you can easily type with a US keyboard layout
4. Embed your flashing software in the FreeDOS image:
   1. sudo -s
   2. mkdir -p /mnt/floppy
   3. mount -o loop -t msdos fdboot.img /mnt/floppy
   4. cp -via FLASH.EXE BIOS.IMG /mnt/floppy/ (FLASH.EXE and BIOS.IMG are examples)
   5. umount /mnt/floppy
5. Boot your system and interrupt it in the GRUB2 (press ESC)
6. Press c to enter GRUB2's command line.
7. Load MEMDISK:
   1. Enter linux16 (hd. Now press tab. A list of harddisks will be shown.
   2. Complete the harddisk choice so that the line says linux16 (hd0,, for example.
   3. Press tab once again to get a list of partitions. You need to find the partition where your /usr/lib/syslinux is mounted on in your Linux installation.
   4. Now you have the harddisk and partition specification, you can complete the path so that it looks like this: linux16 (hd0,msdos3)/usr/lib/syslinux/memdisk. Press enter.
8. Load FreeDOS:
   1. Use the same tab completion to find fdboot.img, but with the command initrd16 instead of linux16. You'll end up with a line like this: initrd16 (hd0,msdos3)/home/janus/fdboot.img. Press enter.
9. Write boot and press enter.
10. The FreeDOS boot menu will appear.
11. Choose the "safe mode" option, as you don't need the drivers.
12. In the DOS prompt, write the name of the firmware flashing executable, for example: FLASH.EXE. Press enter.
13. Wait for the flashing to finish.
14. The firmware flasher might boot the machine itself, or you might get the prompt back. If you get the prompt back, press Control-Alt-Delete to reboot.
15. As you didn't change the GRUB configuration permanently, it will boot right back up into your default OS.

If there is not enough space on the image, use the smallest image from chtaube.eu. Uncompress the image and filter it though xxd. Now search for 55aa. It should be at 0x1fe. You can mount the image with offset=$((0x200)) as an additional mount flag. Beware that the $(()) syntax is Bash-specific, but will also work in Zsh.

Alternatively, see https://www.fladi.at/posts/large-freedos-boot-image/

Answer 2

Every device with upgradeable firmware is probably going to have its own methods for doing that. Motherboards in particular are notoriously incompatible in this regard.

As to hard drives, again, this is a proprietary matter. Seagate provides liveCDs and Windows downloads to perform firmware updates, but not Linux or Unix tools.

You can build bootable images for Thinkpad BIOS updates that can be booted from GRUB.

Otherwise, you're just going to have to check with the manufacturer for tools.

On the other hand, if you're working with microcontrollers, you can often program them with fairly universal tools, though still on a limited basis (e.g., Atmel chips can usually be programmed with avrdude).

Answer 3

for Seagate 3TB video (ST3000VX000-9YW1):

sg_write_buffer -v -m 5 -I <FW file> <dev>

Answer 4

I have successfully flashed a Seagate Barracuda 7200.12 ST31000528AS (1TB SATA) drive with the following method: (Use at your own risk!)

1. Download ISO from Seagate: http://www.seagate.com/staticfiles/support/downloads/firmware/Barracuda12-ALL-CC49.iso
2. mount/extract PH-CC49.ima from .iso file
3. dd the .ima to a USB thumb-drive: dd if=./PH-CC49.ima of=/dev/sdX bs=512k
4. Turn off computer and disconnect all drives except drive(s) to be flashed
5. Boot from USB-thumb drive (this will boot into the Seagate Firmware update utility
6. Follow simple on screen instructions to flash the drive(s)
7. Power off, reconnect everything back, and power on

That's it! No Windows, No bulky CD's, no Grub edits, no FreeDos, no flaky Windows .exe's (tried it but it failed with an obscure error message)

Credit goes to the source: http://ubuntuaddicted.blogspot.ca/2014/10/seagate-firmware-flash-using-usb.html (found it by searching PH-CC49.ima)

Answer 5

You can use flashrom to update the BIOS of a motherboard.

Example (Abit KN9 Ultra):

The board is AMD Athlon 64 board, AM2 Socket, Nvidia chipset, released from 2006. It has a 256 KB flash chip that is replaceable. The BIOS is labeled with 'Award', which seems to be trademark of Phoenix.

Flashrom supports that chipset and that flash chip.

The support can be tested with a command like:

# flashrom --programmer internal
Calibrating delay loop... OK.
Found chipset "NVIDIA MCP55".
Enabling flash write... OK.
Enabling full flash access for board "abit KN9 Ultra"... OK.
Found PMC flash chip "Pm49FL004" (512 kB, LPC, FWH) mapped at physical address 0x00000000fff80000.

It makes sense to backup the current contents of the flash chip, first:

# flashrom --programmer internal -c Pm49FL004 -r backup.bin

It then can be compared to a vanilla image file from the vendor (using e.g. xxd and vimdiff).

Some differences are expected - because some BIOS' also store additional information (e.g. DMI) and configuration (e.g. MAC addresses) in the flash. This is also the case with the Abit KN9 Ultra. The DMI data is stored in the first 1872 bytes - and is easily re-generated by the BIOS during boot. The MAC addresses are stored at offset 0x74E30.

The vendor firmware files are packaged in zip archive that contains awdflash.exe and a BIN file, e.g. M520A_23.BIN. In this example, the bin file contains the BIOS image as-is, i.e. it can be directly written do the flash chip with a command like:

# flashrom --programmer internal -c Pm49FL004 -w M520A_23.BIN

Calibrating delay loop... OK.
Found chipset "NVIDIA MCP55".
Enabling flash write... OK.
Enabling full flash access for board "abit KN9 Ultra"... OK.
Found PMC flash chip "Pm49FL004" (512 kB, LPC, FWH) mapped at physical address 0x00000000fff80000.
Reading old flash chip contents... done.
Erasing and writing flash chip... Erase/write done.
Verifying flash... VERIFIED.

Depending on the update, it might be necessary to clear the CMOS for the next reboot - otherwise the BIOS might not start up. On that board the CMOS can be cleared via a jumper setting. Clearing via software is also possible (e.g. via CmosPwd).

For keeping unique default MAC addresses, the new vendor image can be patched before flashing, e.g.:

dd if=backup.bin of=mac.bin bs=1 count=16 skip=$(echo 16 i 74E30 p | dc)
dd if=mac.bin of=M520A_23_with_mac.bin bs=1 seek=$(echo 16 i 74E30 p | dc) \
   conv=notrunc

Pitfalls:

• The flash writing may fail due to a motherboard specific board enable (i.e. for disabling write protect) code that is not implemented by flashrom, yet.

Answer 6

For my seagate ST2000NM0024-1HT174 I have done so: downloaded the firmware from seagate and stored it in an usb key. rebooted my pc with a live usb (or dvd) of linux mint mate 17.3. and unzip all seagate utility directly on Desktop. copyed the firmware an command on Desktop, then renamed the command seaflashlin_33_054 to more simply seaflashlin After Opened the terminal and writed :

mint@mint ~ $ sudo su    (enter in Superuser live mint)

mint mint # cd Desktop

mint Desktop # ./seaflashlin

bash: ./seaflashlin: Permission denied 

(Error ! I do change permission file)

mint Desktop # ls -l
total 69284
drwxr-xr-x 5 mint mint      120 Nov  3 11:14 EntCap-Makara-SATA-SN05
-rw-r--r-- 1 mint mint 68386705 Nov  2 19:36 EntCap-Makara-SATA-SN05.zip
-rw-r--r-- 1 mint mint  2032640 Sep 10  2015 MakaraEntCapSATA-STD-512E-SN05.LOD
-rw-r--r-- 1 mint mint      312 Dec 17  2015 MK-SN05.CFS
-rw-r--r-- 1 mint mint   369127 Sep 11  2015 READMEFIRST-EnterpriseCapacity3.5-Makara-SATA firmware update.pdf
-rw-r--r-- 1 mint mint   104280 Oct 26  2015 seaflashlin
-rw-r--r-- 1 mint mint    31848 Oct 26  2015 seaflashlin.046.txt
-rwxr-xr-x 1 mint mint     7874 Nov  3 11:13 ubiquity.desktop

mint Desktop # chmod ugo+rxw *

mint Desktop # ls -l

total 69284
drwxrwxrwx 5 mint mint      120 Nov  3 11:14 EntCap-Makara-SATA-SN05
-rwxrwxrwx 1 mint mint 68386705 Nov  2 19:36 EntCap-Makara-SATA-SN05.zip
-rwxrwxrwx 1 mint mint  2032640 Sep 10  2015 MakaraEntCapSATA-STD-512E-SN05.LOD
-rwxrwxrwx 1 mint mint      312 Dec 17  2015 MK-SN05.CFS
-rwxrwxrwx 1 mint mint   369127 Sep 11  2015 READMEFIRST-EnterpriseCapacity3.5-Makara-SATA firmware update.pdf
-rwxrwxrwx 1 mint mint   104280 Oct 26  2015 seaflashlin
-rwxrwxrwx 1 mint mint    31848 Oct 26  2015 seaflashlin.046.txt
-rwxrwxrwx 1 mint mint     7874 Nov  3 11:13 ubiquity.desktop

mint Desktop # ./seaflashlin  

usage:
seaflashlin_i386 {-m <model_number> -f <fw_file> | -c <cfs_file>} [-d <sg_device>]
seaflashlin_i386 -f <fw_file> -d <sg_device>

Options:
    -i  PRINT IDENT INFO
    -v  PRINT VERSION AND EXIT (overrides all other arguments)
    -l  SHOW LICENSE
    -o  TIMEOUT VALUE (seconds)
    -x  TEST CFS FILE
Modes supported:
    -e  DEFERRED SIZE (ATA ONLY)
    -s  SEGMENT SIZE (1 segment = 512 bytes)
    -p  FORCE ATA PASSTHROUGH
    -w  FORCE WRITE BUFFER CMD
    -u  NON-SEGMENTED
e.g:
    seaflashlin_i386 -s 64 -f test.lod -d /dev/sg0
returns:
    0    No error found
    1    Fatal error in command line options
    2    FW Download Failed
    3    Invalid device

mint Desktop # ./seaflashlin -i

================================================================================
 Seagate Firmware Download Utility v0.4.6 Build Date: Oct 26 2015
 Copyright (c) 2014 Seagate Technology LLC, All Rights Reserved
 Thu Nov  3 11:20:52 2016
================================================================================
ATA       /dev/sg0 MN: ST2000NM0024-1HT174     SN: Z4H010XY             FW: SN02
PIONEER   /dev/sg1 MN: DVD-RW  DVR-221         SN:                      FW: 1.00
PIONEER   /dev/sg2 MN: DVD-RW  DVR-221         SN:                      FW: 1.00
SanDisk   /dev/sg3 MN: Cruzer Micro            SN:                      FW: 8.02

(this confirm that my firmware is SN02 version and HD is locate at /dev/sg0)

Now I can Flash the bios with : (xxx.LOD = firmware hard disk)

mint Desktop # ./seaflashlin -f MakaraEntCapSATA-STD-512E-SN05.LOD -d /dev/sg0

================================================================================
 Seagate Firmware Download Utility v0.4.6 Build Date: Oct 26 2015
 Copyright (c) 2014 Seagate Technology LLC, All Rights Reserved
 Thu Nov  3 11:26:21 2016
================================================================================
Flashing microcode file MakaraEntCapSATA-STD-512E-SN05.LOD to /dev/sg0
 .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  :  !
Microcode Download to /dev/sg0 SUCCESSFUL

mint Desktop # ./seaflashlin -i
================================================================================
 Seagate Firmware Download Utility v0.4.6 Build Date: Oct 26 2015
 Copyright (c) 2014 Seagate Technology LLC, All Rights Reserved
 Thu Nov  3 11:26:45 2016
================================================================================
ATA       /dev/sg0 MN: ST2000NM0024-1HT174     SN: Z4H010XY             FW: SN05
PIONEER   /dev/sg1 MN: DVD-RW  DVR-221         SN:                      FW: 1.00
PIONEER   /dev/sg2 MN: DVD-RW  DVR-221         SN:                      FW: 1.00
SanDisk   /dev/sg3 MN: Cruzer Micro            SN:                      FW: 8.02

that confirm that bios is changed fron SN02 to SN05

Very Dangerous, use this at your own risk !

Good luck !

Answer 7

While it wasn't available when this question was asked it's now possible to update firmware via fwupd project when that firmware is provided as a "capsule" file which appears to be a standard used in doing EFI mediated updates (on the next reboot)

The process amounts to finding what device you intend to update in a list seen at:

sudo fwupdate -l

Then instructing it to store the CAP file in the right place for installation on next boot via:

sudo fwupdate -a {<my-device-uuid-here>} ./<my-capfile_name>.cap

While it's not possible to go into all the details in this answer more info can be found at:

• https://github.com/fwupd/fwupd
• https://fwupd.org/
• https://bladecoder.medium.com/flash-your-lenovo-ideapad-laptop-bios-from-linux-using-uefi-capsule-updates-a82e455ea29c

Answer 8

My small experience is that I used Flashrom to update my Intel Motherboard BIOS and it worked fine. In general it seems like a really nice tool.

Answer 9

Using DOS upgrade floppy booted with GRUB as mentioned before works for majority of hardware. In some cases you can find native tools. Dell even prepares repositories which integrates with distro packaging system:

http://linux.dell.com/wiki/index.php/Repository/firmware

Sadly, most updates requires machine reboot to complete.

Answer 10

Try:

hdparm --fwdownload (AND BE VERY CAREFUL!)

However, be careful!