Flashing BIOS under DOS

Question

I've got a bootable USB stick with a particular flavor of DOS. I need to flash a BIOS of a Compaq Presario CQ61-330EN.

The problem is, however, that I can not flash under Windows (for circumstantial reasons), but forced to do it under DOS and Compaq does not provide any utility that can be ran under DOS.

I can't see to identify the manufacturer of BIOS – neither does Compaq/HP's site mention it. There's only an .fd file in the bundled archive provided on site (plus a Win32 utility).

Can anyone recommend a DOS-compatible flashing utility and, most importantly, will it work with ANY type of BIOS? Like, i.e., would it still be feasible to flash either an Award or a Phoenix BIOS with such an util or is it usually bound to a manufacturer?

Answer 1

You are in a bit of a bind in that those BIOS updates MUST be run from within Windows. I would ONLY use this method.

Now, to get around your lack of Windows, I would probably recommend one of the following methods:

1. Watch this video on how to install XP on a USB drive, and boot to that: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=re1_ude0fhE
2. Borrow an empty drive, and swap it out. Do a quick OS install and run the update from there.
3. Use Easeus Partition Manger to resize, and create an empty partition AFTER your current partition. Then install Windows there.

Then do your update.

I would choose two as easiest.

Answer 2

I would strongly advise you use the manufacturer recommended method. A third party BIOS flashing tool isn't necessarily you want to go looking for. There are just too many unknowns and jacking up your BIOS means your laptop is now a heavy paperweight.

Answer 3

Try BartPE, or some other LiveCD version of Windows.