BIOS flash/update for the Intel D815EFV/D815EPFV motherboard

This document explains how to make and use the bios upgrade CD to flash the bios on an intel D815EFV/D815EPFV motherboard. This CD will update the bios and the set the cmos settings.

If you want to update the bios to the current version we are running on the cluster you need only boot the node off of the bios upgrade CD. Section II explains how this is done. If you need to make a new version of the bios upgrade CD or just want to know how one is made go to Section I.

Section I. Creating a New BIOS Update CD

The BIOS upgrade CD is really just a floppy image that is burned onto CD to make the process more reliable. The bios upgrade is done by a dos program from intel and the cmos upgrade is handled by an open source utility that can save and restore cmos settings. Everything is run under freedos and is automated by editing the autoexec.bat.

On a Windows box ...

• Open a browser and go to http://developer.intel.com/ and click on Iflash download icon. You can also download EAAP21BI.exe locally. This may not be the most recent version.
• Run the self extracting binary. The files you get out of the binary are the needed to flash the bios. Here are the files I got out of EAAP21BI.exe executable.
• Scp the directory with all the files to a linux box.

• Download a floppy image of freedos.
  Make a directory to mount the freedos image and then mount freedos
  mkdir freedos
  mount -o loop freedos.img freedos/
  
• Copy all the Intel files to the freedos disk.
  cp -ai intel/* freedos/
  
• Remove any lines from the autoexec.bat file.
• Download uniflash from http://www.pppr.sk/rainbow/ or locally.
  Unzip Uniflash and copy the executable to the freedos disk.
  mkdir uniflash
  cd uniflash
  unzip ../uf131.zip
  cd ..
  cp -a uniflash/UNIFLASH.EXE freedos/
  
• Unmount freedos.img and write to a floppy.
  umount freedos/
  dd if=freedos.img of=/dev/fd0
  

• Boot off of your new floppy, exit the flash utility and run
  iflash /p p21-0039.bio
  
• After upgrade is complete reboot the node and hit [del] to enter the bios.
• Now you must set the cmos setting correctly
  • After entering the BIOS setup menu you will be placed on the "Main" screen.
    • Verify on the "Main" screen that the BIOS version is EA81520A.86A.0039.P21
  • Switch screens to the "Exit" screen.
    • Select "Load Setup Defaults" and then select "Yes". Wait a few seconds while the setup defaults for this version of the BIOS are loaded.
  • Switch screens to the "Main" screen.
    • Set the field "Processor Serial Number" to "Enabled".
    • Verify that the system clock is properly set. It should be set to the correct GMT time.
  • Switch screens to the "Power" screen.
    • Enter the "ACPI" submenu.
      • Set the field "Wake on LAN from S5" to "Power On".
      • Exit the "ACPI" submenu by hitting the Esc key.
    • Set the field "After Power Failure" to "Stay Off".
    • Set the field "Wake on PME" to "Power On"
  • Switch screens to the "Boot" menu.
    • Set the field "Quiet Boot" to "Disabled".
    • Enter the "Boot Device Priority" submenu.
      • Set the field "1st Boot Device" to "IBA 4.1.08 Slot 0140"
      • Set the field "2nd Boot Device" to "Removable Dev".
      • Set the field "3rd Boot Device" to "ATAPI CD-ROM".
      • Set the field "4th Boot Device" to "Hard Drive".
      • Exit the "Boot Device Priority" submenu by hitting the Esc key.
  • Switch screens to the "Exit" menu.
    • Select "Save Custom Defaults" and then select "Yes" to save these settings as the custom default. Wait a few seconds.
    • Select "Exit Saving Changes" and then select "Yes"

  The system will then reboot with the appropriate BIOS settings.

  For reference the complete BIOS configuration is available below.

  • Main
  • Advanced
    • PCI Configuration
    • Boot Configuration
    • Peripheral Configuration
    • IDE Configuration
    • Diskette Configuration
    • Event Log Configuration
    • Video Configuration
  • Security
  • Power
    • Advanced Power Management
    • Advanced Configuration and Power Interface
  • Boot
    • Boot Device PriorityOut of Date!
    • Hard Disk Drives
    • Removable Devices
    • ATAPI CD-ROM Drives
• Now that the BIOS is set up correctly you should boot off the floppy again. Exit out of the flash program and run
  uniflash.exe -cmoss cmos.img
  This will save the cmos settings to a file.

• Mount the freedos image and the floppy you were just using
  mount -o loop freedos.img freedos/
  mount /dev/fd0 floppy
  
• Copy the cmos.img file off of the floppy to the freedos.img
  cp floppy/cmos.img freedos/
  
• Edit the autoexec.bat to have the following 2 lines so there is no need for human interaction.
  iflash /p p21-0039.bio
  uniflash -cmosr cmos.img
  
• You now have a floppy disk that will upgrade the bios and cmos on medusa node. Here is a floppy image that will update a node to the current configuration.
• Unmount the two floppy images.
  umount floppy freedos
• To make a CD out of the floppy, move the freedos image into the freedos directory and run mkisofs.
  mv freedos.img freedos
  mkisofs -b freedos.img -o p21.iso ./freedos/
  

Section II. Updating the Motherboard BIOS

• Burn the iso to CD with the command
  cdrecord -v dev=Id,Lun speed=4 p21.iso
  Where Id and Lun numbers can be found in /proc/scsi/scsi
• Boot the node off of the CD and wait for the programs to exit before ejecting the CD and rebooting.