Issue May 2009

BIOS Update with Product BIOS Update USB Stick

USB Memory Stick

Pages 6

Overview
Since 1995, when the Universal Serial Bus (USB) has been introduced, this PC interface has become very
popular and is used for a variety of devices. More and more peripherals that used other interfaces like serial,
parallel, FireWire and SCSI are now using the USB interface.
In particular, USB Memory Sticks have become widely-used. This storage medium is using flash memory as the
base technology. Flash memory is storing the data in semiconductor chips; the data is nonvolatile. USB Memory
Sticks are small, lightweight and robust. They are currently available with a capacity up to 16 GByte.
At the same time as the USB interface and USB memory sticks became popular, the floppy disk storage device
was less used in PCs. The reason is very simple: Standard floppy disks have only a limited capacity of only
1.44 MByte. Therefore, typical data volumes used today can no longer be stored on this media. Only for
compatibility reasons floppy disk drives and media are still used in some PCs. Until recently, one important
application for floppy disk drives has been the BIOS update for the mainboard.
Fujitsu Technology Solutions is reacting to the new situation and is offering a powerful BIOS update procedure
not only utilizing floppy disks but also USB Memory Sticks.
In this Product Facts document, you will find a detailed step-by-step description how to perform BIOS updates
with a USB Memory Stick.

Benefits
• Easy and reliable BIOS update using a USB Memory Stick instead of a floppy disk
• Comprehensive tool set provided by Fujitsu Technology Solutions for preparing USB Memory Sticks;
hassle-free update process!

USB Memory Stick

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Part 1: Preparation of the USB Memory Stick

Data Backup
Before using your USB Memory Stick for a BIOS update, backup all data on the memory stick. The memory stick
will be formatted and FreeDOS will be copied to the memory stick. This makes the memory stick bootable.
However, all data stored on the USB Memory Stick will be lost!

Download of the self-extracting BIOS update file

After backing up your data download and run the one-click utility to prepare your memory stick. The utility and the
BIOS image are available as a single self-extracting file from the following Internet page:
http://ts.fujitsu.com/support/downloads.html

Perform the following steps to find and select the correct BIOS image for your mainboard (the following
description is using the BIOS for the mainboard D2608-A1 as an example):
• On the “Drivers & Downloads” website, go to the “Select Products” group and select
Accessories/Mainboards/Product Family/Product

• After the product selection, select an operating system, e.g. Windows XP (for a BIOS update, it doesn’t
matter which OS is selected)
• From the list of applicable software and drivers, choose “Flash BIOS”
▬ A comprehensive list of available BIOS versions for the specific mainboard will show up.
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• Select the file “Flash BIOS Update - USB Stick”

• Select “Download” after accepting the license conditions by clicking of the license condition check box
• A security warning will appear; start the file by clicking “Run”; the self-extracting file will be downloaded and
run.
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• The following window will be displayed, showing the BIOS version which is about to be transferred to the
USB Memory Stick. Make sure that the USB Memory Stick is attached to your system and select “Yes” to
continue.

• Then the following window shows the name of the found USB Memory Stick; select
“Copy Image File To USB Device” to start the transfer.
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• After completion of the USB Memory Stick preparation, the following window will be displayed; click “OK” to
finish the preparation process.

Note: In order to avoid different images for different sizes of the memory sticks, all images use the same
image. Therefore the size shown in Windows will be reduced to the size after copying the image to the
USB Memory stick. The size shown does not reflect the real size of your USB Memory Stick.

Part 2: BIOS Update

• Reset your system, plug in the USB Memory Stick and boot your system from the prepared USB Memory
Stick. Check the BIOS Setup to make sure that the USB Memory Stick is the first boot device. Alternatively,
the USB Memory Stick can be selected from the Pre-Boot menu by pressing the <F12> key on the
keyboard. Note, that this option will work only if enabled in the BIOS setup (Boot Features, Boot Menu =
enabled).
• FreeDOS will boot from the USB Memory Stick and perform the update process; follow the on-screen
directions to complete the process.
Please note, that under FreeDOS country-specific keyboard layouts are not available. FreeDOS always
assumes a US keyboard layout. This means, for example, that on a German keyboard the key <z> has to
be pressed in order to enter “y”.
▬ The update procedure will automatically check for the version of the BIOS; if the version found on the
mainboard is the same or even newer than the version to be flashed the user will be explicitly prompted.
The options are to abort or to continue anyway.
▬ During the flash memory update itself, the programming progress will be visualized graphically; this
gives the user a clear indication of the status.
▬ The update procedure also includes an automatic microcode update for the CPU (if required). No
further prompt or status indicator will be displayed for this function.
• After completion of the BIOS update, restart your system.
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Part 3: Recovery of the size of the USB Memory Stick

If the original size of the USB Memory Stick shall be recovered after the successful BIOS update, the following
steps must be taken:
• Restart Windows and run the program USBImage.exe that is available on the memory stick. Note that the
program can be started directly from the USB Memory Stick.
• USBImage.exe will display the following window; select the button “Clear USB Device”

• Finally, you should format the memory stick using the Windows Explorer.
▬ Click with the right mouse button on the USB Memory Stick in the Explorer Window
▬ Select “Format…”
▬ A configuration window will be displayed; enter the options (such as Volume Label) as required
▬ Select “Start” (this starts formatting of the USB Memory Stick)

Additional information and downloads

• General Information:
www.ts.fujitsu.com/mainboards

• Documentation and downloads:

ftp.ts.fujitsu.com/pub/Mainboard-OEM-Sales/

Contact: Fujitsu Technolgy Solutions GmbH:

Peter Hoser / Director OEM Sales, Clients Group, Systemboard OEM
Phone: +49 (0) 821 - 804 3177
Fax: +49 (0) 821 – 804 3329
Email: Peter.Hoser@ts.fujitsu.com

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and delivery subject to availability. Any liability that the data and illustrations are complete, actual
or correct is excluded. Designations may be trademarks and/or copyrights of the respective Fujitsu Technology Solutions GmbH
Clients Group, Systemboard OEM
manufacturer, the use of which by third parties for their own purposes may infringe the rights of Buergermeister-Ulrich-Str. 100
such owner. For further information see: ts.fujitsu.com/terms_of_use.html 86199 Augsburg, Germany
Copyright © Fujitsu Technology Solutions GmbH 2009