Firmware Updates in DOS

[MistaHardkill]

So I have a 1TB Samsung F3 drive, and it works fine for the most part; aside from cold boots where it won't read. Turns out this is a problem with the chipset I have on my Asus Crosshair IV motherboard....or rather an incompatibility.

http://www.samsung.com/global/business/hdd/faqView.do?b2b_bbs_msg_id=308

I found that, and it appears to address my issue....but it doesn't say how to update the firmware. It simply says

"3. Booting the system to DOS mode by bootable media.(which with this F/W flash program)."

How the crap do I do that?? LOL

 

[Paperdoc]

You need to be able to make a bootable disk (either a floppy or a bootable optical disk) that you can boot from into some version of DOS. Then they want you to put onto that bootable disk the software contained in the .zip file you download from Samsung.

Now, on a floppy disk (if you have such disks and a drive on the machine, even temporarily) it's not hard to make it a bootable DOS floppy with some empty Free Space left. Then you can un-ZIP the downloaded file and have the resulting files placed on that floppy. You're ready.

BUT for many people now who don't have any floppy drive, the solution is to make a bootable optical disk that must have ALL the requisite files on it. This means you must be working from a machine that CAN boot from an optical disk - most today can do that. You ALSO need some optical disk burning software package that can burn a bootable CD with the correct DOS files in the correct locations. The trick, though, is that it can be very hard to add files to an existing optical disk, depending on how you burn it. The easier procedure might be to un-zip the downloaded file into a temporary subdirectory and gather there all the files you might need on this CD. Then burn ALL of those files to the CD in one operation so you don't have to add to it later.

Now, you boot your machine from this disk (floppy, or optical) and it will load DOS into RAM and be ready to run commands. Then the instructions are to execute the program called "Patch" that is on that same disk. DO NOT TURN OFF during this operation - wait until it completes and returns to the DOS prompt. Then simply shut down the machine, remove the bootable disk you made, wait at least 10 seconds, and power up again. This sequence will write the updated firmware to the F3 hard drive.

I note it specifies that the drive you are updating must be connected as the Master device on the Primary IDE port - apparently that's how the updating software was written. I presume - I did not check - that your HDD is an IDE device. In fact, I would be very tempted when you do this to DISconnect any and all other hard drives in your machine just to be absolutely sure the routine cannot write to the wrong HDD unit. After the update, reconnect all drives as they used to be before powering up.

 

[MistaHardkill]

You need to be able to make a bootable disk (either a floppy or a bootable optical disk) that you can boot from into some version of DOS. Then they want you to put onto that bootable disk the software contained in the .zip file you download from Samsung.

Now, on a floppy disk (if you have such disks and a drive on the machine, even temporarily) it's not hard to make it a bootable DOS floppy with some empty Free Space left. Then you can un-ZIP the downloaded file and have the resulting files placed on that floppy. You're ready.

BUT for many people now who don't have any floppy drive, the solution is to make a bootable optical disk that must have ALL the requisite files on it. This means you must be working from a machine that CAN boot from an optical disk - most today can do that. You ALSO need some optical disk burning software package that can burn a bootable CD with the correct DOS files in the correct locations. The trick, though, is that it can be very hard to add files to an existing optical disk, depending on how you burn it. The easier procedure might be to un-zip the downloaded file into a temporary subdirectory and gather there all the files you might need on this CD. Then burn ALL of those files to the CD in one operation so you don't have to add to it later.

Now, you boot your machine from this disk (floppy, or optical) and it will load DOS into RAM and be ready to run commands. Then the instructions are to execute the program called "Patch" that is on that same disk. DO NOT TURN OFF during this operation - wait until it completes and returns to the DOS prompt. Then simply shut down the machine, remove the bootable disk you made, wait at least 10 seconds, and power up again. This sequence will write the updated firmware to the F3 hard drive.

I note it specifies that the drive you are updating must be connected as the Master device on the Primary IDE port - apparently that's how the updating software was written. I presume - I did not check - that your HDD is an IDE device. In fact, I would be very tempted when you do this to DISconnect any and all other hard drives in your machine just to be absolutely sure the routine cannot write to the wrong HDD unit. After the update, reconnect all drives as they used to be before powering up.

I'm lost here, lol....I don't have a floppy drive so my option is optical disk (cd).

"the solution is to make a bootable optical disk that must have ALL the requisite files on it."

Where do I get these requisite files? I've never had to update a firmware like this before...usually it's just a bootable iso with other companies...why the crap does samsung have to be so damn different?

 

[Paperdoc]

In fact it is more convenient to have an .iso file to work with. The Samsung website instructions do not SAY that is what you will get from their downloadable .zip file, but MAYBE it actually is an .iso file.

An .iso file is a complete image of everything needed on the bootable CD, all in the right places and everything. To use it you still need a CD burning software package capable of putting that image on a CD-R, but there are lots around. Nero is a well known one for this.

BUT the other way you can get to the same end is IF you collect all the files you want into one place AND you have burning software able to make up a bootable DOS CD. It would have to know which files to look for on your hard drive, and then build the "image" from the necessary DOS files plus your own collection of stuff to include on the CD-R.