it-artikel:linux:how-to-update-bios-firmware-for-toshiba-tecra-a2-maybe-others-as-well-within-linux

How to update BIOS firmware for Toshiba Tecra A2 (maybe others as well) within Linux

I have got an ancient ca 2003/2004 Toshiba business notebook with some 32bit, NO PAE, 1 core, Pentium M (centrino?) CPU , 1GB RAM, 40GB PATA HDD, WiFi, DVD writer with a dead battery. Beside that its in pretty good shape. Comes with a DB25 parallel port, PCMCIA Slot, 2 USB (v2?) Ports. So if it would run a somewhat recent Linux it would be still an awesome nice tool for simple tasks where power consumption is not a problem.

The device came with BIOS V1.20, which it seems is to be the stock firmware. However i found on the net a slightly newer BIOS Version V1.40 for TOSHIBA TECRA A2 i would like to flash. But how to do this ?! It somes as a windows executable only.

The Tecra A2 is able to boot from internal DVD or USB Floppy Drive (and HDD of course). It doesnt seem to boot from any other bootable USB drive.

So whats next?

Well… i found out, that under Linux we can “unpack” the Windows executable and look inside. There i found a small 3MB “iso” file (a CD/DVD image). Looking inside this iso showed even more goodies, like boot files and the firmware itself. So to flash/update our firmware all we need to do is as follows:

  1. Download and unpack the BIOS Version V1.40 for TOSHIBA TECRA A2 . If you have another Toshiba you should try the same method as well. It “may” provide you an ISO file as well.
  2. Within the unpacked folder, look for a *.iso file and burn it “as an image” to any CD or DVD you still have laying around. Make sure the content is verified and readable.
  3. Insert that CD/DVD to your Toshiba and try to boot from it, using the internal CDROM drive.
  4. In my case the BIOS Updater started right away, not asking for anything and updated my BIOS.
  5. remove boot media and reboot machine.
  6. done.

That was easy! Good luck with yours!

Axel Werner 2019-10-04 13:16

it-artikel/linux/how-to-update-bios-firmware-for-toshiba-tecra-a2-maybe-others-as-well-within-linux.txt · Last modified: 2022-08-31 12:30 by 127.0.0.1