BIOS Flash Q&A

How can a processor microcode update be executed in Windows?

With the latest version of HPQFlash to support the 2007 HP Business PC products (e.g. dc7800), proces-

sor microcode patches can be updated in a Windows environment. As detailed in the previous section,

the microcode softpaq specific to the general BIOS family can be downloaded containing the image file

uXX_MMmm.bin. This image file must be copied to the same directory as the HPQFlash.exe utility. Once

that process has been completed, the microcode update can be executed by running the command HPQ-

Flash -u uXX_MMmm.bin from the directory containing the utility and microcode image file. To log

the operation output, the command can be extended to HPQFlash -u uXX_MMmm.bin -l <log-

file> where <logfile> is replaced with the file name target.

What does the BIOS binary image naming convention indicate?

Binary image format is XXX_MMmm.bin. The XXX portion indicates the BIOS family. The MM is the major

version number. The mm is the minor version number. The BIOS family is a collection of BIOS products all

originating from the same basic code source. For example, 7DX would indicate a BIOS image from the

786D BIOS family. Minor version numbers are incremented to indicate minimal changes to the BIOS

source code typically involving minor problem fixes. Major version number changes indicate a greater

degree of change to the BIOS source code such as new feature additions, additional hardware support,

or significant POST modifications.

Can the BIOS POST splash screen be modified?

The Image Flash (Flashi.exe) utility can be used to replace the POST splash image stored in the BIOS part

or save the current image. This DOS utility is typically provided for re-sellers who may want to be able to

put their own logo in place of the standard Hewlett-Packard image. Error checking is done to insure that

an image that does not meet the requirements above cannot be flashed into the ROM part. The utility

allows browsing through directories on the current disk. The images found can be viewed and a back-

ground color and a foreground color can be chosen from the colors in the image's palette. The utility also

has a command line option to quickly flash a new image.

The image stored in the BIOS will be compressed with RLE4. If the image being flashed is already in

RLE4, the image flashed will be identical to the original except the second byte in the Bitmap Header will

be a checksum. If an uncompressed bitmap is flashed, the Image Flash Utility will encode it using RLE4

and save it. Therefore, when using the save (/s) feature to get the current image, the newly saved image

will be in RLE4 format, regardless of the format of the original image.

Usage to Flash Image:

Normal: Flashi.exe

Command Line Mode:

Flashi.exe [Image_File] [Foreground_Color] [Background_Color]

The normal execution method will provide the user with additional interaction so that the image can be

selected from various files and a preview can be seen before the image is committed to the BIOS.

There is only a command line mode to save the current image. You cannot save the current image under

an existing file name.

Usage to Save Current Splash Image (command line only):

Command Line Mode: Flashi.exe /s name