What's going on with the BIOS?

David Rolfe

Perhaps I am missing something here, but why did you download a firmware package for am UP board first, when you have an UP2?

Hope you have finally managed to get it updated anyway.

Kurt

Yes I downloaded it.... Did not install it...

That is when I was following the instructions: https://up-community.org/wiki/Bios_Update
When I unziped the UP2 firmware the file list looked like the first screeshot (left), when I first unzipped the firmware for the UP first it looked like the screen shot on the right...

So then I unzipped the UP2 firmware again onto that same disk, so had a combination of files. I said yes overwrite existing files.

When I booted with this. I did not get the first picture after this with a menu, but more like the 2nd picture... Where I then had to hit ESC key to get the shell.

I then did the command: fs1:
Which took me to the root of that USB drive.

At which point I did the command: GO.nsh

Which did the update of the bios.

Maybe this all had to do when the first time I installed an OS, it gave me some cryptic message, which may have been something like use: X or continue to use UFI and I probably choose the wrong answer.

Hope this makes more sense.

EDIT: forgot to mention, the maybe bogus reason I tried this approach was the 2nd screenshot had a directory EFI which I thought may be needed in order to boot up as EFI...

David Rolfe

On looking back at the wiki again, I think that perhaps have made the procedure a bit clearer by explaining why they initially show two similar screen shots, even if they are for the two (different) boards.

We have users on here with different levels of experience, and what is obvious to one person, will not be to another.

Perhaps it will be expanded a bit when the next BIOS upgrade is released, which I don't think is that far away now!

Kurt

Thanks,

But again should mention, my first couple of attempts for the UP2, looked like the first image and did not work for me. Maybe because my boot something was updated when I first installed (I think Ubuntu, but maybe ubilinux)... So the F7 key or F9 key just got me to the Grub menu not the menu you talk about...

So doing what I did I was able to get it to the point mentioned. So hopefully if others have similar setup like I do. Maybe the UP2 bios update needs to be able to handle both types of boot sectors (or the like).

Thanks again

David Rolfe

@eduncan911

Hi Eric,

Further to your earlier reply, I would like to create a USB drive, which I would leave permanently plugged in, so that it would be the first bootable device, and offer me the option of either running Ubuntu 17.10 on the eMMC drive, or Windows 10 from my internal mSATA drive, without my having to press F7 or any other key first

I suspect that this is quite an easy task, but I am not really sure to go about it, and would therefore appreciate your advice on this subject.

Many Thanks!

eduncan911

Montala wrote:

@eduncan911

Hi Eric,

Further to your earlier reply, I would like to create a USB drive, which I would leave permanently plugged in, so that it would be the first bootable device, and offer me the option of either running Ubuntu 17.10 on the eMMC drive, or Windows 10 from my internal mSATA drive, without my having to press F7 or any other key first

I suspect that this is quite an easy task, but I am not really sure to go about it, and would therefore appreciate your advice on this subject.

Many Thanks!

You don't need a USB stick for that. Use Grub2 that comes with Ubuntu.

You can even let Grub detect and add Windows 10 to it's bootmenu automagically.

Install Windows 10 first on the mSATA.

Then install Ubuntu on the eMMC.

When getting to the Grub configuration of the Ubuntu install, it should detect Windows at that point and have it available as an option, along with Ubuntu.

Then when you reboot, you will see a Grub menu with Ubuntu and Windows options, with 5 seconds to choose before it boots.

At least, that's the way it used to work. I haven't dual booted a system in years as I run hypervisors now as my base.

If it doesn't detect Windows during Ubuntu, you can always boot into Ubuntu and add it manually to Grub2. Though, IMO, grub is pretty complicated to simply add another step. This is why I prefer Gummiboot (also now known as Systemd-boot).

David Rolfe

@eduncan911 Thanks for your reply Eric, and I apologise for my delayed response!

That all sounds good, apart from the fact that I have not yet installed the mSATA drive, but have already installed Ubuntu 17.10 onto the eMMC one!

If I now go ahead and add the mSATA drive, and then install Windows 10, (hopefully without affecting the eMCC drive at all), could I not then just select the eMMC as first boot device (or second after USB), and boot into Ubuntu. I would then mount my Windows partition (by opening the Windows disk with the file manager), and from a terminal window, run the command: $ sudo update-grub and reboot. The Windows boot option should then (I think!) be available from the Linux Grub menu?

This procedure was first suggested to me by 'dcleri', and would hopefully solve my problem, rather than my having to start over again, which I am quite prepared to do if necessary! It is quite possible however that I have misunderstood a crucial step along the way, and that this procedure may not work as expected!

Thank you again, for your input on here.

eduncan911

Montala wrote:

@eduncan911 Thanks for your reply Eric, and I apologise for my delayed response!

That all sounds good, apart from the fact that I have not yet installed the mSATA drive, but have already installed Ubuntu 17.10 onto the eMMC one!

If I now go ahead and add the mSATA drive, and then install Windows 10, (hopefully without affecting the eMCC drive at all), could I not then just select the eMMC as first boot device (or second after USB), and boot into Ubuntu. I would then mount my Windows partition (by opening the Windows disk with the file manager), and from a terminal window, run the command: $ sudo update-grub and reboot. The Windows boot option should then (I think!) be available from the Linux Grub menu?

This procedure was first suggested to me by 'dcleri', and would hopefully solve my problem, rather than my having to start over again, which I am quite prepared to do if necessary! It is quite possible however that I have misunderstood a crucial step along the way, and that this procedure may not work as expected!

Thank you again, for your input on here.

Yep, you can do that too. Many ways to skin a cat.

Ps, no cats were harmed in this post. I own two.

David Rolfe

eduncan911 wrote:

Yep, you can do that too. Many ways to skin a cat.

Ps, no cats were harmed in this post. I own two.

I am pleased to hear that but, as usual, I am looking for the easiest option.

I would however like to apologise for going a bit off topic here, as i suppose this is not really BIOS related, so I will consider myself slapped on the wrist!