BIOS upgrade problem

[Matt Domsch]

On Wed, Mar 05, 2008 at 08:27:06PM -0600, Jared wrote:
> Joe, thanks for the suggestion, and sorry for the late reply.  I hadn't had 
> a chance to mess with the server for the last week or so, but Michael's 
> similar response earlier today reminded me of this.
> 
> I'd like to clarify a couple things to make sure I understand this approach.
> 
> You say that I need to append reboot=bios "in the session you apply the 
> update".  By that, you mean I boot Linux with that option _before_ I apply 
> the update, then apply it, then reboot again.  Is that correct?

yes.
 
> If so, I can't say this is a very efficient solution.  This would not 
> require 2 separate reboots in order to upgrade my BIOS, and considering how 
> long it takes my server to boot in general (and especially load OMSA), this 
> will add nearly 10 more minutes to my update time.
> 
> If this does work, would there be any harm in _always_ using that reboot 
> option?  That way, anytime I need to apply a BIOS upgrade, I can just do it 
> from the running session, reboot, and be done with it.  Would that cause any 
> other potential conflicts?  I found a brief mention of reboot=bios in the 
> bootparam manpage, but it's rather short on details, so I'm not sure what 
> the implications would be of always using this option.

no harm.  If it's required, we can add an entry to the quirk table in
the kernel to make this the default.  Please let us know if it works. 

 
> Also, you suggested reboot=bios, while Michael suggested reboot=b.  Is there 
> a difference between the two, or is reboot=b simply an abbreviated form? 
> I'm assuming it's the latter, but again, just want to clarify.

yes.

-- 
Matt Domsch
Linux Technology Strategist, Dell Office of the CTO
linux.dell.com & www.dell.com/linux