IBM xSeries 445 POST/BIOS Flash Disk Version 1.02 Installation README File CONTENTS ________ 1.0 Overview 2.0 Change History 3.0 Installation and Setup Instructions 4.0 Configuration Information 5.0 Unattended Mode 6.0 Web Sites and Support Phone Number 7.0 Trademarks and Notices 8.0 Disclaimer 1.0 Overview 1.1 This README file contains the latest information about installing the IBM xSeries 445 POST/BIOS. 1.2 Limitations - NA 1.3 Enhancements - NA 1.4 Level of Recommendations and Prerequisites for the Update: - See the list of changes for information to determine whether or not you are affected by the enhancements and fixes. 1.5 Dependencies 2.0 Change History V1.02 - July 21, 2003 ---------------------- - Update required Intel provided CPU microcode for F11, F27, and F29 step CPUs to level 09, 38, and 15 respectively. V1.01 - June 24, 2003 ---------------------- - Changes to fix problem encountered during install of MS Windows Server 2003. System intermittently failed to automatically reset during an install of the operating system. - Changes to fix problem associated with 16way configuration with a shared RXE 100 Expansion option. During repeated power cycling or warm booting, system intermittently failed to configure upper SMP Expansion module on secondary chassis. - POST messages added to identify automatic disabling of Active Memory(tm) Mirroring as a result of system errors or invalid configurations. V1.00 - June 1, 2003 ---------------------- - Initial release V1.00 - June 1, 2003 ---------------------- - Initial release 3.0 Installation and Setup Instructions *Note: If installing from an update package, see additional instructions, in Appendix A. The procedure to update the POST/BIOS is as follows: 3.1 Insert the "IBM xSeries 445 POST/BIOS Flash Disk" into drive A. 3.2 Start up or restart your IBM xSeries 445 server. 3.3 The system will boot off of the disk and present a window which allows you the option to flash various options. Choose "1 - Update POST/BIOS". 3.4 You will be asked if you would like to move the current POST/BIOS image to the backup ROM location. If you select 'Y', the current code will be flashed in to the backup bank immediately. 3.5 If the current system POST/BIOS supports the Asset Tag feature, you will be asked if you would like to change it. If you select 'Y', you will be able to enter a new number. 3.6 You will then be asked if you would like to save the current code to a disk. If you select 'Y', you need to have a formatted disk already available, or specify a fully qualified path and file name. 3.7 At this point, the image will be loaded from the disk, and you will be asked to choose which language you wish to use during POST and in Setup. If you select a choice other than English, the selected language will be merged into the image. There is also an option to Quit the flash update on this menu. 3.8 After this completes the system will update the flash ROM with the new code. When this is complete you will be prompted to remove the disk and hit return to reboot the system. 3.9 On the reboot immediately following the flash update the user MUST enter the BIOS Setup utility by pressing when prompted. Upon entering the Setup utility the user must select the "Load Default Settings" line item from the main "Configuration/Setup Utility" menu. Select to load the system default settings. The user must now exit the setup utility and select "Yes, save and exit the Setup Utility". The system will automatically reboot. 4.0 Configuration Information 5.0 Unattended Mode 5.1 Steps for unattended mode. 5.1.1 Modify CONFIG.SYS on the Flash Diskette to read: "SHELL=FLASH2.EXE /u /r xx* **" 5.1.2 Reboot the system with the Flash Diskette in Drive A: * Note: "xx" refers to the language support. By default the system will flash the English versions of BIOS and Setup if no language is specified. ** Note: An optional parameter of "/a:" can be added to allow for storing a system asset tag number where "" is replaced with up to a 32 digit string. 6.0 Web Sites and Support Phone Number 6.1 IBM Support Web Site: http://www.pc.ibm.com/support 6.2 IBM Marketing Web Site: http://www.pc.ibm.com/ww/eserver/xseries/ 7.0 Trademarks and Notices 7.1 IBM and the e(logo) are registered trademarks of International Business Machines Corporation. 7.2 U.S. Government Users Restricted Rights - Use, duplication or disclosure restricted by GSA ADP Schedule Contract with IBM Corporation. IBM web site pages may contain other proprietary notices and copyright information which should be observed. 8.0 Disclaimer THIS DOCUMENT IS PROVIDED "AS IS" WITHOUT WARRANTY OF ANY KIND. IBM DISCLAIMS ALL WARRANTIES, WHETHER EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING WITHOUT LIMITATION, THE IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE AND MERCHANTABILITY WITH RESPECT TO THE INFORMATION IN THIS DOCUMENT. BY FURNISHING THIS DOCUMENT, IBM GRANTS NO LICENSES TO ANY PATENTS OR COPYRIGHTS.  Appendix A: Package Specific Installation Instruction This update is packaged as a self-extracting PackageForTheWeb (PFTW) executable file. To unpack, this update requires that your TEMP environment variable be set to a path with read/write access. You must be logged in as an administrator. The package update log, ux.log, is created on the system drive. To locate the log file go to: %SystemDrive%\uxlog\ux.log The command-line syntax for PackageForTheWeb firmware update package is: Package.exe [-s] [-a [-s] | [-r] | [-c] | [-x directory] | [-xd] | [-w] | [-?] ] [-s] This command installs the Package-For-The-Web software silently and does not prompt if files are to be over-written in the %temp% directory. [-a] This command passes all subsequent commands to the PFTW software to install the update package. [-s] This command runs a silent and unattended update. For firmware updates, the update is scheduled to run on the next reboot. An immediate reboot can be forced with the -r option. [-r] This command schedules the update and reboot immediately. It can be used with or without the -s command. [-c] This command cancels any scheduled firmware update and records results of this operation in the log file. Only one firmware package can be scheduled at a time, if a firmware update needs to be applied instead of the currently scheduled firmware update package, cancel the current (run with the -c option on any firmware package) package. Then, run the applicable firmware package. [-x directory] This command is used with firmware updates to extract the update to the directory named directory. The PackageForTheWeb executable extracts itself to a subdirectory in the %TEMP% directory, a relative directory will be relative to that location. You must specify an absolute directory if you do not want to use the default directory. [-xd] This command is used with firmware updates to extract to a floppy diskette. The floppy diskette can then be used to boot from and apply the update. This option is not available for all firmware updates, such as tape drive and hard-disk drive updates. [-w] PowerQuest Virtual Boot Environment requires that there are 2 free sectors on the first track before it can schedule a firmware update. Use this option only if scheduling an update failed because 2 free sectors were not available on the first track. This option clears the non-boot and the non-partition information sectors on the first track. Typically, these sectors are not used. Before clearing the sectors a copy of the complete first track is saved in the %temp% directory from which the update runs. [-?] This command displays information about the command line switches. The command line switches -s, -r -c and -e are unnattended. Other command line options such as display help (-?) might require that you hit any key to continue. If Windows packages are run without any command line options, a GUI is displayed. This GUI offers all of the options that are available using the command line.