IBM Netfinity 5500 and 5500 M10 POST/BIOS Flash Diskette Version 1.13 Installation README File This README file contains the latest information about installing the IBM Netfinity 5500 and 5500 M10 POST/BIOS. CONTENTS ________ 1.0 Updating IBM Netfinity 5500 and 5500 M10 POST/BIOS 2.0 Version Changes 3.0 Trademarks and Notices 1.0 Updating IBM Netfinity 5500 and 5500 M10 POST/BIOS *Note: If installing from an update package, see additional instructions, in Appendix A. ______________________________________________ The procedure to update the POST/BIOS is as follows: 1. Insert the "IBM Netfinity 5500 and 5500 M10 POST/BIOS Flash Diskette" into drive A. 2. Start up or restart your IBM Netfinity 5500 and 5500 M10 server. 3. The system will boot off of the diskette and present a window which allows you the option to flash various options. Choose "1 - Update POST/BIOS". 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. 5. You will then be asked if you would like to save the current code to a diskette. If you select 'Y', you need to have a formatted diskette already available. 6. At this point, the image will be loaded from the diskette, 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. 7. 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 diskette and hit return to reboot the system. 2.0 Version Changes ____________________ 1.13 New release - BIOS level 13. - Added support for remote post with WIN2K. ----------------------------------- 1.12 New release - BIOS level 12. - ACPI changes to support large amounts of memory. - PNP changes for serial ports. ------------------------------- 1.11 New release - BIOS level 11. - Added support for the Fujitsu MFM29F016. - Updated ACPI for release level Windows 2000. ------------------------------- 1.10 New release - BIOS level 10. - Updated ACPI support for Windows 2000 beta 3. - Fix timing problem with hotplug controller. - Work around for problem with cache on new Intel processors. - Added POST messages for mixed processor configurations. - Changed "System Error Log" to "System Event/Error Log". - Added support for 256Mbit memory technology. - Added support for 512MB single-sided DIMMs for the Netfinity 5500 M10. ------------------------------- 1.09 New release - BIOS level 9. - Fixed a problem when using a negative SP time delta. ------------------------------- 1.08 New release - BIOS level 8. - Improved communication to the System Management Processor running the RS-485 enabled code. - Fixed a PCI I/O resource problem in slots 1-4 when a video is in slot 5 or 6. - Added a menu item on the date/time panel to allow the user to specify the amount of time the service processor clock is offset from the system clock. - Add support for C-0 step of the Pentium III Xeon. - Add support for C-0 step of the Pentium III. ------------------------------- 1.07 New release - BIOS level 7. - Fixed the serial number and machine type getting swapped (introduced in 1.06). - Added a line item to allow the user to disable the processor serial number in Pentium III processors. ------------------------------- 1.06 New release - BIOS level 6. - Added a utility to the flash diskette for saving and restoring CMOS. - Fixed the message for Xeon B-1 step processors in setup. - Changed the Katmai name to be Pentium III. - Changed the VPD data to be updated in the ROM image on each boot, not just on flash updates. ------------------------------- 1.05 New release - BIOS level 5. - Froze CMOS to the BIOS revision 4 level. - Added support for a second CD-ROM drive. - Put the system board ID in the DMI structures. ------------------------------- 1.04 New release - BIOS level 4. - Add support for B-1 step of the Xeon. ------------------------------- 1.03 New release - BIOS level 3. - Updated and added some translations. - Fixed occasional hangs on boot with 256MB DIMM in position J1. - Fixed occasional hangs in Diagnostics when using a USB keyboard. ------------------------------- 1.02 New release - BIOS level 2. - Fixed intermittent hangs during POST and while running Operating Systems in dual processor mode. - Enabled J24 to bypass the power-on password, as described in documentation. - Fixed configuration changes when a POP is installed and Setup is accessed. - Added code to force the century to be 19 if the year > 79 to avoid problems when testing of Year 2000 is performed and only the year is changed back. - Restricted PnP usage of 0xFF00 address range from adapters. - Fixed BIOS revision value on the Product Data panel in Setup. - Added B-0 Pentium-II 100 processor support. - Changed all Japanese POST messages to be in English. - Fixed screen corruptions on the System Error Log screen in Italian and Spanish. - Fixed a problem with CMOS not being initialized for the Systems Management device driver in some situations (workaround by loading defaults in Setup). - Fixed processor patch failure messages and log them to the system error log. ------------------------------- 1.01 New release - BIOS level 1. IMPORTANT NOTE: You must use Diagnostics level 33 or higher with this level. - Updated and corrected NLS messages. - Added the packet file for remote flashing to the POST/BIOS flash diskette. - Corrected CPU PFA detection code. - Removed unsupported options from setup screens. - Moved the hot-plug controller I/O range to avoid a PCI VGA conflict. ------- ------------------------ 1.00 First release - BIOS level 0. 3.0 Trademarks and Notices ___________________________ 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 Package for the web (PFW). 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 command-line syntax for Package-For-The-Web Firmware update package is: Package.exe [-s] [-a [-s] | [-r] | [-c] | [-x directory] | [-xd] | [-w] | [-?] ] [-s] This initial -s tells the Package-For-The-Web software to install silently and will not prompt if files need to be over-written in the %temp% directory. [-a] Tells the Package-For-The-Web software to pass all subsequent commands to the install package (i.e. the update). [-s] The second -s option indicates to run the update silently and unattended. For firmware updates the update is scheduled to run on the next reboot. An immediate reboot can be forced with the -r option. [-r] Schedule the update (can be used with or without the -s option, either way it has the same meaning) and reboot immediately. [-c] Cancel any scheduled firmware update and record results of this operation in the log file. Only one firmware packages can be scheduled at one time, if a firmware update needs to be applied instead of the currently scheduled firmware update package, the user needs to cancel the current (run with the -c option on any firmware package) package and subsequently run the applicable firmware package. [-x directory] Use with firmware updates to extract the update to directory named directory. Since the Package-For-The-Web extracts itself to subdirectory in the %TEMP% directory, a relative directory will be relative to that location. Normally the user will want to specify an absolute directory. [-xd] Use with firmware updates to extract floppy diskette(s). The floppy diskette(s) can subsequently be used to boot and apply the update in the customary "apply update from floppy diskette" fashion. This option is not available for all firmware updates, such as Tape Drive and Hard Disk updates. [-w] The PowerQuest Virtual Boot Environment requires 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 found in the first track. This option will wipe or clear the non boot and the non partition information sectors on the first track. These sectors are normally not used. Before clearing the sectors a copy of the complete first track is saved in the %temp% directory from which the update runs. [-?] Display information about the command line switches. Only the apply-update-silently (-s) option is necessarily unattended, that is the other command line options such as display help (-?) may require the user to "hit any key" to continue. If Windows packages are run without any command line options, a GUI is displayed. This GUI offers all the options available at the command line, except that the -w option is not available.