New eBox 3350 BIOS (version A61)
New eBox 3350 BIOS (version A61)
by PedroR
Wed Jul 13, 2011 10:12 am
[ EDIT ] 28 October 2013: This post is over 2 years old. All newer and current eBoxes being sold now come with this BIOS version (A61) or newer so you should NOT need or event attempt to install this BIOS if you have a recent unit; this information has been posted to support users of the early batches of 3350MX [ / EDIT ]
Hi all
We have received a new BIOS version for the 3350MX - version A61. This for the 3350MX with the Power button; it's NOT compatible with 3350MX-AP with Auto power On.
It can be downloaded from our website here http://robosavvy.com/RoboSavvyPages/eBo ... 350A61.rar
We have requested this BIOS from DMP to fix two issues we were experiencing:
1- The Power button does not Power Off the Ebox no matter for how long you press it.
2- We are unable to boot into FreeDOS after it's installed onto the SD card (although it boots from CD).
The BIOS didn't come with any installation instructions but from the files inside the RAR archive we can hint at how to install it.
The archive contains 3 files: a BAT, an EXE and ROM file. So it looks like you need to use the "old school" technique of making a bootable DOS image and install the ROM.
There are several ways to do it.
- The most popular is by using a USB Thumb drive and make it bootable using the popular HP format utility.
A nice tutorial on how to create a bootable USB thumb drive can be found here http://files.extremeoverclocking.com/file.php?f=197
- The other way (which we're doing ourselves) is to use a FreeDOS LIVE CD and <strike>add the files to the ISO before burning</strike>. [EDIT] this didn't quite work, There is a simpler way; please see the next post[/EDIT]
.. FreeDOS LIVE CD ISO (it can also be used to perform a full install)
<strike>.. How to add Files to an ISO before burning (this is one of many ways)</strike>
There is one final way of doing it, which is using a USB Floppy and installing from Floppy. This is only if you want to go really old school
We hope the new BIOS fixes the 2 issues we're experiencing. We spoke with a person on DMP's R&D department who assured both of the issues we're experiencing were tested and should work on the eBox 3350.
We'll post back the results.
Regards
Pedro.
Hi all
We have received a new BIOS version for the 3350MX - version A61. This for the 3350MX with the Power button; it's NOT compatible with 3350MX-AP with Auto power On.
It can be downloaded from our website here http://robosavvy.com/RoboSavvyPages/eBo ... 350A61.rar
We have requested this BIOS from DMP to fix two issues we were experiencing:
1- The Power button does not Power Off the Ebox no matter for how long you press it.
2- We are unable to boot into FreeDOS after it's installed onto the SD card (although it boots from CD).
The BIOS didn't come with any installation instructions but from the files inside the RAR archive we can hint at how to install it.
The archive contains 3 files: a BAT, an EXE and ROM file. So it looks like you need to use the "old school" technique of making a bootable DOS image and install the ROM.
There are several ways to do it.
- The most popular is by using a USB Thumb drive and make it bootable using the popular HP format utility.
A nice tutorial on how to create a bootable USB thumb drive can be found here http://files.extremeoverclocking.com/file.php?f=197
- The other way (which we're doing ourselves) is to use a FreeDOS LIVE CD and <strike>add the files to the ISO before burning</strike>. [EDIT] this didn't quite work, There is a simpler way; please see the next post[/EDIT]
.. FreeDOS LIVE CD ISO (it can also be used to perform a full install)
<strike>.. How to add Files to an ISO before burning (this is one of many ways)</strike>
There is one final way of doing it, which is using a USB Floppy and installing from Floppy. This is only if you want to go really old school
We hope the new BIOS fixes the 2 issues we're experiencing. We spoke with a person on DMP's R&D department who assured both of the issues we're experiencing were tested and should work on the eBox 3350.
We'll post back the results.
Regards
Pedro.
Last edited by PedroR on Thu Jul 14, 2011 5:05 pm, edited 1 time in total.
by PedroR
Wed Jul 13, 2011 1:11 pm
Our new BIOS version (A61) is installed and it delivers on what it promises!
After installing the BIOS, if you press and hold the POWER button for a few seconds the eBox will turn off (before the update you had to actually unplug the power supply to turn it off).
We were not quite able to boot FreeDos from the SD/HDD yet but we believe this because we tried it on a poor quality SD card (we keep stressing this: get a GOOD quality, fast SD card and stay away from MicroSD to SD adapaters!).
Our initial installation strategy didn't quite work out as we expected.
We tried the second approach outlined above (using a FreeDOS LIVE CD and putting the BIOS files inside the CD).
However, for some reason after booting the LIVE CD and dropping tot he command prompt, we were unable to find the CD drive unit and hence unable to access the files for the BIOS update.
A simpler approach was to:
- Burn a stock FreeDOS LIVE CD ISO
- Extract the A61 BIOS Update files onto an SD card formated as FAT 16 or FAT32 and insert the SD card in the eBox
Next boot from the FreeDOS LIVE CD, go to the command prompt and type:
This will install the new BIOS (A61) version. Next reboot and you're good to go.
We believe the first batch of eBoxes we received all came with this older BIOS version and will benefit from updating to the A61 version.
The process is very simple a straightforward and we're happy that we no longer have to unplug the power cable whenever we want to turn off the eBox
Regards
Pedro
After installing the BIOS, if you press and hold the POWER button for a few seconds the eBox will turn off (before the update you had to actually unplug the power supply to turn it off).
We were not quite able to boot FreeDos from the SD/HDD yet but we believe this because we tried it on a poor quality SD card (we keep stressing this: get a GOOD quality, fast SD card and stay away from MicroSD to SD adapaters!).
Our initial installation strategy didn't quite work out as we expected.
We tried the second approach outlined above (using a FreeDOS LIVE CD and putting the BIOS files inside the CD).
However, for some reason after booting the LIVE CD and dropping tot he command prompt, we were unable to find the CD drive unit and hence unable to access the files for the BIOS update.
A simpler approach was to:
- Burn a stock FreeDOS LIVE CD ISO
- Extract the A61 BIOS Update files onto an SD card formated as FAT 16 or FAT32 and insert the SD card in the eBox
Next boot from the FreeDOS LIVE CD, go to the command prompt and type:
- Code: Select all
c: [ENTER]
cd (directory where the extracted BIOS files are) [ENTER]
f[.bat] [ENTER]
This will install the new BIOS (A61) version. Next reboot and you're good to go.
We believe the first batch of eBoxes we received all came with this older BIOS version and will benefit from updating to the A61 version.
The process is very simple a straightforward and we're happy that we no longer have to unplug the power cable whenever we want to turn off the eBox
Regards
Pedro
Last edited by PedroR on Thu Jul 14, 2011 5:37 pm, edited 2 times in total.
by PedroR
Thu Jul 14, 2011 2:57 pm
Hi RN1AsOf091407
First of all I must say I made a mistake in my initial post. The BIOS version we got for ebox is version A61 (and not "A6"). I tried to correct this now on the posts.
I am not sure if the BIOS file is exactly the same as the one for Roboard because there are significant architectural differences between the two processor (the Vortex86DX used on the Roboard and Vortex86MX used on eBox).
The main ones are the fact that the eBox/Vortex86MX has Audio and VGA built onto the processor so the BIOS exposes a number of additional options and features.
Don't know about the removal capability though. Probably it applies to eBox too.
Regards
Pedro.
First of all I must say I made a mistake in my initial post. The BIOS version we got for ebox is version A61 (and not "A6"). I tried to correct this now on the posts.
I am not sure if the BIOS file is exactly the same as the one for Roboard because there are significant architectural differences between the two processor (the Vortex86DX used on the Roboard and Vortex86MX used on eBox).
The main ones are the fact that the eBox/Vortex86MX has Audio and VGA built onto the processor so the BIOS exposes a number of additional options and features.
Don't know about the removal capability though. Probably it applies to eBox too.
Regards
Pedro.