Chapter5.Updatingsystemprograms
ThischapterprovidesinformationaboutupdatingthePOSTandBIOS,andhowtorecoverfromaPOST
andBIOSupdatefailure.
Thischaptercontainsthefollowingtopics:
•“Usingsystemprograms”onpage67
•“Updating(ashing)theBIOSfromadisc”onpage67
•“Updating(ashing)theBIOSfromyouroperatingsystem”onpage68
•“RecoveringfromaPOST/BIOSupdatefailure”onpage68

Usingsystemprograms

Systemprogramsarethebasiclayerofsoftwarebuiltintoyourcomputer.Systemprogramsincludethe
POST,theBIOS,andtheSetupUtilityprogram.ThePOSTisasetoftestsandproceduresthatare
performedeachtimeyouturnonyourcomputer.TheBIOSisalayerofsoftwarethattranslatesinstructions
fromotherlayersofsoftwareintoelectricalsignalsthatthecomputerhardwarecanexecute.Y oucanuse
theSetupUtilityprogramtovieworchangethecongurationsettingsofyourcomputer.SeeChapter4
“UsingtheSetupUtilityprogram”onpage63fordetailedinformation.
Yourcomputersystemboardhasamodulecalledelectricallyerasableprogrammableread-onlymemory
(EEPROM,alsoreferredtoasashmemory).Y oucaneasilyupdatethePOST,theBIOS,andtheSetup
Utilityprogrambystartingyourcomputerwithasystem-program-updatediscorrunningaspecialupdate
programfromyouroperatingsystem.
LenovomightmakechangesandenhancementstothePOSTandBIOS.Whenupdatesarereleased,they
areavailableasdownloadablelesontheLenovoWebsiteathttp://www.lenovo.com.Instructionsforusing
thePOSTandBIOSupdatesareavailableinaTXTlethatisincludedwiththeupdateles.Formost
models,youcandownloadeitheranupdateprogramtocreateasystem-program-updatediscoranupdate
programthatcanberunfromtheoperatingsystem.

Updating(ashing)theBIOSfromadisc

Thissectionprovidesinstructionsonhowtoupdate(ash)theBIOSfromadisc.
Note:Youcandownloadaself-startingbootablediscimage(knownasanISOimage)withthesystem
programupdatestocreateasystem-program-updatedisc.Goto:
http://www.lenovo.com/support
Toupdate(ash)theBIOSfromadisc,dothefollowing:
1.Turnoffyourcomputer.
2.RepeatedlypressandreleasetheF12keywhenturningonthecomputer.WhentheStartupDevice
Menuopens,releasetheF12key.
3.OntheStartupDeviceMenu,selectthedesiredopticaldriveastherstbootdevice.Then,insertthe
discintotheopticaldriveandpressEnter.Theupdatebegins.
4.Whenpromptedtochangetheserialnumber,itissuggestedthatyoupressN.However,ifyoudowant
tochangetheserialnumber,pressY,thentypeintheserialnumberandpressEnter.
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