BIOS HP Rompaq FreeDOS PXE USB Boot
Extract the BIOS
Download the SPxxxxxx.EXE to a temp folder, then extract with 7zip. As with most HP software it is packed full of fluff too.
e.g. the HP 8740w bios
$ 7za x sp55500.exe 7-Zip (A) [64] 9.20 Copyright (c) 1999-2010 Igor Pavlov 2010-11-18 p7zip Version 9.20 (locale=en_GB.UTF-8,Utf16=on,HugeFiles=on,4 CPUs) Processing archive: sp55500.exe Extracting /CryptRSA.efi Extracting /CryptRSA32.efi Extracting /FirmwareUpdate.exe Extracting /FreeDOS/KERNEL.SYS Extracting /HpBiosUpdate.efi Extracting /HpBiosUpdate.s09 Extracting /HpBiosUpdate.sig Extracting /HpBiosUpdate32.efi Extracting /HpBiosUpdate32.s09 Extracting /HpBiosUpdate32.sig Extracting /hpqFlash.exe Extracting /HPUSBFW.exe Extracting /kernels.zip Extracting /ROM.CAB Extracting /Rompaq/68CAD.BIN Extracting /Rompaq/config.sys Extracting /Rompaq/eRompaq.exe Extracting /Rompaq/gpl2.txt Extracting /Rompaq/KERNEL.SYS Extracting /Setup.exe Extracting /WSSP55500.rtf Everything is Ok Files: 21 Size: 13918806 Compressed: 8455016
The Rompaq folder contains a (slightly) special FreeDOS kernel (basically its modified to boot eRompaq.exe instead of command.com) and the bios .bin file. The config.sys tells it the shell is erompaq.exe too.
The contents of this folder just needs to be copied to a bootable floppy image, with a FreeDOS kernel
Create the BIOS boot floppy
Full info about creating a Bootable floppy disk image, see here.
This is the terse verion.
#create 8.8Mb image dd if=/dev/zero of=/tmp/test.ima bs=512 count=17280 #format image mkfs.msdos -F 16 -n "richud.com" /tmp/test.ima #Add a FreeDOS boot sector, (you will need to have downloaded and built ms-sys, as described in link ./ms-sys-2.2.1/bin/ms-sys -f -5 /tmp/test.ima #fix boot sector hex as described in link. This bit shouldnt matter if PXE booting it via memdisk. hexedit /tmp/test.ima #mount the image on loop device and mount the filesystem losetup /dev/loop0 /tmp/test.ima && sleep 1 && udisks --mount /dev/loop0 #copy Rompaq files to floppy image cp Rompaq/* /media/richud.com/ #unmount filesystem and loop device udisks --unmount /dev/loop0 && losetup -d /dev/loop0 #compress the image, should end up about 2Mb gzip -c -9 /tmp/test.ima > /tmp/hp8740w.ima.gz
Syslinux entry to boot
Simply chain load via memdisk, could be PXE server or from USB etc.
Label HP 8740w F21 LINUX /pxe/memdisk INITRD /bios/8740w.ima.gz
Double packing
The two BIOS's covering the below is double packed with even more fluff.
HP 6360t Mobile Thin Client
HP EliteBook 8460p Notebook PC
HP EliteBook 8460w Mobile Workstation
HP EliteBook 8560p Notebook PC
HP ProBook 6360b Notebook PC
HP ProBook 6460b Notebook PC
HP ProBook 6560b Notebook PC
$ 7za x sp55676.exe 7-Zip (A) [64] 9.20 Copyright (c) 1999-2010 Igor Pavlov 2010-11-18 p7zip Version 9.20 (locale=en_GB.UTF-8,Utf16=on,HugeFiles=on,4 CPUs) Processing archive: sp55676.exe Extracting /68SCE.CAB Extracting /68SCF.CAB Extracting /hpqflash/hpqRun.exe Extracting /hpqflash/map.ini Extracting /hpqflash/sp55676_E.exe Extracting /hpqflash/sp55676_F.exe Extracting /HPQFlash.exe Extracting /hpqRun.exe Extracting /map.ini Extracting /ROM.CAB Extracting /WSSP55676.rtf Everything is Ok Files: 11 Size: 23907817 Compressed: 21507080
Then you need to peel another layer of the onion back in /hpqflash/ to reveal the Rompaq folder
$ 7za x hpqflash/sp55676_E.exe -o/tmp/E/ 7-Zip (A) [64] 9.20 Copyright (c) 1999-2010 Igor Pavlov 2010-11-18 p7zip Version 9.20 (locale=en_GB.UTF-8,Utf16=on,HugeFiles=on,4 CPUs) Processing archive: hpqflash/sp55676_E.exe Extracting /FirmwareUpdate.exe Extracting /FreeDOS/KERNEL.SYS Extracting /HPQFlash.exe Extracting /HPUSBFW.exe Extracting /kernels.zip Extracting /ROM.CAB Extracting /Rompaq/68SCE.BIN Extracting /Rompaq/config.sys Extracting /Rompaq/eRompaq.exe Extracting /Rompaq/gpl2.txt Extracting /Rompaq/KERNEL.SYS Everything is Ok Files: 11 Size: 10172430 Compressed: 7054993
And same for 7za x hpqflash/sp55676_F.exe -o/tmp/F/
Then you are where you were in top example.
