Flash Update Utility; Flash Bios; User Binary Area; Recovery Mode - Intel SE7520JR2 Technical Manual

Intel® Server Board SE7520JR2
The BIOS relies on specialized hardware and additional flash space to accomplish online
update/rolling of the BIOS. To this end, the flash is divided into two partitions, primary and
secondary. The active partition from which the system boots shall be referred to as the primary
partition. The AMI FLASH update suite and Intel Online updates preserve the existing BIOS
image on the primary partition. BIOS updates are diverted to the secondary partition. After the
update is complete, a notification flag is set. During the subsequent boot following the BIOS
update, the system continues to attempt to boot from the primary BIOS partition. On determining
that a BIOS update occurred in the previous boot, the system then attempts to boot from the
new BIOS. If a failure happens while booting to the new BIOS, the specialized hardware on the
system switches back to the primary BIOS partition, thus affecting a "Roll Back".
4.5.1

Flash Update Utility

Server platforms support a DOS-based firmware update utility. This utility loads a fresh copy of
the BIOS into the flash ROM.
The BIOS update may affect the following items:
•
The system BIOS, including the recovery code, setup utility and strings.
•
Onboard video BIOS, SCSI BIOS, and other option ROMS for the devices embedded on
the server board.
•
OEM binary area.
•
Microcode updates.
4.5.1.1

Flash BIOS

An afuXXX AMI Firmware Update utility (such as afudos, AFUWIN, afulnx, or AFUEFI) is
required for a BIOS update.
4.5.1.2

User Binary Area

The baseboard includes an area in flash for implementation-specific OEM add-ons. This OEM
binary area can be updated as part of the system BIOS update or it can be updated
independent of the system BIOS.
4.5.1.3

Recovery Mode

Three conditions can cause the system to enter recovery mode:
•
Pressing a hot key
•
Setting the recovery jumper (J1H2, labeled RCVR BOOT) to pins 2-3
•
Damaging the ROM image, which will cause the system to enter recovery and update
the system ROM without the boot block.
Revision 1.0
C78844-002
System BIOS
103