Flashing 'aka' Updating the BIOS in a Dual boot system -can that be done?

Disclaimer - The method described in this blog entry may or may not work for you, there is no guarantee. Use it at your own risk.

Short answer YES. For long answer.... read on......


BIOS - Basic Input Output System - Bios contain the first lines of program that are executed when a computer is switched on. With the help of instructions in BIOS computer detects the components that are required to boot up an OS. eg. RAM, Hard drive/bootable medium, keyboard, mouse etc.

Why should you update a BIOS ? or Should you update BIOS at all?
You should not update your BIOS unless you have strong reasons to do so. If you make a mistake in updating, your system will turn in to a piece of junk which does not even boot from a bootable media. This happens because a system with a corrupted BIOS will  fail to detect any or all device attached to it including the drive in which bootable medium is put.

Some reasons that might make the update necessory

• You bought a new RAM which is not supported by the old BIOS
• To fix any errors in the previous version
• You have a new device attached to the computer which needs an update to work properly
• You have any of the basic elements(like keyboard, mouse etc.) not working even when you use a new component. (use updating on this one cautiously.)

Most of the manufacturers give BIOS update softwares which can be run only from Windows OS. But using it from a dual boot system kind of risky as the boot loader won't be that of windows. But I decided to give it a try as my BIOS was beeping 8 times when system is switched on. kinda annoying in an office room. I Used an HP Update tool on a dual boot Compaq laptop running Windows 7 and Ubuntu10.04.
I first downloaded the Update tool from HP website and ran it under Windows 7. The update completed in 5 minutes and the bios was loading faster than before with no error messages.
Update: Updating BIOS from VirtualBox won't work because the guest system won't have necessary permissions to access BIOS.