Manufacturers usually supply BIOS utilities as a small downloadable ".exe" file, e.g., M1004A1. You run it to create a floppy, then boot off the floppy to perform the task.

Obviously the EXE wants Windows to run, but that could be addressed by vmware, dual boot, or borrowing a Windows computer. The bigger problem is that there are no floppy drives around these days; my target machine (Dell Latitude C640) in particular doesn't have one. When I run the EXE under Windows, the WinZip self-extractor comes up, but after I click Start, it complains "floppy drive not found".

So I'd like to burn a bootable CDROM instead of a floppy. How would I go about that?

This is a problem because Linux runs very slowly since the error M1004 happened. Apparently it means overheating. Since then acpi permanently indicates 86 degree Celsius; it's obviously not measuring any more.

Thanks to anyone who can point me in the right direction.
/Quigi

Does the BIOS on your Dell PC allow you to simulate a floppy drive using a USB Flash drive ? Some of my Dell Servers have this option..

You should end up with some sort of .bin file when everything in that .exe is extracted.. that .bin file is most likely a bootable floppy image that you could write to a disk using something like winimage.

You may be able to use your CD Burning application to create a bootable CD. When it asks for the bootable floppy image, point it at that .bin file.. (It's worth looking into.. )

does this help?

http://www.linuxinsight.com/how-to-f...ppy-drive.html