Category Archives: Tech Posts

BGP Route Withdrawal

Today @Work, I withdrew a prefix from our AS, the video below is the prefix being withdrawn from the Internet as visualised by BGP Play which queries route collectors that send information to RIPE Stat.

I couldn’t help, but add a sneaky sound-clip to the end of the video, as the prefix disappeared from the route collectors, might make it more interesting for those who don’t have knowledge of how BGP allows the Internet to run.

Check here for information on using and interpreting the BGPlay widget.

Upgrading Asus Prime Z370-A ME Firmware without running Windows

I have a ASUS Z370-A Prime motherboard. I don’t run Windows natively, but do under Virtualbox on Ubuntu Linux.

Asus released an Intel Firmware Update with only a Windows MEUpdaterTool executable.

I Created a WinPE image from my Virtualbox Windows 10 virtual machine, which I dd’d onto a USB, and managed to use the Intel updater tool in the X:\FW folder to complete the upgrade.

So if you find yourself in my position, you can download the WinPE environment here:

Note, the MEUpdateTool in the root folder, is not supported in the PE environment, just CD in to the X:\FW folder and use the FWUpdLcl64.exe tool.

Just, unzip the image and dd it to your USB drive (below assumes that /dev/sdb is your USB drive, check first or you might clobber another disk in your system):

sudo dd if=winpe_amd.img of=/dev/sdb bs=4M

Grandstream HandyTone 503 BT (UK) Caller ID / Display Settings

After fiddling with the settings for Caller ID on my FXO port, I finally found something that works:

Caller ID Scheme: SIN 227 – BT
FSK Caller ID Minimum RX Level (dB): -40
FSK Caller ID Seizure Bits: 96
FSK Caller ID Mark Bits: 55
Caller ID Transport Type: Relay via SIP From

If you have a Grandstream HandyTone 503 connected to a BT line on the FXO port then leave your configuration tips below!