grub2 boot freedos kernel.sys

[Beeblebrox]

I would like to know if the following is possible:

* USB thumb drive has grub-1.98 on hd(0,1) gpt layout (boot-bios is hd0,2)

* hd(0,1)/boot/freedos has files

autoexec.bat, command.com, config.sys, kernel.sys, sys.com

Un-tarred from freedos FDOEM.144 and copied into folder

* Boot into USB drive's grub2 boot menu and try to boot freedos by:

menuentry "DOS kernel" {
   root=UUID=8D40-EC8D
   chainloader --ebx=0x0180 (hd0,1)/boot/freedos/kernel.sys
   boot  }

gives err msg: "wrong signature". Probably expected, since files being booted are for a "virtual floppy", but I also tried it with the files from ke386f32 .zip as well.

Q: Is what I'm trying to do possible?

I don't want to boot into a ram-limited 1.44 or 2.88 virtual floppy. My purpose for this is to be able to make mobo BIOS-updates (place BIOS dosflash.exe + bios.rom files on USB drive, boot into grub2 -> chainload to dos, mount thumbdrive in dos to make files visible, run dosflash.exe)

I asked this question on the freedos mail list, but they could not help much because of insufficient grub2 expertise. The feasibility of the concept is described here: http://www.novell.com/coolsolutions/feature/3612.html

I would appreciate some help on how to get this done, or if someone has ideas on how to flash the BIOS using the grub2 menu, that would also work.

Regards.