[flashrom] join IRC

[Владимир Амельянович]

Hello.

Please could you help me join your IRC chanel?
I have registered at freenode. But i recieve the following message:

<Holyholy> hello
* #flashrom :Cannot send to channel

[Stefan Tauner]

On Wed, 1 Aug 2018 11:27:12 +0300

Post by Владимир Амельянович
Hello.
Please could you help me join your IRC chanel?
<Holyholy> hello
* #flashrom :Cannot send to channel

Hi Владимир,

you need not only to register but also to identify (I am not sure if
that happens automatically when you register). Have you done that?
The restrictions is due to a spam wave on freenode and we are looking
for alternatives but that will take a while.

[Stefan Tauner]

On Wed, 1 Aug 2018 15:28:24 +0200

Post by Stefan Tauner
On Wed, 1 Aug 2018 11:27:12 +0300

Post by Владимир Амельянович
Hello.
Please could you help me join your IRC chanel?
<Holyholy> hello
* #flashrom :Cannot send to channel

Hi Владимир,
you need not only to register but also to identify (I am not sure if
that happens automatically when you register). Have you done that?
The restrictions is due to a spam wave on freenode and we are looking
for alternatives but that will take a while.

Hi,

joining and speaking is possible with unregistered user names again.

[Stefan Tauner]

On Thu, 2 Aug 2018 00:42:57 +0200

Post by Stefan Tauner
joining and speaking is possible with unregistered user names again.

Well, that turned out to be a bit too optimistic on my part... we have
re-enabled the mute mode for unregistered users for the time being. But
anybody can join the channel and request permission to speak by sending
a message to one of the operators if need be. Just registering your
current nickname on freenode is of course preferred:
/msg NickServ REGISTER password ***@example.com
when connected with your desired nickname.

[Владимир Амельянович]

Hello.
Please could you help me?
I have chipset "Intel ICH7/ICH7R". It is marked as fully supported. I did
the following steps 1) made backup 2) changed some setting(disable internal
audio) 3) made backup again. I made hexdump comparision of files from
steps 1), 3) and there are no changes at all. What did i wrong?

Best regards,
Vladimir

Post by Stefan Tauner
On Thu, 2 Aug 2018 00:42:57 +0200

Post by Stefan Tauner
joining and speaking is possible with unregistered user names again.

Well, that turned out to be a bit too optimistic on my part... we have
re-enabled the mute mode for unregistered users for the time being. But
anybody can join the channel and request permission to speak by sending
a message to one of the operators if need be. Just registering your
when connected with your desired nickname.
--
Kind regards/Mit freundlichen GrÌßen, Stefan Tauner

[Stefan Tauner]

On Mon, 6 Aug 2018 10:07:47 +0300

Post by Владимир Амельянович
Hello.
Please could you help me?
I have chipset "Intel ICH7/ICH7R". It is marked as fully supported. I did
the following steps 1) made backup 2) changed some setting(disable internal
audio) 3) made backup again. I made hexdump comparision of files from
steps 1), 3) and there are no changes at all. What did i wrong?

Hi,

there is nothing wrong. On old boards such settings are often saved in
the CMOS NVRAM, which is not part of the flash memory.

[Владимир Амельянович]

Thank you for information.
One more question.
I have industrial PC, manufacturer didn't provide any BIOS tool.
When i run flashrom i get the warning about problems with unsupported
laptops BIOSes and the following message:
"Aborting.
Error: Programmer initialization failed"
I use command "flashrom -p internal"
How could i fix it?

Post by Stefan Tauner
On Mon, 6 Aug 2018 10:07:47 +0300

Post by Владимир Амельянович
Hello.
Please could you help me?
I have chipset "Intel ICH7/ICH7R". It is marked as fully supported. I did
the following steps 1) made backup 2) changed some setting(disable

internal

Post by Владимир Амельянович
audio) 3) made backup again. I made hexdump comparision of files from
steps 1), 3) and there are no changes at all. What did i wrong?

Hi,
there is nothing wrong. On old boards such settings are often saved in
the CMOS NVRAM, which is not part of the flash memory.
--
Kind regards/Mit freundlichen GrÌßen, Stefan Tauner

[Mike Banon]

Maybe it would've been easier to just tear down that PC and directly
connect to a BIOS chip (In-System Programming, using some test clip to
avoid the soldering, or maybe your chip is socketed so you could
remove it and insert to your hardware programmer). Although this way
requires you to have the external programmer, there are some models
like CH341A which could be got for really cheap ($2-$3 from China in
this case). And there is 100% confidence that this way will work,
regardless of your chipset and other factors

On Tue, Aug 7, 2018 at 12:14 PM, Владимир Амельянович

Post by Владимир Амельянович
Thank you for information.
One more question.
I have industrial PC, manufacturer didn't provide any BIOS tool.
When i run flashrom i get the warning about problems with unsupported
"Aborting.
Error: Programmer initialization failed"
I use command "flashrom -p internal"
How could i fix it?

Post by Stefan Tauner
On Mon, 6 Aug 2018 10:07:47 +0300

Post by Владимир Амельянович
Hello.
Please could you help me?
I have chipset "Intel ICH7/ICH7R". It is marked as fully supported. I did
the following steps 1) made backup 2) changed some setting(disable internal
audio) 3) made backup again. I made hexdump comparision of files from
steps 1), 3) and there are no changes at all. What did i wrong?

Hi,
there is nothing wrong. On old boards such settings are often saved in
the CMOS NVRAM, which is not part of the flash memory.
--
Kind regards/Mit freundlichen Grüßen, Stefan Tauner

_______________________________________________
flashrom mailing list
https://mail.coreboot.org/mailman/listinfo/flashrom

[Nico Huber]

Hello Владимир,

Post by Владимир Амельянович
Thank you for information.
One more question.
I have industrial PC, manufacturer didn't provide any BIOS tool.
When i run flashrom i get the warning about problems with unsupported
"Aborting.
Error: Programmer initialization failed"
I use command "flashrom -p internal"
How could i fix it?

whether or not flashing is safe despite this message depends on your
board. If you provide a verbose log for this board, we might be able
to tell you more. For instance, newer systems with the BIOS flash con-
nected through SPI to the southbridge or almost always safe to flash
(you can see in the manpage how to tell flashrom that your board is
not a laptop, or that it should flash anyway).

Hope that helps,
Nico

[Nico Huber]

Hi ВлаЎОЌОр,

flashrom -p internal:laptop=this_is_not_a_laptop didn't change anything

yes, because your BIOS claims that it's a laptop: `DMI string
chassis-type: "Notebook"`.

flashrom -p internal:laptop=force_I_want_a_brick show more info. Logs with
different V number are attached.
Please could you please tell me if i can use flashrom in my case?

You already did. If you let it probe with the above force option,
it can already harm some laptops. But in your case (SPI chip directly
attached) it's safe. You can go ahead (if you have a valid image to
flash). In either case of success of failure, please always keep
logs (best use the -o option) and report back.

Please note that your message got filtered from the mailing list (there
is a 256KiB limit for the mail size). So I'll attach your least verbose
log for reference.

Regards,
Nico

[Владимир Амельянович]

Hello Nico,

Thank you very much for your information.

Does the image of SPI chip which i get with -r key contain BIOS firmware
or BIOS settings or both?
My goal is to create BIOS master image which i can write to 10,20,100
devices with same hardware.

Regards,
Vladimir

Post by Nico Huber
Hi ВлаЎОЌОр,

flashrom -p internal:laptop=this_is_not_a_laptop didn't change anything

yes, because your BIOS claims that it's a laptop: `DMI string
chassis-type: "Notebook"`.
flashrom -p internal:laptop=force_I_want_a_brick show more info. Logs with

different V number are attached.
Please could you please tell me if i can use flashrom in my case?

You already did. If you let it probe with the above force option,
it can already harm some laptops. But in your case (SPI chip directly
attached) it's safe. You can go ahead (if you have a valid image to
flash). In either case of success of failure, please always keep
logs (best use the -o option) and report back.
Please note that your message got filtered from the mailing list (there
is a 256KiB limit for the mail size). So I'll attach your least verbose
log for reference.
Regards,
Nico

[Владимир Амельянович]

Hello,

1) save image - flashrom -p
internal:laptop=force_I_want_a_brick,ich_spi_mode=auto -r boxpc899_0.rom
2) write image - flashrom -p
internal:laptop=force_I_want_a_brick,ich_spi_mode=auto -w boxpc899_0.rom -V
-o /lib/live/mount/medium/

I have tried to write saved image finally. And got the following message:

FAILED!
Uh oh. Erase/write failed. Checking if anything has changed.
Reading current flash chip contents... Reading 8388608 bytes starting at
0x000000.
done.
Apparently at least some data has changed.
Your flash chip is in an unknown state.
Get help on IRC at chat.freenode.net (channel #flashrom) or
mail ***@flashrom.org with the subject "FAILED: <your board name>"!
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
DO NOT REBOOT OR POWEROFF!
Restoring MMIO space at 0x7fb5896f08a0
Restoring PCI config space for 00:1f:0 reg 0xdc

-V output attached.

What should i do next? PC is power on.


2018-08-09 23:16 GMT+03:00 ВлаЎОЌОр АЌельяМПвОч <

Post by Владимир Амельянович
Hello Nico,
Thank you very much for your information.
Does the image of SPI chip which i get with -r key contain BIOS firmware
or BIOS settings or both?
My goal is to create BIOS master image which i can write to 10,20,100
devices with same hardware.
Regards,
Vladimir

Post by Nico Huber
Hi ВлаЎОЌОр,

flashrom -p internal:laptop=this_is_not_a_laptop didn't change anything

yes, because your BIOS claims that it's a laptop: `DMI string
chassis-type: "Notebook"`.
flashrom -p internal:laptop=force_I_want_a_brick show more info. Logs

with
different V number are attached.
Please could you please tell me if i can use flashrom in my case?

You already did. If you let it probe with the above force option,
it can already harm some laptops. But in your case (SPI chip directly
attached) it's safe. You can go ahead (if you have a valid image to
flash). In either case of success of failure, please always keep
logs (best use the -o option) and report back.
Please note that your message got filtered from the mailing list (there
is a 256KiB limit for the mail size). So I'll attach your least verbose
log for reference.
Regards,
Nico

[Владимир Амельянович]

I made 3)
3) verify image - flashrom -p
internal:laptop=force_I_want_a_brick,ich_spi_mode=auto
-v boxpc899_0.rom

And result is VERIFIED.

2018-08-14 10:46 GMT+03:00 ВлаЎОЌОр АЌельяМПвОч <

Post by Владимир Амельянович
Hello,
1) save image - flashrom -p internal:laptop=force_I_want_a_brick,ich_spi_mode=auto
-r boxpc899_0.rom
2) write image - flashrom -p internal:laptop=force_I_want_a_brick,ich_spi_mode=auto
-w boxpc899_0.rom -V -o /lib/live/mount/medium/
FAILED!
Uh oh. Erase/write failed. Checking if anything has changed.
Reading current flash chip contents... Reading 8388608 bytes starting at
0x000000.
done.
Apparently at least some data has changed.
Your flash chip is in an unknown state.
Get help on IRC at chat.freenode.net (channel #flashrom) or
------------------------------------------------------------
-------------------
DO NOT REBOOT OR POWEROFF!
Restoring MMIO space at 0x7fb5896f08a0
Restoring PCI config space for 00:1f:0 reg 0xdc
-V output attached.
What should i do next? PC is power on.
2018-08-09 23:16 GMT+03:00 ВлаЎОЌОр АЌельяМПвОч <

Post by Владимир Амельянович
Hello Nico,
Thank you very much for your information.
Does the image of SPI chip which i get with -r key contain BIOS firmware
or BIOS settings or both?
My goal is to create BIOS master image which i can write to 10,20,100
devices with same hardware.
Regards,
Vladimir

Post by Nico Huber
Hi ВлаЎОЌОр,

flashrom -p internal:laptop=this_is_not_a_laptop didn't change anything

yes, because your BIOS claims that it's a laptop: `DMI string
chassis-type: "Notebook"`.
flashrom -p internal:laptop=force_I_want_a_brick show more info. Logs

with
different V number are attached.
Please could you please tell me if i can use flashrom in my case?

You already did. If you let it probe with the above force option,
it can already harm some laptops. But in your case (SPI chip directly
attached) it's safe. You can go ahead (if you have a valid image to
flash). In either case of success of failure, please always keep
logs (best use the -o option) and report back.
Please note that your message got filtered from the mailing list (there
is a 256KiB limit for the mail size). So I'll attach your least verbose
log for reference.
Regards,
Nico

[Nico Huber]

Post by Владимир Амельянович
I made 3)
3) verify image - flashrom -p
internal:laptop=force_I_want_a_brick,ich_spi_mode=auto
-v boxpc899_0.rom
And result is VERIFIED.

Heh, I missed this (your other mail went into another folder). So you
can ignore my other mail, I guess.

Though, if you want to try a patch for the error you've seen before, let
me know :)

Nico

[Nico Huber]

Hi,

I would be nice to get the patch. I will check my board tomorrow.
I have 3 different boards. Would you like to get reports from all of them?

it seems the issue is already mitigated by other changes in the core
of flashrom (though, the actual bug is still there). For the moment,
it would be nice if you could try flashrom-1.0 to see if the issue
persists.

Nico

[Nico Huber]

Hi ВлаЎОЌОр,

Post by Владимир Амельянович
FAILED!
Uh oh. Erase/write failed. Checking if anything has changed.
Reading current flash chip contents... Reading 8388608 bytes starting at
0x000000.
done.
Apparently at least some data has changed.
Your flash chip is in an unknown state.
Get help on IRC at chat.freenode.net (channel #flashrom) or
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
DO NOT REBOOT OR POWEROFF!
Restoring MMIO space at 0x7fb5896f08a0
Restoring PCI config space for 00:1f:0 reg 0xdc
-V output attached.
What should i do next? PC is power on.

Try to verify (flashrom -v) the image you just wrote. I hope it just
succeeded but run into an error afterwards.

Post by Владимир Амельянович

0x805000-0x805fff:E
Request to erase some inaccessible memory address(es) (addr=0x805000, len=4096). Not erasing anything.

This is already beyond your actual flash chip (0x800000), so it al-
ready wrote the image. I also found the cause for flashrom running off,
your firmware descriptor seems misconfigured which triggered a bug in

Post by Владимир Амельянович

0xD0: 0xffffffff (FPB)

This register is supposed to be 0 instead *shrug*. But there's obviously
something to fix in flashrom to handle wrong values more gracefully.

So, hope your board is fine,
Nico