* Uwe Hermann uwe@hermann-uwe.de [060804 00:05]:
This seems really strange - could it be that the chips are not only "empty" but also do not have an ID hardcoded in them? I.e. is it possible that the 0xFF is actually correct? If so, I could skip the vendor ID check and just try/force writing, maybe...
I don't believe so. ("But I would not bet my leg for it either")
Basically if you can't ID a chip, you can't write to it either.
Some board vendors, Asus is known to be one of them, secure their boards from "flash viruses" (did they mean linuxbios?) with additional GPIO linux This kind of stuff requires reverse engineering (which was legal in Germany last time I had to do this) or a loooot of patience talking to sales reps.
Stefan