Alan Alexander wrote:
My mistake - that patch hasn't made a difference to the behaviour.
It looks to me as if I'm unable to write to the top-block of the Pm49FL004 device. Looking at the data sheet it appears that this device has 2 write-protect pins - WP# (which looks as if it's wired up to the AMD C5536 appropriately - such that writes to MSR 0x1808 have an effect) and TBL# (Top-Block-Lock) which enables hardware write protection of the top boot block (64Kbytes). Unfortunately I don't know how the TBL# pin is connected to the CS5536. I'm guessing a GPIO.
Does anyone have any experience of using this BIOS flash with the CS5536?
There is no "standard" or "required" way to connect the Top-Block-Lock pin to the CS5536. The board designers may have followed the AMD reference schematics or have done any number of other things with the signal. It appears that you don't have the schematics for the board. Try contacting tech support for your board and ask them if they know.
Is there a jumper on the board to control writes to Flash?
You may be able to trace the connections using a multimeter if they used thru and not blind vias under the CS5536. X-raying the board may also help, if you have access to the equipment.
To make things more interesting many of the GPIO's on the CS5536 have Lock Bit registers to protect against accidental changes.
Since TBL# is probably pulled up to high via a 4K-10K resistor, you could temporarily solder a connection from the TBL# to ground to enable it. Then you can test if you can write to the flash.
-Bari