[LinuxBIOS] Please let me know the status for this chipset

[Raffaele de Leon]

Hi guys

Looks like great work here. I downloaded and built LinuxBIOS V2 solely to use flashrom, however when I executed the binary it went through all the probing and decided "no eeprom found", before promptly turning the computer off.

All I want to do is read and write the contents of my BIOS while running Linux - I'm sort of ok with my proprietary BIOS for now!

My BIOS chip, as reported by UniFlash, is an AMIC A29040(A/B)/5V. It also says the organisation is "sectored 8x64k (512k)" - dunno if that's useful.

The chipset is Intel 845PE and that's running a Pentium 4 2.8 GHz in an Fujitsu Siemens Amilo D 7830 Laptop.

I'd really appreciate it if someone could let me know how long I'm looking at waiting to be able to use "flashrom". In fact, I don't know any C but I'm always willing to have a poke around and if I could somehow use the addressing and data  that's coded into UniFlash (it's OSS) to add my motherboard to flashbios' knowhow, a few pointers would set me into happy tinkering mode.

Or indeed if there are any other methods of reading from and/or writing to the BIOS under Linux - again, I'd be much indebted.

Kind regards,
Raffaele de Leon

[Uwe Hermann]

Hi,

On Fri, Oct 27, 2006 at 12:53:47AM +0100, Raffaele de Leon wrote:
> Looks like great work here. I downloaded and built LinuxBIOS V2 solely to use flashrom, however when I executed the binary it went through all the probing and decided "no eeprom found", before promptly turning the computer off.

That sounds unlikely. Flashrom definately should _not_ turn off your
computer.
> All I want to do is read and write the contents of my BIOS while running Linux - I'm sort of ok with my proprietary BIOS for now!
>
> My BIOS chip, as reported by UniFlash, is an AMIC A29040(A/B)/5V. It also says the organisation is "sectored 8x64k (512k)" - dunno if that's useful.

No AMIC chip is currently supported by flashrom. There's a datasheet, so
it probably can be done. Someone needs a test system, though.
> The chipset is Intel 845PE and that's running a Pentium 4 2.8 GHz in an Fujitsu Siemens Amilo D 7830 Laptop.

The chipset is not yet supported, but it's probably doable.

Nobody has ever run LinuxBIOS on any laptop, though, see
http://www.linuxbios.org/Laptop. I would not recommend trying it, unless
you really know what you're doing.

It would be nice if you could post as much information as possible to
the mailing list, so that we can add it to
http://www.linuxbios.org/Laptop_survey. It's definately on our todo
list to support one or more laptops...
> I'd really appreciate it if someone could let me know how long I'm looking at waiting to be able to use "flashrom".

Shouldn't be too much work, really. The problem you have is that you
don't want to test this on your laptop. Your BIOS chip could be soldered
on, and/or you might not want to open your laptop (warranty). So if
something goes wrong you'll end up with a pretty useless, broken laptop.
> Or indeed if there are any other methods of reading from and/or writing to the BIOS under Linux - again, I'd be much indebted.

There are probably some methods to read, but when it comes to writing I
would be very careful if this is a laptop (see above for reasons).


Uwe.
-- 
http://www.hermann-uwe.de  | http://www.holsham-traders.de
http://www.crazy-hacks.org | http://www.unmaintained-free-software.org

[Stefan Reinauer]

* Uwe Hermann <[e-mail]> [061028 22:09]:
> Hi,
>
> On Fri, Oct 27, 2006 at 12:53:47AM +0100, Raffaele de Leon wrote:
> > Looks like great work here. I downloaded and built LinuxBIOS V2 solely to use flashrom, however when I executed the binary it went through all the probing and decided "no eeprom found", before promptly turning the computer off.
>
> That sounds unlikely. Flashrom definately should _not_ turn off your
> computer.

Flash writes are protected by some GPIO magic here. I had a laptop once
that showed the same signs of madness.

The hardware vendor probably knows more ;-)

Stefan

-- 
coresystems GmbH • Brahmsstr. 16 • D-79104 Freiburg i. Br.
      Tel.: [phone] • Fax: [phone]
Email: [e-mail]  • http://www.coresystems.de/