Can I execute a linuxbios image from linux?
Hello, I'm trying to upgrade the CPU on a 440BX dual board MSI-6210 from dual Celerons (Mendocino) to a single Celeron2 (Tualatin) using a socket 370 to slot 1 adapter, SLOT-T from Upgradeware. On other 440BX based motherboards, this works perfectly. Two computers I have upgraded are a QDI BrillianX 1 based box and the Compaq 5670. The lates BIOS for the 6120 does not support Coppermine or Tualatin processors. With the 6120, I get a successful boot too, but the effective speed is 7 MHz as compared to expected 1.3GHz (measured with lmbench). I have made a small kernel module testing the level 2 cache activation code, without any improvements. Also mtrr seems to be set up correctly. Now I would like to execute a full linuxbios image after boot to linux, in order to avoid the problem of re-flashing the BIOS. Is this possible? The Upgradeware support pages mentions that the IO chips have to be of correct type for a similar single CPU board, the MSI-6119 to uork with the SLOT-T adapter. What function does the IO chip have, and how can in be tested? Thanks, Svante
I'm not sure you're going to get much help here, as your question is kind of off topic for this list, but we'll see. ron
OK, maybe my question is OT, but not completely OT. Maybe I can try to move the L440BX stuff from V1 to V2, and when it compiles get help from the list after that? Is there a way to try out a new BIOS without risking to end up with an unbootable main-board, ethernet, serial port, some special card connected to the south-bridge (PIIX4) e.g. a special PCI/ISA card, etc? Other solutions including soldering, EEPROM programming devices, etc? What is the function of th IO chip? Thanks, Svante On Wed, 2004-03-31 at 16:39, ron minnich wrote:
I'm not sure you're going to get much help here, as your question is kind of off topic for this list, but we'll see.
ron
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On Wed, Mar 31, 2004 at 09:30:16PM +0200, Svante Signell wrote:
Is there a way to try out a new BIOS without risking to end up with an unbootable main-board, ethernet, serial port, some special card connected to the south-bridge (PIIX4) e.g. a special PCI/ISA card, etc? Other solutions including soldering, EEPROM programming devices, etc?
A number of people are using the "BIOS Savior" product with success. See: http://www.ioss.com.tw/eg/rd1/index.html Depending on which part you need, you can mail order it from mwave.com, pcmods.com, or probably a bunch of other places. -Kevin -- --------------------------------------------------------------------- | Kevin O'Connor "BTW, IMHO we need a FAQ for | | kevin@koconnor.net 'IMHO', 'FAQ', 'BTW', etc. !" | ---------------------------------------------------------------------
Kevin, Thank you for the information. I'll check if this equipment is usable for my hardware. The crucial thing is whether the BIOS chip is socketed or not. We'll see, at least I know the size is 2Mbit, since the latest BIOS binary (A6120IMS.200) supported by MSI is 261144kbyte. Does anybody have experience with removing a soldered chip on a motherboard without destroying anything? I sent in an update enquiry about my BIOS version (AMI) to www.esupport.com and they offered me to purchase a new one, supporting modern CPUs and up to Windows XP, for around the same price as the "BIOS saviour" board costs. Since I'm only running Linux on this computer, I'm not interested in booting other OSes. I'm mostly interested to be able to upgrade the box with faster (dual) processors. However, according to the answers obtained so far there seems to be no interest at all to make LinuxBIOS(V2) work with older motherboards, such as the widely spread 440BX-based ones. As mentioned in earlier postings, I'm willing to be a test pilot for this port, but I cannot do it without help from the LinuxBIOS developers. Thanks, Svante On Thu, 2004-04-01 at 02:46, Kevin O'Connor wrote:
On Wed, Mar 31, 2004 at 09:30:16PM +0200, Svante Signell wrote:
Is there a way to try out a new BIOS without risking to end up with an unbootable main-board, ethernet, serial port, some special card connected to the south-bridge (PIIX4) e.g. a special PCI/ISA card, etc? Other solutions including soldering, EEPROM programming devices, etc?
A number of people are using the "BIOS Savior" product with success. See: http://www.ioss.com.tw/eg/rd1/index.html
Depending on which part you need, you can mail order it from mwave.com, pcmods.com, or probably a bunch of other places.
-Kevin
On Fri, 2 Apr 2004, Svante Signell wrote:
Thank you for the information. I'll check if this equipment is usable for my hardware. The crucial thing is whether the BIOS chip is socketed or not. We'll see, at least I know the size is 2Mbit, since the latest BIOS binary (A6120IMS.200) supported by MSI is 261144kbyte. Does anybody have experience with removing a soldered chip on a motherboard without destroying anything?
2 Mbit == 256K, too small for a kernel. I think Bari Ari will tell us if you can get that part off :-)
However, according to the answers obtained so far there seems to be no interest at all to make LinuxBIOS(V2) work with older motherboards, such as the widely spread 440BX-based ones. As mentioned in earlier postings, I'm willing to be a test pilot for this port, but I cannot do it without help from the LinuxBIOS developers.
LinuxBIOS generally works fine with 440BX boards. ron
On Fri, 2004-04-02 at 20:08, ron minnich wrote:
On Fri, 2 Apr 2004, Svante Signell wrote:
Thank you for the information. I'll check if this equipment is usable for my hardware. The crucial thing is whether the BIOS chip is socketed or not. We'll see, at least I know the size is 2Mbit, since the latest BIOS binary (A6120IMS.200) supported by MSI is 261144kbyte. Does anybody Sorry my mistake: 261.144 kbyte = 256 Kibyte = 2 Mibit = 2.097152 Mbit. 2 Mbit == 256K, too small for a kernel. I thought the LinuxBIOS was parts from of a kernel. What size is needed? It seems that the flash sizes are 1,2 and 4 Mibit, at least for older boards. Have I missed something here?
I think Bari Ari will tell us if you can get that part off :-) Is he on this list?
However, according to the answers obtained so far there seems to be no interest at all to make LinuxBIOS(V2) work with older motherboards, such as the widely spread 440BX-based ones. As mentioned in earlier postings, I'm willing to be a test pilot for this port, but I cannot do it without help from the LinuxBIOS developers.
LinuxBIOS generally works fine with 440BX boards. Do you mean the target for 440BX in freebios version1, freebios/util/config/l440bx-test12.config? Do the latest kernels,e.g. 2.4.25 still have to be patched with the 2.4.13 patch, freebios/src/kernel_patches/linux-2.4.13-l440gx.diff? Is the onboard SCSI and dual CPU supported?
On Saturday 03 April 2004 10:22 am, Svante Signell wrote:
I thought the LinuxBIOS was parts from of a kernel. What size is needed? It seems that the flash sizes are 1,2 and 4 Mibit, at least for older boards. Have I missed something here?
LinuxBIOS is not the Linux kernel. LinuxBIOS is boot code which gets hardware working sufficiently to start a kernel. Where that kernel is found and booted from is your choice. Some people put it on an IDE device (eg: hard disk), some people use Compact Flash (which is basically an IDE interface as well), some people use Disk On Chip (which can go in the Bios socket on some motherboards), some people download it across a network... You are correct that you cannot fit a Linux kernel into a BIOS chip. However LinuxBIOS is much smaller than that, and can load a kernel from several locations depending on your hardware and your preference. Regards, Antony. -- Your work is both good and original. Unfortunately the parts that are good aren't original, and the parts that are original aren't good. - Samuel Johnson Please reply to the list; please don't CC me.
On Fri, Apr 02, 2004 at 07:36:32PM +0200, Svante Signell wrote:
for my hardware. The crucial thing is whether the BIOS chip is socketed or not. We'll see, at least I know the size is 2Mbit, since the latest BIOS binary (A6120IMS.200) supported by MSI is 261144kbyte. Does anybody have experience with removing a soldered chip on a motherboard without destroying anything?
Sure, both PLCC and DIL packages can be desoldered without any problems as long as it's possible/easy to access the chip physically on the board. (A PLCC ROM tucked in close to e.g. a PCI slot is more problematic..) After desoldering the ROM, it's quite possible to fit a socket there instead. <shameless plug> If you want professional help with this I'll gladly assist. I'm in Malmö. </plug> //Peter
participants (5)
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Antony Stone -
Kevin O'Connor -
Peter Stuge -
ron minnich -
Svante Signell