Re: [coreboot] Re unsuported Motherboard

[Joao Mamede]

Joao Mamede wrote:
>     > a socket to plug in a BIOS and buy a BIOS external  writer. Can I
>     > have recommendations on where to buy?

Peter Stuge wrote:

What's your budget?

farnell.com should have PLCC sockets and maybe even flash chips.
    bios-repair.co.uk has flash chips, and maybe PLCC sockets.

For programmer it would probably be simplest to use another
    mainboard which is compatible with flashrom.

Can we remove BIOS with the machine turned on? Meaning: We boot with the 
good one, we remove it, we insert the second machine chip and flash it. 
Does it work?
About the compatibility, I have a motherboard with a socket that has a 
award BIOS, is the chip/socket the same for AMI? Are they compatible?
I'm sorry for the "noob" questions, but I don't really know much about BIOS.

Check which flash chip is in the system, if it's an SPI chip then
    your best bet is to order the sockets from bios-repair.co.uk instead,
    I haven't seen SO-8 sockets easily available anywhere else.

//Peter

Re unsuported Motherboard

[Myles Watson]

> For programmer it would probably be simplest to use another
> mainboard which is compatible with flashrom.
>
> Can we remove BIOS with the machine turned on? Meaning: We boot with the
> good one, we remove it, we insert the second machine chip and flash it.
> Does it work?

Yes.  This link has pictures of the pushpin method.  It works very well for
PLCC, which are pictured.

http://www.coreboot.org/Developer_Manual/Tools#Chip_removal_tools

The downside is that it will take a long time to try a new design, since you
will have to boot the machine to Linux, flash the new design, and reboot.
Having another machine that is already up will save a lot of time.
> About the compatibility, I have a motherboard with a socket that has a
> award BIOS, is the chip/socket the same for AMI? Are they compatible?

Any BIOS vendor could use any type of chip.  Unfortunately, that won't help
you figure it out.

Thanks,
Myles

Re unsuported Motherboard

[Paul Menzel]

Am Mittwoch, den 03.03.2010, 15:00 +0100 schrieb Joao Mamede:

[…]
> Can we remove BIOS with the machine turned on? Meaning: We boot with the 
> good one, we remove it, we insert the second machine chip and flash it. 
> Does it work?

As far as I know, yes! You can for example use push pins for easier
handling[2].
> About the compatibility, I have a motherboard with a socket that has a 
> award BIOS, is the chip/socket the same for AMI? Are they compatible?

As far as I know the BIOS manufacturer has nothing to do with it. It
really just depends on the socket and if the flash chip is supported on
that other system/motherboard.

Thanks,

Paul

[1] http://www.coreboot.org/Developer_Manual/Tools

Re unsuported Motherboard

[Knut Kujat]

Myles Watson escribió:
> > For programmer it would probably be simplest to use another
> > mainboard which is compatible with flashrom.
> >
> > Can we remove BIOS with the machine turned on? Meaning: We boot with the
> > good one, we remove it, we insert the second machine chip and flash it.
> > Does it work?
>
> Yes.  This link has pictures of the pushpin method.  It works very well for
> PLCC, which are pictured.
>
> http://www.coreboot.org/Developer_Manual/Tools#Chip_removal_tools
>
> The downside is that it will take a long time to try a new design, since you
> will have to boot the machine to Linux, flash the new design, and reboot.
> Having another machine that is already up will save a lot of time.

I'm using pushpins and a separate machine for reprogramming the chips
(PLCC) works awesome no problem so far and I'm sure I did reprogram
chips on this board for like 100 times.
> > About the compatibility, I have a motherboard with a socket that has a
> > award BIOS, is the chip/socket the same for AMI? Are they compatible?
>
> Any BIOS vendor could use any type of chip.  Unfortunately, that won't help
> you figure it out.
>
> Thanks,
> Myles

Have you tried flashrom to see which chip is installed?

Bye,
Knut Kujat.