unknown board - via chipset

[Antoine Martin]

Hi,

I've got this board I would like to get coreboot flashed on:
*eBox-3850
**http://www.icoptech.com/ebox-pc/*

1) CPU is a via C3 Nemehia
Northbridge is a VT8623
Southbridge is a VT82xxxxx?

2) # lspci
00:00.0 Host bridge: VIA Technologies, Inc. VT8623 [Apollo CLE266]
00:01.0 PCI bridge: VIA Technologies, Inc. VT8633 [Apollo Pro266 AGP]
00:10.0 USB Controller: VIA Technologies, Inc. VT82xxxxx UHCI USB 1.1 
Controller (rev 80)
00:10.3 USB Controller: VIA Technologies, Inc. USB 2.0 (rev 82)
00:11.0 ISA bridge: VIA Technologies, Inc. VT8235 ISA Bridge
00:11.1 IDE interface: VIA Technologies, Inc. 
VT82C586A/B/VT82C686/A/B/VT823x/A/C PIPC Bus Master IDE (rev 06)
00:11.5 Multimedia audio controller: VIA Technologies, Inc. 
VT8233/A/8235/8237 AC97 Audio Controller (rev 50)
00:12.0 Ethernet controller: VIA Technologies, Inc. VT6102 [Rhine-II] 
(rev 74)
01:00.0 VGA compatible controller: VIA Technologies, Inc. VT8623 [Apollo 
CLE266] integrated CastleRock graphics (rev 03)

3)  Super I/O: via VT1211

4) Type of BIOS: unknown.
The box cannot be opened easily as the cpu is glued on to the case...
Which is why I would rather make sure it is possible to flash before I 
start damaging the box.
I've dumped the 256MB bios using the 'flashrom' utility.

5) URL:
**http://www.icoptech.com/ebox-pc/files/1EBOXPS_s.pdf

Many thanks
Antoine

[Carl-Daniel Hailfinger]

Hi Antoine,

On 10.04.2008 18:23, Antoine Martin wrote:
> I've got this board I would like to get coreboot flashed on:
> *eBox-3850
> **http://www.icoptech.com/ebox-pc/*
> CPU is a via C3 Nemehia
>
> Northbridge is a VT8623
> Southbridge is a VT82xxxxx?
> [...]
> The box cannot be opened easily as the cpu is glued on to the case...
> Which is why I would rather make sure it is possible to flash before I 
> start damaging the box.

Please do not try to flash any BIOS or firmware on a board you can't
access physically. That also applies if you can't open the box.
Flashing can go wrong and if you're porting coreboot to a new board, the
first image you flash is very likely not to boot far enough to reflash
the BIOS chip, so you have to open the case and remove the flash chip
anyway. If that is not possible, the machine is bricked.
> I've dumped the 256MB bios using the 'flashrom' utility.
> URL:
>
> **http://www.icoptech.com/ebox-pc/files/1EBOXPS_s.pdf

Regards,
Carl-Daniel

[Antoine Martin]

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Hash: SHA512

Hi Carl-Daniel,

Carl-Daniel Hailfinger wrote:
| Hi Antoine,
|
| On 10.04.2008 18:23, Antoine Martin wrote:
|> I've got this board I would like to get coreboot flashed on:
|> *eBox-3850
|> **http://www.icoptech.com/ebox-pc/*
|>
|> 1) CPU is a via C3 Nemehia
|> Northbridge is a VT8623
|> Southbridge is a VT82xxxxx?
|> [...]
|> The box cannot be opened easily as the cpu is glued on to the case...
|> Which is why I would rather make sure it is possible to flash before I
|> start damaging the box.
|>
|
| Please do not try to flash any BIOS or firmware on a board you can't
| access physically. That also applies if you can't open the box.
| Flashing can go wrong and if you're porting coreboot to a new board, the
| first image you flash is very likely not to boot far enough to reflash
| the BIOS chip, so you have to open the case and remove the flash chip
| anyway. If that is not possible, the machine is bricked.
|
If there is a reasonable chance that I can make it boot, I might take
the risk of bricking one unit or having to find a creative way of
opening and putting it back together (and that's assuming that the bios
chip can be swapped out..)
I won't blame anyone for it but myself if this goes wrong - and it often
does...

So does it look like it might work from those specs?
A lot of the via boards seem to be very similar, does the hardware and
payload vary so much that this would be pointless?

Cheers
Antoine
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[Carl-Daniel Hailfinger]

Hi Antoine,

I'll defer most of your questions to the real VIA experts on this list.

On 11.04.2008 01:16, Antoine Martin wrote:
> Carl-Daniel Hailfinger wrote:
> | On 10.04.2008 18:23, Antoine Martin wrote:
> |> I've got this board I would like to get coreboot flashed on:
> |> *eBox-3850
> |> **http://www.icoptech.com/ebox-pc/*
> |>
> |> 1) CPU is a via C3 Nemehia
> |> Northbridge is a VT8623
> |> Southbridge is a VT82xxxxx?

To have any reasonable chance of checking whether coreboot supports your
chipset, we need to know exactly which chipset it is (that includes the
exact sub-revision). Without that, you'll have virtually zero chance of
getting the machine to reach early init at all, and even less so if you
want it to boot a payload.
> |> [...]
> |> The box cannot be opened easily as the cpu is glued on to the case...
> |> Which is why I would rather make sure it is possible to flash before I
> |> start damaging the box.
> |>
> |
> | Please do not try to flash any BIOS or firmware on a board you can't
> | access physically. That also applies if you can't open the box.
> | Flashing can go wrong and if you're porting coreboot to a new board, the
> | first image you flash is very likely not to boot far enough to reflash
> | the BIOS chip, so you have to open the case and remove the flash chip
> | anyway. If that is not possible, the machine is bricked.
> |
> If there is a reasonable chance that I can make it boot, I might take
> the risk of bricking one unit or having to find a creative way of
> opening and putting it back together (and that's assuming that the bios
> chip can be swapped out..)
> I won't blame anyone for it but myself if this goes wrong - and it often
> does...

Sorry, without exact chip revisions, there is no reasonable chance to
make it boot.
> So does it look like it might work from those specs?
> A lot of the via boards seem to be very similar, does the hardware and
> payload vary so much that this would be pointless?

To give you a perspective on the difficulty of bringing up a board: Even
if chipset and processor are perfectly identical to another board, you
will have to go through a few iterations until it works (IRQ routing,
GPIO configuration and a few other things usually differ). For your
board, we don't even know the exact chipset, so the only way I see is to
open the box and write down the numbers on the chips. And please find
out whether flash is soldered (will need to be changed) or socketed (good).

Regards,
Carl-Daniel

[Antoine Martin]

Hi Carl-Daniel,

I've taken the board out (wasn't actually hard at all - it is not glued)
And here is what I found:
* Via VT1612A
* Via VT1211
* Via VT6103
* ram chips: HY5DU121622CTP
* SST39SF020A
which is soldered onto the board :(

Someone with superhuman soldering skills might be able to fit a socket 
in its place... ain't me.
(board is dual layered, so you would have to re-use those tiny pins...)
If anyone can, I'll give them a unit for free - just email me.

Cheers
Antoine

Carl-Daniel Hailfinger wrote:
> Hi Antoine,
>
> I'll defer most of your questions to the real VIA experts on this list.
>
> On 11.04.2008 01:16, Antoine Martin wrote:
> > Carl-Daniel Hailfinger wrote:
> > | On 10.04.2008 18:23, Antoine Martin wrote:
> > |> I've got this board I would like to get coreboot flashed on:
> > |> *eBox-3850
> > |> **http://www.icoptech.com/ebox-pc/*
> > |>
> > |> 1) CPU is a via C3 Nemehia
> > |> Northbridge is a VT8623
> > |> Southbridge is a VT82xxxxx?
>
> To have any reasonable chance of checking whether coreboot supports your
> chipset, we need to know exactly which chipset it is (that includes the
> exact sub-revision). Without that, you'll have virtually zero chance of
> getting the machine to reach early init at all, and even less so if you
> want it to boot a payload.
> > |> [...]
> > |> The box cannot be opened easily as the cpu is glued on to the case...
> > |> Which is why I would rather make sure it is possible to flash before I
> > |> start damaging the box.
> > |>
> > |
> > | Please do not try to flash any BIOS or firmware on a board you can't
> > | access physically. That also applies if you can't open the box.
> > | Flashing can go wrong and if you're porting coreboot to a new board, the
> > | first image you flash is very likely not to boot far enough to reflash
> > | the BIOS chip, so you have to open the case and remove the flash chip
> > | anyway. If that is not possible, the machine is bricked.
> > |
> > If there is a reasonable chance that I can make it boot, I might take
> > the risk of bricking one unit or having to find a creative way of
> > opening and putting it back together (and that's assuming that the bios
> > chip can be swapped out..)
> > I won't blame anyone for it but myself if this goes wrong - and it often
> > does...
>
> Sorry, without exact chip revisions, there is no reasonable chance to
> make it boot.
> > So does it look like it might work from those specs?
> > A lot of the via boards seem to be very similar, does the hardware and
> > payload vary so much that this would be pointless?
>
> To give you a perspective on the difficulty of bringing up a board: Even
> if chipset and processor are perfectly identical to another board, you
> will have to go through a few iterations until it works (IRQ routing,
> GPIO configuration and a few other things usually differ). For your
> board, we don't even know the exact chipset, so the only way I see is to
> open the box and write down the numbers on the chips. And please find
> out whether flash is soldered (will need to be changed) or socketed (good).
>
> Regards,
> Carl-Daniel

[Myles Watson]

> I've taken the board out (wasn't actually hard at all - it is not glued)
> And here is what I found:
> Via VT1612A
> Via VT1211
> Via VT6103
> ram chips: HY5DU121622CTP
> SST39SF020A
>
> which is soldered onto the board :(
>
> Someone with superhuman soldering skills might be able to fit a socket
> in its place... ain't me.
> (board is dual layered, so you would have to re-use those tiny pins...)
> If anyone can, I'll give them a unit for free - just email me.

When I needed that kind of work done I found a small PCB assembly place.
They charged $40 /hour, but they were good at it, so I never paid for more
than an hour.

Myles

[Peter Stuge]

On Fri, Apr 11, 2008 at 04:47:19PM +0100, Antoine Martin wrote:
> SST39SF020A
>
> which is soldered onto the board :(

Is it PLCC or TSOP? See

PLCC: http://www.coreboot.org/images/8/87/2_W39V040BPZ.png
TSOP: http://www.arlabs.com/ts29f040.jpg
> Someone with superhuman soldering skills might be able to fit a
> socket in its place... ain't me.

PLCC sockets are cheap and very easy to come by. TSOP sockets exist
but are not so common and thus cost quite a bit more.
> If anyone can, I'll give them a unit for free - just email me.

I can help you out with soldering, both PLCC and TSOP, but getting
TSOP sockets may take a couple of weeks. :\

//Peter

[Carl-Daniel Hailfinger]

Hi Antoine,

On 11.04.2008 17:47, Antoine Martin wrote:
> I've taken the board out (wasn't actually hard at all - it is not glued)
> And here is what I found:
> CPU is a VIA C3 Nemehia

Supported.
> Northbridge is a VT8623

Supported.
> Via VT1612A

That's the audio chip. No support needed.
> Via VT1211

That's the Super I/O. Supported.
> Via VT6103

That's the ethernet chip. No support needed.

Could you try to find out which southbridge the board is using? I
suspect it is one of the VT82xx series, probably VT8235.
> ram chips: HY5DU121622CTP

Are these RAM chips soldered directly on the board? Does the board have
a SPD EEPROM?
> SST39SF020A
>
> which is soldered onto the board :(
>
> Someone with superhuman soldering skills might be able to fit a socket
> in its place... ain't me.
> (board is dual layered, so you would have to re-use those tiny pins...)
> If anyone can, I'll give them a unit for free - just email me.

There are some VIA experts on this list who can solder very well. I'll
defer to them.

Regards,
Carl-Daniel

[Antoine Martin]

Hi Carl-Daniel,

Carl-Daniel Hailfinger wrote:
> Hi Antoine,
> On 11.04.2008 17:47, Antoine Martin wrote:
> > I've taken the board out (wasn't actually hard at all - it is not glued)
> > And here is what I found:
> > CPU is a VIA C3 Nemehia
>
> Supported.
> > Northbridge is a VT8623
>
> Supported.
> > Via VT1612A
>
> That's the audio chip. No support needed.
> > Via VT1211
>
> That's the Super I/O. Supported.
> > Via VT6103
>
> That's the ethernet chip. No support needed.
>
> Could you try to find out which southbridge the board is using? I
> suspect it is one of the VT82xx series, probably VT8235.

The southbridge is located under the large heatsink which is harder to 
remove, but I suspect your are correct:

# lspci
00:00.0 Host bridge: VIA Technologies, Inc. VT8623 [Apollo CLE266]
00:01.0 PCI bridge: VIA Technologies, Inc. VT8633 [Apollo Pro266 AGP]
00:10.0 USB Controller: VIA Technologies, Inc. VT82xxxxx UHCI USB 1.1 
Controller (rev 80)
00:10.3 USB Controller: VIA Technologies, Inc. USB 2.0 (rev 82)
00:11.0 ISA bridge: VIA Technologies, Inc. VT8235 ISA Bridge
00:11.1 IDE interface: VIA Technologies, Inc. 
VT82C586A/B/VT82C686/A/B/VT823x/A/C PIPC Bus Master IDE (rev 06)
00:11.5 Multimedia audio controller: VIA Technologies, Inc. 
VT8233/A/8235/8237 AC97 Audio Controller (rev 50)
00:12.0 Ethernet controller: VIA Technologies, Inc. VT6102 [Rhine-II] 
(rev 74)
01:00.0 VGA compatible controller: VIA Technologies, Inc. VT8623 [Apollo 
CLE266] integrated CastleRock graphics (rev 03)
> > ram chips: HY5DU121622CTP
>
> Are these RAM chips soldered directly on the board? Does the board have
> a SPD EEPROM?

Not that I can see...
> > SST39SF020A
> >
> > which is soldered onto the board :(
> >
> > Someone with superhuman soldering skills might be able to fit a socket
> > in its place... ain't me.
> > (board is dual layered, so you would have to re-use those tiny pins...)
> > If anyone can, I'll give them a unit for free - just email me.
>
> There are some VIA experts on this list who can solder very well. I'll
> defer to them.

Any of them UK based?
How should I go about locating someone capable of doing this tricky 
soldering job?

Cheers
Antoine

[Antoine Martin]

> > > ram chips: HY5DU121622CTP
> >
> > Are these RAM chips soldered directly on the board? Does the board have
> > a SPD EEPROM?
>
> Not that I can see...

Just found what looks like one (from googling the part no):
RT91738

Cheers
Antoine

[Peter Stuge]

On Mon, Apr 14, 2008 at 04:36:37PM +0100, Antoine Martin wrote:
> How should I go about locating someone capable of doing this tricky
> soldering job?

If you don't want to ship to me in Sweden I suggest looking for game
console repair and modding shops. If they are good at installing mods
in the older PS2 and newest Wii consoles, they should be able to
replace a TSOP with a socket. They will not likely have any sockets
however. :\

On Mon, Apr 14, 2008 at 04:53:19PM +0100, Antoine Martin wrote:
> > > Are these RAM chips soldered directly on the board? Does the
> > > board have a SPD EEPROM?
> >
> > Not that I can see...
>
> Just found what looks like one (from googling the part no):
> RT91738

Dunno. Does it have 8 pins?

Could you take a (higher resolution the better) photo of the board?

//Peter

[jtd]

On Monday 14 April 2008 09:06 pm, Antoine Martin wrote:
> Hi Carl-Daniel,
>
> Carl-Daniel Hailfinger wrote:
> > Hi Antoine,
> >
> > On 11.04.2008 17:47, Antoine Martin wrote:
> > > I've taken the board out (wasn't actually hard at all - it is
> > > not glued) And here is what I found:
> > > CPU is a VIA C3 Nemehia
> >
> > Supported.
> > > Northbridge is a VT8623
> >
> > Supported.
> > > Via VT1612A
> >
> > That's the audio chip. No support needed.
> > > Via VT1211
> >
> > That's the Super I/O. Supported.
> > > Via VT6103
> >
> > That's the ethernet chip. No support needed.
> >
> > Could you try to find out which southbridge the board is using? I
> > suspect it is one of the VT82xx series, probably VT8235.
>
> The southbridge is located under the large heatsink which is harder
> to remove, but I suspect your are correct:
>
> # lspci
> 00:00.0 Host bridge: VIA Technologies, Inc. VT8623 [Apollo CLE266]
> 00:01.0 PCI bridge: VIA Technologies, Inc. VT8633 [Apollo Pro266
> AGP] 00:10.0 USB Controller: VIA Technologies, Inc. VT82xxxxx UHCI
> USB 1.1 Controller (rev 80)
> 00:10.3 USB Controller: VIA Technologies, Inc. USB 2.0 (rev 82)
> 00:11.0 ISA bridge: VIA Technologies, Inc. VT8235 ISA Bridge
> 00:11.1 IDE interface: VIA Technologies, Inc.
> VT82C586A/B/VT82C686/A/B/VT823x/A/C PIPC Bus Master IDE (rev 06)
> 00:11.5 Multimedia audio controller: VIA Technologies, Inc.
> VT8233/A/8235/8237 AC97 Audio Controller (rev 50)
> 00:12.0 Ethernet controller: VIA Technologies, Inc. VT6102
> [Rhine-II] (rev 74)
> 01:00.0 VGA compatible controller: VIA Technologies, Inc. VT8623
> [Apollo CLE266] integrated CastleRock graphics (rev 03)
> > > ram chips: HY5DU121622CTP
> >
> > Are these RAM chips soldered directly on the board? Does the
> > board have a SPD EEPROM?
>
> Not that I can see...
> > > SST39SF020A
> > >
> > > which is soldered onto the board :(
> > >
> > > Someone with superhuman soldering skills might be able to fit a
> > > socket in its place... ain't me.
> > > (board is dual layered, so you would have to re-use those tiny
> > > pins...) If anyone can, I'll give them a unit for free - just
> > > email me.
> >
> > There are some VIA experts on this list who can solder very well.
> > I'll defer to them.
>
> Any of them UK based?
> How should I go about locating someone capable of doing this tricky
> soldering job?
>
> Cheers
> Antoine

[jtd]

On Thursday 10 April 2008 09:53 pm, Antoine Martin wrote:
> Hi,
>
> I've got this board I would like to get coreboot flashed on:
> *eBox-3850
> **http://www.icoptech.com/ebox-pc/*
> CPU is a via C3 Nemehia
>
> Northbridge is a VT8623
> Southbridge is a VT82xxxxx?
> # lspci
>
> 00:00.0 Host bridge: VIA Technologies, Inc. VT8623 [Apollo CLE266]
> 00:01.0 PCI bridge: VIA Technologies, Inc. VT8633 [Apollo Pro266
> AGP] 00:10.0 USB Controller: VIA Technologies, Inc. VT82xxxxx UHCI
> USB 1.1 Controller (rev 80)
> 00:10.3 USB Controller: VIA Technologies, Inc. USB 2.0 (rev 82)
> 00:11.0 ISA bridge: VIA Technologies, Inc. VT8235 ISA Bridge
> 00:11.1 IDE interface: VIA Technologies, Inc.
> VT82C586A/B/VT82C686/A/B/VT823x/A/C PIPC Bus Master IDE (rev 06)
> 00:11.5 Multimedia audio controller: VIA Technologies, Inc.
> VT8233/A/8235/8237 AC97 Audio Controller (rev 50)
> 00:12.0 Ethernet controller: VIA Technologies, Inc. VT6102
> [Rhine-II] (rev 74)
> 01:00.0 VGA compatible controller: VIA Technologies, Inc. VT8623
> [Apollo CLE266] integrated CastleRock graphics (rev 03)
> Super I/O: via VT1211

Almost the same as the idot mobo i am working on without much 
success :(. Only the network controller is different.

00:00.0 Host bridge: VIA Technologies, Inc. VT8623 [Apollo CLE266]
00:01.0 PCI bridge: VIA Technologies, Inc. VT8633 [Apollo Pro266 AGP]
00:0d.0 Ethernet controller: Realtek Semiconductor Co., Ltd. 
RTL-8139/8139C/8139C+ (rev 10)
00:10.0 USB Controller: VIA Technologies, Inc. VT82xxxxx UHCI USB 1.1 
Controller (rev 80)
00:10.1 USB Controller: VIA Technologies, Inc. VT82xxxxx UHCI USB 1.1 
Controller (rev 80)
00:10.2 USB Controller: VIA Technologies, Inc. VT82xxxxx UHCI USB 1.1 
Controller (rev 80)
00:10.3 USB Controller: VIA Technologies, Inc. USB 2.0 (rev 82)
00:11.0 ISA bridge: VIA Technologies, Inc. VT8235 ISA Bridge
00:11.1 IDE interface: VIA Technologies, Inc. 
VT82C586A/B/VT82C686/A/B/VT823x/A/C PIPC Bus Master IDE (rev 06)
00:11.5 Multimedia audio controller: VIA Technologies, Inc. 
VT8233/A/8235/8237 AC97 Audio Controller (rev 50)
01:00.0 VGA compatible controller: VIA Technologies, Inc. VT8623 
[Apollo CLE266] integrated CastleRock graphics (rev 03)

Does spd work on the epia / epia-m?