Today I noticed a new stretch goal about flashrom support (kinda late in the game), it seems pretty important to have this so I think that the stretch goal funding should be extended.
I had assumed that the BMC firmware would be stored in and loaded from the main coreboot flash image, or that there would be a shim loader installable on the bmc firmware module that would (as the BMC has DMA) load the firmware from memory for easy updating.
The requiring of the firmware module may be a problem for some people because apparently there are two different SKU's from asus one of which didn't ship with it and no retailers sell it separately.
Also, If the stretch goal doesn't get funded is it possible to perform a "clean" flash with a test clip?
On 2017-03-07 at 04:29, Taiidan@gmx.com wrote:
Today I noticed a new stretch goal about flashrom support (kinda late in the game), it seems pretty important to have this so I think that the stretch goal funding should be extended.
Fortunately, that stretch goal is now already funded.
I had assumed that the BMC firmware would be stored in and loaded from the main coreboot flash image, or that there would be a shim loader installable on the bmc firmware module that would (as the BMC has DMA) load the firmware from memory for easy updating.
No, it's loaded from a Spansion S25FL128P flash chip on the (quite simple) ASMB4 board:
https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/81ALFe4U3CL._SL1500_.jpg
(It looks like the board is just a way for ASUS to sell copies of the BMC firmware separately from the mainboard.)
The requiring of the firmware module may be a problem for some people because apparently there are two different SKU's from asus one of which didn't ship with it and no retailers sell it separately.
Also, If the stretch goal doesn't get funded is it possible to perform a "clean" flash with a test clip?
Yes, the S25FL128P on the BMC board is in a SOIC-16 package, and it's in flashrom's flashchips struct. And there's nothing else on the board's power rail that could cause problems with ISP. So I see no reason why flashing with a test clip wouldn't work.
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Patrick 'P. J.' McDermott -
Taiidan＠gmx.com