[LinuxBIOS] cant detect bios with flash software

Hi,
I have just got my RD1, and installed it into my EPIA-PD10000 m/board (same chipset as the EPIA-M), all works fine :)

I ran the flashrom util fom the linuxbios source code, (downloaded via svn)
when i run the flashrom util i get the following :-

with bios savour switched in, but nothing written :-

:~/bios/LinuxBIOSv2/util/flashrom# ./flashrom
Calibrating delay loop... ok
No LinuxBIOS table found.
Enabling flash write on VT8235...OK
W49F002U found at physical address: 0xfffc0000
Flash part is W49F002U
OK, only ENABLING flash write, but NOT FLASHING.

with original bios switched in :-

~/bios/LinuxBIOSv2/util/flashrom# ./flashrom
Calibrating delay loop... ok
No LinuxBIOS table found.
Enabling flash write on VT8235...OK
No EEPROM/flash device found.

As you can see the RD1 bios chip is reconised fine but my original bios chip dosnt seem to be found :(
on inspection of the bios chip, i can see a chip number of :F492002UA
If ive understood the flashrom program, this isnt reconsied becasue there isnt a file of that name within the flashrom directory (each file represents its resective bios number????)
Has anyone come accross this bios chip before, and if so can they supply the config file for flashrom?

As i understand it, i should still be able to use the EPIA flash program, but as i dont have a working floppy drive in the house, and am not keen on using a cd for a 1.44Mb file, PLEASE could anyone recomend a way around this?
Also if i use the EPIA flash program it makes it harder to get the compiled rom into the bios, as i have to jump from linux to windows all the time :(

Is there a way to grab the entire bios using dd under linux? could this be sued to get a copy of the original bios, and then write this to the RD1?

Many thanks

Matt

[Stefan Reinauer]

* [e-mail]  [060630 02:08]:
> Calibrating delay loop... ok
> No LinuxBIOS table found.
> Enabling flash write on VT8235...OK
> No EEPROM/flash device found.

Run flashrom -V to see the id of the flash chip

Stefan

[LinuxBIOS] cant detect bios with flash software {Scanned}

ok when i run flashrom with -V i get the folloowing:-

~/bios/LinuxBIOSv2/util/flashrom# ./flashrom -V
Calibrating delay loop... Setting up microsecond timing loop
176M loops per second
ok
No LinuxBIOS table found.
Enabling flash write on VT8235...OK
Trying Am29F040B, 512 KB
probe_29f040b: id1 0x25, id2 0xa6
Trying Am29F016D, 2048 KB
probe_29f040b: id1 0xff, id2 0xff
Trying At29C040A, 512 KB
probe_jedec: id1 0x8c, id2 0x0
Trying Mx29f002, 256 KB
probe_29f002: id1 0x8c, id2 0x0
Trying SST29EE020A, 256 KB
probe_jedec: id1 0x8c, id2 0x0
Trying SST28SF040A, 512 KB
probe_28sf040: id1 0x25, id2 0xa6
Trying SST39SF020A, 256 KB
probe_jedec: id1 0x8c, id2 0x0
Trying SST39VF020, 256 KB
probe_jedec: id1 0x8c, id2 0x0
Trying SST49LF040B, 512 KB
probe_jedec: id1 0x8c, id2 0x0
Trying SST49LF040, 512 KB
probe_jedec: id1 0x8c, id2 0x0
Trying SST49LF080A, 1024 KB
probe_jedec: id1 0xff, id2 0xff
Trying SST49LF002A/B, 256 KB
probe_jedec: id1 0x8c, id2 0x0
Trying SST49LF003A/B, 384 KB
probe_jedec: id1 0x8c, id2 0x0
Trying SST49LF004A/B, 512 KB
probe_jedec: id1 0x8c, id2 0x0
Trying SST49LF008A, 1024 KB
probe_jedec: id1 0xff, id2 0xff
Trying Pm49FL002, 256 KB
probe_jedec: id1 0x8c, id2 0x0
Trying Pm49FL004, 512 KB
probe_jedec: id1 0x8c, id2 0x0
Trying W29C011, 128 KB
probe_jedec: id1 0x8c, id2 0x0
Trying W29C020C, 256 KB
probe_jedec: id1 0x8c, id2 0x0
Trying W49F002U, 256 KB
probe_jedec: id1 0x8c, id2 0x0
Trying W49V002A, 256 KB
probe_jedec: id1 0x8c, id2 0x0
Trying W39V040A, 512 KB
probe_jedec: id1 0x8c, id2 0x0
Trying M29F040B, 512 KB
probe_29f040b: id1 0x25, id2 0xa6
Trying M29F400BT, 512 KB
probe_m29f400bt: id1 0x25, id2 0x2d
Trying 82802ab, 512 KB
probe_82802ab: id1 0x25, id2 0xa6
Trying 82802ac, 1024 KB
probe_82802ab: id1 0xff, id2 0xff
Trying LHF00L04, 1024 KB
probe_lhf00l04: id1 0xff, id2 0xff
No EEPROM/flash device found.

As far as i can see its not showing the rom number :(
I cant seem to find a version number for flashrom, but it was downloaded via svn on 29 June (this year!!)
I am running this on 'Ubuntu 5.10 "Breezy Badger"' Kernel : 'Linux ubuntu 2.6.12-9-386 #1 Mon Oct 10 13:14:36 BST 2005 i686 GNU/Linux'
on an VIA EPIA-PD10000 m/board

Matt

Stefan Reinauer wrote ..
> [e-mail]  [060630 02:08]:
> > Calibrating delay loop... ok
> > No LinuxBIOS table found.
> > Enabling flash write on VT8235...OK
> > No EEPROM/flash device found.
>
> Run flashrom -V to see the id of the flash chip
>
> Stefan

[LinuxBIOS] cant detect bios with flash software {Scanned}

[David Hendricks]

Can you switch to using the RD1's BIOS, even if it's not flashed yet? It
should be a PMC chip of some sort that flashrom currently supports. It could
be that we simply need to add support for whatever flash chip your mainboard
came with, in which case we'll need you to open up your machine and get the
part number.

On 6/30/06, [e-mail] < [e-mail]> wrote:
> ok when i run flashrom with -V i get the folloowing:-
>
> ~/bios/LinuxBIOSv2/util/flashrom# ./flashrom -V
> Calibrating delay loop... Setting up microsecond timing loop
> 176M loops per second
> ok
> No LinuxBIOS table found.
> Enabling flash write on VT8235...OK
> Trying Am29F040B, 512 KB
> probe_29f040b: id1 0x25, id2 0xa6
> Trying Am29F016D, 2048 KB
> probe_29f040b: id1 0xff, id2 0xff
> Trying At29C040A, 512 KB
> probe_jedec: id1 0x8c, id2 0x0
> Trying Mx29f002, 256 KB
> probe_29f002: id1 0x8c, id2 0x0
> Trying SST29EE020A, 256 KB
> probe_jedec: id1 0x8c, id2 0x0
> Trying SST28SF040A, 512 KB
> probe_28sf040: id1 0x25, id2 0xa6
> Trying SST39SF020A, 256 KB
> probe_jedec: id1 0x8c, id2 0x0
> Trying SST39VF020, 256 KB
> probe_jedec: id1 0x8c, id2 0x0
> Trying SST49LF040B, 512 KB
> probe_jedec: id1 0x8c, id2 0x0
> Trying SST49LF040, 512 KB
> probe_jedec: id1 0x8c, id2 0x0
> Trying SST49LF080A, 1024 KB
> probe_jedec: id1 0xff, id2 0xff
> Trying SST49LF002A/B, 256 KB
> probe_jedec: id1 0x8c, id2 0x0
> Trying SST49LF003A/B, 384 KB
> probe_jedec: id1 0x8c, id2 0x0
> Trying SST49LF004A/B, 512 KB
> probe_jedec: id1 0x8c, id2 0x0
> Trying SST49LF008A, 1024 KB
> probe_jedec: id1 0xff, id2 0xff
> Trying Pm49FL002, 256 KB
> probe_jedec: id1 0x8c, id2 0x0
> Trying Pm49FL004, 512 KB
> probe_jedec: id1 0x8c, id2 0x0
> Trying W29C011, 128 KB
> probe_jedec: id1 0x8c, id2 0x0
> Trying W29C020C, 256 KB
> probe_jedec: id1 0x8c, id2 0x0
> Trying W49F002U, 256 KB
> probe_jedec: id1 0x8c, id2 0x0
> Trying W49V002A, 256 KB
> probe_jedec: id1 0x8c, id2 0x0
> Trying W39V040A, 512 KB
> probe_jedec: id1 0x8c, id2 0x0
> Trying M29F040B, 512 KB
> probe_29f040b: id1 0x25, id2 0xa6
> Trying M29F400BT, 512 KB
> probe_m29f400bt: id1 0x25, id2 0x2d
> Trying 82802ab, 512 KB
> probe_82802ab: id1 0x25, id2 0xa6
> Trying 82802ac, 1024 KB
> probe_82802ab: id1 0xff, id2 0xff
> Trying LHF00L04, 1024 KB
> probe_lhf00l04: id1 0xff, id2 0xff
> No EEPROM/flash device found.
>
> As far as i can see its not showing the rom number :(
> I cant seem to find a version number for flashrom, but it was downloaded
> via svn on 29 June (this year!!)
> I am running this on 'Ubuntu 5.10 "Breezy Badger"' Kernel : 'Linux ubuntu
> 2.6.12-9-386 #1 Mon Oct 10 13:14:36 BST 2005 i686 GNU/Linux'
> on an VIA EPIA-PD10000 m/board
>
> Matt
>
> Stefan Reinauer wrote ..
> > [e-mail] < [e-mail]> [060630 02:08]:
> > > Calibrating delay loop... ok
> > > No LinuxBIOS table found.
> > > Enabling flash write on VT8235...OK
> > > No EEPROM/flash device found.
> >
> > Run flashrom -V to see the id of the flash chip
> >
> > Stefan

[LinuxBIOS] cant detect bios with flash software {Scanned}

[Ronald G Minnich]

David Hendricks wrote:
> Can you switch to using the RD1's BIOS, even if it's not flashed yet? It 
> should be a PMC chip of some sort that flashrom currently supports. It 
> could be that we simply need to add support for whatever flash chip your 
> mainboard came with, in which case we'll need you to open up your 
> machine and get the part number.

I'm suspicious that flash write is not enabled in the chipset, but yeah, 
switch the bios savior to the rd1 position and see if it id's that flash 
part.

ron

[LinuxBIOS] cant detect bios with flash software {Scanned}

[Stefan Reinauer]

* Ronald G Minnich  [060630 18:56]:
> David Hendricks wrote:
> > Can you switch to using the RD1's BIOS, even if it's not flashed yet? It 
> > should be a PMC chip of some sort that flashrom currently supports. It 
> > could be that we simply need to add support for whatever flash chip your 
> > mainboard came with, in which case we'll need you to open up your 
> > machine and get the part number.
>
> I'm suspicious that flash write is not enabled in the chipset, but yeah, 
> switch the bios savior to the rd1 position and see if it id's that flash 
> part.

But with the bios savior the flash chip was detected, so in theory it
might be an unsupported chip type tristar. Cant fint docs on this..

Also the flash device type :F492002UA looks very weird. Can you double
check it does not say something different or something else on the chip?
can you recognize a vendor (logo/string)?

can you verify whether the image starts with 25 a6?

Stefan

[LinuxBIOS] cant detect bios with flash software {Scanned}

[Ronald G Minnich]

Stefan Reinauer wrote:
> But with the bios savior the flash chip was detected, so in theory it
> might be an unsupported chip type tristar. Cant fint docs on this..

er, sorry, I missed that, oops.

ron

[LinuxBIOS] cant detect bios with flash software {Scanned}

Hi there,
Got someone else to read the bios chip number (my eyes are getting bad LOL)
Chip has the following on the top :-

EFST
F498002UA     90N
AZB1MFR29     0303

Not quite sure of the '0303' on the last line it may be 8303, its not very clear :(
Is there a way to get the bios number from inside linux? eg. is it held someware that could be grabbed via the /proc filesystem?
Is there any way i can help to get the support for this bios chip? (im not very good at programming nowadays, used to program Z80/6502 chips not C code etc.) but given a good set of instructions i should be able to follow them :)
Also, does this mean that there isnt anyway to get linuxbios working on my board? or is it just a case of writing a good image to the RD1 to get it working? the last time i used anything like this was when you had a small memory chip with built in battery that had an RTC in the upper 8 address bytes, and the rest was standard SRAM :)

Im not sure what u mean by verifing that the image starts 25 a6??? are you talking about an image file taken from the BIOS using VIAs flash utility?

Many thanks for all the info/help so far

Matt

Stefan Reinauer wrote ..
> Ronald G Minnich  [060630 18:56]:
> > David Hendricks wrote:
> > > Can you switch to using the RD1's BIOS, even if it's not flashed yet?
>
> It
> > > should be a PMC chip of some sort that flashrom currently supports.
>
> It
> > > could be that we simply need to add support for whatever flash chip
>
> your
> > > mainboard came with, in which case we'll need you to open up your 
> > > machine and get the part number.
> >
> > I'm suspicious that flash write is not enabled in the chipset, but yeah,
> > switch the bios savior to the rd1 position and see if it id's that flash
> > part.
>
> But with the bios savior the flash chip was detected, so in theory it
> might be an unsupported chip type tristar. Cant fint docs on this..
>
> Also the flash device type :F492002UA looks very weird. Can you double
> check it does not say something different or something else on the chip?
> can you recognize a vendor (logo/string)?
>
> can you verify whether the image starts with 25 a6?
>
> Stefan

[LinuxBIOS] cant detect bios with flash software {Scanned}

[Ronald G Minnich]

you have to find the vendor. Given the vendor and part #, we can get a 
data book and update flashrom to understand that chip.

Don't give up -- we'll get it.

ron

[LinuxBIOS] cant detect bios with flash software {Scanned}

[Stefan Reinauer]

* [e-mail]  [060630 19:42]:
> EFST
> F498002UA     90N
> AZB1MFR29     0303

Good! This helps. The part is an EFST F49B002UA:
http://www.esmt.com.tw/DB/manager/upload/F49B002UA.pdf
> Is there a way to get the bios number from inside linux?

Yes. each flash chip has an identification sequence. Unfortunately there
are different such sequences for different manufacturers. But all in all
each flash chip has one byte vendor id and one byte device id.
> Also, does this mean that there isnt anyway to get linuxbios working
> on my board? or is it just a case of writing a good image to the RD1
> to get it working?

You can just write to the chip on the bios savior and leave the EFST
alone (it has a good working bios image, right?) - Actually that is
probably the best way to start.
> the last time i used anything like this was when
> you had a small memory chip with built in battery that had an RTC in
> the upper 8 address bytes, and the rest was standard SRAM :)

The programming got a lot easier since then. The hardware a lot more
complex. :-)
> Im not sure what u mean by verifing that the image starts 25 a6??? are
> you talking about an image file taken from the BIOS using VIAs flash
> utility?

I thought that might be the vendor and device id. In fact it is 8c and
00, as it is a 256kb part

Stefan

[LinuxBIOS] cant detect bios with flash software {Scanned}

[Stefan Reinauer]

* Stefan Reinauer  [060630 21:49]:
> > Im not sure what u mean by verifing that the image starts 25 a6??? are
> > you talking about an image file taken from the BIOS using VIAs flash
> > utility?
>
> I thought that might be the vendor and device id. In fact it is 8c and
> 00, as it is a 256kb part

Ok, can you please check out revision 2336. I checked in some untested
support for your flash part.

Can you try the following:

Please be careful which chip you use at a time. If you mess the order up
you will most likely render your system unusable ...

1. make a copy of your bios:

switch to the EFST, then do:

./flashrom -r legacybios.bin

2. write the copy to your bios savior

switch to the bios savior (Winbond W49F002U)

./flashrom -w legacybios.bin

3. Verify the copy in the bios savior

./flashrom -v legacybios.bin

4. Overwrite the EMST flash to see if the new flashbios version works

switch to the EMST again!

dd if=/dev/zero of=nullbios.bin bs=256k count=1
    ./flashbios -w nullbios.bin
    ./flashbios -v nullbios.bin

(it should say "verified" here!!!!)

then you can write the original bios back to the EMST so you have
   two valid copies for playing later.

./flashbios -w legacybios.bin
   ./flashbios -v legacybios.bin

Please post the results here..

[LinuxBIOS] cant detect bios with flash software {Scanned}

:) IT WORKED :)

THANK YOU VERY VERY VERY MUCH :)

sucseval read of original bios (didnt write to it!!) and then write to RD1

have jsut swapped original bios with replacement bios chip, and will write the bios image to that as well.

The original bios will be packed away for save keeping, and ill work on the RD1 bios, and the replacement bios :)

I take it that if it read ok, then thats the file working, or is the writing process diferant? if it is, ill insert the original and try writing for you, jsut to confirm it works, if not, then id say thats a sucesful addition to the source :)

again many thanks

Matt

Stefan Reinauer wrote ..
> Stefan Reinauer  [060630 21:49]:
> > > Im not sure what u mean by verifing that the image starts 25 a6???
>
> are
> > > you talking about an image file taken from the BIOS using VIAs flash
> > > utility?
> >
> > I thought that might be the vendor and device id. In fact it is 8c and
> > 00, as it is a 256kb part
>
> Ok, can you please check out revision 2336. I checked in some untested
> support for your flash part.
>
> Can you try the following:
>
> Please be careful which chip you use at a time. If you mess the order up
> you will most likely render your system unusable ...
>
> make a copy of your bios:
>
> switch to the EFST, then do:
>
> ./flashrom -r legacybios.bin
>
> write the copy to your bios savior
>
> switch to the bios savior (Winbond W49F002U)
>
> ./flashrom -w legacybios.bin
>
> Verify the copy in the bios savior
>
> ./flashrom -v legacybios.bin
>
> Overwrite the EMST flash to see if the new flashbios version works
>
> switch to the EMST again!
>
> dd if=/dev/zero of=nullbios.bin bs=256k count=1
>  ./flashbios -w nullbios.bin
>  ./flashbios -v nullbios.bin
>
> (it should say "verified" here!!!!)
>
> then you can write the original bios back to the EMST so you have
> two valid copies for playing later.
>
> ./flashbios -w legacybios.bin
> ./flashbios -v legacybios.bin
>
> Please post the results here..

[LinuxBIOS] cant detect bios with flash software {Scanned}

[Stefan Reinauer]

* [e-mail]  [060701 01:41]:
> sucseval read of original bios (didnt write to it!!) and then write to
> RD1

ok, that's the easy part.
> The original bios will be packed away for save keeping, and ill work
> on the RD1 bios, and the replacement bios :)

so you have 3 bios chips in a whole?
> I take it that if it read ok, then thats the file working, or is the
> writing process diferant? if it is, ill insert the original and try
> writing for you, jsut to confirm it works, if not, then id say thats a
> sucesful addition to the source :)

Yes, the write process is the actually complicated part. Reading is
mostly trivial. If you want, go ahead and try writing it - It _should_
work, according to the data sheet about the chip. Since you have a
working copy in the bios savior, its not dangerous.

Stefan

[LinuxBIOS] LB Post codes

Hi,
> From what ive read on the LB site, LB uses post codes quitre a bit, but i cant find a list of the codes ANYWARE :(

Ive just tried LB on a VIA-EPAI-PD10000 board using the EPAI-M LB config (i dont have a serial cable connected at present, going to grab one tomorow!)
using my post card i get the following sequance displayed : 10/80/05 (all hex)
can anyone poinbt me in the write direction ether for a list of the bios codes or if thats not available, then what the above codes indicate.
I get no video output when trying to boot to the LB.
It has been compiled from latest svn, with filo.
If there is any other info that might help, please let me know, im hoping the post codes may point to something stupid i did in configuring/installing LB.

Thanks

Matt
P.S. The EIPA-PD apears to use the saem chipsets as the EPIA-M, so im asuming the LB should work (at least to some extent)

[LinuxBIOS] LB Post codes

[Ronald G Minnich]

[e-mail] wrote:
> Hi,
>
> From what ive read on the LB site, LB uses post codes quitre a bit, but i cant find a list of the codes ANYWARE :(

ah, yes, well, uh, that's my fault.
> Ive just tried LB on a VIA-EPAI-PD10000 board using the EPAI-M LB config (i dont have a serial cable connected at present, going to grab one tomorow!)
> using my post card i get the following sequance displayed : 10/80/05 (all hex)

best thing to do is grep -i post in src ... yuck! sorry.

ron

[LinuxBIOS] LB Post codes

[Stefan Reinauer]

* Ronald G Minnich  [060701 04:17]:
> [e-mail] wrote:
> > Hi,
> >
> > From what ive read on the LB site, LB uses post codes quitre a bit,
> > but i cant find a list of the codes ANYWARE :(
>
> ah, yes, well, uh, that's my fault.
> > Ive just tried LB on a VIA-EPAI-PD10000 board using the EPAI-M LB
> > config (i dont have a serial cable connected at present, going to
> > grab one tomorow!) using my post card i get the following sequance
> > displayed : 10/80/05 (all hex)
>
> best thing to do is grep -i post in src ... yuck! sorry.

Should we make a list of those in the wiki and try to get them
straightened out in the different ports a bit? Or do we keep this
as a pool of "implementor's freedom"?

[LinuxBIOS] LB Post codes

[Ronald G Minnich]

Stefan Reinauer wrote:
> Should we make a list of those in the wiki and try to get them
> straightened out in the different ports a bit? Or do we keep this
> as a pool of "implementor's freedom"?

we should try to straighten it out. I went through this a few years ago, 
and it was cleaned up for a bit, but new hardware broke it again ...

ron

[LinuxBIOS] LB Post codes

[Stefan Reinauer]

* [e-mail]  [060701 02:43]:
> From what ive read on the LB site, LB uses post codes quitre a bit,
> but i cant find a list of the codes ANYWARE :(
> Ive just tried LB on a VIA-EPAI-PD10000 board using the EPAI-M LB
> config (i dont have a serial cable connected at present, going to grab
> one tomorow!)

Getting the system up without serial cable is really hard to impossible
I guess..

The post codes are not really used in LinuxBIOS as far as I can say.

[LinuxBIOS] LB Post codes

[yhlu]

that is right. the post code is only useful before we get the output
from serial port.

YH

On 7/1/06, Stefan Reinauer  wrote:
> [e-mail]  [060701 02:43]:
> > From what ive read on the LB site, LB uses post codes quitre a bit,
> > but i cant find a list of the codes ANYWARE :(
> > Ive just tried LB on a VIA-EPAI-PD10000 board using the EPAI-M LB
> > config (i dont have a serial cable connected at present, going to grab
> > one tomorow!)
>
> Getting the system up without serial cable is really hard to impossible
> I guess..
>
> The post codes are not really used in LinuxBIOS as far as I can say.