via pc3500g

[illdred]

Good day,

I would like to use coreboot on my machine.

I have a VIA PC3500G motherboard.  
VIA C7 cpu, VIA CN896 northbirdge, VIA 8237A southbridge

Will it work? looks to me like the only unsupported piece is the northbridge.

lspci -tvnn
-+-[0000:80]---01.0  VIA Technologies, Inc. VT1708/A [Azalia HDAC] (VIA High Definition Audio Controller) [1106:3288]
 -[0000:00]-+-00.0  VIA Technologies, Inc. CN896/VN896/P4M900 Host Bridge [1106:0364]
             +-00.1  VIA Technologies, Inc. CN896/VN896/P4M900 Host Bridge [1106:1364]
             +-00.2  VIA Technologies, Inc. CN896/VN896/P4M900 Host Bridge [1106:2364]
             +-00.3  VIA Technologies, Inc. CN896/VN896/P4M900 Host Bridge [1106:3364]
             +-00.4  VIA Technologies, Inc. CN896/VN896/P4M900 Host Bridge [1106:4364]
             +-00.5  VIA Technologies, Inc. CN896/VN896/P4M900 I/O APIC Interrupt Controller [1106:5364]
             +-00.6  VIA Technologies, Inc. CN896/VN896/P4M900 Security Device [1106:6364]
             +-00.7  VIA Technologies, Inc. CN896/VN896/P4M900 Host Bridge [1106:7364]
             +-01.0-[01]--
             +-02.0-[02]--+-00.0  ATI Technologies Inc RV610 video device [Radeon HD 2400 PRO] [1002:94c3]
             |            -00.1  ATI Technologies Inc RV610 audio device [Radeon HD 2400 PRO] [1002:aa10]
             +-03.0-[03]--
             +-0f.0  VIA Technologies, Inc. Device [1106:5337]
             +-0f.1  VIA Technologies, Inc. VT82C586A/B/VT82C686/A/B/VT823x/A/C PIPC Bus Master IDE [1106:0571]
             +-10.0  VIA Technologies, Inc. VT82xxxxx UHCI USB 1.1 Controller [1106:3038]
             +-10.1  VIA Technologies, Inc. VT82xxxxx UHCI USB 1.1 Controller [1106:3038]
             +-10.2  VIA Technologies, Inc. VT82xxxxx UHCI USB 1.1 Controller [1106:3038]
             +-10.3  VIA Technologies, Inc. VT82xxxxx UHCI USB 1.1 Controller [1106:3038]
             +-10.4  VIA Technologies, Inc. USB 2.0 [1106:3104]
             +-11.0  VIA Technologies, Inc. VT8237A PCI to ISA Bridge [1106:3337]
             +-11.7  VIA Technologies, Inc. VT8251 Ultra VLINK Controller [1106:287e]
             +-13.0  VIA Technologies, Inc. VT8237A Host Bridge [1106:337b]
             -13.1-[04-05]--+-04.0-[05]--+-00.0  ATI Technologies Inc RV 610LE PCI [Radeon HD 2400] [1002:94cc]
                             |            -00.1  ATI Technologies Inc RV610 audio device [Radeon HD 2400 PRO] [1002:aa10]
                             -0e.0  VIA Technologies, Inc. VT6102
[Rhine-II] [1106:3065]

superiotool -dV
superiotool r5728
Probing for ...<snip>
Probing for ITE Super I/O (init=standard) at 0x2e...
Found ITE IT8716F (id=0x8716, rev=0x1) at 0x2e
Register dump:
idx 20 21 22 23 24 2b
val 87 16 01 10 1e 00
def 87 16 01 00 00 00
LDN 0x00 (Floppy)
idx 30 60 61 70 74 f0 f1
val 00 00 00 00 04 00 80
def 00 03 f0 06 02 00 00
LDN 0x01 (COM1)
idx 30 60 61 70 f0 f1 f2 f3
val 00 00 00 00 00 50 00 7f
def 00 03 f8 04 00 50 00 7f
LDN 0x02 (COM2)
idx 30 60 61 70 f0 f1 f2 f3
val 00 00 00 00 00 50 00 7f
def 00 02 f8 03 00 50 00 7f
LDN 0x03 (Parallel port)
idx 30 60 61 62 63 70 74 f0
val 00 00 00 00 00 00 04 08
def 00 03 78 07 78 07 03 03
LDN 0x04 (Environment controller)
idx 30 60 61 62 63 70 f0 f1  f2 f3 f4 f5 f6
val 01 02 90 00 00 00 00 00  0a 00 80 00 ff
def 00 02 90 02 30 09 00 00  00 00 00 NA NA
LDN 0x05 (Keyboard)
idx 30 60 61 62 63 70 71 f0
val 00 00 60 00 64 00 02 48
def 01 00 60 00 64 01 02 00
LDN 0x06 (Mouse)
idx 30 70 71 f0
val 00 0c 02 00
def 00 0c 02 00
LDN 0x07 (GPIO)
idx 25 26 27 28 29 2a 2c 60  61 62 63 64 65 70 71 72  73 74 b0 b1 b2 b3 b4 b5  b8 b9 ba bb bc bd c0 c1  c2 c3 c4 c8 c9 ca cb cc  e0 e1 e2 e3 e4 f0 f1 f2  f3 f4 f5 f6 f7 f8 f9 fa  fb fc fd
val 01 00 00 00 00 81 1f 00  00 08 00 08 20 00 01 00  38 00 00 00 00 00 00 00  60 08 00 00 00 00 00 00  00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00  00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00  00 00 00 00 00 08 03 00  00 3f 00
def 01 00 00 40 00 00 00 00  00 00 00 00 00 00 00 20  38 00 00 00 00 00 00 00  00 00 00 00 00 00 01 00  00 40 00 01 00 00 40 00  00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00  00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00  00 NA 00
LDN 0x08 (MIDI port)
idx 30 60 61 70 f0
val 00 03 00 0a 00
def 00 03 00 0a 00
LDN 0x09 (Game port)
idx 30 60 61
val 00 02 01
def 00 02 01
LDN 0x0a (Consumer IR)
idx 30 60 61 70 f0
val 00 03 10 0b 06
def 00 03 10 0b 00

flashrom -V
flashrom v0.9.2-r1001 on Linux 2.6.33-dirigible33 (i686), built with libpci 3.1.7, GCC 4.5.0 20100520 (prerelease)
flashrom is free software, get the source code at http://www.flashrom.org

Initializing internal programmer
No coreboot table found.
DMI string system-manufacturer: "        "
DMI string system-product-name: "        "
DMI string system-version: "  "
DMI string baseboard-manufacturer: "PC1"
DMI string baseboard-product-name: "PC3500G"
DMI string baseboard-version: "3.x"
DMI string chassis-type: "Desktop"
Found ITE Super I/O, id 8716
Found chipset "VIA VT8237A", enabling flash write... OK.
This chipset supports the following protocols: Non-SPI.
Serial flash segment 0xfffe0000-0xffffffff enabled
Serial flash segment 0x000e0000-0x000fffff enabled
Serial flash segment 0xffee0000-0xffefffff enabled
Serial flash segment 0xfff80000-0xfffeffff enabled
LPC write to serial flash enabled
Serial flash pin 29
Serial flash port 0x0820
Calibrating delay loop... 387M loops per second, delay more than 10%
too short, recalculating... 381M loops per second, delay more than 10%
too short, recalculating... 434M loops per second, delay more than 10%
too short, recalculating... 436M loops per second, delay more than 10%
too short, recalculating... 436M loops per second, delay loop is
unreliable, trying to continue 10 myus = 10 us, 100 myus = 89 us, 1000
myus = 873 us, 10000 myus = 31905 us, OK.
<snip>

Probing for Macronix MX25L4005, 512 KB: probe_spi_rdid_generic: id1 0xc2, id2 0x2013
Chip status register is 00
Chip status register: Status Register Write Disable (SRWD) is not set
Chip status register: Bit 6 is not set
Chip status register: Bit 5 / Block Protect 3 (BP3) is not set
Chip status register: Bit 4 / Block Protect 2 (BP2) is not set
Chip status register: Bit 3 / Block Protect 1 (BP1) is not set
Chip status register: Bit 2 / Block Protect 0 (BP0) is not set
Chip status register: Write Enable Latch (WEL) is not set
Chip status register: Write In Progress (WIP/BUSY) is not set
Found chip "Macronix MX25L4005" (512 KB, SPI) at physical address 0xfff80000.
<snip>
===
This flash part has status UNTESTED for operations: ERASE
The test status of this chip may have been updated in the latest development
version of flashrom. If you are running the latest development version,
please email a report to [e-mail] if any of the above operations
work correctly for you with this flash part. Please include the flashrom
output with the additional -V option for all operations you tested (-V, -Vr,
-Vw, -VE), and mention which mainboard or programmer you tested.
Thanks for your help!
===

[Peter Stuge]

illdred wrote:
> I would like to use coreboot on my machine.

..
> VIA C7 cpu, VIA CN896 northbirdge, VIA 8237A southbridge

..
> Will it work?

No, not without development work.
> looks to me like the only unsupported piece is the northbridge.

That's not so "only" - adding support for a northbridge is a
significant effort.

That said, 896 is similar to other 8xx chipsets which are already
supported. Would you be interested in working on the project of
supporting also 896?

//Peter

[illdred]

On Wed, 1 Sep 2010 02:51:10 +0200
Peter Stuge  wrote:
> illdred wrote:
> > I would like to use coreboot on my machine.
>
> ..
> > VIA C7 cpu, VIA CN896 northbirdge, VIA 8237A southbridge
>
> ..
> > Will it work?
>
> No, not without development work.
> > looks to me like the only unsupported piece is the northbridge.
>
> That's not so "only" - adding support for a northbridge is a
> significant effort.
>
> That said, 896 is similar to other 8xx chipsets which are already
> supported. Would you be interested in working on the project of
> supporting also 896?
>
> //Peter

Yes, I would be interested. let me know what I can do to assist.

I'll join up on the #coreboot irc

thanks for writing back to me

Fraser

[Corey Osgood]

On Tue, Aug 31, 2010 at 10:25 PM, illdred  wrote:
> On Wed, 1 Sep 2010 02:51:10 +0200
> Peter Stuge  wrote:
> > illdred wrote:
> > > I would like to use coreboot on my machine.
> >
> > ..
> > > VIA C7 cpu, VIA CN896 northbirdge, VIA 8237A southbridge
> >
> > ..
> > > Will it work?
> >
> > No, not without development work.
> > > looks to me like the only unsupported piece is the northbridge.
> >
> > That's not so "only" - adding support for a northbridge is a
> > significant effort.
> >
> > That said, 896 is similar to other 8xx chipsets which are already
> > supported. Would you be interested in working on the project of
> > supporting also 896?
> >
> > //Peter
>
> Yes, I would be interested. let me know what I can do to assist.
>
> I'll join up on the #coreboot irc
>
> thanks for writing back to me

Since there's no public datasheet for the CN896, about the only
possibility is to look at the VX800 port, compare what it does to
lspci -xxx from your CN896 system, and see how well they match up. If
they're similar enough, you may be able to rip the northbridge/memory
init code out of the vx800 and use it to boot up the cn896...but it's
a long shot. You may also be able to use SerialICE to see what the
factory BIOS does and copy it, but what's the point of using coreboot
if you're just using it to do the same thing the factory bios does?

-Corey