On Thu, Oct 31, 2013 at 7:05 AM, David Hendricks <dhendrix@google.com> wrote:
On Wed, Oct 30, 2013 at 12:08 AM, marc pascual <marcmpascual@gmail.com> wrote:
Hello,

I have an HP DL165 G7 and I applied the latest BIOS image from HP.

root# flashrom -p internal:amd_imc_force=yes -w /var/tmp/2012.07.27.A-O37_0727.ROM -c MX25L3206E

flashrom v0.9.7-r1711 on Linux 2.6.32-358.2.1.el6.x86_64 (x86_64)
flashrom is free software, get the source code at http://www.flashrom.org

Calibrating delay loop... OK.
Found chipset "AMD SB7x0/SB8x0/SB9x0". Enabling flash write... Writes have been disabled for safety reasons because the presence of the IMC
was detected and it could interfere with accessing flash memory. Flashrom will
try to disable it temporarily but even then this might not be safe:
when it is reenabled and after a reboot it expects to find working code
in the flash and it is unpredictable what happens if there is none.

To be safe make sure that there is a working IMC firmware at the right
location in the image you intend to write and do not attempt to erase.

You can enforce write support with the amd_imc_force programmer option.
Continuing with write support because the user forced us to!
OK.
Found Macronix flash chip "MX25L3206E" (4096 kB, SPI) at physical address 0xffc00000.
Reading old flash chip contents... done.
Erasing and writing flash chip... Erase/write done.
Verifying flash... VERIFIED.

However after rebooting the machine once, I'm getting this message:

Detect a Unsame SDRR/Configuration Image in Current BIOS
BMC SDRR Version : 2.37.0.98      -->      2.33.1.226
Loading updated SDRR/CONFIGURATION to BMC -- DO NOT POWER OFF
Erasing Sectors  Done!
Uploading SDRR: 100%
Uploading Configuration: 100%
Update SDRR/Configuration Image successfully
Resetting BMC....

The machine reboots itself again, and I see the same message the second time around. It reboots itself again.

This time, it can't find my local disk:

Reboot and Select proper Boot device
or Insert Boot Media in selected Boot device and press a key

I issue a reset, then everything seems to be fine from here.

/./-> reset /system1/console1
System1 reset.

/./-> start /system1/console1
...
(boots to the OS)


Is this normal, or is this related to the warning about IMC being detected?

This seems normal for the HP DL165 G7. In general, Flashrom does not know about vendor-specific BMCs. I guess that the BMC configuration is stored on the same ROM as the BIOS, so flashing the .ROM file provided by HP wipes it out and the BMC must be re-configured.

--
David Hendricks (dhendrix)
Systems Software Engineer, Google Inc.


Thanks for your response. It does seem normal. I was able to replicate this consistently -- only happens when downgrading from a higher ROM version. I don't know what's exactly going on, but what happens is that after a reboot, it downgrades the "BMC SDRR", resets the BMC, updates it again to the previous version (what it was before), and finally resets the BMC for the second time. 

root# dmidecode -t bios

# dmidecode 2.11
SMBIOS 2.7 present.

Handle 0x0000, DMI type 0, 24 bytes
BIOS Information
        Vendor: HP
        Version: O37
        Release Date: 10/17/2012
        Address: 0xF0000
        Runtime Size: 64 kB
        ROM Size: 4096 kB

root# flashrom -p internal:amd_imc_force=yes -w /var/tmp/2012.07.27.A-O37_0727.ROM -c MX25L3206E

(reboot)

Detect a Unsame SDRR/Configuration Image in Current BIOS
BMC SDRR Version : 2.37.0.98      -->      2.33.1.226
Loading updated SDRR/CONFIGURATION to BMC -- DO NOT POWER OFF
Erasing Sectors  Done!
Uploading SDRR: 100%
Uploading Configuration: 100%
Update SDRR/Configuration Image successfully
Resetting BMC.

Detect a Unsame SDRR/Configuration Image in Current BIOS
BMC SDRR Version : 2.33.1.226      -->      2.37.0.98
Loading updated SDRR/CONFIGURATION to BMC -- DO NOT POWER OFF
Erasing Sectors  Done!
Uploading SDRR: 100%
Uploading Configuration: 100%
Update SDRR/Configuration Image successfully
Resetting BMC.

(... normal boot up follows) 

I don't know why it does this, but I think I should be asking HP. 

Regards,
Marc