Hello,

It's me again. I had some free time so I decided to disassemble the notebook and to wire it directly to the arduino, using Simon Inns' schematic. I didn't desolder the chip.

I've hit a roadblock, though. I get this message: Probing for Macronix MX25L6405(D), 8192 kB: RDID byte 0 parity violation. probe_spi_rdid_generic: id1 0xff, id2 0xffff

I tried patching flashrom with http://patchwork.coreboot.org/patch/3851/, still with no luck. I am sure the flash model is correct, because I can read it on the capsule.

I've attached the logs, with and without the -c option.

In the hope that a solution will arise,
I thank you again.

George Ciobanu


On Fri, Mar 15, 2013 at 4:15 PM, Stefan Tauner <stefan.tauner@student.tuwien.ac.at> wrote:
On Fri, 15 Mar 2013 15:56:28 +0200
George Ciobanu <mrg2k8@gmail.com> wrote:

> I've tried to read the contents of the memory in the subject, but it
> failed. I'm using a Panasonic CF-53 Toughbook and I have attached the
> verbose output.

> 0x5C: 0x057f0003 FREG2: Warning: Management Engine region (0x00003000-0x0057ffff) is locked.

Hello George,

thanks for your report!

The problem is the locked ME region as quoted above. We are working on
unlocking it or working around it, but intel does not provide us any
documentation so please do not expect a solution soon (or ever).

> Do you think that I will be able to read the memory using serprog and an
> Arduino, unsoldering it from the motherboard or will flashrom just give the
> same error?

The problem is the configuration of the mainboard chipset. Outside of
the board flashrom will definitely be able to read and write the chip
(there is a minor problem of misdetecting the MX25L6405 because
Macronix used the same ID for different chips, but there is a patch for
that http://patchwork.coreboot.org/patch/3851/ and a quick hack that
you could apply locally is just a simple number change).

You might be able to access the flash chip while it is still soldered,
so that you do not need to desolder it (completely), see
http://flashrom.org/ISP

If you need to read the BIOS region only, there is a complete
software-based solution too.
--
Kind regards/Mit freundlichen Grüßen, Stefan Tauner