Support for M50FLW080A

[Javier Bizcocho]

Hello guys,

I'm trying to flash a modded bios on my motherboard. The computer is a 
Dell SC1435 and the flash chip in question "M50FLW080A" is supported by 
the tool already, but just partially.

It looks like it can read the bios, but when reading or erasing it 
always fails (and every now and then it even forces my PC to reboot). My 
server is running FreeBSD 13.1, but I've also tried with Ubuntu (same 
result). Even though it fails to erase / write the chip was never 
altered at all, so I wonder if there is any kind of protection on it.

Is there any logs that I can extract from the tool itself? I'd like to 
avoid the need to de-soldering the chip in order to flash it :).

Any thoughts?

Thank you in advance,

Javi.

[Javier Bizcocho]

Hello guys,

Just a soft bump.

No one has any comment about this? :).

Kind Regards,

Javi.

On 17/04/2023 14:34, Javier Bizcocho wrote:
> Hello guys,
>
> I'm trying to flash a modded bios on my motherboard. The computer is a 
> Dell SC1435 and the flash chip in question "M50FLW080A" is supported 
> by the tool already, but just partially.
>
> It looks like it can read the bios, but when reading or erasing it 
> always fails (and every now and then it even forces my PC to reboot). 
> My server is running FreeBSD 13.1, but I've also tried with Ubuntu 
> (same result). Even though it fails to erase / write the chip was 
> never altered at all, so I wonder if there is any kind of protection 
> on it.
>
> Is there any logs that I can extract from the tool itself? I'd like to 
> avoid the need to de-soldering the chip in order to flash it :).
>
> Any thoughts?
>
> Thank you in advance,
>
> Javi.

[Paul Kocialkowski]

Hi Javier,

On Wed 19 Apr 23, 01:32, Javier Bizcocho wrote:
> Hello guys,
>
> Just a soft bump.
>
> No one has any comment about this? :).

So if what you're trying to do is to flash from the live system running on
said motherboard, you probably need some kind of board enable code to allow
write/erase access. See https://www.flashrom.org/Board_Enable

This can be as trivial as toggling a GPIO, but the less trivial part is usually
to find out which GPIO that is.

Quoting the datasheet for the chip about security:
```
– Hardware Write Protect pins for block protection
– Register-based Read and Write Protection
– Individual Lock Register for each 4 KByte sector
```

So you might want to take a look at the status of the two latter points as well.

Cheers,

Paul
> Kind Regards,
>
> Javi.
>
> On 17/04/2023 14:34, Javier Bizcocho wrote:
> > Hello guys,
> >
> > I'm trying to flash a modded bios on my motherboard. The computer is a
> > Dell SC1435 and the flash chip in question "M50FLW080A" is supported by
> > the tool already, but just partially.
> >
> > It looks like it can read the bios, but when reading or erasing it
> > always fails (and every now and then it even forces my PC to reboot). My
> > server is running FreeBSD 13.1, but I've also tried with Ubuntu (same
> > result). Even though it fails to erase / write the chip was never
> > altered at all, so I wonder if there is any kind of protection on it.
> >
> > Is there any logs that I can extract from the tool itself? I'd like to
> > avoid the need to de-soldering the chip in order to flash it :).
> >
> > Any thoughts?
> >
> > Thank you in advance,
> >
> > Javi.
> flashrom mailing list -- [e-mail]
> To unsubscribe send an email to [e-mail]

[Javier Bizcocho]

Hello Paul,

Thank you very much for the advice, I'll have a look at how to enable 
this "board enable code".

Perhaps I can have look at the code of other chips of similar "LPC/FWH" 
types (some Winbond?).

Regards,

Javi.

On 19/04/2023 09:14, Paul Kocialkowski wrote:
> Hi Javier,
>
> On Wed 19 Apr 23, 01:32, Javier Bizcocho wrote:
> > Hello guys,
> >
> > Just a soft bump.
> >
> > No one has any comment about this? :).
>
> So if what you're trying to do is to flash from the live system running on
> said motherboard, you probably need some kind of board enable code to allow
> write/erase access. Seehttps://www.flashrom.org/Board_Enable
>
> This can be as trivial as toggling a GPIO, but the less trivial part is usually
> to find out which GPIO that is.
>
> Quoting the datasheet for the chip about security:
> – Hardware Write Protect pins for block protection
> – Register-based Read and Write Protection
> – Individual Lock Register for each 4 KByte sector
>
> So you might want to take a look at the status of the two latter points as well.
>
> Cheers,
>
> Paul
> > Kind Regards,
> >
> > Javi.
> >
> > On 17/04/2023 14:34, Javier Bizcocho wrote:
> > > Hello guys,
> > >
> > > I'm trying to flash a modded bios on my motherboard. The computer is a
> > > Dell SC1435 and the flash chip in question "M50FLW080A" is supported by
> > > the tool already, but just partially.
> > >
> > > It looks like it can read the bios, but when reading or erasing it
> > > always fails (and every now and then it even forces my PC to reboot). My
> > > server is running FreeBSD 13.1, but I've also tried with Ubuntu (same
> > > result). Even though it fails to erase / write the chip was never
> > > altered at all, so I wonder if there is any kind of protection on it.
> > >
> > > Is there any logs that I can extract from the tool itself? I'd like to
> > > avoid the need to de-soldering the chip in order to flash it :).
> > >
> > > Any thoughts?
> > >
> > > Thank you in advance,
> > >
> > > Javi.
> >
> > flashrom mailing list [e-mail]
> > To unsubscribe send an email [e-mail]

[Paul Kocialkowski]

Hi,

On Wed 19 Apr 23, 20:51, Javier Bizcocho wrote:
> Hello Paul,
>
> Thank you very much for the advice, I'll have a look at how to enable this
> "board enable code".
>
> Perhaps I can have look at the code of other chips of similar "LPC/FWH"
> types (some Winbond?).

Well the board enable part is typically not very related to which flash chip
is used but instead has to do with how the flash chip is wired on the
mainboard.

You can find examples of enable code for support boards at:
https://review.coreboot.org/plugins/gitiles/flashrom/+/refs/heads/master/boa...

If you have access to the schematics of your board, that will make it easier.
Otherwise you can try to look for supported boards with the same chipset as
yours, use that as a base and do some trial/error to find out how to disable
write protection for your board specifically.

Cheers,

Paul
> Regards,
>
> Javi.
>
> On 19/04/2023 09:14, Paul Kocialkowski wrote:
> > Hi Javier,
> >
> > On Wed 19 Apr 23, 01:32, Javier Bizcocho wrote:
> > > Hello guys,
> > >
> > > Just a soft bump.
> > >
> > > No one has any comment about this? :).
> >
> > So if what you're trying to do is to flash from the live system running on
> > said motherboard, you probably need some kind of board enable code to allow
> > write/erase access. Seehttps://www.flashrom.org/Board_Enable
> >
> > This can be as trivial as toggling a GPIO, but the less trivial part is usually
> > to find out which GPIO that is.
> >
> > Quoting the datasheet for the chip about security:
> > – Hardware Write Protect pins for block protection
> > – Register-based Read and Write Protection
> > – Individual Lock Register for each 4 KByte sector
> >
> > So you might want to take a look at the status of the two latter points as well.
> >
> > Cheers,
> >
> > Paul
> > > Kind Regards,
> > >
> > > Javi.
> > >
> > > On 17/04/2023 14:34, Javier Bizcocho wrote:
> > > > Hello guys,
> > > >
> > > > I'm trying to flash a modded bios on my motherboard. The computer is a
> > > > Dell SC1435 and the flash chip in question "M50FLW080A" is supported by
> > > > the tool already, but just partially.
> > > >
> > > > It looks like it can read the bios, but when reading or erasing it
> > > > always fails (and every now and then it even forces my PC to reboot). My
> > > > server is running FreeBSD 13.1, but I've also tried with Ubuntu (same
> > > > result). Even though it fails to erase / write the chip was never
> > > > altered at all, so I wonder if there is any kind of protection on it.
> > > >
> > > > Is there any logs that I can extract from the tool itself? I'd like to
> > > > avoid the need to de-soldering the chip in order to flash it :).
> > > >
> > > > Any thoughts?
> > > >
> > > > Thank you in advance,
> > > >
> > > > Javi.
> > >
> > > flashrom mailing list [e-mail]
> > > To unsubscribe send an email [e-mail]

[Luc Verhaegen]

On Wed, Apr 19, 2023 at 08:51:42PM +0100, Javier Bizcocho wrote:
> Hello Paul,
>
> Thank you very much for the advice, I'll have a look at how to enable this
> "board enable code".
>
> Perhaps I can have look at the code of other chips of similar "LPC/FWH"
> types (some Winbond?).

Here is the phoronix report on the talk i gave at fosdem in 2010.

https://www.phoronix.com/review/fosdem_2010_flash

Video/Audio should have been recorded but never got released. This was 4 
years before fosdem started offering their full video coverage (which is 
an insane feat each and every year).

The slides include 3 drawings which should give you an idea of what is 
going on.

Dell has some weird tools to flash the bios on this machine. It cannot 
be excluded that these tools do more than just get an image on the flash 
chip, so your mileage may vary.

Luc Verhaegen.

[Javier Bizcocho]

Thank you very much guys,

Another potential lead is the bios updater itself. I have the DOS 
version for this board, that contains the BIOS embedded into it. Perhaps 
I can get some extra information if I manage to find exactly the part 
where the chip is unlocked (hopefully is not obfuscated).

Javi.

On 20/04/2023 12:08, Luc Verhaegen wrote:
> On Wed, Apr 19, 2023 at 08:51:42PM +0100, Javier Bizcocho wrote:
> > Hello Paul,
> >
> > Thank you very much for the advice, I'll have a look at how to enable this
> > "board enable code".
> >
> > Perhaps I can have look at the code of other chips of similar "LPC/FWH"
> > types (some Winbond?).
>
> Here is the phoronix report on the talk i gave at fosdem in 2010.
>
> https://www.phoronix.com/review/fosdem_2010_flash
>
> Video/Audio should have been recorded but never got released. This was 4
> years before fosdem started offering their full video coverage (which is
> an insane feat each and every year).
>
> The slides include 3 drawings which should give you an idea of what is
> going on.
>
> Dell has some weird tools to flash the bios on this machine. It cannot
> be excluded that these tools do more than just get an image on the flash
> chip, so your mileage may vary.
>
> Luc Verhaegen.

[Javier Bizcocho]

Hello there,

Few months ago I asked about the support for this chip M50FLW080A, in 
order to do live flashing on the same motherboard.

Paul and Luc kindly gave me some pointers, but unfortunately I just 
don't have physical time to dive into this atm.

Would there be any chance for somebody to give me a hand with this 
please?. I really need to update my motherboard since is stopping me 
from upgrading my CPU.

Thank you very much in advance,

Javi.

On 19/04/2023 09:14, Paul Kocialkowski wrote:
> Hi Javier,
>
> On Wed 19 Apr 23, 01:32, Javier Bizcocho wrote:
> > Hello guys,
> >
> > Just a soft bump.
> >
> > No one has any comment about this? :).
>
> So if what you're trying to do is to flash from the live system running on
> said motherboard, you probably need some kind of board enable code to allow
> write/erase access. Seehttps://www.flashrom.org/Board_Enable
>
> This can be as trivial as toggling a GPIO, but the less trivial part is usually
> to find out which GPIO that is.
>
> Quoting the datasheet for the chip about security:
> – Hardware Write Protect pins for block protection
> – Register-based Read and Write Protection
> – Individual Lock Register for each 4 KByte sector
>
> So you might want to take a look at the status of the two latter points as well.
>
> Cheers,
>
> Paul
> > Kind Regards,
> >
> > Javi.
> >
> > On 17/04/2023 14:34, Javier Bizcocho wrote:
> > > Hello guys,
> > >
> > > I'm trying to flash a modded bios on my motherboard. The computer is a
> > > Dell SC1435 and the flash chip in question "M50FLW080A" is supported by
> > > the tool already, but just partially.
> > >
> > > It looks like it can read the bios, but when reading or erasing it
> > > always fails (and every now and then it even forces my PC to reboot). My
> > > server is running FreeBSD 13.1, but I've also tried with Ubuntu (same
> > > result). Even though it fails to erase / write the chip was never
> > > altered at all, so I wonder if there is any kind of protection on it.
> > >
> > > Is there any logs that I can extract from the tool itself? I'd like to
> > > avoid the need to de-soldering the chip in order to flash it :).
> > >
> > > Any thoughts?
> > >
> > > Thank you in advance,
> > >
> > > Javi.
> >
> > flashrom mailing list [e-mail]
> > To unsubscribe send an email [e-mail]