Marc, I'm in the same boat using Kontron boards and Linux. The flashrom program works to load the BIOS but I need a Linux solution to load custom CMOS/BIOS settings. I currently have the DOS version of JIDACMOS and have contacted Kontron for the Linux version but have not heard back yet.
Did you settle on nvramtool or the Linux version of JIDACMOS ? thanks, Bill
At Wed, 7 Apr 2010 08:02:28 -0600, Bill Flanders (wtflanders) wrote:
Marc, I'm in the same boat using Kontron boards and Linux. The flashrom program works to load the BIOS but I need a Linux solution to load custom CMOS/BIOS settings. I currently have the DOS version of JIDACMOS and have contacted Kontron for the Linux version but have not heard back yet.
Did you settle on nvramtool or the Linux version of JIDACMOS ?
Hi Bill,
One of my coworker has contacted Kontron asking if it would be possible to release the source code of this JIDA thing (looks like a special communication protocol used by Kontron for their products). Unfortunatly, we didn't get any feedback yet.
What I currently know about this JIDA thing is that a driver is available for linux but in binary form only. Only the interface is available. This means that we are somewhat bound to the kernel kontron uses to develop this driver. For example, if you are using a 64bit version of the kernel on your device, I doubt that the precompiled driver module will work out of the box...
One last thing (in case someone from kontron is listening):
The makers of embedded devices really like to have full control over the product they are using to build their platforms. This is currently difficult with Kontron boards because the tools run either in DOS mode or use a binary driver. Releasing the specification would allow some open source project (like flashrom) to build better support for the kontron boards.
Regards,
Marc
Marc, Thanks for the info. Let me know if you hear back from Kontron. I have not yet heard back from my Kontron field support rep.
The nvramtool seems to work fine WRT my limited testing of it. I am using the Kontron ETXexpress-MC module. Did you try it? Thanks, Bill
-----Original Message----- From: flashrom-bounces@flashrom.org [mailto:flashrom-bounces@flashrom.org] On Behalf Of Marc Ferland Sent: Wednesday, April 07, 2010 10:21 AM To: flashrom@flashrom.org Subject: Re: [flashrom] JIDA CMOS
At Wed, 7 Apr 2010 08:02:28 -0600, Bill Flanders (wtflanders) wrote:
Marc, I'm in the same boat using Kontron boards and Linux. The flashrom
program works to load the BIOS but I need a Linux
solution to load custom CMOS/BIOS settings. I currently have the DOS
version of JIDACMOS and have contacted Kontron
for the Linux version but have not heard back yet.
Did you settle on nvramtool or the Linux version of JIDACMOS ?
Hi Bill,
One of my coworker has contacted Kontron asking if it would be possible to release the source code of this JIDA thing (looks like a special communication protocol used by Kontron for their products). Unfortunatly, we didn't get any feedback yet.
What I currently know about this JIDA thing is that a driver is available for linux but in binary form only. Only the interface is available. This means that we are somewhat bound to the kernel kontron uses to develop this driver. For example, if you are using a 64bit version of the kernel on your device, I doubt that the precompiled driver module will work out of the box...
One last thing (in case someone from kontron is listening):
The makers of embedded devices really like to have full control over the product they are using to build their platforms. This is currently difficult with Kontron boards because the tools run either in DOS mode or use a binary driver. Releasing the specification would allow some open source project (like flashrom) to build better support for the kontron boards.
Regards,
Marc
_______________________________________________ flashrom mailing list flashrom@flashrom.org http://www.flashrom.org/mailman/listinfo/flashrom
At Wed, 7 Apr 2010 11:13:01 -0600, Bill Flanders (wtflanders) wrote:
Marc, Thanks for the info. Let me know if you hear back from Kontron. I have not yet heard back from my Kontron field support rep.
The nvramtool seems to work fine WRT my limited testing of it. I am using the Kontron ETXexpress-MC module. Did you try it?
Hi Bill,
Yeah tried it. Like you, my testing was limited but not so successfull. I can read and write to the NVRAM using nvramtool (it doesn't output any error message so I guess writing was successfull) but it doesn't seem to have any effect when I reboot.
For example, if I dump the content of the nvram to a file, reboot, change a couple of settings in the BIOS, rewrite the nvram with the dumped file, I do not get my old parameters back. It doesn't seem to have any effect.
These are my observations so far.
BTW, I use the ETXExpress-PC module.
Regards,
Marc
Hi Marc, I ran into the same problem when I automated flashing the BIOS followed by running nvramtool to set the CMOS values. The settings do not hold if you power down the system, however, they do hold when you reboot the system via the "reboot" command. Give it a try, Bill
-----Original Message----- From: flashrom-bounces@flashrom.org [mailto:flashrom-bounces@flashrom.org] On Behalf Of Marc Ferland Sent: Wednesday, April 07, 2010 12:49 PM To: flashrom@flashrom.org Subject: Re: [flashrom] JIDA CMOS
At Wed, 7 Apr 2010 11:13:01 -0600, Bill Flanders (wtflanders) wrote:
Marc, Thanks for the info. Let me know if you hear back from Kontron. I
have
not yet heard back from my Kontron field support rep.
The nvramtool seems to work fine WRT my limited testing of it. I am using the Kontron ETXexpress-MC module. Did you try it?
Hi Bill,
Yeah tried it. Like you, my testing was limited but not so successfull. I can read and write to the NVRAM using nvramtool (it doesn't output any error message so I guess writing was successfull) but it doesn't seem to have any effect when I reboot.
For example, if I dump the content of the nvram to a file, reboot, change a couple of settings in the BIOS, rewrite the nvram with the dumped file, I do not get my old parameters back. It doesn't seem to have any effect.
These are my observations so far.
BTW, I use the ETXExpress-PC module.
Regards,
Marc
_______________________________________________ flashrom mailing list flashrom@flashrom.org http://www.flashrom.org/mailman/listinfo/flashrom
Hi,
On 08.04.2010 01:11, Bill Flanders (wtflanders) wrote:
I ran into the same problem when I automated flashing the BIOS followed by running nvramtool to set the CMOS values. The settings do not hold if you power down the system, however, they do hold when you reboot the system via the "reboot" command.
So unless I'm misunderstanding you, the BIOS performs some "magic" on a warm reboot which causes the effect of nvramtool to become permanent.
I see two ways to achieve this: 1. Update/change/... some stuff in CMOS/NVRAM which marks the changes as OK. This makes sense because the settings might be erroneous and you generally only want to keep settings if the machine can still boot with the new settings. 2. Copy/merge/transform NVRAM contents to flash.
If hypothesis 1 is correct, you'll see that NVRAM content change from after the nvramtool write to after the warm reboot. This should be easily verifiable by dumping NVRAM contents after writing the new settings but before warm reboot and after warm reboot.
If hypothesis 2 is correct, dumping flash with flashrom after changing NVRAM values with nvramtool and after the successive warm reboot should get you two different flash dumps (they may differ anyway, but the difference shouldn't only be in the "last boot time/date" field).
You'll probably see a mix of both methods. Once you know where to look, it should be possible to write the desired configuration settings in a way that allows you to set them reliably with flashrom and/or nvramtool.
Regards, Carl-Daniel
Am Donnerstag, den 08.04.2010, 04:20 +0200 schrieb Carl-Daniel Hailfinger:
I ran into the same problem when I automated flashing the BIOS followed by running nvramtool to set the CMOS values. The settings do not hold if you power down the system, however, they do hold when you reboot the system via the "reboot" command.
So unless I'm misunderstanding you, the BIOS performs some "magic" on a warm reboot which causes the effect of nvramtool to become permanent.
As I understand it, the system is equipped with two storage system for the BIOS parameters: The CMOS RAM/"RTC" and an "EEPROM" (which is why you need to run jidacmos twice - one for rtc, once for eep). My guess would be that this eeprom is a i2c eeprom that contains a copy of the rtc parameters. The CMOS RAM seems to be powered down/lose settings on powering down the system (i.e. no battery backup), so parameters are restored from the EEPROM on next power-on.
Regards, Michael Karcher
You are correct... We have no battery backup on our custom carrier board. Bill
-----Original Message----- From: Michael Karcher [mailto:flashrom@mkarcher.dialup.fu-berlin.de] Sent: Thursday, April 08, 2010 12:44 AM To: Carl-Daniel Hailfinger Cc: Bill Flanders (wtflanders); flashrom@flashrom.org Subject: Re: [flashrom] JIDA CMOS
Am Donnerstag, den 08.04.2010, 04:20 +0200 schrieb Carl-Daniel Hailfinger:
I ran into the same problem when I automated flashing the BIOS followed by running nvramtool to set the CMOS values. The settings do not hold if you power down the system, however, they do hold when you reboot the system via the "reboot" command.
So unless I'm misunderstanding you, the BIOS performs some "magic" on a warm reboot which causes the effect of nvramtool to become permanent.
As I understand it, the system is equipped with two storage system for the BIOS parameters: The CMOS RAM/"RTC" and an "EEPROM" (which is why you need to run jidacmos twice - one for rtc, once for eep). My guess would be that this eeprom is a i2c eeprom that contains a copy of the rtc parameters. The CMOS RAM seems to be powered down/lose settings on powering down the system (i.e. no battery backup), so parameters are restored from the EEPROM on next power-on.
Regards, Michael Karcher
-
Bill Flanders (wtflanders) -
Carl-Daniel Hailfinger -
Marc Ferland -
Michael Karcher