RDID Values Constantly Changing

[Ryne Everett]

Hello group,

I'm attempting to flash a W25Q64FW with a CH341A. Despite this chip's
RDID being supported (under "W25Q64.W"), flashrom identifies it as an
"unknown SPI chip (RDID)" which I presume explains the "status NOT
WORKING for operations: PROBE READ ERASE WRITE".

Upon further inspection with '-VV' I see that id1 and id2 are not only
wrong -- they're different every time I run flashrom! What could cause
this?

Thanks,
Ryne

[Anastasia Klimchuk]

Ryne, do you have logs by any chance? From two different times you ran
flashrom and got different ids?
You can attach or you can use paste.flashrom.org
Thank you!

On Thu, Aug 24, 2023 at 1:53 PM Ryne Everett  wrote:
> Hello group,
>
> I'm attempting to flash a W25Q64FW with a CH341A. Despite this chip's
> RDID being supported (under "W25Q64.W"), flashrom identifies it as an
> "unknown SPI chip (RDID)" which I presume explains the "status NOT
> WORKING for operations: PROBE READ ERASE WRITE".
>
> Upon further inspection with '-VV' I see that id1 and id2 are not only
> wrong -- they're different every time I run flashrom! What could cause
> this?
>
> Thanks,
> Ryne
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[Ryne Everett]

Sure Anastasia, I've attached a log of a couple invocations. Let me know
if you'd rather I run it with different parameters.

I'm also wondering if the "parity violation" is relevant. I don't know
what that means but find it odd that that message is only included
sometimes but not always.

[Ryne Everett]

Update: I finally got back to this project and can narrow down what
might have caused this issue for anyone else encountering it.

I may not have specified before but the chip in question was installed
on a laptop motherboard and I was using a Ponoma clip.

I tried running flashrom with the same CH341 programmer and the same
wiring harness numerous times and I always got the same results with
inconsistent id's.

Per random internet advice, I tried with power and battery removed (for
days, so any capacitors would have been fully discharged), with battery
installed, with the charger plugged in, and every permutation I could
come up with. Same results.

I was never super confident that the Pomona clip was making good contact
but I can't believe it didn't make good contact at least one of those
times.

I figured that either my CH341A was busted or I'd somehow got the wiring
harness wrong, so I bought some new W25Q64FW chips just to test it out.
Turns out my equipment works perfectly on these loose chips.

So I removed the original chip from the motherboard and found that my
programmer works just fine on it now that it's free.

S long story short, the problem was that it was attached to the laptop.
I assume that there is some interconnection between the legs within the
motherboard which prevents the chip from being programmed. Whether this
is intentional, incidental, or a flaw I do not know.