Re: [flashrom] disaster

[Carl-Daniel Hailfinger]

Hi Julio,

it seems [e-mail] was left out of the conversation by
accident. I've added it back, please use the "reply all" button in the
future.

On 20.05.2010 12:12, Julio Barrios wrote:
> Hi Carl-Daniel, Joseph and Michael,
>
> Many thanks for your replies. I very much appreciate it. I'm not sure if a
> flash chip is the same as the BIOS chip (I'm a complete newbie here and am
> just learning a bit, and destroying computers along the way it seems LOL!).
> Anyway, my BIOS is a Phoenix D686 and my PC is a Dell Inspiron 530.

"Phoenix D686" is probably written on a sticker. Can you peel off the
sticker and tell us what's written on the BIOS flash chip?
> By the look of things, I guess that I will need to buy a new motherboard. If
> that is the case, then I will need to buy one that is compatible with linux
> because I'm not prepared to give up Ubuntu and go back to Windows.
>
> If you need any more information so that you can help me, please let me
> know.

Some people/companies in the UK offer services to reflash mainboards.
That might be what you want, but I'm not sure if the shipping cost is
worth it.
Besides that, some vendors might offer top hat flash solutions for your
board, but I'm not 100% sure about this.
> Again, guys, thanks a lot.
>
> Julio

Good luck!

Regards,
Carl-Daniel
> On 20 May 2010 09:45, Carl-Daniel Hailfinger <
> [e-mail]> wrote:
> > Hi Julio,
> >
> > please note that the method in the link can destroy your mainboard if
> > your flash chip uses a different interface (very likely). See below for
> > details.
> >
> > On 20.05.2010 09:37, Carl-Daniel Hailfinger wrote:
> > > On 20.05.2010 00:44, Joseph Smith wrote:
> > > > On 05/19/2010 06:38 PM, Michael Karcher wrote:
> > > > > IIRC, we recently had a link showing two stacked flash chips (but I
> > > > > think they were parallel, not LPC/FWH) with some control signals only
> > > > > connected to the top one - the idea was to mount a working flash chip
> >
> > on
> > > > > top of the one with damaged/wrong contents without removing the lower
> > > > > one from the system. Anyone knows what I'm talking about and still has
> > > > > the link?
> > > >
> > > > http://www.coreboot.org/pipermail/linuxbios/2007-April/020384.html
> > >
> > > The back-to-back socket solution (sometimes also marketed as top hat
> > > flash) would be the one which does not require soldering on the board
> > > and thus has a lower risk.
> >
> > The best way to figure this out is to find out which flash chip you have
> > and tell us. Then we can try to find out which pins need to be bent and
> > disconnected.
> >
> > Regards,
> > Carl-Daniel

disaster

[Julio Barrios]

Hi Carl-Daniel,

Sorry about not sending my message in the correct way.

I have now peeled off the sticker. This is what is on the flash chip:

iTE
IT8718F-S
2M24MA L

I hope this means something to you.

Best regarsd,

Julio

On 20 May 2010 11:50, Carl-Daniel Hailfinger <
[e-mail]> wrote:
> Hi Julio,
>
> it seems [e-mail] was left out of the conversation by
> accident. I've added it back, please use the "reply all" button in the
> future.
>
> On 20.05.2010 12:12, Julio Barrios wrote:
> > Hi Carl-Daniel, Joseph and Michael,
> >
> > Many thanks for your replies. I very much appreciate it. I'm not sure if
>
> a
> > flash chip is the same as the BIOS chip (I'm a complete newbie here and
>
> am
> > just learning a bit, and destroying computers along the way it seems
>
> LOL!).
> > Anyway, my BIOS is a Phoenix D686 and my PC is a Dell Inspiron 530.
>
> "Phoenix D686" is probably written on a sticker. Can you peel off the
> sticker and tell us what's written on the BIOS flash chip?
> > By the look of things, I guess that I will need to buy a new motherboard.
>
> If
> > that is the case, then I will need to buy one that is compatible with
>
> linux
> > because I'm not prepared to give up Ubuntu and go back to Windows.
> >
> > If you need any more information so that you can help me, please let me
> > know.
>
> Some people/companies in the UK offer services to reflash mainboards.
> That might be what you want, but I'm not sure if the shipping cost is
> worth it.
> Besides that, some vendors might offer top hat flash solutions for your
> board, but I'm not 100% sure about this.
> > Again, guys, thanks a lot.
> >
> > Julio
>
> Good luck!
>
> Regards,
> Carl-Daniel
> > On 20 May 2010 09:45, Carl-Daniel Hailfinger <
> > [e-mail]> wrote:
> > > Hi Julio,
> > >
> > > please note that the method in the link can destroy your mainboard if
> > > your flash chip uses a different interface (very likely). See below for
> > > details.
> > >
> > > On 20.05.2010 09:37, Carl-Daniel Hailfinger wrote:
> > > > On 20.05.2010 00:44, Joseph Smith wrote:
> > > > > On 05/19/2010 06:38 PM, Michael Karcher wrote:
> > > > > > IIRC, we recently had a link showing two stacked flash chips (but I
> > > > > > think they were parallel, not LPC/FWH) with some control signals only
> > > > > > connected to the top one - the idea was to mount a working flash chip
> > >
> > > on
> > > > > > top of the one with damaged/wrong contents without removing the lower
> > > > > > one from the system. Anyone knows what I'm talking about and still
>
> has
> > > > > > the link?
> > > > >
> > > > > http://www.coreboot.org/pipermail/linuxbios/2007-April/020384.html
> > > >
> > > > The back-to-back socket solution (sometimes also marketed as top hat
> > > > flash) would be the one which does not require soldering on the board
> > > > and thus has a lower risk.
> > >
> > > The best way to figure this out is to find out which flash chip you have
> > > and tell us. Then we can try to find out which pins need to be bent and
> > > disconnected.
> > >
> > > Regards,
> > > Carl-Daniel

disaster

[Carl-Daniel Hailfinger]

Hi Julio,

On 20.05.2010 13:15, Julio Barrios wrote:
> Sorry about not sending my message in the correct way.
>
> I have now peeled off the sticker. This is what is on the flash chip:
>
> iTE
> IT8718F-S

This is not your flash chip.

Regards,
Carl-Daniel

disaster

[Julio Barrios]

Well, that shows you how much I know!! lol Could you tell me how to find the
flash chip, please?

On 20 May 2010 12:24, Carl-Daniel Hailfinger <
[e-mail]> wrote:
> Hi Julio,
>
> On 20.05.2010 13:15, Julio Barrios wrote:
> > Sorry about not sending my message in the correct way.
> >
> > I have now peeled off the sticker. This is what is on the flash chip:
> >
> > iTE
> > IT8718F-S
>
> This is not your flash chip.
>
> Regards,
> Carl-Daniel

disaster

[Guenter]

JUlio,
Am 20.05.2010 13:28, schrieb Julio Barrios:
> Well, that shows you how much I know!! lol Could you tell me how to find
> the flash chip, please?

please take a look here - I guess this is your MB:
http://www.foxconnchannel.com/product/motherboards/detail_spec.aspx?ID=en-us...

then look at this picture - does your MB look like that?
http://www.foxconnchannel.com/product/Lookimage.aspx?/Upload/Mainboard/20070...

If so I guess the chip you thought you identified is in this picture at 
right bottom corner?
Can you tell us what's written on the chip at the left edge near the 
left PCI slot?

Or, even better: take a photo of your MB with a higher resolution than 
the above pic so that we can better see chips ...

Gün.