Re: [flashrom] Flash chip/chipset not found

[Carl-Daniel Hailfinger]

Hi Mark,

thanks for the log and the explanation. This was indeed helpful.

May I suggest you take a look at the nvramtool utility from the coreboot
project? It works fine even on normal BIOS (needs to be run as root,
though).
http://www.coreboot.org/Nvramtool

I used nvramtool in the past to dump all 256 bytes of NVRAM. For a
hexdump, try this:
# nvramtool -x

If this gets you the same result as SRCMOS.EXE, you could throw the DOS
utility away.

The interesting parameters are:
       -b OUTPUT_FILE: Dump CMOS memory contents to file.
       -B INPUT_FILE:  Write file contents to CMOS memory.
       -x:             Show hex dump of CMOS memory.
       -X DUMPFILE:    Show hex dump of CMOS dumpfile.

Regards,
Carl-Daniel

On 02.11.2015 11:06, Rowlinson Mark wrote:
> Hi Carl-Daniel,
> I've attached the logfile output as requested.
> The SRCMOS .EXE utility that comes on the BIOS update image saves 256 bytes of data.  The older versions has 128 bytes of data and the remainder was all 00x.  The last version has data within the last 128 bytes and that makes all the difference.
> Whether the utility only processed the first 128 bytes initially and was corrected to save/restore the extra 128 bytes I don't know but it certainly does the trick now.
> It is a DOS based utility and I've been able to configure a FreeDOS image under GRUB so that it will boot it once to set the BIOS settings I need and then boot back to the Linux OS.
> Getting the settings out was a bit of a chore as I had to hex dump them to the screen so I could take a picture (and then type them in) as the image can't be updated and has no access to any other devices.  Running the utility from a USB device is no help either as the moment I disable USB in the BIOS I can't access the utility to write the settings to a file.
> Best Regards,
> Mark Rowlinson, Principal Engineer, Unix Support
> MISGB Implementation Distributed
>
> Fujitsu
>
> From: Carl-Daniel Hailfinger [mailto:[e-mail]]
> Sent: 29 October 2015 00:37
> To: Rowlinson Mark ; [e-mail]
> Subject: Re: [flashrom] Flash chip/chipset not found
>
> Hi Mark,
>
> would it be possible for you to generate a log file using the additional parameter --output logfile.txt when doing a read of the flash chip, then send that log file to us?
>
> That would help us to finally merge support for the VT8251 chipset in your point-of-sale IBM/Toshiba AnyPlace Kiosk Model 48xx series. We have a strict rule that flashrom must be 100% reliable and thus we keep log files for any newly supported/tested chipset around for reference. Your log file would be used as reference for VT8251.
>
> That said, it would be very interesting to know where the settings are actually stored. Have you looked into the top 128 bytes of NVRAM? Maybe there is another flash chip? Is there any way to trace what the save/restore tool does (i.e. does it run on Linux)?
>
> Regards,
> Carl-Daniel
>
> On 28.10.2015 23:25, Rowlinson Mark wrote:
> > Hi Carl-Daniel,
> >
> > That change does allow the chipset to be recognised and it will write out the ROM.  It seems to be the BIOS code only (no settings) as it doesn't change if I change any settings within the BIOS.
> >
> > I've been directed to a save/restore utility that comes on the BIOS update image and it seems the last version actually accesses the data I'm interested in so I'm investigating this route at the moment.
> >
> > Best Regards,
> > Mark Rowlinson
> > -----Original Message-----
> >
> > From: Carl-Daniel Hailfinger
> > [mailto:[e-mail]]
> > Sent: 24 October 2015 09:22
> > To: Rowlinson Mark <[e-mail]>;
> > [e-mail]
> >
> > Subject: Re: [flashrom] Flash chip/chipset not found
> >
> > Hi Mark,
> >
> > this is a VIA VT8251 PCI to ISA Bridge you're using.
> >
> > I think Stefan Tauner (in CC) already was discussing something similar here:
> > http://www.flashrom.org/pipermail/flashrom/2012-July/009552.html
> > That email even has a patch attached.
> > On 22.10.2015 22:24, Rowlinson Mark wrote:
> > > Thanks for the swift response, I have attached output from the command requested.
> > >
> > > The device in question is an IBM (now Toshiba) AnyPlace Kiosk Model 4838-310.  The models we have are a mixture of 4838-310 and 4838-330 and support documentation refers to them as 4838-3xx.
> >
> > Heh, would be fun to add this to our tests.
> >
> > Regards,
> > Carl-Daniel

Flash chip/chipset not found

[Rowlinson Mark]

Hi Carl-Daniel,
Thanks for the pointer, I've downloaded a copy of nvramtool and tried it but the data from 129-256 bytes was all 00x, this is what was happening with the older version of SRCMOS.
As a reboot is needed anyway to verify the changes I've continued with my other approach and am just fine tuning the packaging while we plan the deployment.
Best Regards,
Mark Rowlinson

From: Carl-Daniel Hailfinger [mailto:[e-mail]]
Sent: 02 November 2015 18:47
To: Rowlinson Mark ; [e-mail]
Subject: Re: [flashrom] Flash chip/chipset not found

Hi Mark,

thanks for the log and the explanation. This was indeed helpful.

May I suggest you take a look at the nvramtool utility from the coreboot project? It works fine even on normal BIOS (needs to be run as root, though).

http://www.coreboot.org/Nvramtool

I used nvramtool in the past to dump all 256 bytes of NVRAM. For a hexdump, try this:

# nvramtool -x

If this gets you the same result as SRCMOS.EXE, you could throw the DOS utility away.

The interesting parameters are:

-b OUTPUT_FILE: Dump CMOS memory contents to file.

-B INPUT_FILE:  Write file contents to CMOS memory.

-x:             Show hex dump of CMOS memory.

-X DUMPFILE:    Show hex dump of CMOS dumpfile.

Regards,

Carl-Daniel

On 02.11.2015 11:06, Rowlinson Mark wrote:
> Hi Carl-Daniel,
> I've attached the logfile output as requested.
> The SRCMOS .EXE utility that comes on the BIOS update image saves 256 bytes of data.  The older versions has 128 bytes of data and the remainder was all 00x.  The last version has data within the last 128 bytes and that makes all the difference.
> Whether the utility only processed the first 128 bytes initially and was corrected to save/restore the extra 128 bytes I don't know but it certainly does the trick now.
> It is a DOS based utility and I've been able to configure a FreeDOS image under GRUB so that it will boot it once to set the BIOS settings I need and then boot back to the Linux OS.
> Getting the settings out was a bit of a chore as I had to hex dump them to the screen so I could take a picture (and then type them in) as the image can't be updated and has no access to any other devices.  Running the utility from a USB device is no help either as the moment I disable USB in the BIOS I can't access the utility to write the settings to a file.
> Best Regards,
> Mark Rowlinson, Principal Engineer, Unix Support MISGB Implementation
> Distributed
>
> Fujitsu
>
>
> From: Carl-Daniel Hailfinger
> [mailto:[e-mail]]
> Sent: 29 October 2015 00:37
> To: Rowlinson Mark <[e-mail]>;
> [e-mail]
> Subject: Re: [flashrom] Flash chip/chipset not found
>
>
> Hi Mark,
>
> would it be possible for you to generate a log file using the additional parameter --output logfile.txt when doing a read of the flash chip, then send that log file to us?
>
> That would help us to finally merge support for the VT8251 chipset in your point-of-sale IBM/Toshiba AnyPlace Kiosk Model 48xx series. We have a strict rule that flashrom must be 100% reliable and thus we keep log files for any newly supported/tested chipset around for reference. Your log file would be used as reference for VT8251.
>
> That said, it would be very interesting to know where the settings are actually stored. Have you looked into the top 128 bytes of NVRAM? Maybe there is another flash chip? Is there any way to trace what the save/restore tool does (i.e. does it run on Linux)?
>
> Regards,
> Carl-Daniel
>
>
>
>
>
> On 28.10.2015 23:25, Rowlinson Mark wrote:
>
> > Hi Carl-Daniel,
> >
> > That change does allow the chipset to be recognised and it will write out the ROM.  It seems to be the BIOS code only (no settings) as it doesn't change if I change any settings within the BIOS.
> >
> > I've been directed to a save/restore utility that comes on the BIOS update image and it seems the last version actually accesses the data I'm interested in so I'm investigating this route at the moment.
> >
> > Best Regards,
> > Mark Rowlinson
> > -----Original Message-----
> >
> > From: Carl-Daniel Hailfinger
> > [mailto:[e-mail]]
> > Sent: 24 October 2015 09:22
> > To: Rowlinson Mark
> > <[e-mail]<mailto:[e-mail]>>
> > ; [e-mail]<mailto:[e-mail]>
> >
> > Subject: Re: [flashrom] Flash chip/chipset not found
> >
> > Hi Mark,
> >
> > this is a VIA VT8251 PCI to ISA Bridge you're using.
> >
> > I think Stefan Tauner (in CC) already was discussing something similar here:
> > http://www.flashrom.org/pipermail/flashrom/2012-July/009552.html
> > That email even has a patch attached.
> > On 22.10.2015 22:24, Rowlinson Mark wrote:
> > > Thanks for the swift response, I have attached output from the command requested.
> > >
> > > The device in question is an IBM (now Toshiba) AnyPlace Kiosk Model 4838-310.  The models we have are a mixture of 4838-310 and 4838-330 and support documentation refers to them as 4838-3xx.
> > Heh, would be fun to add this to our tests.
> >
> > Regards,
> > Carl-Daniel

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