Re: [flashrom] FAILED: HP ChromeBook 14 (Falco)

[Stefan Tauner]

On Mon, 18 Aug 2014 19:35:18 +0200
"Maria Roth"  wrote:
> Hi,
>
> I got that while using J. Lewis script to flash an HP Chromebook 14 (Falco) (without screw).
>
> flashrom v0.9.4  : 14ce0cf : Oct 09 2013 22:16:28 UTC on Linux 3.15.10-200.fc20.x86_64 (x86_64), built with libpci 3.1.10, GCC 4.7.x-google 20130114 (prerelease), little endian Erasing and writing flash chip... spi_block_erase_20 failed during command execution at address 0x0 Verifying flash... VERIFY FAILED at 0x00000062! Expected=0xff, Read=0x0b, failed byte count from 0x00000000-0x007fffff: 0x4 Your flash chip is in an unknown state. Get help on IRC at irc.freenode.net (channel #flashrom) or mail [e-mail] with FAILED: your board name in the subject line! ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- DO NOT REBOOT OR POWEROFF! FAILED
>
> Can you help ?
>
> Thanks,
> R.

As discussed on IRC, and merely in the hope it might help someone in
the future: if you see exactly this message (esp. the 0x4 after the
range of memory addresses and the 0x0...62 after VERIFY FAILED) then
you are safe. It is caused by a difference between the original flash
contents and the image John Lewis is providing at his website
(https://johnlewis.ie). The difference is in a copy-protected region
that is not essential for the rest of the image and both versions are
OK - they just can't be changed without an external programmer and
that's why one gets the warning when using flashrom with the internal
programmer. You have to nag John to get this fixed/changed, but it is
in this form only a cosmetic nuisance.