[coreboot] setting smbios values from the OS

[ron minnich]

On Fri, Jun 20, 2014 at 10:00 PM, Scott Duplichan <scott at notabs.org> wrote:

>
>
> Putting the serial number in the same flash chip as the main
> firmware is a cost reduction measure used with desktop and other
> low cost boards. I have even seen a board where the MAC address
> lives there. The only protection for those items is that the
> flash utility given to the end user knows to skip that area.
>

OH believe me, I have too. That's when I learned a mac of 00:00:00:00:00:00
actually works.


>
> The way I have seen the serial number programmed is at
> manufacturing diagnostics time. The board is PXE booted to a
> diagnostic image. The image runs a script that first erases
> the entire flash chip. It then programs it with the OEM firmware
> image. The OEM image contains a blank serial number. The script
> then prompts for operator input. The operator pulls a barcoded
> serial number label from a roll and attaches it to the board. The
> operator then scans the label with a barcode reader. The script
> uses the barcode data to find the serial number in a database.
> The script then runs a special flash utility that reprograms only
> the serial number portion of the flash chip.
>
>  <http://www.coreboot.org/mailman/listinfo/coreboot>
>

very interesting. Thing is, this is pretty much the antithesis of
build-time serial number creation ... which is the thing that I don't see
scaling.

thanks!

ron
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