[coreboot] Can coreboot for KabyLake rvp11 work on Intel Sasby Island kit?

[Jay Talbott]

Nico,

The release notes for the Kaby Lake FSP on github says it's specifically just for KabyLake-H. It makes no mention of supporting KabyLake-U.

I initially attempted to use the version that was uploaded to GitHub back on June 22nd, which is the version that caused the bricking of the RVP7 and RVP15 CRBs.

After opening an IPS case on the issue, I discovered that the KabyLake FSP on github was developed by IoTG for KabyLake-H, while a different KabyLake FSP was developed by a completely different team at Intel for KabyLake-U (which was the FSP that was used for validating the kblrvp mainboard support in coreboot). This other KabyLake FSP is current not available on github (and I don't know if it ever will be).

Via the IPS case I was provided with this other KabyLake FSP kit via VIP, and I now have it up and running on the RVP7 and RVP15 (a couple of changes/fixes to the coreboot code were required to support the DDR4 on the RVP15, but the latest "other" KabyLake FSP itself now works fine for both boards).

I have not attempted to use the latest "Gold" release from github. Since the latest release notes still make no mention of supporting KabyLake-U, I'm not going to risk turning another CRB into a boat anchor. I'll just continue using the latest "other" KabyLake FSP that I got via VIP.

Note that while the version of the KabyLake FSP on github was developed by IoTG to target IoTG applications, the "other" KabyLake FSP was initially developed to target Chromebooks. That being said, there's really no technical reason why one couldn't be use for the other application, and vice versa, except that support becomes a bit of a nightmare...

- Jay

Jay Talbott
Principal Consulting Engineer
SysPro Consulting, LLC
3057 E. Muirfield St.
Gilbert, AZ 85298
(480) 704-8045
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http://www.sysproconsulting.com

> -----Original Message-----
> From: Nico Huber [mailto:nico.huber at secunet.com]
> Sent: Monday, January 08, 2018 6:02 AM
> To: Jay Talbott; 'Toan Le manh'; 'Naresh G. Solanki'; 'coreboot'
> Cc: Youness Alaoui
> Subject: Re: [coreboot] Can coreboot for KabyLake rvp11 work on Intel Sasby
> Island kit?
> 
> Hello Jay,
> 
> On 06.01.2018 07:13, Jay Talbott wrote:
> > Be careful using the public Kaby Lake FSP from github for SkyLake-U or
> > KabyLake-U processors… my first attempt resulted in two different CRBs
> > (one RVP7 and one RVP15) becoming boat anchors – even restoring the
> > original BIOS made no difference, the boards were completely bricked and
> > had to be sent back to Intel for new functional replacements.
> 
> can you please elaborate which binary caused this issue and why you sus-
> pect that it's related to -U SKUs. There are two versions on github by
> now. One is tagged KabylakeFsp0001, the other (current HEAD) is called
> "Gold release" with no tag at all (8267cde097).
> 
> We use KabylakeFsp0001 here with Skylake-H and, IIRC, Purism uses it
> with Skylake-U.
> 
> > I have no idea if/when the latest version of the FSP that I am now using
> > which actually works on the RVP7 and RVP15 will be publicly released.
> > That’s completely up to Intel.
> 
> In my experience, we'll never figure that out. Even when they release
> a new version on github, you can never tell to which version of the
> (original?) FSP it corresponds (unless you find the exact same binary,
> of course).
> 
> Nico
> 
> --
> M. Sc. Nico Huber
> Senior Berater SINA-Softwareentwicklung
> Netzwerk- & Client-Sicherheit / Network & Client Security
> Division Öffentliche Auftraggeber / Public Authorities
> secunet Security Networks AG
> 
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