[coreboot] Burn 2MB coreboot.rom on 8MB flash chip

Mariusz Szafrański coreboot at akumat.pl
Fri Oct 5 11:11:42 CEST 2018


Also have no idea :(
My solution should work when vendor`s utility just put unmodified whole 
5M coreboot.rom.new at top of the flash chip space.
But this could not be true and vendor`s utility is doing something else :(
(e.g. put it on other location, split it and place chunks on non 
continuous areas or injects some kind of "id" or "keys" before flashing)

Mariusz

W dniu 05.10.2018 o 10:50, Jose Trujillo pisze:
> I have no idea bro....
> I cannot help you with that.
> I am just curious....  Which brand and model of board are you using?
>
> ‐‐‐‐‐‐‐ Original Message ‐‐‐‐‐‐‐
> On Friday, October 5, 2018 6:05 AM, Zvi Vered <veredz72 at gmail.com> wrote:
>
>> Hi Jose, Mariusz,All,
>>
>> The vendor's rom file size is: 5,242,880 bytes
>>
>> After running:
>> dd if=coreboot.rom of=coreboot.rom.new bs=1M skip=3
>>
>> I got a new file with the same size.
>>
>> I tried to program this new file and got the following message from 
>> the vendor's utlity:
>>
>> WARNING !
>> This Image file doesn't match current System design!
>> Force update it will destroy the System's Activation Key.
>> We do not recommend flashing your BIOS.
>>   Press "Y" to force update BIOS.
>>   Press "N" to quit flash.
>> - Please select one of the options:
>>
>> I ignored the warning and programmed the BIOS.
>>
>> After reset, I got nothing.
>>
>> What is "System's Activation Key" ?
>> I'm sure that FSP (and other files) for my board are not properly 
>> configured yet.
>> But I suspect this is not the reason for the message.
>>
>> Thank you,
>> Zvika
>>
>>
>> On Thu, Oct 4, 2018 at 9:47 PM Zvi Vered <veredz72 at gmail.com 
>> <mailto:veredz72 at gmail.com>> wrote:
>>
>>     Hi Jose,
>>
>>     I probably made a mistake and erased the main BIOS chip (and also
>>     the secondary one)
>>     Currently my target is not booting OS at all.
>>     So I can not try Mariusz procedure.
>>     Hope to have an identical target soon.
>>
>>     Thank you very much for your help,
>>     Zvika
>>
>>     On Thu, Oct 4, 2018 at 6:31 PM Jose Trujillo
>>     <ce.autom at protonmail.com <mailto:ce.autom at protonmail.com>> wrote:
>>
>>         Zvika:
>>         Doing a full flash doesn't work for you, this is what I been
>>         doing.
>>         Try to use flashrom from linux if you want to do the full
>>         flash (may be it will work).
>>
>>         An external programmer would be the optimal choice.
>>
>>         Did you tried what Mariusz said?
>>         Jose.
>>
>>
>>
>>         ‐‐‐‐‐‐‐ Original Message ‐‐‐‐‐‐‐
>>         On Thursday, October 4, 2018 6:20 PM, Zvi Vered
>>         <veredz72 at gmail.com <mailto:veredz72 at gmail.com>> wrote:
>>
>>>         Hi Mariusz, Jose, All,
>>>
>>>         Mariusz - Thank you very much for the solution.
>>>         Jose - You wrote "I have never done this way...".
>>>         Can you please suggest a better alternative ?
>>>
>>>         Thank you,
>>>         Zvika
>>>
>>>
>>>         On Wed, Oct 3, 2018 at 8:39 PM Mariusz Szafrański via
>>>         coreboot <coreboot at coreboot.org
>>>         <mailto:coreboot at coreboot.org>> wrote:
>>>
>>>             Hi Jose,
>>>
>>>             In your case set:
>>>             ROM chip size = 8MB (your case)
>>>             CBFS_SIZE <= 5MB (your specific case)
>>>
>>>             This will build 8M file. After that just cut last 5M of
>>>             this 8M file (using any hexeditor) or use something like
>>>             below from command line:
>>>
>>>             dd if=coreboot.rom of=corebootout.rom bs=1M skip=3
>>>
>>>             (before doing that double check if original vendor`s rom
>>>             file size is 5242880 bytes long)
>>>
>>>             Mariusz
>>>
>>>
>>>             W dniu 03.10.2018 o 08:53, Jose Trujillo via coreboot pisze:
>>>>             You can do that but I have never done this way and I
>>>>             cannot help you with that.
>>>>
>>>>             Someone else can advise on this?
>>>>
>>>>             ‐‐‐‐‐‐‐ Original Message ‐‐‐‐‐‐‐
>>>>             On Tuesday, October 2, 2018 9:39 PM, Zvi Vered
>>>>             <veredz72 at gmail.com> <mailto:veredz72 at gmail.com> wrote:
>>>>
>>>>>             Hi Jose, All,
>>>>>
>>>>>             Highly appreciate your answers.
>>>>>             It seems the vital information in your replies are not
>>>>>             documented.
>>>>>
>>>>>             The original vendor's rom file size is 5MB.
>>>>>             Do you think I can create a 5MB coreboot.rom ?
>>>>>
>>>>>             It seems that AfuEfix64.efi supplied by vendor is
>>>>>             looking for 5MB rom file like the original one. For
>>>>>             any other file size, AfuEfix64 fails.
>>>>>
>>>>>             Thank you,
>>>>>             Zvika
>>>>>
>>>>>             On Mon, Oct 1, 2018 at 2:08 PM Jose Trujillo
>>>>>             <ce.autom at protonmail.com
>>>>>             <mailto:ce.autom at protonmail.com>> wrote:
>>>>>
>>>>>                 Zvika:
>>>>>
>>>>>                 There are 2 ways to build coreboot: (choose one)....
>>>>>                 1.- Including IFD, TXE, GBE etc.... inside
>>>>>                 coreboot CBFS.
>>>>>                 2.- Using the original firmware(FW) with IFD, TXE,
>>>>>                 GBE already in flash and just rewrite coreboot on
>>>>>                 top of the BIOS block.
>>>>>
>>>>>                 Your original computer Firmware = Intel FW + "BIOS"
>>>>>
>>>>>                 Intel FW = IFD +PD+ME/TXE+GBE
>>>>>                 BIOS=AMI-Phoenix etc...
>>>>>
>>>>>                 IFD=Intel Firmware Descriptor Table.
>>>>>                 PD=Parameters
>>>>>                 ME=Management Engine (For "Core" kind of processors).
>>>>>                 TXE=Trusted Execution Engine (For "Atom" kind of
>>>>>                 processors).
>>>>>                 GBE=Network card firmware.
>>>>>
>>>>>                 Zvika said:
>>>>>                 "After creating coreboot.rom should I always use
>>>>>                 the original BIOS with ifdtool to convert rom to
>>>>>                 bin ?"
>>>>>                 Answer:
>>>>>                 No, there are other methods and tools that can do
>>>>>                 the merge.... (ifdtool and Intel's FIT are working
>>>>>                 fine for me)
>>>>>
>>>>>                 After the creation of the coreboot build you have
>>>>>                 2 ways of doing the flashing for your case: (with
>>>>>                 fpt).
>>>>>                 1.- Flash the full 8MB (Intel FW+coreboot) if the
>>>>>                 SPI flash is blank or have unknown firmware.
>>>>>                      Use IFDTool in this case to inject coreboot
>>>>>                 to Intel FW..... then flash it with fpt .
>>>>>                 2.- Flash only the BIOS block (5MB your specific
>>>>>                 case) in this case ask someone else how to do it
>>>>>                 with fpt....
>>>>>
>>>>>                 I hope this answered your questions.
>>>>>                 Jose..
>>>>>
>>>>>                 ‐‐‐‐‐‐‐ Original Message ‐‐‐‐‐‐‐
>>>>>                 On Saturday, September 29, 2018 12:24 AM, Zvi
>>>>>                 Vered <veredz72 at gmail.com
>>>>>                 <mailto:veredz72 at gmail.com>> wrote:
>>>>>
>>>>>>                 Hi Jose,
>>>>>>
>>>>>>                 You wrote:
>>>>>>                 "My recommended approach is using the original
>>>>>>                 Intel FW with already included the FD, TXE".
>>>>>>
>>>>>>                 What is "original intel FW" ?
>>>>>>                 What is FD, TXE ?
>>>>>>
>>>>>>                 After creating coreboot.rom should I always use
>>>>>>                 the original BIOS with ifdtool to convert rom to
>>>>>>                 bin ?
>>>>>>
>>>>>>                 Thank you,
>>>>>>                 Zvika
>>>>>>
>>>>>>                 On Wed, Sep 26, 2018 at 7:27 PM Jose Trujillo
>>>>>>                 <ce.autom at protonmail.com
>>>>>>                 <mailto:ce.autom at protonmail.com>> wrote:
>>>>>>
>>>>>>                     You are right Nico,
>>>>>>
>>>>>>                     I just forgot the troubles this caused me.
>>>>>>                     I am sorry Vika... My mistake.
>>>>>>
>>>>>>                     I can confirm with Nico:
>>>>>>                     ROM chip size = 8MB (your case)
>>>>>>                     CBFS_SIZE = 2 to 5MB (your specific case)
>>>>>>
>>>>>>                     My recommended approach is using the original
>>>>>>                     Intel FW with already included the FD, TXE.
>>>>>>
>>>>>>                     I never tested adding regions to coreboot but
>>>>>>                     you can try.
>>>>>>
>>>>>>                     To have better chances of success you should
>>>>>>                     be dumping hardware settings booting with
>>>>>>                     your original "BIOS" (look for the attached
>>>>>>                     file).
>>>>>>
>>>>>>                     Check if the system is "Memory down"or/and
>>>>>>                     ECC because it will be needed to edit FSP (if
>>>>>>                     using it).
>>>>>>                     Dump memory settings with the following commands:
>>>>>>
>>>>>>                     sudo dnf install i2c-tools-perl
>>>>>>                     sudo modprobe eeprom
>>>>>>                     decode-dimms
>>>>>>
>>>>>>                     If you have not done this already there is
>>>>>>                     still a long way to go.
>>>>>>                     Don't get intimidated, just do it, if you
>>>>>>                     have questions just ask.... I will try to help
>>>>>>
>>>>>>                     Good luck,
>>>>>>                     Jose.
>>>>>>
>>>>>>
>>>>>>                     ‐‐‐‐‐‐‐ Original Message ‐‐‐‐‐‐‐
>>>>>>                     On Wednesday, September 26, 2018 6:28 PM,
>>>>>>                     Nico Huber <nico.h at gmx.de
>>>>>>                     <mailto:nico.h at gmx.de>> wrote:
>>>>>>
>>>>>>                     > Hi,
>>>>>>                     >
>>>>>>                     > On 9/26/18 9:19 AM, Jose Trujillo via
>>>>>>                     coreboot wrote:
>>>>>>                     >
>>>>>>                     > > No, don't change it, you change the size
>>>>>>                     of coreboot only if during the
>>>>>>                     > > building process "make" complain that
>>>>>>                     there is not enough space but in
>>>>>>                     > > your case your build was already
>>>>>>                     successful leave it like that.
>>>>>>                     >
>>>>>>                     > this advice seems very weird to me. I'm not
>>>>>>                     experienced with Bay Trail.
>>>>>>                     > But unless there is a bug in the Bay Trail
>>>>>>                     code, you should always set
>>>>>>                     > the correct ROM_SIZE (to the full flash
>>>>>>                     chip size). Otherwise you may
>>>>>>                     > introduce bugs in code that relies on this
>>>>>>                     setting (e.g. saving the
>>>>>>                     > MRC cache might fail and so would S3 resume).
>>>>>>                     >
>>>>>>                     > CBFS_SIZE however is the setting to adjust
>>>>>>                     according to your needs. It
>>>>>>                     > should be at most the size of the BIOS region.
>>>>>>                     >
>>>>>>                     > > In the rare circumstance that more space
>>>>>>                     is required you can increase
>>>>>>                     > > coreboot size to 4MB and istill will fit
>>>>>>                     into your system 5MB of space
>>>>>>                     > > available.
>>>>>>                     > > "ifdtool" will inject coreboot in the top
>>>>>>                     of the BYT_orig.bin and save
>>>>>>                     > > as BYT_orig.bin.new that you can flash to
>>>>>>                     your system.
>>>>>>                     >
>>>>>>                     > I assume this doesn't work oob if you set
>>>>>>                     ROM_SIZE correctly. But it is
>>>>>>                     > unnecessary to craft a single file by hand.
>>>>>>                     You can either only flash
>>>>>>                     > the BIOS region (recommended) or add the
>>>>>>                     other regions in coreboot's
>>>>>>                     > config (HAVE_{IFD,ME,GBE}_BIN).
>>>>>>                     >
>>>>>>                     > Nico
>>>>>>
>>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>             --
>>>             coreboot mailing list: coreboot at coreboot.org
>>>             <mailto:coreboot at coreboot.org>
>>>             https://mail.coreboot.org/mailman/listinfo/coreboot
>>>
>>
>
-- 
Pozdrawiam, Regards
AKUMAT Mariusz Szafrański
+48 501786602
mariusz.szafranski at akumat.pl
www.akumat.pl

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