[flashrom] Asus A7v600-X works with stable v0.9.0 but not with bleeding edge

Luc Verhaegen libv at skynet.be
Thu Aug 20 09:44:22 CEST 2009


On Thu, Aug 20, 2009 at 06:50:45AM +0100, Putlinuxonit wrote:
> Hi All,
> 
> I'd like to report than an Asus A7V600-X with bios 1009 works with flashrom
> 0.9.0 stable. The stock version found on the latest stable realease of
> systemrescuecd 1.2.3.
> 
> There are some caveats however...
> 
> find below a few dumps for your review.
> 
> root at sysresccd% ./flashrom
> *flashrom v0.9.0*
> No coreboot table found.
> *Found chipset "VIA VT8237"*, enabling flash write... OK.
> This chipset supports the following protocols: Non-SPI.
> Calibrating delay loop... OK.
> *Found chip "PMC Pm49FL002" (256 KB, LPC,FWH)* at physical address
> 0xfffc0000.
> No operations were specified.
> 
> The strange thing is that when i tried using the bleeding edge r694 i get
> the following
> 
> root at sysresccd /root % ./flashrom -w fimrwarea7v600-x.old
> *flashrom v0.9.0-r694*
> No coreboot table found.
> Found chipset "VIA VT8237", enabling flash write... OK.
> This chipset supports the following protocols: Non-SPI.
> Calibrating delay loop... OK.
> Found chip "PMC Pm49FL002" (256 KB, LPC,FWH) at physical address 0xfffc0000.
> Flash image seems to be a legacy BIOS. Disabling checks.
> Writing flash chip... Programming page: ERASE FAILED at 0x00000000!
> Expected=0xff, Read=0x03, failed byte count from 0x00000000-0x00003fff:
> 0x33a6
> ERASE FAILED!
> ERASE FAILED!
> FAILED!
> Your flash chip is in an unknown state.
> Get help on IRC at irc.freenode.net channel #flashrom or
> mail flashrom at flashrom.org
> ------------------------------------------------------------
> DO NOT REBOOT OR POWEROFF!
> 
> i then use the stock 0.9.0 version to reprogramme and i get this
> 
> root at sysresccd /root % flashrom -w  fimrwarea7v600-x.old
> Calibrating delay loop... OK.
> No coreboot table found.
> Found chipset "VIA VT8237", enabling flash write... OK.
> Found chip "PMC Pm49FL002" (256 KB) at physical address 0xfffc0000.
> Flash image seems to be a legacy BIOS. Disabling checks.
> Programming page: 0015 at address: 0x0003c000
> 
>  i* verify if it's written ok*
> root at sysresccd /root % flashrom -v fimrwarea7v600-x.old
> Calibrating delay loop... OK.
> No coreboot table found.
> Found chipset "VIA VT8237", enabling flash write... OK.
> Found chip "PMC Pm49FL002" (256 KB) at physical address 0xfffc0000.
> Flash image seems to be a legacy BIOS. Disabling checks.
> Verifying flash... VERIFIED.
> root at sysresccd /root % flashrom -R
> *flashrom v0.9.0*
> 
> 
> so basically,
> When i use the stock v0.9.0 to dump and write back  the firmware on my
> A7v600-x, everything is fine.
> 
> when i try to use the current svn. r694, it fails.
> 
> i had to reflash with stable 0.9.0 after the r694 failed. I've successfully
> rebooted and verified no damage done to motherboard.
> 
> interestingly, I downloaded the latest version of the bios (1009) off asus
> website, same version as i'm running and when i unzip it yeilds an *.awd ( i
> guess award) file.
> 
> This file is supposed to be the same version as the one i'm running but when
> i try both stock v0.9.0 and r694 on it. they  both fail. Beats me. maybe the
> awardflasher file format is different from what I get when i do* "flashrom
> -r firmware-old.bin"*
> *
> *
> I've also compared md5 checksums on both the firmware-old.bin and the one
> downloaded off the asus website but they both give different results even
> though they are meant to be the same version (1009).
> 
> 
> 
> Anyway, hats-off to the devs for all the good work.
> 
> 
> idlogin
> 
> -- 
> Udu E. Ogah
> .~~~~~~~~~~.
> 
> attachments
> 
> I've attached flashrom -V dumps for both 0.9.0 and r694
> latest Asus bios for A7v600-X

Udu,

An amazing amount of work was done between these two releases, one of 
the things that changed is that now, when operations fail, you get to 
actually see it.

Erase fails, in both cases.

Flashrom continues nonetheless in the old code.
Flashrom gives up in the new code.

When writing back the original image, nothing was ever erased, and of 
course you can read back the original image still.

When trying to write the new image (which is different), both old and 
new fail, as the old image is still there.

Your flashchip should be welltested, its bigger brother is available 
quite often.
Your chipset is also well tested.

So my guess is that you need a board enable.

If you can provide me with an lspci -vvnnxx, then i can provide a board 
enable.

(Mind you, i am a bit busy atm, could be that i can only manage to 
finally do this on monday)

Luc Verhaegen.




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