[flashrom] Flashrom & Intel DH67CF

[Stefan Tauner]

On Sat, 03 Sep 2011 08:14:37 +0200
Matthijs van Aalten <flashrom at vanaalten.net> wrote:

> Hi,
> 
> Can you tell me if it is (mostly) safe to use Flashrom 0.9.4 on my Intel 
> DH67CF main board?

it will not work, sorry. this board is tightly locked up, thanks intel!

> The log doesn't make it clear how risky it is to flash. I've attached 
> the 'flashrom -V' log file.
> 
> What makes me afraid to try:
> 
> Warning messages in the log file:
> "WARNING: BIOS region SMM protection is enabled!"
> "tried to set 0xdc to 0x23 on H67 failed (WARNING ONLY)"

that means that "hidden" bios code will be called whenever we try to
enable flash writes, which disables it again except when we have
instructed it before to leave it enabled, which is a bios
implementation detail that is not documented and we dont know it (yet).
but that's not the only problem...

> "WARNING: SPI Configuration Lockdown activated."

this is not so much of a problem, it just means, that we are not
allowed to change the configuration on its own.

the second big problem is:
> BMWAG 0x00, BMRAG 0x00, BRWA 0x0a, BRRA 0x0b
> 0x54: 0x00000000 (FREG0: Flash Descriptor)
> 0x00000000-0x00000fff is read-only
> 0x58: 0x03ff0185 (FREG1: BIOS)
> 0x00185000-0x003fffff is read-write
> 0x5C: 0x01840003 (FREG2: Management Engine)
> 0x00003000-0x00184fff is locked
> 0x60: 0x00020001 (FREG3: Gigabit Ethernet)
> 0x00001000-0x00002fff is read-write
> 0x64: 0x00000fff (FREG4: Platform Data)
> Platform Data region is unused.

the ME region is locked, which means any read or write access will
fail.

> ... is all a bit too technical but not very positive.

no. please dont try to write... should not break anything, but it wont
work either.

> 
> I've downloaded the latest BIOS for this mainboard and flashed it from 
> the BIOS utility itself (file used: BL0128P.BIO).
> Then I did a verify job with Flashrom - ideally it should read the flash 
> memory and report it equal to the downloaded file:
>  > flashrom -v BL0128P.BIO
> flashrom v0.9.4-r1395 on Linux 3.0.0 (x86_64), built with libpci 3.1.7, 
> GCC 4.4.5, little endian
> flashrom is free software, get the source code at http://www.flashrom.org
> 
> Calibrating delay loop... OK.
> Found chipset "Intel H67".
> This chipset is marked as untested. If you are using an up-to-date version
> of flashrom please email a report to flashrom at flashrom.org including a
> verbose (-V) log. Thank you!
> Enabling flash write... WARNING: BIOS region SMM protection is enabled!
> tried to set 0xdc to 0x23 on H67 failed (WARNING ONLY)
> WARNING: SPI Configuration Lockdown activated.
> FAILED!
> This chipset supports the following protocols: FWH, SPI.
> Found Macronix flash chip "MX25L3205" (4096 kB, SPI) at physical address 
> 0xffc00000.
> Error: Image size doesn't match

btw flashrom requires the size of the image to match the size of the
flash chip in question. the file from intel probably have some header
and/or footer around the real payload.
> 
> 
> But: the Macronix flash chip as well as the Intel chipset (H67) are 
> supported by Flashrom 0.9.4.

and it would work, if intel would like us to support it, but they dont.

> All in all I'm reluctant to try it - especially since it already has a 
> problem reading and verifying the BIOS.
> 
> Any advice?

please use the tool(s) intel provides, sorry.
-- 
Kind regards/Mit freundlichen Grüßen, Stefan Tauner