[LinuxBIOS] Latest on via epia-m for LinuxBIOS v2?
Corey Osgood
corey.osgood at gmail.com
Tue Aug 28 02:31:12 CEST 2007
Matthew Bloch wrote:
> Corey Osgood wrote:
>
>> Matthew Bloch wrote:
>>
>>> Corey Osgood wrote:
>>> [snip]
>>>
>>>
>>>> This is exactly as it says. In src/mainboard/via/epia-m/Config.lb, there
>>>> should be an XIP_ROM_SIZE and XIP_ROM_BASE, the base must be a multiple
>>>> of the size. I had a bit of trouble working around this myself at one
>>>> point, I think I determined that I just couldn't have a VGA rom and only
>>>> the fallback boot, having both seemed to straighten things out.
>>>>
>>>>
>>> So just to be clear we officially have no idea how to make a VGA BIOS as
>>> detailed in the HOWTO any more :) Using the Config.vga.filo gives the
>>> same error, so I'll give up on VGA as well.
>>>
>>>
>> What I meant was I needed normal+fallback+vga, that did the trick for me
>> at the time, but I can't recall why. For some reason having a fallback
>> image size of 256k - vgarom size screwed up the XIP size calculation,
>> perhaps because the vga rom wasn't exactly 64k?
>>
>
> Do you have a working Config.lb I could look at?
>
Sorry, no. It was for a pcchips board with the same chipset that I never
got going. I don't think I have the code any more.
> [snip]
>
>> Fallback can be for any variety of things. For example, you could set it
>> up so that there's no or reduced serial output during a normal boot, but
>> a full spew during fallback, or else you could use a different payload
>> for fallback.
>>
>
> Ah okay, under what circumstances does the fallback run?
>
IIRC, 3 sequential reboots or one failed boot by the normal image.
> [snip]
>
>> There may be some sort of flash protection in place, check your vendor
>> bios for a "Flash protect" option. I have this on my jetway and it gives
>> the same effect, but via's a whole different beast. Does the vendor bios
>> still verify? Peter Stuge should know more, hopefully he'll jump in soon.
>>
>
> I cut & pasted this program:
> http://linuxbios.org/pipermail/linuxbios/2004-March/007257.html
> and it seems to have flashed without trouble (both the program itself
> and flashrom said the new BIOS was verified, hooray).
>
Good find! This should get into flashrom.
> Despite my earlier test I'm hesitant to reboot as I've no backstop in
> case I brick it - will review my options for recover, possibly purchase
> a backup chip and pop back in a few days :)
>
> cheers,
>
Yeah, that's definitely the best practice. There's really no option for
recovery if something goes wrong, except to hotswap and flash the chip
in another system.
-Corey
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