[LinuxBIOS] M57SLI Rev2.0 SPI - how to add the second bios chip (incl. pictures)

Harald Gutmann harald.gutmann at gmx.net
Fri Oct 12 20:40:02 CEST 2007


hello!
i'm new to the list and my first post will tell something about adding the 
second bios chip to that board.

first of all some informations on my mainboard, because i haven't read this 
informations on the mailinglist until now.

i always read about SST25LF040A and MX25L4005A chips which are used for bios 
on that mainboard. my mainboard which is also revision 2.0 has a different 
bios chip, which a device from winbond called 25X40VSIG.
here's the link to the datasheet of this chip: 
www.winbond-usa.com/products/Nexflash/pdfs/datasheets/W25X10_20_40_80g.pdf
this is just a statement, that there are also boards with that bios-chips 
out there.

linuxbios will not be tested by me on the 25X40VSIG chip, because i want to 
remain that chip in it's original state.

i've got two MX25L4005A chips, and i *want* to test 
linuxbios on my mainboard. so yesterday i bought some soldering equipment, and 
the things i need to do the job.

Peter Stuge has posted an introduction to add another chip to the 
second "bios-port" on the mainboard 
(http://linuxbios.org/pipermail/linuxbios/2007-September/024395.html; 
http://stuge.se/lb/m57sli/).
after studing the datasheet's of the chips, i was certain that it'll be 
correct what he told just a few weeks before.

what you'll need to get the stuff working:
* 2 resistors, i took 100k ohm with 0.25Watt
* a SPDT switch
* an serial eeprom in an soic case with about 200mil.
* equipment to solder
* some time to do the job

first i wanted to boot the machine with the "hardware hack" on it, the fans 
started to move, but i got no response from my monitor.
but, after changing the position of the switch, it just worked like usual!
(on that point i knew, that i've soldered everything correct. because when the 
empty chip is activated, there is no data sent from the bios chip to the 
superio.)

after booting the machine, i made a svn co of the linuxbios flashrom util, 
compiled it and had a look if it will work.
so, here are my output results from the flashrom util:

original bios chip:
%<---------------------------------------------------------
benchvice flashrom # ./flashrom --mainboard gigabyte:m57sli
Calibrating delay loop... ok
No LinuxBIOS table found.
Found chipset "NVIDIA MCP55": Enabling flash write... OK.
Found board "GIGABYTE GA-M57SLI": Enabling flash write... Serial flash segment 
0xfffe0000-0xffffffff enabled
Serial flash segment 0x000e0000-0x000fffff enabled
Serial flash segment 0xffee0000-0xffefffff disabled
Serial flash segment 0xfff80000-0xfffeffff enabled
LPC write to serial flash enabled
serial flash pin 29
OK.
RDID returned ef 30 13
No EEPROM/flash device found.
benchvice flashrom #
%<--------------------------------------------------------

after changing the position of the spdt switch:
%<--------------------------------------------------------
benchvice flashrom # ./flashrom --mainboard gigabyte:m57sli
Calibrating delay loop... ok
No LinuxBIOS table found.
Found chipset "NVIDIA MCP55": Enabling flash write... OK.
Found board "GIGABYTE GA-M57SLI": Enabling flash write... Serial flash segment 
0                                                            
xfffe0000-0xffffffff enabled
Serial flash segment 0x000e0000-0x000fffff enabled
Serial flash segment 0xffee0000-0xffefffff disabled
Serial flash segment 0xfff80000-0xfffeffff enabled
LPC write to serial flash enabled
serial flash pin 29
OK.
RDID returned c2 20 13
MX25L4005 found at physical address: 0xfff80000
Flash part is MX25L4005 (512 KB)
No operations were specified.
benchvice flashrom #
%<----------------------------------------------------------------

after all that information i made for sure some pictures, and following the 
topic here they are:
http://illmeyer.com/hg87/LICENSE
http://illmeyer.com/hg87/dscf1597.jpg
http://illmeyer.com/hg87/dscf1608.jpg
http://illmeyer.com/hg87/dscf1617.jpg
http://illmeyer.com/hg87/dscf1621.jpg
http://illmeyer.com/hg87/dscf1624.jpg
http://illmeyer.com/hg87/dscf1628.jpg
http://illmeyer.com/hg87/dscf1629.jpg
http://illmeyer.com/hg87/dscf1630.jpg
http://illmeyer.com/hg87/dscf1631.jpg

at the and i want to thank j0hn for the chip.

regards,
harald gutmann




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