[LinuxBIOS] Latest on via epia-m for LinuxBIOS v2?

Corey Osgood corey.osgood at gmail.com
Tue Aug 28 02:08:04 CEST 2007


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?

> Now the Config.filo.lb template gives me a working linuxbios.rom file -
> however I had to rebuild filo to get it under about 65K.  (General
> question) Is it just a quirk of the build system that I have to put two
> copies of the same BIOS image onto the flash?  Under what failure
> condition is the "fallback" used?  Surely the most useful fallback would
> be the vendor BIOS, which of course wouldn't fit ..?
>   

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.

> Anyhow I'm happy that the ROM ought to work as I've tested the new FILO
> from my GRUB, so I'm now trying to flash it:
>
> Here's me verifying the vendor BIOS:
>
> mnas:~/LinuxBIOSv2/targets/via/epia-m/epia-m# flashrom -v /root/oldbios
> Calibrating delay loop... ok
> No LinuxBIOS table found.
> Found chipset "VT8235": Enabling flash write... OK.
> Found board "VIA EPIA M/MII/...": Enabling flash write... OK.
> SST39SF020A found at physical address: 0xfffc0000
> Flash part is SST39SF020A (256 KB)
> Flash image seems to be a legacy BIOS. Disabling checks.
> Verifying flash - VERIFIED
>
> Okay so now I'll try to flash the new one:
>
> mnas:~/LinuxBIOSv2/targets/via/epia-m/epia-m# flashrom linuxbios.rom
> Calibrating delay loop... ok
> No LinuxBIOS table found.
> Found chipset "VT8235": Enabling flash write... OK.
> Found board "VIA EPIA M/MII/...": Enabling flash write... OK.
> SST39SF020A found at physical address: 0xfffc0000
> Flash part is SST39SF020A (256 KB)
> Note: If the following flash access fails, you might need to specify -m
> <vendor>:<mainboard>
>
> Hmmm, no signs of success or failure, will try to verify:
>
> mnas:~/LinuxBIOSv2/targets/via/epia-m/epia-m# flashrom -v linuxbios.rom
> Calibrating delay loop... ok
> No LinuxBIOS table found.
> Found chipset "VT8235": Enabling flash write... OK.
> Found board "VIA EPIA M/MII/...": Enabling flash write... OK.
> SST39SF020A found at physical address: 0xfffc0000
> Flash part is SST39SF020A (256 KB)
> Note: If the following flash access fails, you might need to specify -m
> <vendor>:<mainboard>
> Verifying flash - FAILED
>
> Looks like something bad happened, or nothing, let's see...
>
> mnas:~/LinuxBIOSv2/targets/via/epia-m/epia-m# flashrom -v /root/oldbios
> Calibrating delay loop... ok
> No LinuxBIOS table found.
> Found chipset "VT8235": Enabling flash write... OK.
> Found board "VIA EPIA M/MII/...": Enabling flash write... OK.
> SST39SF020A found at physical address: 0xfffc0000
> Flash part is SST39SF020A (256 KB)
> Flash image seems to be a legacy BIOS. Disabling checks.
> Verifying flash - VERIFIED
>
> Ah, so nothing happened!  Any idea why this didn't work?
>
> Thanks

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.

-Corey




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