[coreboot] Testing flashrom on MS6178

[Philip Aston]

Here is the initial result using flashrom on MS6178 version 1.1:

Flashrom will create a backup copy of the BIOS.

However, it is not possible to write to the chip using flashrom -w.

(1) attempting to write coreboot to the chip:

"Calibrating delay loop... OK.

No coreboot table found.

Found chipset "Intel ICH", enabling flash write... OK.

Found chip "Intel 82802AB" (512 KB) at physical address 0xfff80000.

Note: If the following flash access fails, try -m <vendor>:<mainboard>.

Programming page: 

0000 at address: 0x00000000BLOCK ERASE failed at 0x0

0001 at address: 0x00010000BLOCK ERASE failed at 0x10000

0002 at address: 0x00020000BLOCK ERASE failed at 0x20000

0003 at address: 0x00030000BLOCK ERASE failed at 0x30000

0004 at address: 0x00040000SKIPPED

0005 at address: 0x00050000BLOCK ERASE failed at 0x50000

0006 at address: 0x00060000BLOCK ERASE failed at 0x60000

0007 at address: 0x00070000DONE BLOCK 0x70000"


(2) In case I had provided an incorrect file address, I then provided
the path in full. I am satisfied that I had the file correctly named on
both occasions, however the result was slightly different:


"Calibrating delay loop... OK.

No coreboot table found.

Found chipset "Intel ICH", enabling flash write... OK.

Found chip "Intel 82802AB" (512 KB) at physical address 0xfff80000.

Note: If the following flash access fails, try -m <vendor>:<mainboard>.

Programming page: 

0000 at address: 0x00000000BLOCK ERASE failed at 0x0

0001 at address: 0x00010000BLOCK ERASE failed at 0x10000

0002 at address: 0x00020000BLOCK ERASE failed at 0x20000

0003 at address: 0x00030000BLOCK ERASE failed at 0x30000

0004 at address: 0x00040000SKIPPED

0005 at address: 0x00050000BLOCK ERASE failed at 0x50000

0006 at address: 0x00060000BLOCK ERASE failed at 0x60000

0007 at address: 0x00070000SKIPPED"



(3) I have other versions of the factory bios, so I tried to write one
of them. The result was similar, but, instead of the line
“Note:...<mainboard>" 

output was:

“Flash image seems to be a legacy BIOS. Disabling checks.”

The lines that followed were identical to (1).

Finally, I tried writing the original factory bios back to the chip
(which has worked using uniflash). The result was the same as (3).


On reboot, I found that either the bios had not altered- or just
possibly the restoration of the factory bios had worked. After all those
"fail" messages that seems unlikely.

I have a spare flash chip. Interestingly, this (earlier) bios has booted
the system without encountering the hardware detection problem that has
killed this board's performance, but some applications aren't working.
Reverting to the original chip, performance seems improved but the same
applications are not working. I am looking into this.

I will carry out further testing if required.