[coreboot] SeaBIOS does not always recognize the USB key as boot device

[Kevin O'Connor]

On Thu, Aug 06, 2015 at 09:30:22AM +0200, Matthias Apitz wrote:
> El día Thursday, August 06, 2015 a las 07:43:13AM +0200, Paul Menzel escribió:
> 
> Hello Paul,
> 
> > give more information, so when the SeaBIOS developers look into it,
> > they have what they need.
> > 
> > Please publish the commit hash you build SeaBIOS from and the config
> > file.
> > 
> > Additionally, build SeaBIOS with debug level 8 and publish the logs
> > from a working and non-working boot. If you build SeaBIOS with CBMEM
> > console support, you’ll find the logs in the output of `cbmem -c`.
> 
> I understand as a developer the request for more detailed information.
> But I do not have the infrastructure to build Coreboot / SeaBIOS and
> flash this into the Acer C720 Chromebook. For sure, I also do not have at the
> moment the knowledge how to do so, but this is a matter of reading
> documentation.
> 
> The C720's I'm using are modified in the BIOS so they do not boot anymore
> ChromeOS, but via SeaBIOS any other OS, in my case FreeBSD CURRENT.
> 
> The only detailed information I have is the version string which says
> SeaBIOS on power on: SeaBIOS ver. 20131001_113210-build123-m2
> 
> Let me know if I could read any further information out of the BIOS
> using the booted FreeBSD. Or does exist some kind of images to write to
> an USB key and boot from which could get more information?

Hi Matthias,

It looks like you are running an older version of SeaBIOS (from 2013).
There were a number of USB fixes since that time.  It also looks like
you are running a custom (non chromeos) rom.  I recommend you upgrade
to a more recent version of the software - either from where the
custom rom was originally obtained or from another source.  The
coreboot download page ( http://www.coreboot.org/Download_coreboot )
lists this site as a source of Chromebook roms:
https://johnlewis.ie/custom-chromebook-firmware/rom-download/

If you continue to experience USB problems after upgrading seabios,
then you'll need to obtain the coreboot and seabios debug logs.
Briefly this is done on Linux with something like:

$ git clone http://review.coreboot.org/coreboot.git
$ cd coreboot/util/cbmem/
$ make
$ sudo ./cbmem -c

The logs should be forwarded to the seabios mailing list (
seabios at seabios.org ) along with a description of the problem.

Cheers,
-Kevin