topic Have problem to read/write intel-spi nor flash (BIOS) on linux in Embedded Intel Atom® Processors

Have problem to read/write intel-spi nor flash (BIOS) on linux

NLI4 — Thu, 28 Mar 2019 15:47:25 GMT

Flashrom cannot read/write intel-spi nor flash (BIOS) on linux

I am working on intel c3000 base board, want to read/write spi nor flash (BIOS) on Linux via flashrom, but flashrom complains that no device can be found.

I am using intel-spi driver on linux, the mtd device can be correctly recognized.

At the beginning, I can only read fist 4k of the spi nor flash via dd (dd if=/dev/mtd0 of=/test bs=4096 count=1), the remainng part of the flash cannot be read.

Then try to set the Master Access to 0Xffff for 1) Host CPU/BIOS Master Access, 2) Intel(R) ME Master Access and 3) IE Master Access. I can read the full spi nor flash via linux dd command, and can use flash_erase to erase the first 8M exclude the beginning 4K, and then use dd command to write data to the same place as erased.

My problems are 1) why I cannot write the first 4k and the second half (8M), the second half is stored COREBOOT+U-BOOT, 2) Why flashrom cannot work with my platform.

Why U-boot cannot identify my intel-spi device and the spi nor flash.

Re: Have problem to read/write intel-spi nor flash (BIOS) on linux

CarlosAM_INTEL — Fri, 29 Mar 2019 02:05:22 GMT

Hello, @NLI4:

Thank you for contacting Intel Embedded Community.

Could you please clarify if the affected design has been developed by you or a third-party company? In case that it is a third-party project, please give us the part number, model, where is stated the information related to it.

Waiting for your answer.

Best regards,

@Mæcenas_INTEL.

Re: Have problem to read/write intel-spi nor flash (BIOS) on linux

luso — Fri, 29 Mar 2019 08:26:51 GMT

Thank you very much for the quick response.

The affected design has been developed/integrated by ourself.

And i am now responsible for the spi nor flash.

Best regards,

Luson Liu

Re: Have problem to read/write intel-spi nor flash (BIOS) on linux

CarlosAM_INTEL — Fri, 29 Mar 2019 22:13:57 GMT

Hello, @3000021523581.5537634027518286E12:

Thanks for your clarification.

Could you please clarify or verify if this situation happens in any of the following Operating System (OS)?

- Red Hat Enterprise Linux* 7.3.

- Red Hat Enterprise Linux* 7.4.

- SUSE* Linux Enterprise Server 12 SP3.

- Ubuntu* 16.04.

- Ubuntu* 16.10.

- Ubuntu* 17.04 LTS.

- Yocto* Linux 2.1.

- CentOS* 7.3.

- Wind River Linux WRL8.

- Wind River Linux WRL9.

- Microsoft Windows* Server 2016 (Including Nano Server).

- Microsoft Windows* Server R2.

- Linux KVM (RHEL7.3).

- Linux KVM (RHEL7.4).

- VMware* ESXi 6.0.

- Microsoft Windows* Hiper-V.

- Xen* 4.9.

We appreciate your cooperation.

Best regards,

@Mæcenas_INTEL.

Re: Have problem to read/write intel-spi nor flash (BIOS) on linux

luso — Mon, 01 Apr 2019 10:14:35 GMT

I am using the ycoto version 2.6 (DISTRO_VERSION = "2.6"), the issue can be reproduced with this OS, the bios is coreboot + uboot

I tried to install ubuntu 18.10 on it, the linux cannot even identify the intel spi/nor flash, the BIOS is the x86 legacy BIOS.

Re: Have problem to read/write intel-spi nor flash (BIOS) on linux

luso — Tue, 02 Apr 2019 09:21:43 GMT

Also i tested it against ubuntu 16.04.6 LTS. The linux cannot identify the inetl spi/nor flash as well, the BIOS is X86 legacy BIOS.

Ubuntu info is as below

# cat /etc/os-release

NAME="Ubuntu"

VERSION="16.04.6 LTS (Xenial Xerus)"

ID=ubuntu

ID_LIKE=debian

PRETTY_NAME="Ubuntu 16.04.6 LTS"

VERSION_ID="16.04"

HOME_URL="http://www.ubuntu.com/"

SUPPORT_URL="http://help.ubuntu.com/"

BUG_REPORT_URL="http://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/"

VERSION_CODENAME=xenial

UBUNTU_CODENAME=xenial

Re: Have problem to read/write intel-spi nor flash (BIOS) on linux

CarlosAM_INTEL — Tue, 30 Apr 2019 20:17:05 GMT

Hello, @3000021523581.5537634027518286E12 :

Thanks for your updates,

Could you please try to reproduce the cited situation using the Operating Systems and the versions stated in our last communication and let us know the results? Because you have tried with different Operating Systems or versions.

Best regards,

@Mæcenas_INTEL.