[Soekris] Can I update the BIOS of a net4801 without using the serial port ?

[Matt Thyer]

2009/5/7 Nagilum <nagilum at nagilum.org>

>
> ----- Message from matt.thyer at gmail.com ---------
>    Date: Thu, 7 May 2009 23:36:54 +0930
>    From: Matt Thyer <matt.thyer at gmail.com>
>  Subject: [Soekris] Can I update the BIOS of a net4801 without using the
> serial port ?
>      To: soekris-tech at lists.soekris.com
>
>
>  My serial ports got fried years ago but I still use my net4801 as a router
>> every day.
>> It's not working and I gather this is because I need to update the comBIOS
>> to version 1.33.
>> So is this possible from FreeBSD (or Linux or anything) without using the
>> serial ports on the net4801 ?
>>
> ----- End message from matt.thyer at gmail.com -----
>
> Sounds like a case for http://www.coreboot.org/Flashrom
> But I have no idea if anyone has actually tried that or if it works,
> Maybe it would be valuable to make it work though.
> Kind regards,


Nagilum,

Thanks for your suggestion.

I've built flashrom for the FreeBSD-CURRENT system I'm running and tested it
somewhat on my net4801 according to:
http://www.coreboot.org/Board_Testing_HOWTO#Flashrom

It identifies the chipset and chip OK and I've been able to read the
existing BIOS from the chip:

# flashrom -r backup.bin
flashrom v0.9.0-r490
No coreboot table found.
Found chipset "AMD SC1100", enabling flash write... OK.
Calibrating delay loop... OK.
Found chip "SST SST49LF040" (512 KB) at physical address 0xfff80000.
Reading flash... done.

What I'm worried about now is the actual flashing of course.

The file size of the "backup.bin" is 524288 bytes (i.e. almost the entire
chip capacity).
The file size of the 1.33 comBIOS is only 77824 bytes.

Any ideas ?
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