^8f3ce5b39 (kx 2023-10-28 12:00:06 +0300 1) ==============================
^8f3ce5b39 (kx 2023-10-28 12:00:06 +0300 2) Upgrading BIOS using intel-spi
^8f3ce5b39 (kx 2023-10-28 12:00:06 +0300 3) ==============================
^8f3ce5b39 (kx 2023-10-28 12:00:06 +0300 4)
^8f3ce5b39 (kx 2023-10-28 12:00:06 +0300 5) Many Intel CPUs like Baytrail and Braswell include SPI serial flash host
^8f3ce5b39 (kx 2023-10-28 12:00:06 +0300 6) controller which is used to hold BIOS and other platform specific data.
^8f3ce5b39 (kx 2023-10-28 12:00:06 +0300 7) Since contents of the SPI serial flash is crucial for machine to function,
^8f3ce5b39 (kx 2023-10-28 12:00:06 +0300 8) it is typically protected by different hardware protection mechanisms to
^8f3ce5b39 (kx 2023-10-28 12:00:06 +0300 9) avoid accidental (or on purpose) overwrite of the content.
^8f3ce5b39 (kx 2023-10-28 12:00:06 +0300 10)
^8f3ce5b39 (kx 2023-10-28 12:00:06 +0300 11) Not all manufacturers protect the SPI serial flash, mainly because it
^8f3ce5b39 (kx 2023-10-28 12:00:06 +0300 12) allows upgrading the BIOS image directly from an OS.
^8f3ce5b39 (kx 2023-10-28 12:00:06 +0300 13)
^8f3ce5b39 (kx 2023-10-28 12:00:06 +0300 14) The intel-spi driver makes it possible to read and write the SPI serial
^8f3ce5b39 (kx 2023-10-28 12:00:06 +0300 15) flash, if certain protection bits are not set and locked. If it finds
^8f3ce5b39 (kx 2023-10-28 12:00:06 +0300 16) any of them set, the whole MTD device is made read-only to prevent
^8f3ce5b39 (kx 2023-10-28 12:00:06 +0300 17) partial overwrites. By default the driver exposes SPI serial flash
^8f3ce5b39 (kx 2023-10-28 12:00:06 +0300 18) contents as read-only but it can be changed from kernel command line,
^8f3ce5b39 (kx 2023-10-28 12:00:06 +0300 19) passing "intel-spi.writeable=1".
^8f3ce5b39 (kx 2023-10-28 12:00:06 +0300 20)
^8f3ce5b39 (kx 2023-10-28 12:00:06 +0300 21) Please keep in mind that overwriting the BIOS image on SPI serial flash
^8f3ce5b39 (kx 2023-10-28 12:00:06 +0300 22) might render the machine unbootable and requires special equipment like
^8f3ce5b39 (kx 2023-10-28 12:00:06 +0300 23) Dediprog to revive. You have been warned!
^8f3ce5b39 (kx 2023-10-28 12:00:06 +0300 24)
^8f3ce5b39 (kx 2023-10-28 12:00:06 +0300 25) Below are the steps how to upgrade MinnowBoard MAX BIOS directly from
^8f3ce5b39 (kx 2023-10-28 12:00:06 +0300 26) Linux.
^8f3ce5b39 (kx 2023-10-28 12:00:06 +0300 27)
^8f3ce5b39 (kx 2023-10-28 12:00:06 +0300 28) 1) Download and extract the latest Minnowboard MAX BIOS SPI image
^8f3ce5b39 (kx 2023-10-28 12:00:06 +0300 29) [1]. At the time writing this the latest image is v92.
^8f3ce5b39 (kx 2023-10-28 12:00:06 +0300 30)
^8f3ce5b39 (kx 2023-10-28 12:00:06 +0300 31) 2) Install mtd-utils package [2]. We need this in order to erase the SPI
^8f3ce5b39 (kx 2023-10-28 12:00:06 +0300 32) serial flash. Distros like Debian and Fedora have this prepackaged with
^8f3ce5b39 (kx 2023-10-28 12:00:06 +0300 33) name "mtd-utils".
^8f3ce5b39 (kx 2023-10-28 12:00:06 +0300 34)
^8f3ce5b39 (kx 2023-10-28 12:00:06 +0300 35) 3) Add "intel-spi.writeable=1" to the kernel command line and reboot
^8f3ce5b39 (kx 2023-10-28 12:00:06 +0300 36) the board (you can also reload the driver passing "writeable=1" as
^8f3ce5b39 (kx 2023-10-28 12:00:06 +0300 37) module parameter to modprobe).
^8f3ce5b39 (kx 2023-10-28 12:00:06 +0300 38)
^8f3ce5b39 (kx 2023-10-28 12:00:06 +0300 39) 4) Once the board is up and running again, find the right MTD partition
^8f3ce5b39 (kx 2023-10-28 12:00:06 +0300 40) (it is named as "BIOS")::
^8f3ce5b39 (kx 2023-10-28 12:00:06 +0300 41)
^8f3ce5b39 (kx 2023-10-28 12:00:06 +0300 42) # cat /proc/mtd
^8f3ce5b39 (kx 2023-10-28 12:00:06 +0300 43) dev: size erasesize name
^8f3ce5b39 (kx 2023-10-28 12:00:06 +0300 44) mtd0: 00800000 00001000 "BIOS"
^8f3ce5b39 (kx 2023-10-28 12:00:06 +0300 45)
^8f3ce5b39 (kx 2023-10-28 12:00:06 +0300 46) So here it will be /dev/mtd0 but it may vary.
^8f3ce5b39 (kx 2023-10-28 12:00:06 +0300 47)
^8f3ce5b39 (kx 2023-10-28 12:00:06 +0300 48) 5) Make backup of the existing image first::
^8f3ce5b39 (kx 2023-10-28 12:00:06 +0300 49)
^8f3ce5b39 (kx 2023-10-28 12:00:06 +0300 50) # dd if=/dev/mtd0ro of=bios.bak
^8f3ce5b39 (kx 2023-10-28 12:00:06 +0300 51) 16384+0 records in
^8f3ce5b39 (kx 2023-10-28 12:00:06 +0300 52) 16384+0 records out
^8f3ce5b39 (kx 2023-10-28 12:00:06 +0300 53) 8388608 bytes (8.4 MB) copied, 10.0269 s, 837 kB/s
^8f3ce5b39 (kx 2023-10-28 12:00:06 +0300 54)
^8f3ce5b39 (kx 2023-10-28 12:00:06 +0300 55) 6) Verify the backup:
^8f3ce5b39 (kx 2023-10-28 12:00:06 +0300 56)
^8f3ce5b39 (kx 2023-10-28 12:00:06 +0300 57) # sha1sum /dev/mtd0ro bios.bak
^8f3ce5b39 (kx 2023-10-28 12:00:06 +0300 58) fdbb011920572ca6c991377c4b418a0502668b73 /dev/mtd0ro
^8f3ce5b39 (kx 2023-10-28 12:00:06 +0300 59) fdbb011920572ca6c991377c4b418a0502668b73 bios.bak
^8f3ce5b39 (kx 2023-10-28 12:00:06 +0300 60)
^8f3ce5b39 (kx 2023-10-28 12:00:06 +0300 61) The SHA1 sums must match. Otherwise do not continue any further!
^8f3ce5b39 (kx 2023-10-28 12:00:06 +0300 62)
^8f3ce5b39 (kx 2023-10-28 12:00:06 +0300 63) 7) Erase the SPI serial flash. After this step, do not reboot the
^8f3ce5b39 (kx 2023-10-28 12:00:06 +0300 64) board! Otherwise it will not start anymore::
^8f3ce5b39 (kx 2023-10-28 12:00:06 +0300 65)
^8f3ce5b39 (kx 2023-10-28 12:00:06 +0300 66) # flash_erase /dev/mtd0 0 0
^8f3ce5b39 (kx 2023-10-28 12:00:06 +0300 67) Erasing 4 Kibyte @ 7ff000 -- 100 % complete
^8f3ce5b39 (kx 2023-10-28 12:00:06 +0300 68)
^8f3ce5b39 (kx 2023-10-28 12:00:06 +0300 69) 8) Once completed without errors you can write the new BIOS image:
^8f3ce5b39 (kx 2023-10-28 12:00:06 +0300 70)
^8f3ce5b39 (kx 2023-10-28 12:00:06 +0300 71) # dd if=MNW2MAX1.X64.0092.R01.1605221712.bin of=/dev/mtd0
^8f3ce5b39 (kx 2023-10-28 12:00:06 +0300 72)
^8f3ce5b39 (kx 2023-10-28 12:00:06 +0300 73) 9) Verify that the new content of the SPI serial flash matches the new
^8f3ce5b39 (kx 2023-10-28 12:00:06 +0300 74) BIOS image::
^8f3ce5b39 (kx 2023-10-28 12:00:06 +0300 75)
^8f3ce5b39 (kx 2023-10-28 12:00:06 +0300 76) # sha1sum /dev/mtd0ro MNW2MAX1.X64.0092.R01.1605221712.bin
^8f3ce5b39 (kx 2023-10-28 12:00:06 +0300 77) 9b4df9e4be2057fceec3a5529ec3d950836c87a2 /dev/mtd0ro
^8f3ce5b39 (kx 2023-10-28 12:00:06 +0300 78) 9b4df9e4be2057fceec3a5529ec3d950836c87a2 MNW2MAX1.X64.0092.R01.1605221712.bin
^8f3ce5b39 (kx 2023-10-28 12:00:06 +0300 79)
^8f3ce5b39 (kx 2023-10-28 12:00:06 +0300 80) The SHA1 sums should match.
^8f3ce5b39 (kx 2023-10-28 12:00:06 +0300 81)
^8f3ce5b39 (kx 2023-10-28 12:00:06 +0300 82) 10) Now you can reboot your board and observe the new BIOS starting up
^8f3ce5b39 (kx 2023-10-28 12:00:06 +0300 83) properly.
^8f3ce5b39 (kx 2023-10-28 12:00:06 +0300 84)
^8f3ce5b39 (kx 2023-10-28 12:00:06 +0300 85) References
^8f3ce5b39 (kx 2023-10-28 12:00:06 +0300 86) ----------
^8f3ce5b39 (kx 2023-10-28 12:00:06 +0300 87)
^8f3ce5b39 (kx 2023-10-28 12:00:06 +0300 88) [1] https://firmware.intel.com/sites/default/files/MinnowBoard%2EMAX_%2EX64%2E92%2ER01%2Ezip
^8f3ce5b39 (kx 2023-10-28 12:00:06 +0300 89)
^8f3ce5b39 (kx 2023-10-28 12:00:06 +0300 90) [2] http://www.linux-mtd.infradead.org/
Orange Pi5 kernel
Deprecated Linux kernel 5.10.110 for OrangePi 5/5B/5+ boards
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