------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Flashrom README ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Flashrom is a universal flash programming utility for DIP, PLCC, or SPI flash ROM chips. It can be used to flash BIOS/coreboot/firmware images. (see http://coreboot.org for details on coreboot) Build Requirements ------------------ To build the flashrom utility you need to install the following packages: * pciutils * pciutils-devel / pciutils-dev / libpci-dev * zlib-devel / zlib1g-dev Usage ----- $ flashrom [-rwvEVfLhR] [-c chipname] [-s exclude_start] [-e exclude_end] [-m [vendor:]part] [-l file.layout] [-i imagename] [file] -r | --read: read flash and save into file -w | --write: write file into flash (default when file is specified) -v | --verify: verify flash against file -E | --erase: erase flash device -V | --verbose: more verbose output -c | --chip : probe only for specified flash chip -s | --estart : exclude start position -e | --eend : exclude end postion -m | --mainboard <[vendor:]part>: override mainboard settings -f | --force: force write without checking image -l | --layout : read rom layout from file -i | --image : only flash image name from flash layout -L | --list-supported: print supported devices -h | --help: print this help text -R | --version: print the version (release) If no file is specified, then all that happens is that flash info is dumped and the flash chip is set to writable. coreboot Table and Mainboard Identification -------------------------------------------- Flashrom reads the coreboot table to determine the current mainboard (parse DMI as well in future?). If no coreboot table could be read or if you want to override these values, you can specify -m, e.g.: $ flashrom -w --mainboard AGAMI:ARUMA agami_aruma.rom See the 'Supported mainboards' section in the output of 'flashrom -L' for a list of boards which require the specification of the board name, if no coreboot table is found. ROM Layout Support ------------------ Flashrom supports ROM layouts. This allows you to flash certain parts of the flash chip only. A ROM layout file looks like follows: 00000000:00008fff gfxrom 00009000:0003ffff normal 00040000:0007ffff fallback i.e.: startaddr:endaddr name All addresses are offsets within the file, not absolute addresses! If you only want to update the normal image in a ROM you can say: flashrom -w --layout rom.layout --image normal agami_aruma.rom To update normal and fallback but leave the VGA BIOS alone, say: flashrom -w -l rom.layout -i normal -i fallback agami_aruma.rom Currently overlapping sections are not supported. ROM layouts should replace the -s and -e option since they are more flexible and they should lead to a ROM update file format with the ROM layout and the ROM image in one file (cpio, zip or something?). Disk on Chip support -------------------- Disk on Chip support was removed from flashrom in r3382. It had already been disabled by default in flashrom for several years because the code was considered unstable and incomplete. The products intended to work have been End-Of-Lifed by the manufacturer for a long time. Supported Flash Chips / Chipsets / Mainboards --------------------------------------------- Please check the output of 'flashrom -L' for the list of supported flash chips, chipsets/southbridges, and mainboards. See also http://coreboot.org/Flashrom for more details.