Archived from groups: comp.sys.ibm.pc.hardware.chips (
More info?)
Hey Franc,
I guess my brain is fried from studying too much today.
I did want to ask this though:
can I use a NIC manufactures own program to program an arbitrary image
like 3Com's MBAFLASH.exe?
I wonder if I can somehow trick MBAFLASH into flashing some other file.
Hmm but I wonder if bootblock (whatever that is) matters?
I'll get the specs on the card tomorrow night. I know it's an Intel PCI card though.
tHanks
Franc Zabkar <fzabkar@optussnet.com.au> wrote in message news:<mrj5j0p5srg9ibbjh4ugqmp0bsl634402k@4ax.com>...
> On 29 Aug 2004 14:02:48 -0700, heirbrande@yahoo.com (heirbrande) put
> finger to keyboard and composed:
>
> >thanks Franc
> >
> >
> >to attempt to flash the Am29C020, I got this tool from
> >www.uniflash.org
> >I think (now that I remember) I must have reprogrammed a rectangular
> >style chip using a 3Com NIC card. The one I'm using now uses square
> >chips and it doesn't want to work with Uniflash. I used UltradeEdit to
> >view the chips contents, from the file I saved, after flashing with
> >the NIC , after reebooting, to verify the contents had changed.
> >
> >
> >I think some people are using it to reflash Xbox chips now, but I just
> >want to flash my chip for a terminal! arrrrr I wonder can I flash it
> >with an Xbox??
> >
> >hmmm, is there any way to defeat the WE* without frying the NIC?
🙂
> >
🙂
> >
> >It seems like this Intel NIC supports 256k (2MBit) since the saved
> >file size is something like 262,144 (I can't remember the number and
> >I'm at school right now)
>
> After a little research I found to my surprise that my own Realtek
> RTL8139 based NIC can support flash memory up 128K x 8. Unfortunately
> the card's manufacturer has tied the boot ROM's WE* pin to the +5V
> rail.
>
> FWIW, here are the RTL8139 datasheets:
>
ftp://202.65.194.18/cn/nic/rtl8139abcd8130810xseries/rtl8139cspec_1.4.pdf
>
ftp://202.65.194.18/cn/nic/rtl8139abcd8130810xseries/8139dv111.pdf
>
> The datasheet states that pin 89 (WEB, Write Enable) "strobes data
> into the Flash memory during a write cycle". To add flash support to
> my NIC, I would cut the etch going to the WE* pin of my NIC's flash
> EEPROM and wire a link from this pin to pin 89 of the RTL8139.
>
> Your particular case may be different. You would need to first
> determine how the AM29C020's WE* pin is wired. Then you would need to
> locate the datasheet for your NIC's network chip.
>
> >help a budding electronics hobbyist!
>
> If you can you post the part number(s) of the various chips, and if we
> are able to locate the datasheets, then we may be able to hack your
> NIC, if need be.
>
> >Franc Zabkar <fzabkar@optussnet.com.au> wrote in message news:<p91ii0di7tusg2n4n00ovfk6unkme3r9el@4ax.com>...
> >> On 20 Aug 2004 16:05:28 -0700, heirbrande@yahoo.com (heirbrande) put
> >> finger to keyboard and composed:
> >>
> >> >I've found a neat utility called Uniflash that allows you to either
> >> >flash using your motherboard's BIOS socket or using a socket on a PCI
> >> >card, like the boot rom socket of an ethernet card.
> >>
> >> I can't see how you could use any NIC to flash an EEPROM, although I
> >> *can* see how you could flash a NIC boot ROM using the mainboard's
> >> BIOS socket. Can you point me to a URL that proves otherwise?
> >>
> >> >Apparently, I can Uniflash can get the card to save what is already on
> >> >the cchip to a file ok. I can tell Uniflash to flash the image file
> >> >back into the EEPROM chip ok.
> >> >
> >> >However, anytime I use a different .bin file as the source, Uniflash
> >> >shows a few red boxes within the progress bar instead of all green
> >> >boxes. Then it's says Flash verification failed or something to that
> >> >effect.
> >> >
> >> >I tried widdling a bit on the original ROM contents' image file by
> >> >adding a character at random. It seems that wherever in the file I add
> >> >the character (using the UltraEdit HEX editor), the flashing fails.
> >> >
> >> >I'm imagining that there must be some type of line-by-line checksum
> >> >going on , to make sure the characters make sense together on any
> >> >particular line?
> >>
> >> Highly unlikely.
> >>
> >> >This is only a guess since I'm failry new to this.
> >> >
> >> >Any ideas of how I can get a known good image burned into this chip?
> >> >The chip is an Amd 29C020.
> >> >Thanks
> >>
> >> It looks like your EEPROM socket is write protected. I can't find a
> >> datasheet for an AM29C020, but pin 31 of a Winbond W29C020 or Atmel
> >> AT29C020 is WE* (write enable). If this pin is tied high or low on
> >> your NIC, then you won't be able to flash your chip. In any case, many
> >> NIC chips only support 128K x 8 boot ROMs, ie 1Mbit.
> >>
> >>
> >> - Franc Zabkar
>
>
>
> - Franc Zabkar
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