8-pin NOR flash and bad flash update for MSI B350

**gabiz_ro** · 12-09-2017, 01:43 AM

Re: 8-pin NOR flash and bad flash update for MSI B350

You are not alone.
https://www.reddit.com/r/Amd/comment...i6&sh=17aa60c4

Maybe this will help.
https://forum-en.msi.com/index.php?topic=283908.0

**Spork Schivago** · 12-09-2017, 10:14 AM

Re: 8-pin NOR flash and bad flash update for MSI B350

Originally posted by gabiz_ro

You are not alone.
https://www.reddit.com/r/Amd/comment...i6&sh=17aa60c4

Yes, this is what I meant by a common problem with the Ryzen + AM4 + MSI combination. It appears not to be just the B350. This could be why certain MSI boards have the JSPI1 jumper next to the BIOS. I don't have a lot of experience with MSI boards, so maybe they've been doing this from the git go, but the J stands for Jumper, the SPI stands for Serial Peripheral Interface, the 1 is the first jumper of this type on this board (and the only). There are pinouts available. Some older boards have a 2x5 header, mine has the 2x6. I don't have the proper jumper cables to hook to it though, so I have to unsolder the chip.

Originally posted by gabiz_ro

Maybe this will help.
https://forum-en.msi.com/index.php?topic=283908.0

This is what I tried, kinda. I could not get the chip to be detected by my clip and the CH341A programmer I have, so I had to unsolder it. I flashed 1.90 directly to the chip, and resoldered. The CPU and DRAM lights come directly on, but that's it.

Notice how the chip is a MX25U12873F but in the thread, they tell flashrom it's the MX25U12835F. I use a program called CH341A Programmer, version 1.31. It identifies the chip as a MX25U12835F as well. The sizes match just fine. My programmer uses 3.3v and I haven't had any issues with the chip frying, despite the datasheet saying the eeprom is 1.8v. The program I use lists the chip as an MX25U12835F, 1.8v. Perhaps the program can somehow change the voltage on my programmer?

Anyway, here's where it gets a bit weird. I pull the NOR. I try flashing 1.90v, verify fails. I try over and over again, verify always fails. I compare a dump of what I burned and the original firmware. It always fails in the same spot. There was NVRAM data in that area. It was like the NOR wasn't properly erasing certain blocks.

I did not try soldering it back on until I got the verify to match. I had to erase the NOR flash first, and then I was able to successfully burn 1.90 without having issues with the verify, but it still don't POST. I made a mistake and forgot to backup the NOR first, before attempting to flash 1.90 on there. I figured because it was bad flash, it didn't matter. This was wrong. Maybe that information needs to be there? Or maybe I should attempt to flash the original firmware version back on?

I dunno. I had removing that chip. A good bit of work (unhooking everything, removing the board, unsoldering the chip isn't too bad, soldering it back on is a bit of a pain, putting it all back together, etc).

I'll try flashing it again on board. Maybe my clip wasn't properly seated....

**Spork Schivago** · 12-09-2017, 10:16 AM

Re: 8-pin NOR flash and bad flash update for MSI B350

Oh, the original question remains though. Does having the Master Input Slave Output and the Master Output Slave Input switched for programming?

With my clip, the way I had it setup, according to this programmer, the NOR flash's MISO and MOSI will be reversed. For whatever reason, I was able to burn and successfully verify the burn, so maybe when programming, it doesn't matter so much? Maybe it only matters if there's another SPI chip in slave mode? What do you guys think?

**stj** · 12-09-2017, 11:31 AM

Re: 8-pin NOR flash and bad flash update for MSI B350

miso/mosi are just clever names for tx/rx or in/out
if you had them wrong, you would not be able to id the chip.

**diif** · 12-09-2017, 11:48 AM

Re: 8-pin NOR flash and bad flash update for MSI B350

The BIOS/UEFI update from manufacturers isn't usually the whole dump, just the update.
What size is the chip and what size is the file from MSI ?
Did i read right, you didn't backup the original ?

**Spork Schivago** · 12-09-2017, 01:08 PM

Re: 8-pin NOR flash and bad flash update for MSI B350

Yes, because it was a bad update, I did not backup the original. That was a mistake in my part. But I have success. The 16,384KB. The chip is 128Mb / 16MB, so to me, I looked at that as being a full dump from MSI.

I redownloaded the original from the manufacturer again, just to make sure. I think the problem was the soldering technique I was using and wasn't getting proper connection on some. When I used the DMM to check continuity, I think it would add some pressure to the pin and make the contact.

I ended up tinning the pads on the board, like I did before, then I'd push down on each pin of the chip. But this time, I went back through and touched the iron to the pad and the pin and added a dab of solder and just drew it to cover the whole pin and pad. As soon as I did this, I powered it up and it POSTed!

**diif** · 12-09-2017, 01:12 PM

Re: 8-pin NOR flash and bad flash update for MSI B350

That's good, I tried using one of those clips in the past but don't any more due to reliability.

**Spork Schivago** · 12-09-2017, 01:49 PM

Re: 8-pin NOR flash and bad flash update for MSI B350

Ah shit. The DMI information was not stored in the BIOS. The UUID info is filled with all FF's. I believe that was there before, however, most of the other fields had originally said to be filled out by O.E.M.

I can use an editor to fill in the values for things like serial, but I don't know what the UUID was. Maybe it's calculated from the serial number? I think Serial and UUID where the only two fields populated before.

**Spork Schivago** · 12-09-2017, 01:51 PM

Re: 8-pin NOR flash and bad flash update for MSI B350

Originally posted by diif

That's good, I tried using one of those clips in the past but don't any more due to reliability.

I noticed there's a new version of the program I use. It's written by a guy over in one of the Asian countries. Because I have the paid version, he was supposed to e-mail when a new version came out. I'm running 1.31. The latest is 1.34. I was looking at the change logs for the newer versions that I don't have, and I see that one says it fixes a bug with write and something with not properly erasing something. This could be why I had to blank the chip first....

**stj** · 12-10-2017, 04:19 AM

Re: 8-pin NOR flash and bad flash update for MSI B350

are you using a CH341 ?

**Spork Schivago** · 12-10-2017, 10:35 AM

Originally posted by stj

are you using a CH341 ?

Yes.

**stj** · 12-10-2017, 10:46 AM

Re: 8-pin NOR flash and bad flash update for MSI B350

it's now supported by flashrom.
http://www.flashrom.org/Flashrom

there is also some russian stuff.
https://github.com/nofeletru/UsbAsp-flash

**Spork Schivago** · 12-11-2017, 06:39 PM

Re: 8-pin NOR flash and bad flash update for MSI B350

Originally posted by stj

it's now supported by flashrom.
http://www.flashrom.org/Flashrom

there is also some russian stuff.
https://github.com/nofeletru/UsbAsp-flash

I like how it's open source, but I like GUIs right now. On top of that, even though it might support my CH341A (or the clone of a CH341A), I don't see anything on the page you linked too about I2C support.

What I like best is with flashrom, people could support new chips to the database if they confirm they work or not. With the program I use (you linked me to it originally), the database is in a proprietary format, but does support a lot of chips.

flashroom still has a good bit of work that needs to be done I think. It doesn't list the MX25U12873F at all, just like the program I use, unfortunately, but flashrom does list the MX25U12835F, which my chip was falsely identified as with the program I use. However, flashrom does NOT list it as compatible.

I wish I had known before I fixed the PC. I would have tried and we could have updated the wiki.

I also wish I had the latest version of the program I use. I see there was a bug fix. I had a weird problem writing BIOSes to the MX25U12873F. Every verified failed, for whatever reason. I had to manually erase the chip, then it worked. For whatever reason, always, in the same area (or from what I could tell), it wasn't properly overwriting the bytes. I had it configured to write FF's first, and then the new data. But it always failed. It could have been that chip in particular and maybe that's why there's so many bad flashes (using the BIOS's M-FLASH utility or the Windows flasher). I dunno.

I don't understand what they mean by

Code:

Partial Windows support is available (no internal programmer support at the moment,
hence no "BIOS flashing").

The no internal programmer support is what is messing me up. flashrom is software, not hardware. I use my CH341A as the programmer. Why would this not work on Windows?

Still, flashrom seems promising. It'd be nice to have a program that works in Linux and Windows, and is open-source, stable, free.

**EDIT: Does the no internal programmer just mean if I'm booted into Windows and want to flash the BIOS on the machine I'm booted into, I cannot use flashrom to do it, but if I'm booted into Linux, more than likely, I can just run the program and flash the BIOS, without any extra hardware? Like a universal flashing program? Kinda like the Windows BIOS updater programs?

**gabiz_ro** · 12-12-2017, 01:15 AM

Re: 8-pin NOR flash and bad flash update for MSI B350

offtopic
On CH341 I encountered many times problems writing some chips (random chips mostly from TV)
As a rule,after I backup original dump from chip,always do erase and blank check,result is no more problems.

**stj** · 12-12-2017, 02:49 AM

Re: 8-pin NOR flash and bad flash update for MSI B350

Originally posted by Spork Schivago

I like how it's open source, but I like GUIs right now. On top of that, even though it might support my CH341A (or the clone of a CH341A), I don't see anything on the page you linked too about I2C support.

25 series are not i2c, they are microwire AKA SPI

**Spork Schivago** · 12-12-2017, 11:30 AM

Re: 8-pin NOR flash and bad flash update for MSI B350

Originally posted by gabiz_ro

offtopic
On CH341 I encountered many times problems writing some chips (random chips mostly from TV)
As a rule,after I backup original dump from chip,always do erase and blank check,result is no more problems.

What software are you using? I wonder for me, if it's the programmer, the software, or the physical chip I was programming. What made me think for me it was the programming software, I saw this on the software page's changelog:

Code:

...
1.34 version 2017-7-8
Repair S25FL256 read and write BUG
...
1.33 version 2017-6-15
Repair the previous version write \ erase bug will be reported
...

That Repair the previous version write \ erase bug was the one I was thinking that was causing the problem. Google translate doesn't do the best job of converting Chinese to English, so we have to kinda try to figure out exactly what the sentence means.

The mention about S25FL256 I don't think applies, but maybe the bug affected more than just the S25FL256? I wish I could have had a chance to try writing with the new software or tried that flashrom program, just to rule out the programmer and software.

Thanks for sharing!

**Spork Schivago** · 12-12-2017, 11:32 AM

Re: 8-pin NOR flash and bad flash update for MSI B350

Originally posted by stj

25 series are not i2c, they are microwire AKA SPI

Yes, you're right, but my programmer supports I2C, which are 24xx series EEPROMs, I do believe. And although I run into a lot of the 25xx series, I have ran across a few 24xx series stuff. You follow?

Thanks.

**stj** · 12-12-2017, 01:10 PM

Re: 8-pin NOR flash and bad flash update for MSI B350

there is a Linux programmer on sourceforge to do i2c on the ch341

**Spork Schivago** · 12-12-2017, 10:58 PM

Re: 8-pin NOR flash and bad flash update for MSI B350

Yes, but there's also the current program that I use, that does both of them. So instead of using two programs with probably no graphical user interface, I get to use one program with a graphical user interface.

It'd be nice if both programs merged. That'd be kinda cool.

8-pin NOR flash and bad flash update for MSI B350

8-pin NOR flash and bad flash update for MSI B350

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