re-assure the user about flashrom's safety options and so on

also talk about --ifd --i bios option for updating existing x200/t400 rom and
so on
This commit is contained in:
Leah Rowe 2021-05-24 00:08:16 +01:00
parent 5029061724
commit 80aa303931
1 changed files with 24 additions and 0 deletions

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@ -192,6 +192,30 @@ How to erase and rewrite the chip contents:
sudo flashrom -p internal:laptop=force_I_want_a_brick,boardmismatch=force -w libreboot.rom
If flashing GM45 laptops such as Thinkpad X200/T400/T500/R400/W500/R500, you
might consider doing this instead:
sudo flashrom -p internal:laptop=force_I_want_a_brick,boardmismatch=force --ifd -i bios -w libreboot.rom
The `--ifd -i bios` option, when you use a ROM for GM45 machine, will only flash
the BIOS region. On those machines, the boot flash is split into IFD, GbE and
BIOS region. The GbE region contains your MAC address. If you already ran
the `ich9gen` program before, you can use these options to skip flashing over
those sections. Otherwise, without these options in flashrom, you will just
flash the entire chip. If you're flashing the entire chip, make sure that the new
ROM has a MAC address set correctly in the GbE region. To learn more about this,
please read the ich9utils documentation: [/docs/install/ich9utils.html](/docs/install/ich9utils.html)
NOTE: `force_I_want_a_brick` is not scary. Do not be scared! This merely disables
the safety checks in flashrom. Flashrom and coreboot change a lot, over the years,
and sometimes it's necessary to use this option. If you're scared, then just
follow the above instructions, but remove that option. So, just use `-p internal`.
If that doesn't work, next try `-p internal:boardmismatch=force`. If that doesn't
work, try `-p internal:boardmismatch=force,laptop=force_I_want_a_brick`. So long
as you *ensure* you're using the correct ROM for your machine, it will be safe
to run flashrom. These extra options just disable the safetyl checks in flashrom.
There is nothing to worry about.
If successful, it will either say `VERIFIED` or it will say that the chip
contents are identical to the requested image.