flash bmc using ch341a on gigabyte ms33-ar0
- Thread starter jpmomo
- Start date
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you can buy adapter SOP16 to Dip8 specialy for ch341a
or DIY
300 mil SOP16 auf DIP8 Flash Chip IC Testclips BIOS Programmer Buchse Adapter SOP SOIC SOIC16 Konverter für 25 SPI Flash 25 Series : Amazon.de: Gewerbe, Industrie & Wissenschaft
300 mil SOP16 auf DIP8 Flash Chip IC Testclips BIOS Programmer Buchse Adapter SOP SOIC SOIC16 Konverter für 25 SPI Flash 25 Series : Amazon.de: Gewerbe, Industrie & Wissenschaft
www.amazon.de
after flash bin from FW package you will get no access to BMC LAN until you set MAC addr.
Yes
I used it to recover a bricked supermicro m12swa. That system needs the bmc working to boot and supermicro quoted me at least 480€ (without taxes) to fix it because it was out of warranty... >500€ vs 35€ (flasher + cable) for fixing a "dead" board was an easy decision
I would recommend the following setup (flasher, 16 pin cable, adapter and a usb extension cable):
Flashing
1.) Find the SPI chip, it's manufacturer & specs and orientation:
2) Connect the adapter/cable to the spi chip if you flash it onboard, make sure the orientation is correct (red wire on this cable see the first picture of the kit) (requires the mainboard to have power, the flasher doesn't provide enough power for flasher itself and the spi chip)
3) Use the usb extension cable to connect the flasher with a usb port
For software: there are different tools that work with the ch341, the linux tool (for flashing coreboot) kinda sucked/couldn't flash in my case for what ever reason. I used AsProgrammer on a windows system
Btw I used information/posts/Threas from @RolloZ170 , @Rand__ & a now deleted user to find enough information how to do it
Thank you!
Edit:
Checked if a had notes about the flashing process and found some
- don't flash firmware until you can read/dump the current one at least two times and the dumps are identical
- after flashing "successfully" read the firmware from the spi and compare the binary to the firmware file you downloaded from mainboard manufacturer, they should be identical
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BIOS/BMC chip is usualy not decoupled from other parts, means you have to power up BMC AST and chipset at least.
in that case a 3.3V ch341A is better because the CH341a is powered by clean 3.3 and not unstable 5V from USB(over curent drops)
thanks for the detailed info. I have a similar setup but my issue is that the 16 pin cable clip occupies the full 16 sockets on the ch341a. I think it is only supposed to occupy the top 8 sockets (for spi) and wasn't sure if it was mapped correctly.
I was looking for the 16 to 8 pcb like Rollo showed. That item would take a few weeks to get and I was trying to fix quicker.
I ordered some dupont wires and will try and manually map the correct pins for the 16 to 8 pin conversion.
To answer Rollo's other questions:
I can't get the board to post as it is relying on a good bmc before I can even get into the bios or efi.
This happened when trying to update to the most recent bmc fw. It went to 85% but then failed after a while. It would not post after that so that is why I am trying to reflash via the spi dongle.
Rollo, if/when I am able to reflash the bmc, you mentioned that I would have to manually configure a mac. how/where do I do that?
I was looking for the 16 to 8 pcb like Rollo showed. That item would take a few weeks to get and I was trying to fix quicker.
I ordered some dupont wires and will try and manually map the correct pins for the 16 to 8 pin conversion.
To answer Rollo's other questions:
I can't get the board to post as it is relying on a good bmc before I can even get into the bios or efi.
This happened when trying to update to the most recent bmc fw. It went to 85% but then failed after a while. It would not post after that so that is why I am trying to reflash via the spi dongle.
Rollo, if/when I am able to reflash the bmc, you mentioned that I would have to manually configure a mac. how/where do I do that?
Yes, sorry! I grabbed the first (and incorrect) adapter
The kit that I got had a bunch of adapters (and some diy stuff that requires soldering or mounting the smd on the board). I used the marked one (you can also see in my previous post that not all pins are connected on the flasher).
On the flasher should be a "map"(bottom right, next to the yellow pins on my unit) which pins should be used for what chip and where pin 1 is (the small dot):
You need something like ipmiconfig (not sure if that works with gigabyte boards) in the os of your choice and then run the commands to set the bmc mac address and if bmc should be using dhcp. (On my m12swa it required a cold reboot to take effect, resetting the bmc via impiconfig did not work)
thanks again for all of the detail (much better than my ai robots!) The adapter (16pin on one side and 8pin on the other) is what was missing in my kit. That is the part that I couldn't find or at least I couldn't get quickly.
thanks also for the info about setting the mac.
thanks also for the info about setting the mac.
buyers mention it came with the adapter not pictured, but not my cable.
i bought Pomona 5252 clip and some dupons.
I am wondering if the 16pin placed into the zif 16 pin socket on the ch341a would work. maybe the 16 pin adapter is mapped in a way that the top (closer to the usb connector on the ch341a dongle) 8 pins for 25 spi. I thought I had tried that but maybe I had the orientation wrong.
Attachments
thanks. I was just looking at the arrow on the 16pin cable and thought that might be pin 1. If that was the case, it would map to #5 in your pic above. the only other orientation for the 16 pin adapter would be for the pin with the arrow, would be the bottom left on the 24xx side
it is all printed on the back of your ch341a
the SOP16 to 16pin cable is for programmers with 16pin chip support.
ch341a needs adapter PCB.