Flash Coreboot to Aliexpress / Topton appliance....Protectli's Flashli script?

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abdullah

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Jan 25, 2023
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Found some ME firmware here: Intel Management Engine (ME) Firmware Version 16.1.27.2176 (S&H) 1.5Mo

Seems to be the most recent one on Station Drivers. I found it originally posted here: Intel (Converged Security) Management Engine: Drivers, Firmware and Tools (16+)

I will find some time to get this all organised and try a build. My i3-N305 unit is arriving ~5th Jul.

I wonder if Protectli have a unit with i3-n305 in the works, would be nice if they did the leg work because they're pros and I am utterly new to this haha. What's the worst that can happen? A £240 brick...
 
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AnthonyUK

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May 9, 2023
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abdullah said:
Found some ME firmware here: Intel Management Engine (ME) Firmware Version 16.1.27.2176 (S&H) 1.5Mo

Seems to be the most recent one on Station Drivers. I found it originally posted here: Intel (Converged Security) Management Engine: Drivers, Firmware and Tools (16+)

I will find some time to get this all organised and try a build. My i3-N305 unit is arriving ~5th Jul.

I wonder if Protectli have a unit with i3-n305 in the works, would be nice if they did the leg work because they're pros and I am utterly new to this haha. What's the worst that can happen? A £240 brick...
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I think as long as you have a method to recover e.g. a clip to reflash the BIOS you should be OK right?
I have a spare J4125 based Topton now so I wonder if that would work with the Protecli coreboot image?
 
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abdullah

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Jan 25, 2023
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Patriot

Patriot

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abdullah said:
Patriot, would you kindly explain why the vp2420 (which uses J6412, Tremont/Elkhart Lake)? Is it because it is the closest to i3-N305 (Gracemont/Alder Lake) in terms of microarchitecture?

The code for vp2420 is of course available on Protectli's github, GitHub - protectli-root/build_coreboot at protectli_vp2420_v1.1.0
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Because it is the closest architecturally yes, and not that the e vs p matters with me fw its also the most recent time wise vs the gracemont cores vs comet lake in the other products.
 
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oneplane

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Keep in mind that without an FSP and BUP for the specific silicon line you're trying to boot, it's never going to work.
 
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Subsonic

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I own 2 devices from Yanling (bought it on Aliexpress and as far as i know they are the manufacturer from the protectli devices) where i flashed the coreboot BIOS from Protectli without a problem ;-)

FW2B and the bigger FW6D. Get the devices from Yanling with the same CPU and then you have the same devices as those from Protectli.

Greets Georg

1690883854369.png

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Nixfe

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Aug 21, 2023
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Hi,

Do you think it can work with the lastest YANLING ? The hardware of protectli is a little bit too "old/low" for my project and I really need a Coreboot platform.

Greetings

Subsonic said:
I own 2 devices from Yanling (bought it on Aliexpress and as far as i know they are the manufacturer from the protectli devices) where i flashed the coreboot BIOS from Protectli without a problem ;-)

FW2B and the bigger FW6D. Get the devices from Yanling with the same CPU and then you have the same devices as those from Protectli.

Greets Georg

View attachment 30707

View attachment 30708
Click to expand...
 
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Subsonic

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Nixfe said:
Hi,

Do you think it can work with the lastest YANLING ? The hardware of protectli is a little bit too "old/low" for my project and I really need a Coreboot platform.

Greetings
Click to expand...
I don´t know exactly but i think the coreboot images from protectli are very platform specific, so i don´t think you can throw a coreboot version from one device to a completely different one...
 
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slidermike

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May 7, 2023
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Subsonic said:
I don´t know exactly but i think the coreboot images from protectli are very platform specific, so i don´t think you can throw a coreboot version from one device to a completely different one...
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I agree with Subsonic. I have had a few protectli and during my comms with their tech support about updates they stressed the dangers of putting the wrong firmware on even the same model but with a different revision due to the hardware changes. If it were mine, I would not do it.
 
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oneplane

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Jul 23, 2021
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Yep, don't flash incompatible firmware, you'll need to manually flash to chip to restore it and you'll need to have made a physical dump beforehand to be able to do that.

Coreboot might have a single name, but each build is specific to the platform components and the configuration (physically) between them. So you might be using the same NIC chips, same PCH, same SoC etc. but you'd still have variations in wiring, speeds, address locations, embedded SPD (if any) and maybe even chip revisions requiring different blobs (i.e. GbE PHY).

The only reason some transplants work is because Protectli buys the exact same board with the exact same revision from the exact same ODM, and usually this is also only because they happen to be using a reference design. This used to be much more prolific in the KingVoy and Qotom models (~5th gen Intel) than it is now.

If you wanted to check to see if it would be feasible: take apart the device and ensure the silkscreen on the PCB is the same as on the Protectli device. Then also check that the chip versions are the same.
 
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Subsonic

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I´m lucky that my "yolo" moves went out successful, otherwise they would have been very expensive tries haha.

It would be great if a big chinese company would get on the train of selling their products with coreboot, or at least with the option on it.
 
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oneplane

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Jul 23, 2021
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MemeScreen said:
So did anyone figure out how to do it or has everyone given up?
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It's not a matter of "how" but a matter of investing the huge amount of time to engineer a functional payload. So far, nobody wants to spend that amount of time on this, at least not unpaid.
 
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MemeScreen

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Oct 14, 2023
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oneplane said:
It's not a matter of "how" but a matter of investing the huge amount of time to engineer a functional payload. So far, nobody wants to spend that amount of time on this, at least not unpaid.
Click to expand...
Thanks for the reply. I'm waiting for starlabs posts the code for their Byte MkII mini-pc which uses the N200 before I look into poring myself.
I need to know if the intel bootguard fuse is not enabled. If it is there is no point in doing it.
 
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oneplane

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BootGuard wasn't enabled on Qotom models, but I don't have any Alder Lake lying around to check. I do know that they also don't disable the manufacture mode pins from the PCH so jumping those actually does a lot of bypassing (which is important for the initial flash).
 
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Subsonic

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@oneplane OpenBMC wow, that sounds great! I'm a quite experienced Sysadmin, but anything else than a coder... Probably to much headaches for me at the moment ;)
 
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