150 lines
5.6 KiB
Plaintext
150 lines
5.6 KiB
Plaintext
Subject: Look Mom, no PROM burner! (eepro100b flashing instructions) :-)
|
|
Date: Sun, 23 Jan 2000 01:53:08 -0500
|
|
x-sender: mdc%thinguin.org@cdi.entity.com
|
|
x-mailer: Claris Emailer 2.0v3, January 22, 1998
|
|
From: Marty Connor <mdc@thinguin.org>
|
|
To: "Netboot List" <netboot@baghira.han.de>
|
|
Mime-Version: 1.0
|
|
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="US-ASCII"
|
|
Message-ID: <1263512144-341319205@entity.com>
|
|
|
|
Continuing the Etherboot World Domination theme, I noticed that there was
|
|
a PCI ethernet card on my bookshelf that still contained the original
|
|
vendor's code in its flash memory. The card virtually cried out to be
|
|
flashed with Etherboot 4.4.1. :-)
|
|
|
|
After having figured out how to flash the 3C905C last week, and owing to
|
|
the fact that the temperature here in Cambridge, Massachusetts (USA) has
|
|
dropped well below freezing, I decided to explore the possibility of
|
|
flashing the Intel eepro100b that was sitting on my bookcase.
|
|
|
|
After determining that it was unlikely that one could flash the chip in
|
|
user mode under linux like the 3C509C, I turned to other options. (the
|
|
reason is that the flash is memory mapped to a place that causes a core
|
|
dump if accessed. i suppose one could to patch the kernel to flash the
|
|
card, or add a linux device driver, but... :-)
|
|
|
|
By the way, If you are ever looking for Linux utilities for Ethernet
|
|
cards, you may want to check out:
|
|
|
|
http://cesdis.gsfc.nasa.gov/linux/diag/
|
|
|
|
which is a treasure trove of tools for manipulating and testing Ethernet
|
|
cards, all with source, courtesy of Donald Becker.
|
|
|
|
At this point, I felt it was time to make a virtual trip to the Intel
|
|
site (http://www.intel.com/), and search for utilities that might work
|
|
with the eepro100B. I found two candidates: FUTIL and FBOOT. I
|
|
downloaded, decompressed, and transferred them to a DOS formatted floppy.
|
|
Next I determined (after a few tries) that F8 will let me get to DOS
|
|
instead of booting windows. (I tend to avoid Windows when I can).
|
|
|
|
I first tried FUTIL.EXE. No good. It told me it didn't recognize the
|
|
flash on my eepro100B. how unfortunate. and I had such hopes :-)
|
|
|
|
Next I tested FBOOT.EXE (available at
|
|
http://support.intel.com/support/network/adapter/pro100/100PBOOT.htm)
|
|
This program did in fact recognize my eepro100b card.
|
|
|
|
The thing about FBOOT however, is that it thinks it only can load certain
|
|
files. I of course needed to load an Etherboot image. It appeared to
|
|
have no option for doing that. Things looked grim.
|
|
|
|
Then I noticed that FBOOT was kind enough to do the following dialog:
|
|
|
|
Select Option (U)pdate or (R)estore: U
|
|
|
|
I chose Update and it then offered to back up my flash rom for later
|
|
restore:
|
|
|
|
Create Restore Image (Y)es or (N)o: Y
|
|
|
|
I chose "Y" and it proceeded to write a file of my flash memory, which
|
|
contained the Intel code.
|
|
|
|
Writing FLASH image to file... 100%
|
|
|
|
It then erased the device:
|
|
|
|
Erasing FLASH Device... 100%
|
|
|
|
and then programmed it with fresh code (stored inside the program, no
|
|
doubt):
|
|
|
|
Programming FLASH Device... 100%
|
|
|
|
So now I had a backup of the Intel boot code in a file strangely called:
|
|
|
|
2794FC60.FLS
|
|
|
|
Hmmmm, interesting name. The MAC address of the card is 09902794FC60.
|
|
They just name the file with the last 4 octets of the MAC address and
|
|
.FLS. The file is exactly 65536 bytes, which would make sense for a 64K
|
|
Flash Memory device.
|
|
|
|
Then I got to thinking, I wonder how carefully the "restore" part of
|
|
FBOOT looks at what it is loading? What if I took an Etherboot .rom
|
|
file, padded it with 48K of 0xFFs and named it 2794FC60.FLS. What if I
|
|
then told FBOOT.EXE to "restore" that?
|
|
|
|
Well, I guess by now, you know it worked :-)
|
|
|
|
The card came up with the delightful Etherboot banner, Did DHCP, tftp,
|
|
and started a kernel.
|
|
|
|
The only unfortunate part is that you need to do this under DOS because
|
|
you seem to need to be in real mode to program the card. Oh well,
|
|
sacrifices have to be made :-)
|
|
|
|
So, in summary, to prepare Etherboot image for flashing into the Intel
|
|
EEPRO100B card with FBOOT, you need to first make an eepro100.rom file,
|
|
as usual.
|
|
|
|
Then, see how large it is, with an "ls -l eepro100.rom". the answer will
|
|
probably be 16,384. You need to pad it with hex FFs to make it 64K for
|
|
FBOOT. I used the following two lines to create the flash image file.
|
|
|
|
$ perl -e 'print "\xFF" x 49152' > 48kpad.bin
|
|
$ cat eepro100.rom 48kpad.bin > 2794FC60.FLS
|
|
|
|
Next write it to a DOS Floppy:
|
|
|
|
$ mount -t msdos /dev/fd0 /mnt/floppy
|
|
$ cp 2794FC60.FLS /mnt/floppy
|
|
$ umount /mnt/floppy
|
|
|
|
Now you need to get to DOS. You could actually use a bootable DOS floppy
|
|
with FBOOT.EXE and 2794FC60.FLS on it. I started a Windows box and hit
|
|
F8 right before Windows started, and chose option 5, "Command Prompt
|
|
Only", which gives you DOS. This program can't run in a DOS window under
|
|
Windows or anything like that. You need to be in real DOS.
|
|
|
|
Next it's time to run FBOOT. It will detect your ethernet card(s), ask
|
|
you which one you want to program, and let you choose it from a menu.
|
|
|
|
now the fun part:
|
|
|
|
Select Option (U)pdate or (R)estore: R
|
|
Erasing FLASH Device... 100%
|
|
Writing FLASH image from file... 100%
|
|
|
|
Time to reboot and let Etherboot take over.
|
|
|
|
So there you go, a way to make Intel EEPRO100Bs play nicely with
|
|
Etherboot. Maybe we should put these instructions in the Etherboot
|
|
contrib directory so people who have eepro100b cards will be able to
|
|
avoid 3C905C envy :-)
|
|
|
|
I hope this helps a few people out.
|
|
|
|
Regards,
|
|
|
|
Marty
|
|
|
|
---
|
|
Name: Martin D. Connor
|
|
US Mail: Entity Cyber, Inc.; P.O. Box 391827; Cambridge, MA 02139; USA
|
|
Voice: (617) 491-6935, Fax: (617) 491-7046
|
|
Email: mdc@thinguin.org
|
|
Web: http://www.thinguin.org/
|