IRC/Bot

Idwer Vollering (IRC nick idwer) is the owner of flashrom_bot.

Supported commands: !backup !boardenable !bot !cmos !flashrom !info !laptop !latest !lspci !macaddr !mailinglist !noimages !serialnumber !summary !superiotool !word

All commands support the form where flashrom will talk to a user in-channel:

!command <nick>

Example:

!info carldani

Except !summary, all commands also support the form where flashrom will just tell the channel:

!command

!backup

If you have a backup of your old BIOS contents (created with flashrom -r), please run 'flashrom -v oldbackup.bin' and if it says 'VERIFIED' nothing changed and it should be safe to reboot.

!boardenable

We need special code to support writing on your mainboard. One of our developers will take a look at your report and contact you once a patch is ready. This might take a few weeks because we're all volunteers and the TODO list is rather big.

!bot

I'm just a bot and don't understand what you are saying. Please talk to the developers in this channel.

!cmos

Some BIOS updates require NVRAM(CMOS) clearing/reset to boot after the update. flashrom will not do that for safety reasons.

!flashrom

Please run 'flashrom -V' (as root) and upload the results to http://coreboot.pastebin.com -- set 'How long should your post be retained?' to 'forever'

!forcedread

Forced detection is a bad idea. Forced read will almost always read garbage. Use -f only if we tell you to do it. If you don't understand why, please consult the flashrom wiki and source code.

!formfactor

Even if two flash chips have the same form factor (socket) and similar numbers, they might still be incompatible. For example, PLCC32 exists for Parallel, LPC and FWH chips, all of them incompatible with each other.

!info

Supported commands: !backup !boardenable !bot !cmos !flashrom !forcedread !formfactor !info !laptop !latest !lspci !macaddr !ml !noimages !serialnumber !sorryno !summary !superiotool !word

!laptop

Laptops, notebooks and netbooks are difficult to support and we recommend to use the vendor flashing utility. The embedded controller (EC) in these machines often interacts badly with flashing.

!latest

Please use latest flashrom from svn or at least flashrom 0.9.1 to get reliable operation. Installation instructions can be found here: http://flashrom.org/Downloads

!lspci

Please run 'lspci -nnvvvxxx' (as root) and upload the results to http://coreboot.pastebin.com -- set 'How long should your post be retained?' to 'forever'

!macaddr

If your MAC address is stored inside the flash chip, it will be overwritten by flashrom. We are currently looking for docs which explain where exactly in ROM the MAC address is stored.

!ml

The flashrom mailinglist is reachable at flashrom@flashrom.org. We recommend to subscribe first at http://www.flashrom.org/mailman/listinfo/flashrom

!noimages

Please do not send any BIOS images to the flashrom mailing list. We don't have the rights to distribute such images. Instead, send links to the official BIOS download and/or links to your BIOS dumps. Warning! BIOS dumps might contain MAC addresses and/or passwords.

!serialnumber

If your machine/board serial number, model number and Windows preactivation key are stored in flash, they will be overwritten/erased by flashrom.

!sorryno

What you want is very difficult to implement and will require months of effort and we don't have the datasheets needed to implement it. There is always the option of paying someone for this, but it probably won't be cheap.

!summary

<nick>: please mail the output of 'flashrom -V', 'lspci -nnvvvxxx', 'superiotool -deV' (all commands as root), the exact name of your board (including revision, if there are multiple revisions), and a link to the official BIOS download to flashrom@flashrom.org

!superiotool

Please run 'superiotool -deV' (as root) and upload the results to http://coreboot.pastebin.com -- set 'How long should your post be retained?' to 'forever'. Installation instructions can be found here: http://www.coreboot.org/Superiotool#Installation

!word

Please spread the word about flashrom. Tell your friends and colleagues, write about it in your blog, the forums you visit, tell news sites how great it is. Thanks!