Firmware upgrade using Linux tool, requires no hardware

[RealNC]

Good news! I wish I had the monitor though. Still not available anywhere near me

[RustinSpencerCohle]

Here's what you'll need to build the tool, using the Ubuntu 14.04 LTS iso (which also behaves as a live CD):

• boot in "Try ubuntu" mode (the default), open a terminal (Ctrl + Alt + T);
• type "sudo gedit /etc/apt/source.list";
• an editor opens, add "universe multiverse" at the end of the second line, to it reads "deb http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ trusty main restricted universe multiverse" Save, then exit the editor;
• type "sudo apt-get update", to update the package list;
• type "sudo apt-get install i2c-tools subversion libpci-dev" to install required packages.

You can then follow the procedure, building flashrom with the patch, and detecting your I2C buses.

ok i had to install gedit and make afterwards and maybe something else, but gedit was first (lubuntu installed on laptop)..

the VGA was on also on bus 1 and on 0x50 the id was 2411z, so i continued with the list of commands in your guide. right now it's in the working process... *wait*

-> ok i had to upload the bin file (firmware) for myself because it was faster than finding out how to install a .rar opener and now i'm at writing, though the writing still begins with reading.. and it's soooo slow much slower than posted in the original article.. it took at least 10 min, i'd say 15 to read the firmware for the backup file in the previous step.

[mrz121]

ok thank you for your help. i am a few steps further now...

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it@it:~/flashrom$ sudo modprobe i2c-dev
it@it:~/flashrom$ sudo i2cdetect -l
i2c-0	i2c       	Radeon i2c bit bus 0x90         	I2C adapter
i2c-1	i2c       	Radeon i2c bit bus 0x91         	I2C adapter
i2c-2	i2c       	Radeon i2c bit bus 0x92         	I2C adapter
i2c-3	i2c       	Radeon i2c bit bus 0x93         	I2C adapter
i2c-4	i2c       	Radeon i2c bit bus 0x94         	I2C adapter
i2c-5	i2c       	Radeon i2c bit bus 0x95         	I2C adapter
i2c-6	i2c       	Radeon i2c bit bus 0x96         	I2C adapter
i2c-7	i2c       	Radeon i2c bit bus 0x97         	I2C adapter
i2c-8	i2c       	Radeon aux bus DP-auxch         	I2C adapter
i2c-9	i2c       	Radeon aux bus DP-auxch         	I2C adapter
i2c-10	i2c       	Radeon aux bus DP-auxch         	I2C adapter
i2c-11	i2c       	Radeon aux bus DP-auxch         	I2C adapter
i2c-12	i2c       	i915 gmbus ssc                  	I2C adapter
i2c-13	i2c       	i915 gmbus vga                  	I2C adapter
i2c-14	i2c       	i915 gmbus panel                	I2C adapter
i2c-15	i2c       	i915 gmbus dpc                  	I2C adapter
i2c-16	i2c       	i915 gmbus dpb                  	I2C adapter
i2c-17	i2c       	i915 gmbus dpd                  	I2C adapter
it@it:~/flashrom$ sudo i2cdetect 13
WARNING! This program can confuse your I2C bus, cause data loss and worse!
I will probe file /dev/i2c-13.
I will probe address range 0x03-0x77.
Continue? [Y/n] y
     0  1  2  3  4  5  6  7  8  9  a  b  c  d  e  f
00:          -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- 
10: -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- 
20: -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- 
30: -- -- -- -- -- -- -- 37 -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- 
40: -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- 49 -- -- -- -- -- -- 
50: 50 -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- 59 -- -- -- -- -- -- 
60: -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- 
70: -- -- -- -- -- -- -- --                         
[b]it@it:~/flashrom$ sudo i2cdump -r 0-127 13 0x50[/b]
No size specified (using byte-data access)
WARNING! This program can confuse your I2C bus, cause data loss and worse!
I will probe file /dev/i2c-13, address 0x50, mode byte
Probe range limited to 0x00-0x7f.
Continue? [Y/n] y
     0  1  2  3  4  5  6  7  8  9  a  b  c  d  e  f    0123456789abcdef
00: 00 ff ff ff ff ff ff 00 09 d1 2c 7f 45 54 00 00    ........??,?ET..
10: 33 17 01 03 0e 35 1e 78 2e 9d e1 a6 54 54 9f 26    3????5?x.???TT?&
20: 0d 50 54 a5 6b 80 d1 c0 45 7c 61 7c 81 80 81 bc    ?PT?k???E|a|????
30: 95 3c 31 7c 01 01 02 3a 80 18 71 38 2d 40 58 2c    ?<1|???:??q8-@X,
40: 45 00 13 2a 21 00 00 1e 00 00 00 ff 00 5a 43 44    E.?*!..?.....ZCD
50: 30 30 31 36 37 53 4c 30 0a 20 00 00 00 fd 00 18    00167SL0? ...?.?
60: 78 0f 87 15 00 0a 20 20 20 20 20 20 00 00 00 fc    x???.?      ...?
70: 00 42 65 6e 51 20 58 4c 32 34 32 30 5a 0a 00 7a    .BenQ XL2420Z?.z
it@it:~/flashrom$ sudo ./flashrom -p mstarddc_spi:dev=/dev/i2c-13:49
flashrom v0.9.7-r1785 on Linux 3.13.0-24-generic (x86_64)
flashrom is free software, get the source code at http://www.flashrom.org

Calibrating delay loop... OK.
Info: Will try to use device /dev/i2c-13 and address 0x49
...Found Winbond flash chip "W25Q16.V" (2048 kB, SPI) on mstarddc_spi.
.No operations were specified.
[b]it@it:~/flashrom$ sudo ./flashrom -p mstarddc_spi:dev=/dev/i2c-13:49 -c "MX25L1605A/MX25L1606E" -r backup.bin[/b]
flashrom v0.9.7-r1785 on Linux 3.13.0-24-generic (x86_64)
flashrom is free software, get the source code at http://www.flashrom.org

Calibrating delay loop... OK.
Info: Will try to use device /dev/i2c-13 and address 0x49
No EEPROM/flash device found.
Note: flashrom can never write if the flash chip isn't found automatically.

as you see my correct bus is 13. My Monitor ID is BenQ XL2420Z. it stucks at "# dump current firmware". Is "MX25L1605A/MX25L1606E" wrong in my case? I don't even know what it stands for

edit:
okay i think MX... was wrong in my case.. as i posted above:
"...Found Winbond flash chip "W25Q16.V" (2048 kB, SPI) on mstarddc_spi."

so i replaced MX25.... with W25Q... and it seems to be working. trying to flash right now

edit2: YESSS! i did it. it works. thank you so much

[RustinSpencerCohle]

the chips are shown after you put

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# identify flash chip, on bus 1 (/dev/i2c-1) at address 0x49
sudo ./flashrom -p mstarddc_spi:dev=/dev/i2c-1:49

i found 3 and the one that is named in the guide was amongst them so I went on with the command list.. I personally would not change this as you may try to flash a chip, that is not to be flashed. but as you have the 2420 it might have another name, that's correct. and you only found 1?

------
I wonder if there are differences in vga-dsub cables? hopefully nothing goes wrong as i've already got 1 error

"errno6: spi nbyte program fialed during command execution at adress 0x2900"

so it tried to write got the error and wrecked it. what could be gone wrong and how could i possibly restore it?
i used nothing but the commands in the list and my monitor is the same type and as written I've found the monitor at the same bus.

[mrz121]

i found 3 and the one that is named in the guide was amongst them so I went on with the command list.. I personally would not change this as you may try to flash a chip, that is not to be flashed. but as you have the 2420 it might have another name, that's correct. and you only found 1?

yes, I only found one chip. i didnt had any errors during flashing. im now on v2

[RustinSpencerCohle]

and im fucked. fuck! :/

[pipomolo42]

i found 3 and the one that is named in the guide was amongst them so I went on with the command list.. I personally would not change this as you may try to flash a chip, that is not to be flashed. but as you have the 2420 it might have another name, that's correct. and you only found 1?

yes, I only found one chip. i didnt had any errors during flashing. im now on v2

Actually, that's totally normal. There is only one chip, it's just in the case of the MX25L1606E, there are multiple chips from the manufacturer which respond to the identification command with the same ID. But I guess the manufacturer would have used different IDs if they weren't compatible between each other.

And in the case of the W25Q16.V, there is only one chip that uses its ID, so specifying "-c W25Q16.V" is not even necessary.

[pipomolo42]

I wonder if there are differences in vga-dsub cables? hopefully nothing goes wrong as i've already got 1 error

"errno6: spi nbyte program fialed during command execution at adress 0x2900"

so it tried to write got the error and wrecked it. what could be gone wrong and how could i possibly restore it?
i used nothing but the commands in the list and my monitor is the same type and as written I've found the monitor at the same bus.

Ouch, sorry to hear that. Is your screen still powered? Does the i2cdetect command still list the four i2c addresses? Could you try to flash it once again? Also, could you tell us what your setup is (is it a laptop or a desktop? what kind of graphics card and connected screens you have?)

Also, could you copy/paste the whole output from flashrom?

[Chief Blur Buster]

and im fucked. fuck! :/

What happens when you re-attempt the upgrade?

[RustinSpencerCohle]

Ouch, sorry to hear that. Is your screen still powered? Does the i2cdetect command still list the four i2c addresses? Could you try to flash it once again? Also, could you tell us what your setup is (is it a laptop or a desktop? what kind of graphics card and connected screens you have?)

Also, could you copy/paste the whole output from flashrom?

i wanted to but then forgot to copy all the console text from the last session. is it perhaps automatically stored somehwere?

the monitor is not powered up anymore and it now misses 0x37 in the list. so it cannot be flashed anymore?

it still shows 3 flash chips though!

setup: laptop acer extensa 5630z with Lubuntu 14. had benQ not showing anything (display disabeled via settings in the lubuntu menu) though it showed up the purple benQ screen sometimes in between (2 times i guess) but then went back to "no cable connected" standby mode.

shall i perhaps upload my generated firmware.bin to be checked for correctness?