Firmware upgrade using Linux tool, requires no hardware

Adjusting BENQ Blur Reduction and DyAc (Dynamic Acceleration) including Blur Busters Strobe Utility. Supports most BenQ/Zowie Z-Series monitors (XL2411, XL2420, XL2720, XL2735, XL2540, XL2546)
Mouzuone
Posts: 40
Joined: 21 Jan 2014, 05:54

Re: Firmware upgrade using Linux tool, requires no hardware

Post by Mouzuone » 04 May 2014, 17:20

is it perhaps automatically stored somehwere?
Write "history" in your terminal and you should see all the prior commands. Also, the up and down arrow keys should get you through.

pipomolo42
Posts: 30
Joined: 24 Apr 2014, 06:08

Re: Firmware upgrade using Linux tool, requires no hardware

Post by pipomolo42 » 04 May 2014, 17:25

RustinSpencerCohle wrote:the monitor is not powered up anymore and it now misses 0x37 in the list. so it cannot be flashed anymore?
0x37 is for DDC/CI. As long as 0x49 (ISP) is present, you can attempt reflashing
shall i perhaps upload my generated firmware.bin to be checked for correctness?
The MD5 of the firmware, once extended to 2MB, should be 2afe57de332677c6bb6ccec1c1849ae4. You can check it with the md5sum command.

RustinSpencerCohle
Posts: 25
Joined: 03 May 2014, 12:54

Re: Firmware upgrade using Linux tool, requires no hardware

Post by RustinSpencerCohle » 04 May 2014, 17:37

md5sum is correct. history does not show results only commands I see. so shall i try it again with that file? shall i search for another vga cable or change anything from the last time? and why did it take so long what could that be, maybe a hint to the problem?

pipomolo42
Posts: 30
Joined: 24 Apr 2014, 06:08

Re: Firmware upgrade using Linux tool, requires no hardware

Post by pipomolo42 » 04 May 2014, 18:00

RustinSpencerCohle wrote:md5sum is correct. history does not show results only commands I see. so shall i try it again with that file? shall i search for another vga cable or change anything from the last time? and why did it take so long what could that be, maybe a hint to the problem?
I would say that the time it takes depends on the driver for your laptop's graphics card i2c driver, and for instance, it took longer here to dump the firmware using my desktop's radeon than using my laptop's intel integrated graphics.

The VGA cable might have caused the issue, if it's old and the connections are worn, but all VGA cables should be wired the same. A shorter cable might also pick up less interference.

What you could do first is try to read the content of the flash, using the flashrom -r option. I'll tell you if the flash chip is still accessible. And you'll see if there are any errors. Then, is there are no errors, you could try reflashing it, and it might work this time.

Also, it might be safer not to turn off you screen's power until this is resolved.

Also, if you have another laptop available, you could try it instead. Maybe you'll get better results…

Mouzuone
Posts: 40
Joined: 21 Jan 2014, 05:54

Re: Firmware upgrade using Linux tool, requires no hardware

Post by Mouzuone » 04 May 2014, 18:13

pipomolo42 wrote:The VGA cable might have caused the issue, if it's old and the connections are worn, but all VGA cables should be wired the same. A shorter cable might also pick up less interference.
Some VGA-cables have a different ground assignment. I just checked a couple of cables and some had gnd on pin 1,6,7,8,14 1,6,7,8,10,14 and even one with 1,6,7,8,10,14,15, but that one was cut, so that might be the issue. Those who successfully flashed their monitor that way chould check the wiring with a multimeter.

RustinSpencerCohle
Posts: 25
Joined: 03 May 2014, 12:54

Re: Firmware upgrade using Linux tool, requires no hardware

Post by RustinSpencerCohle » 04 May 2014, 18:32

ok i try to read the content of the flash (didnt it to it at the end after the writing error? i think so.. there was no error, only with the writing) -> the veryfying.

Code: Select all

sudo ./flashrom -p mstarddc_spi:dev=/dev/i2c-1:49 -c "MX25L1605A/MX25L1606E" -r backup2.bin
that's what you meant (i just changed the output file in case i need the other one again).

if the reading is without error I'll try it with the cable that came with the monitor (that should be the same and most probably the one the other guys used). and it has the (normally not used) pin9 which the other cable did not have.

i have access to other laptops, one had radeon mobility chip.. but i took this one because of the intel chip (it says i915 in the console)

ps: i already had powered off the monitor after the failed attempt because i did want to try if it was still working..

----------------
edit: ok the flash chip has been read and it did not report any error, I'm gonna try writing the updated firmware again.

edit2: nope, the same failure again shortly after the beginning of the writing process. reading and veryfying work without errors. "errno 6, sp1_nbyte_prgram failed during command execution at adress 0xd600"

I might try another laptop but the chipset is the same as in the original guide i figured :(

mdzapeer
Posts: 73
Joined: 14 Feb 2014, 03:22

Re: Firmware upgrade using Linux tool, requires no hardware

Post by mdzapeer » 04 May 2014, 22:43

That's pretty cool, the chief is right it must be possible to do it through windows as well.

Some quick googling and going by these wiki articles

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/I%C2%B2C

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bit_banging

So a custom driver running in windows using the VGA port of a integrated GPU/VGA should be able to in theory do this as well. BenQ should write the firmware update program and release it with heavy warnings, I suspect they already may have it for their internal support teams.

pipomolo42
Posts: 30
Joined: 24 Apr 2014, 06:08

Re: Firmware upgrade using Linux tool, requires no hardware

Post by pipomolo42 » 05 May 2014, 02:29

RustinSpencerCohle wrote:edit2: nope, the same failure again shortly after the beginning of the writing process. reading and veryfying work without errors. "errno 6, sp1_nbyte_prgram failed during command execution at adress 0xd600"
One question: did you manage to save the complete output log this time? Where there any other other error messages?

Maybe adding a delay before the operation that fails, to give the previous one more time to complete, can make the process more robust.

Another thing that could help would be changing the value of max_data_write in the spi_programmer_mstarddc struct, at the end of mstarddc_spi.c, from 256 to 128 for instance.

RustinSpencerCohle
Posts: 25
Joined: 03 May 2014, 12:54

Re: Firmware upgrade using Linux tool, requires no hardware

Post by RustinSpencerCohle » 05 May 2014, 08:05

hey guys, I'm happy it worked using my old laptop from 2002. good thing I hadn't recycled that old piece yet :D

no errors at all and what I noticed the reading process was more than twice as fast.. !

so if you got a really slow reading (like 30min+) in the initial dumping process I personally would suggest you dont go on with it and rather look for another pc/laptop to do the job.

now it shows also the 4 entries again within the probing range. :)

I have to go back to work now ;) but one question, the power button now was orange instead of green is that normal , maybe because of the vga cable used??

thanks for all your help and I'm looking forward to the evening to test V2 features with the blurbusters tool :)

ziConiCz
Posts: 9
Joined: 05 May 2014, 08:29

Re: Firmware upgrade using Linux tool, requires no hardware

Post by ziConiCz » 05 May 2014, 08:37

Hello everyone, I recently bought the XL2720Z and then heard about this V2 firmware on this website.
I tested the errors with V1 and boy I want them gone but the idea of spending 50$ on a MSTAR wasn't very appealing.. :|

So I have been following this thread since the original post and have some questions.
My current PC's Graphics Card doesn't even have a VGA output but I have an older laptop, Toshiba Sattellite with radeon graphics and an Intel Centrino processor and the necessary VGA output, would this do the job? Can I start installing Ubuntu onto this computer and do the flashing?
I can write here more detailed specs if necessary.

Thank you and good luck everyone. :)

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