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)
Jdorman12
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Re: Firmware upgrade using Linux tool, requires no hardware

Post by Jdorman12 » 02 Jul 2020, 21:06

Does anyone know how to add a chip to flashrom? I have everything working except my chip is a MX25L3236F or a MX25L3238F, I can't see it clearly in the picture I have, and it's giving me unknown chip rdid

Jdorman12
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Re: Firmware upgrade using Linux tool, requires no hardware

Post by Jdorman12 » 04 Jul 2020, 15:25

Falkentyne wrote:
10 Mar 2018, 19:37
Assuming XL2411 v7 is simply the Zowie rebrand of the XL2411Z, and might be the same as V5.
At least for the XL2720Z, the v7 firmware is just the zowie rebrand, and I saw no differences whatsoever between the XL2720Z V5 and XL2720 V7, besides the logo.

I don't 'have access to any firmwares anymore besides the old ones available like XL2420Z/XL2411Z V4, and XL2720Z V5. I only got XL2720 V7 because some really nice person here was kind enough to dump it with Linux.

I haven't seen anyone willing to dump firmwares of any monitors since that time. The last attempted dump of anything was Strobemaster dumping his XL2730Z firmware with the RT809F ISP device, but he said he got a verify error after dumping it (he had to use the HDMI connection), so it's unknown whether that dump was good or if it would cause a brick.

And no one knows if flashrom can dump or flash the new realtek 2796BF firmwares either.

I'm surprised no one has even tried. Maybe people don't care. Or maybe they're just afraid of bricking something. But just reading firmwares won't brick anything.

Ok so let me ask this again since I asked a long time ago but got NO replies...like, literally no one even trying:

Has ANYONE been willing or tried to adopt the flashrom method of dumping the old Benq firmwares (NOT FLASHING THEM, just identifying the i2c address and making a backup only), to any of the newer Realtek 2796BF monitors? Does anyone know if these monitors even use Macronix flash chips anymore?

Referring specifically to the XL2735, XL2540, XL2546 and any newer monitors using this scaler/chipset ?
Of course, the chip identifier string must be known, and flashrom must also support the new scaler/firmware/flash chip as well, since it's not MX25L1606E anymore.
I know this is an old post but I've been trying with a realtek scaler on the AOC CU34G2X and the chip is a MX25L3236F which flashrom doesnt support. Don't know if it's the same for those, I opened my monitor up to check. I found some uboot file drivers and patches for the chip but honestly I don't know what I'm doing in that aspect, but I'll keep trying to figure out something without resoldering the chip

PixelDuck87
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Re: Firmware upgrade using Linux tool, requires no hardware

Post by PixelDuck87 » 17 Jul 2020, 12:14

Is there still no tool that does firmware upgrade in windows without additional hardware?

PixelDuck87
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Re: Firmware upgrade using Linux tool, requires no hardware

Post by PixelDuck87 » 07 Sep 2020, 12:25

-sorry for the double post but this thread seem to be dead:s-

I got a spare GA-H110-D3A motherboard and G3900 celeron cpu + VGA cable + 8GB 3.0 USB stick. Is this enough to do the upgrade via linux? Which linux do I get?

TroudhuK
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Re: Firmware upgrade using Linux tool, requires no hardware

Post by TroudhuK » 07 Sep 2020, 12:40

I did it from a Windows notebook, using a Linux live USB stick (made with Rufus).

PixelDuck87
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Re: Firmware upgrade using Linux tool, requires no hardware

Post by PixelDuck87 » 07 Sep 2020, 20:10

Damn I just spent 6 hours trying to get this to work. Finally got the monitor to v4 and this is what I get :(

Image

UPDATE: suddenly it works today. All I did was enter the benq service menu...

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Re: Firmware upgrade using Linux tool, requires no hardware

Post by Chief Blur Buster » 20 Nov 2020, 14:27

PixelDuck87 wrote:
07 Sep 2020, 20:10
UPDATE: suddenly it works today. All I did was enter the benq service menu...
Correct -- you have to exit the service menu for the DDC commands to work. Strobe Utility is temporarly unable to adjust while the monitor is temporarily in Factory/Service menu mode.
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Margusx
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Re: Firmware upgrade using Linux tool, requires no hardware

Post by Margusx » 26 Nov 2020, 03:31

Got dump from zowie xl2536 with mstar device
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1xDxQty ... sp=sharing

v003.20170920

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CubanLegend
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Re: Firmware upgrade using Linux tool, requires no hardware

Post by CubanLegend » 04 Dec 2020, 04:00

So.. why is this guide impossible to follow in 2020? I've literally tried to follow every step but.. even though i know its 5 years old and from 2015.. why hasnt this guide been updated for 2020 with a video or a more recent tutorial? I'm like halfway there and now I'm stuck.. :(

I've read through the guide on Page 21
I've read through the guide on Page 23
I've gone to the page linked (http://boeglin.org/blog/index.php?entry ... e%28dom%29) and tried to install flashrom, to no avail.. sadly I'm stuck on this step:

"svn co https://code.coreboot.org/svn/flashrom/trunk@1846 flashrom"
"cd flashrom"

I'm guessing i need to install flashrom and then navigate to it? I'm unable to do so as the command spits out a "svn: E000111: Can't connect to host 'flashrom.org': Connection Refused"

I stayed up and spent like 3 hours troubleshooting and setting up ubuntu, to get to this step, only to get stuck here, and I've given up for tonight as it's 4am and I need sleep.. I'm so close.. yet so far.. =( Any help please?

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CubanLegend
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Re: Firmware upgrade using Linux tool, requires no hardware

Post by CubanLegend » 05 Dec 2020, 00:50

Ok so now I'm having an entirely different issue, I was able to get flashrom to install, i ripped my v2 backup, but when i tried to install V4 after the install, the XL2720Z's OSD lights stopped lighting up and now the monitor wont power on and the power light doesn't even light up either.. strangely I can still see it over VGA.. is there a chance to save it? PLEASE HELP me out, someone, anyone!

So I started over FRESH from the steps in page 23 and i found this issue when i type:

wget -O- http://boeglin.org/static/benq/0001-Add ... ocol.patch | patch -p1

Code: Select all

--2020-12-05 05:46:42--  http://boeglin.org/static/benq/0001-Add-programmer-for-the-MSTAR-I2C-ISP-protocol.patch
Resolving boeglin.org (boeglin.org)... 2a00:c70:1:178:170:95:127:1, 178.170.95.127
Connecting to boeglin.org (boeglin.org)|2a00:c70:1:178:170:95:127:1|:80... connected.
HTTP request sent, awaiting response... 200 OK
Length: 12625 (12K) [text/x-diff]
Saving to: ‘STDOUT’

-                            100%[============================================>]  12.33K  --.-KB/s    in 0.001s  

2020-12-05 05:46:43 (8.68 MB/s) - written to stdout [12625/12625]

patching file Makefile
Hunk #1 FAILED at 300 (different line endings).
Hunk #2 FAILED at 413 (different line endings).
Hunk #3 FAILED at 591 (different line endings).
3 out of 3 hunks FAILED -- saving rejects to file Makefile.rej
patching file flashrom.8.tmpl
Hunk #1 FAILED at 227 (different line endings).
Hunk #2 FAILED at 889 (different line endings).
2 out of 2 hunks FAILED -- saving rejects to file flashrom.8.tmpl.rej
patching file flashrom.c
Hunk #1 FAILED at 354 (different line endings).
1 out of 1 hunk FAILED -- saving rejects to file flashrom.c.rej
The next patch would create the file mstarddc_spi.c,
which already exists!  Assume -R? [n] 
are the hunk fails supposed to be normal? am i doing something wrong? or can i just download the patch file from the website directly and drop it into the flashrom folder manually instead of having to use wget?

edit:
something is definitely off here.. I tried a flashrom folder that was uploaded kindly a few pages back, and even after trying to just flash back to my stock backup.. I got this:

Code: Select all

sudo ./flashrom -p mstarddc_spi:dev=/dev/i2c-2:49 -c "MX25L1605A/MX25L1606E" -w XL2720Z_V002.bin
Calibrating delay loop... OK.
Info: Will try to use device /dev/i2c-2 and address 0x49.
Info: WILL reset the device at the end.
Found Macronix flash chip "MX25L1605A/MX25L1606E" (2048 kB, SPI) on mstarddc_spi.
Reading old flash chip contents... done.
Erasing and writing flash chip... Erase/write done.
Verifying flash... FAILED at 0x00000000! Expected=0x02, Found=0xb0, failed byte count from 0x00000000-0x001fffff: 0xfe
Your flash chip is in an unknown state.
What could be wrong? Any help would be greatly appreciated.. i fear i may have bricked the monitor, yet i can still see it when i scan the i2c, but flashing back to stock yields this error:

Verifying flash... FAILED at 0x00000000! Expected=0x02, Found=0xb0, failed byte count from 0x00000000-0x001fffff: 0xfe
Your flash chip is in an unknown state.


edit2: when i identify the flsh chip with "sudo ./flashrom -p mstarddc_spi:dev=/dev/i2c-1:49" I get the proper chips:

Code: Select all

Found Macronix flash chip "MX25L1605" (2048 kB, SPI) on mstarddc_spi.
Found Macronix flash chip "MX25L1605A/MX25L1606E" (2048 kB, SPI) on mstarddc_spi.
Found Macronix flash chip "MX25L1605D/MX25L1608D/MX25L1673E" (2048 kB, SPI) on mstarddc_spi.
Multiple flash chip definitions match the detected chip(s): "MX25L1605", "MX25L1605A/MX25L1606E", "MX25L1605D/MX25L1608D/MX25L1673E"
Please specify which chip definition to use with the -c <chipname> option.
BUT when i check the buses with "sudo i2cdetect 2" I get this:

Code: Select all

Continue? [Y/n] y
     0  1  2  3  4  5  6  7  8  9  a  b  c  d  e  f
00:          -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- 
10: -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- 
20: -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- 
30: -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- 
40: -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- 49 -- -- -- -- -- -- 
50: 50 -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- 59 -- -- -- -- -- -- 
60: -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- 
70: -- -- -- -- -- -- -- --      
which must mean that SOMETHING flashed onto the chip, bit it flashed incorrectly..? is it possibel that my patch or the flashrom that i got from "make -j" isnt working properly? Would someone who SUCESSFULLY flashed a firmware , please provide me with your flashrom folder please? :)

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