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corna / me_cleaner

Tool for partial deblobbing of Intel ME/TXE firmware images
GNU General Public License v3.0
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Help to make a valid backup of flash chip #355

Open ginto37 opened 3 years ago

ginto37 commented 3 years ago

I can't make a valid backup of the flash chip on my Lenovo x230. I'm using SOIC clip and flashrom. The chip is in-situ, not de-soldered. Here's what I've tried:

Multiple dumps of a single configuration will match (I compare the checksums) but they always fail the ifdtool check and the me_cleaner test:

The laptop works perfectly so I don't think the flash chip is faulty. Can someone make a suggestion?

skochinsky commented 3 years ago

You're probably dumping the wrong chip. AFAIK x230 uses two flash chips, one for IFD+ME, another just for the BIOS.

https://blog.noq2.net/corebooting-thinkpad-x230.html

ginto37 commented 3 years ago

Igor Skochinsky:

You're probably dumping the wrong chip. AFAIK x230 uses two flash chips, one for IFD+ME, another just for the BIOS.

https://blog.noq2.net/corebooting-thinkpad-x230.html

I'm definitely dumping the correct chip. It's the upper one furthest from the front of the laptop. My SOIC clip should be attached the right way too, it's easy to orient it because of the physical dot on the bottom right of the chip.

The page you link to has a link to another walkthrough, where it says:

Make sure the pinouts are correct; otherwise, Flashrom will fail to detect a chip, or it will "detect" a 0x0 chip.

In my case flashrom detects the chip correctly, no doubt about it.

Finally, make sure that the Pomona clip makes contact with the metal wires of the chip. It can be a challenge, but keep trying.

My SOIC clip seems to be be making contact with all the pins but I've only been able to verify this visually. What error would I get if my SOIC clip wasn't seated correctly?

skochinsky commented 3 years ago

Try dumping the other chip anyway. How big is the dump? The IFD should have 5A A5 F0 0F at offset 0x10 and recognized by UEFITool as "Intel Image".

ginto37 commented 3 years ago

I finally tried dumping the other chip but I couldn't get flashrom to recognize it:

No EEPROM/flash device found.

There is no information stamped on this chip like the other so I have no clue what chip info to pass to flashrom. I tried the same chip info as the first chip but this doesn't work.

I tried UEFITool on a dump from the first chip. I get:

Type: Image Subtype: UEFI Size: 00400000

The size reported in ifdtool is 4194304 bytes.

Where do I find that IFD offset info? What tool should I use for that?

czeej commented 3 years ago

My experience with Dell dumping the 32 bios chip. Was tricky. It's like it didn't like to be read. You manually enter the chip name in flash rom. or maybe the cheap clip was just worn out and barley clamps down. use the -c and chip name usually you just read it if you can or change your 64 to 32 in the name. It may read once you do that. Also some cheaper clips, from my experience are a headache. You might be better off spending a bit extra on a quality clip or using programmer. Or de soldering if your good at it. Once the spring goes it can't stay on the chip reliably or contact is weak.

Also you can get corrosion on the chip arms potentially reducing chance of good contact also down side of cheap clip. If it's not seated correctly. You will get no chip. a read error / bad dump.
Also check your read speed. sometimes changing timing helps.

ginto37 commented 2 years ago

Hi czeej,

Thanks for the tips. I think my problem is just identifying the Make/Model of the 8MiB chip. I found a list online of all the chips targeted by previous Lenovo firmware updates for the X230, I just didn't have time to try them yet. I got tired of taking my X230 apart so many times! :)

If I still have problems I'll start looking at the things you've suggested. I think my SOIC clip is good though, and the chip pins look shiny.

By the way, do you know how to get the offset information that skochinsky was talking about above?

czeej:

My experience with Dell dumping the 32 bios chip. Was tricky. It's like it didn't like to be read. You manually enter the chip name in flash rom. use the -c and chip name usually you just read it if you can or change your 64 to 32 in the name. It may read once you do that.

czeej commented 2 years ago

You may have to ask Skochinsky, he is more or less an expert here. 5A A5 F0 0F is probably a binary / hex. at offset 0x10 as the address location You use bin walk or other software to analyze the image like UEFI tool. the 5A A5 F0 0F could be a header to show you intel's code follows. I honestly, do not know. I am guessing. that seems to be a way to ensure you have the right image with IME firmware