Look Mom, no PROM burner! (eepro100b flashing instructions) :-)

[Marty Connor <mdc@thinguin.org>]

Continuing the Etherboot World Domination theme, I noticed that there was 
a PCI ethernet card on my bookshelf that still contained the original 
vendor's code in its flash memory.  The card virtually cried out to be 
flashed with Etherboot 4.4.1. :-)

After having figured out how to flash the 3C905C last week, and owing to 
the fact that the temperature here in Cambridge, Massachusetts (USA) has 
dropped well below freezing, I decided to explore the possibility of 
flashing the Intel eepro100b that was sitting on my bookcase.

After determining that it was unlikely that one could flash the chip in 
user mode under linux like the 3C509C,  I turned to other options.  (the 
reason is that the flash is memory mapped to a place that causes a core 
dump if accessed.  i suppose one could to patch the kernel to flash the 
card, or add a linux device driver, but... :-)  

By the way, If you are ever looking for Linux utilities for Ethernet 
cards, you may want to check out: 

   http://cesdis.gsfc.nasa.gov/linux/diag/

which is a treasure trove of tools for manipulating and testing Ethernet 
cards, all with source, courtesy of Donald Becker.

At this point, I felt it was time to make a virtual trip to the Intel 
site (http://www.intel.com/), and search for utilities that might work 
with the eepro100B.  I found two candidates:  FUTIL and FBOOT.  I 
downloaded, decompressed, and transferred them to a DOS formatted floppy. 
Next I determined (after a few tries) that F8 will let me get to DOS 
instead of booting windows. (I tend to avoid Windows when I can).

I first tried FUTIL.EXE.  No good.  It told me it didn't recognize the 
flash on my eepro100B.  how unfortunate.  and I had such hopes :-)

Next I tested FBOOT.EXE  (available at 
http://support.intel.com/support/network/adapter/pro100/100PBOOT.htm)  
This program did in fact recognize my eepro100b card.

The thing about FBOOT however, is that it thinks it only can load certain 
files.  I of course needed to load an Etherboot image.  It appeared to 
have no option for doing that.  Things looked grim.

Then I noticed that FBOOT was kind enough to do the following dialog:

   Select Option (U)pdate or (R)estore: U

I chose Update and it then offered to back up my flash rom for later 
restore:

   Create Restore Image (Y)es or (N)o: Y

I chose "Y" and it proceeded to write a file of my flash memory, which 
contained the Intel code.

   Writing FLASH image to file... 100%

It then erased the device:

   Erasing FLASH Device... 100%

and then programmed it with fresh code (stored inside the program, no 
doubt):

   Programming FLASH Device... 100%

So now I had a backup of the Intel boot code in a file strangely called:

   2794FC60.FLS

Hmmmm, interesting name.  The MAC address of the card is 09902794FC60.  
They just name the file with the last 4 octets of the MAC address and 
.FLS.  The file is exactly 65536 bytes, which would make sense for a 64K 
Flash Memory device.

Then I got to thinking, I wonder how carefully the "restore" part of 
FBOOT looks at what it is loading?  What if I took an Etherboot .rom 
file, padded it with 48K of 0xFFs and named it 2794FC60.FLS.  What if I 
then told FBOOT.EXE to "restore" that?

Well, I guess by now, you know it worked :-) 

The card came up with the delightful Etherboot banner, Did DHCP, tftp, 
and started a kernel.

The only unfortunate part is that you need to do this under DOS because 
you seem to need to be in real mode to program the card.  Oh well, 
sacrifices have to be made :-)

So, in summary, to prepare Etherboot image for flashing into the Intel 
EEPRO100B card with FBOOT, you need to first make an eepro100.rom file, 
as usual.

Then, see how large it is, with an "ls -l eepro100.rom". the answer will 
probably be 16,384.  You need to pad it with hex FFs to make it 64K for 
FBOOT.  I used the following two lines to create the flash image file.

   $ perl -e 'print "\xFF" x 49152' > 48kpad.bin
   $ cat eepro100.rom 48kpad.bin > 2794FC60.FLS

Next write it to a DOS Floppy:

   $ mount -t msdos /dev/fd0 /mnt/floppy
   $ cp 2794FC60.FLS /mnt/floppy
   $ umount /mnt/floppy

Now you need to get to DOS.  You could actually use a bootable DOS floppy 
with FBOOT.EXE and 2794FC60.FLS on it.  I started a Windows box and hit 
F8 right before Windows started, and chose option 5, "Command Prompt 
Only", which gives you DOS.  This program can't run in a DOS window under 
Windows or anything like that.  You need to be in real DOS.

Next it's time to run FBOOT.  It will detect your ethernet card(s), ask 
you which one you want to program, and let you choose it from a menu.

now the fun part:

   Select Option (U)pdate or (R)estore: R
   Erasing FLASH Device... 100%
   Writing FLASH image from file... 100%

Time to reboot and let Etherboot take over.

So there you go, a way to make Intel EEPRO100Bs play nicely with 
Etherboot.  Maybe we should put these instructions in the Etherboot 
contrib directory so people who have eepro100b cards will be able to 
avoid 3C905C envy :-)

I hope this helps a few people out.

Regards,

Marty

---
   Name: Martin D. Connor
US Mail: Entity Cyber, Inc.; P.O. Box 391827; Cambridge, MA 02139; USA
  Voice: (617) 491-6935, Fax: (617) 491-7046 
  Email: mdc@thinguin.org
    Web: http://www.thinguin.org/


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