ga-g41m-es2l.md 2.3 KB
% Gigabyte GA-G41M-ES2L desktop board
This is a desktop board using intel hardware (circa ~2009, ICH7 southbridge, similar performance-wise to the Libreboot X200. It can make for quite a nifty desktop. Powered by libreboot.
IDE on the board is untested, but it might be possible to use a SATA HDD using an IDE SATA adapter. The SATA ports do work.
You need to set a custom MAC address in GNU+Linux for the NIC to work. In /etc/network/interfaces on debian-based systems like Debian or Devuan, this would be in the entry for your NIC:\ hwaddress ether macaddressgoeshere
Flashing instructions can be found at ../install/#flashrom
Copyright © 2016 Leah Rowe info@minifree.org\ This page is available under the CC BY SA 4.0 % GA-G41M-ES2L flashing tutorial
This guide is for those who want libreboot on their Intel GA-G41M-ES2L motherboard while they still have the original BIOS present.
Flash chip size {#flashchips}
Use this to find out:
# flashrom -p internal -V
Flashing instructions {#clip}
Refer to bbb_setup.html for how to set up the BBB for external flashing. You can only externally reprogram one of the chips at a time, and you need to disable the chip that you're not flashing, by connecting 3v3 to /CS of that chip, so you will actually need 2 test clips (you also need to connect GND on the chip that you're disabling).
Here is an image of the flash chip:\
Internal flashing is possible. Boot with the proprietary BIOS and GNU+Linux. There are 2 flash chips (one is backup).
Flash the first chip:\ ./flashrom -p internal:dualbiosindex=0 -w libreboot.rom
Flash the second chip:\ ./flashrom -p internal:dualbiosindex=1 -w libreboot.rom
NOTE: you can still boot the system with just the main flash chip connected, after desoldering the backup chip. This has been tested while libreboot was already installed onto the main chip.
NOTE: You need the latest flashrom. Just get it on flashrom.org from their SVN or Git repos.
NOTE: due to a bug in the hardware, the MAC address is hardcoded in coreboot-libre. Therefore, you must set your own MAC address in your operating system.
Copyright © 2016 Leah Rowe info@minifree.org\ This page is available under the CC BY SA 4.0