Re: [E1000-devel] [linux-nics] e1000e + ICH8 GbE flash lock, kernel 3.9.6

[Allan, B. W <bru...@in...>]

IMHO, the lock is still necessary during nominal operation because, unlike the other sectors in the NVM, the GbE region is not write protected which is a contributing factor to the device corruptions that happened a few years back.  The root cause of those corruptions was due to ftrace which has since been fixed.  Using the e1000e driver without the lock in more recent kernels should be safe but there is always a chance something/someone malicious could corrupt the GbE region without it. 

> -----Original Message-----
> From: lin...@is... [mailto:linux-nics-
> bo...@is...] On Behalf Of Martin Zwickel
> Sent: Monday, July 01, 2013 10:31 AM
> To: Linux NICS
> Cc: e10...@li...
> Subject: [linux-nics] e1000e + ICH8 GbE flash lock, kernel 3.9.6
> 
> Dear linux nics,
> 
> Is the e1000e GbE flash sector write protect still necessary
> (e1000e_write_protect_nvm_ich8lan)?
> 
> I had some issues with booting the Linux kernel and afterwards update
> the system BIOS after a warm reboot.
> 
> The system BIOS update does three steps:
> 1. save GbE NVM sector via EEUPDATE.EXE
> 2. update system BIOS (which seems to overwrite the ICH8 NVM completely
> with default values)
> 3. restore GbE NVM sector (or MAC) via EEUPDATE.EXE
> 
> This does not work after I booted the Linux kernel before because of the
> write lock of the GbE NVM sector and the Flash Config register (PR0).
> Also EEUPDATE.EXE stated no error, but was unable to write the EEPROM
> (checked with EEUPDATE /GUI).
> It works if I coldboot after a Linux boot as stated in the documentation.
> 
> With this procedure I rendered many ICH8 NIC's unusable (all with same
> MAC). Have to fix this with ethtool.
> 
> So I have two questions:
> 1. Is the lock still necessary?
> 2. If I use the e1000e driver without the lock
> (e1000e.WriteProtectNVM=0) would the NVM of my ICH8/82567V-3 Gigabit
> Network (DevID: 8086:1501) become corrupt or is this device ID save? (I
> still don't know the cause for the corruption back in 2008 - ftrace?)
> 
> Currently I use the 3.9.6 kernel and the e1000e: Intel(R) PRO/1000
> Network Driver - 2.2.14-k.
> 
> 
> ps.: I'm not on the list.
> 
> Thanks and best regards,
> 
> --
> 
> Martin Zwickel
> Research & Development
> 
> My excuse: There are 10 types of people in the world...
>             those who understand binary and those who don't.
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