Information/HGFlashROM

From NAS-Central Buffalo - The Linkstation Wiki

Revision as of 23:16, 16 June 2006 (view source) Bauldrick (Talk | contribs) ← Older edit		Revision as of 08:28, 17 June 2006 (view source) Bauldrick (Talk | contribs) (→Flash ROM analysis) Newer edit →
Line 23:		Line 23:
	|'''Function'''		|'''Function'''
	|-		|-
-	|[[Information/HGFlashROM#mtd0|/dev/mtd0]]	+	|[[Information/HGFlashROM#.2Fdev.2Fmtd0|/dev/mtd0]]
	|90		|90
	|0		|0
Line 30:		Line 30:
	|Stores firmimg.bin (firminfo.txt, vmlinux.gz, ramdisk.image.gz).		|Stores firmimg.bin (firminfo.txt, vmlinux.gz, ramdisk.image.gz).
	|-		|-
-	|[[Information/HGFlashROM#mtd1|/dev/mtd1]]	+	|[[Information/HGFlashROM#.2Fdev.2Fmtd1|/dev/mtd1]]
	|90		|90
	|2		|2
Line 37:		Line 37:
	|Boot loader (bootcode.bin).		|Boot loader (bootcode.bin).
	|-		|-
-	|[[Information/HGFlashROM#mtd2|/dev/mtd2]]	+	|[[Information/HGFlashROM#.2Fdev.2Fmtd2|/dev/mtd2]]
	|90		|90
	|4		|4

---

Revision as of 08:28, 17 June 2006

Major number | The major number in a special file entry identifies the device driver. Each driver in a Linux or Unix kernel has a number. The major number just selects the driver, e.g. if a serial port driver or a hard disk driver should be associated with the name in the file system

Minor number | The minor number in a special file entry is interpreted individually by a particular device driver. For example a serial driver might use it to compute the I/O address of a UART, or a hard disk driver might use it to address a particular disk on the periphery bus

First some background. 'mtd' stands for memory technology device. Traditionally Unix (and Linux) just has two device types

1. Block special files
2. Character special files

The interfaces of these special files is and was primarily geared at communicating with devices like hard disks, tapes, or terminals. Flash memory, or other 'memory technology' doesn't match to well to the classic device interfaces. For example, writing to a flash device should usually be more controlled to avoid excessive wear and tear of the memory (flash memory allows just a limited number of re-writes). So a particular mtd interface was created in the kernel to support these devices better. In addition, for backward-compatibility with non-mtd-aware software and tools (most are not mtd-aware) the mtd interface was mapped back to the classic block and character special device interfaces. The LinkStation firmware contains the necessary mtd device driver and matching file entries under /dev.

The following information only applies to firmwares 1.41 and newer. Firmwares prior to 1.41 function the same as powerpc-hdhlan firmwares.

Contents 1 Flash ROM analysis 1.1 /dev/mtd0 2 firminfo.txt: 2.1 vmlinux.gz: 2.2 ramdisk.image.gz: 2.3 /dev/mtd1 2.4 /dev/mtd2 2.4.1 Normal boot: 2.4.2 EM mode: 2.5 /dev/mtd3

Flash ROM analysis

(all information based on official firmware 1.45b):

Device	Major	Minor	End	Size	Function
/dev/mtd0	90	0	???	3MB	Stores firmimg.bin (firminfo.txt, vmlinux.gz, ramdisk.image.gz).
/dev/mtd1	90	2	???	448KB	Boot loader (bootcode.bin).
/dev/mtd2	90	4	???	64KB	Boot status ("OKOK" - normal boot, "NGNG" - EM mode).
/dev/mtd3	90	6	???	512KB	Stores configuration files as conf_save.tar.gz (written by as_flash).
/dev/mtd4	90	8	???	4MB	Entire Flash ROM (in the order mtd0, mtd1, mtd2, mtd3).
/dev/mtdblock0	90	0	???	3MB	Block special file version of mtd0.
/dev/mtdblock1	90	2	???	448KB	Block special file version of mtd1.
/dev/mtdblock2	90	4	???	64KB	Block special file version of mtd2.
/dev/mtdblock3	90	6	???	512KB	Block special file version of mtd3.
/dev/mtdblock4	90	8	???	4MB	Block special file version of mtd4.

Note: If the flash devices do not already exist, they can easily be created by mknod:

mknod /dev/mtd0 c 90 0
mknod /dev/mtd1 c 90 2
mknod /dev/mtd2 c 90 4
mknod /dev/mtd3 c 90 6
mknod /dev/mtd4 c 90 8
mknod /dev/mtdblock0 b 90 0
mknod /dev/mtdblock1 b 90 2
mknod /dev/mtdblock2 b 90 4
mknod /dev/mtdblock3 b 90 6
mknod /dev/mtdblock4 b 90 8

/dev/mtd0

firmimg.bin contains 3 parts:

1. firminfo.txt - The 108 byte firmware header.
2. vmlinux.gz - The kernel.
3. ramdisk.image.gz - The ramdisk.

firminfo.txt:

Offset	Size	Field	Content - 1.45b
0	4	Version	1
4	4	Firmware ID	4
8	32	Firmware Name (padding with 0x00)	HD-HGLAN(IEMITSU)
40	32	Sub Version (padding with 0x00)	FLASH 1.2
72	2	Major Version	2
74	2	Minor Version	6
76	2	Build Number	0
78	6	Build Date	2005/8/3 9:32:3
84	4	firmimg.bin size	2903237 bytes
88	4	Checksum	3288296390
92	4	vmlinux.gz offset	108 bytes
96	4	vmlinux.gz size	855915 bytes
100	4	ramdisk.image.gz offset	856023 bytes
104	4	ramdisk.image.gz size	2047214 bytes

The following script analyzes firmimg.bin and provides the preceding information:

#! /usr/bin/perl

read(STDIN, $tmp, 108, 0);
@tmp = unpack("LLA32A32SSSC6LLLLLL", $tmp);

print "Version                  ". $tmp[0]."\n";
print "Firmware ID              ". $tmp[1]."\n";
print "Firmware Name            ". $tmp[2]."\n";
print "Sub Version              ". $tmp[3]."\n";
print "Major Version            ". $tmp[4]."\n";
print "Minor Version            ". $tmp[5]."\n";
print "Build Number             ". $tmp[6]."\n";
printf "Build Date              %d/%d/%d %d:%d:%d\n", $tmp[7] + 1900, $tmp[8], $tmp[9], $tmp[10], $tmp[11], $tmp[12];
print "firmimg.bin size         ". $tmp[13]."\n";
print "Checksum                 ". $tmp[14]."\n";
print "vmlinux.gz offset        ". $tmp[15]."\n";
print "vmlinux.gz size          ". $tmp[16]."\n";
print "ramdisk.image.gz offset  ". $tmp[17]."\n";
print "ramdisk.image.gz size    ". $tmp[18]."\n";

The script can read the firmware information directly from the flash ROM:

./showflash.pl < /dev/mtd0

The script also can be used to read the firmware information from firmimg.bin:

./showflash.pl < firmimg.bin

You can extract firmimg.bin from /dev/mtd0 by using head:

head -c 2903237 /dev/mtd0 > firmimg.bin

firminfo.txt, vmlinux.gz, and ramdisk.image.gz can be extracted from firmimg.bin:

head -c 108 firmimg.bin > firminfo.txt
tail -c 2903129 firmimg.bin > temp; head -c 855915 temp > vmlinux.gz; rm temp
tail -c 2047214 firmimg.bin > ramdisk.image.gz

vmlinux.gz:

Linux kernel.

ramdisk.image.gz:

You can mount the ramdisk as follows:

 mount ramdisk.image /mnt/ramdisk -o loop

Raw listing of 1.45b ramdisk contents.

---

/dev/mtd1

Contains bootcode.bin (created by "make zImage")

/dev/mtd2

Contains boot status ("OKOK" - normal boot, "NGNG" - EM mode).

Normal boot:

00000000 00 00 41 82 4f 4b 4f 4b 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 |..A.OKOK........ |
00000010 62 6f 6f 74 70 61 72 6d 3d 72 6f 6f 74 3d 2f 64 |bootparm=root=/d|
00000020 65 76 2f 68 64 61 31 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 |ev/hda1......... |
00000030 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 |................|
*
00000100 ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff |................ |
*
00010000

EM mode:

00000000 4e 47 4e 47 4e 47 4e 47 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 |NGNGNGNG........ |
00000010 62 6f 6f 74 70 61 72 6d 3d 72 6f 6f 74 3d 2f 64 |bootparm=root=/d|
00000020 65 76 2f 72 61 6d 30 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 |ev/ram0......... |
00000030 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 |................|
*
00000100 ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff |................ |
*
00010000

To read the boot status:

od -xc /dev/mtd2

You can change the boot status by using write_ng and write_ok. To change the boot status to normal:

write_ok

To change the boot status to EM mode:

write_ng

Be very careful when changing the boot status to EM mode! You can easily lock yourself out of the LinkStation and possibly brick the unit. Always change the boot status to normal before rebooting.

---

/dev/mtd3

Contents of conf_save.tar.gz:

???

You can read and write conf_save.tar.gz to and from /dev/mtd3 by using /usr/bin/as_flash:

as_flash [device] [add|del|get|init] [options]
add -n <filename>
 add file image to end of flash
del [-n <filename>|-i <block number>]
 delete Entered file name or block number of block data from flash
get [-n <filename>|-i <block number>] [--output <filename>]
 read Entered file name or block number of block data from flash, and store output filename
init
 clear device by zero

For example:

as_flash /dev/mtd3 get -n /tmp/conf_save.tar.gz --output /tmp/conf_save.tar.gz

There is a "hidden" feature to list the contents of the flash bank:

as_flash /dev/mtd3 list

Some of this information courtesy of http://www.yamasita.jp/linkstation.en/index.html.