[realtek] Flashing EPROMs on a DFE-530TX+?

[Arcadio A. Sincero Jr.]

On Wed, 15 Aug 2001, Arcadio A. Sincero Jr. wrote:
> Obviously, it didn't work.  Then I tried something else.  I first tried to
> save what ever was currently in the Flash EPROM to a file by doing:
> 
> 	rtl8139-diag -S current
> 
> and this worked.  I ended up with a 32k file filled with nothing but
> non-zero data.  I then tried to load that file into the Flash EPROM by
> doing:

	Actually, this should read "a 32k file filled with nothing but
zero data."  Or a file consisting of nothing but ASCII 0.  When I made the
first reply, I took a quick look at the resulting file and noticed it
wasn't empty (I just did a "more current" from the shell prompt) and
thought it was non-zero data.  But upon closer inspection I realized those
characters I was looking at were ASCII 0.

> 	rtl8139-diag -L current
> 
> and it worked!  Perhaps I need to convert that Etherboot ROM image to some
> other format first before I try to load it into the Flash EPROM?

	After looking more closely at the libflash.c source, I think I
know why it "worked".  I think its not actually writing anything into the
flash eprom.  The write verification code does its thing by first reading
back what it just wrote into the eprom with what it was supposed to
write.  Apparently, its always reading back an ASCII 0 which is why it
appears to work when I try to load in "current" because its filled with
nothing but ASCII 0.

- Arcadio