Nvramtool

From coreboot
Revision as of 23:00, 28 October 2008 by Uwe (talk | contribs) (nvramtool is now available in Debian unstable.)
Jump to navigation Jump to search

The wiki is being retired!

Documentation is now handled by the same processes we use for code: Add something to the Documentation/ directory in the coreboot repo, and it will be rendered to https://doc.coreboot.org/. Contributions welcome!

nvramtool (previously known as lxbios) is a utility for reading/writing coreboot parameters and displaying information from the coreboot table in CMOS/NVRAM.

The program works only on x86-based Linux systems that use coreboot.

Installation

Manual Installation

$ svn co svn://coreboot.org/repos/trunk/util/nvramtool
$ cd nvramtool
$ make
$ sudo make install  (optional)

Debian

$ sudo aptitude install nvramtool

Using nvramtool

Running nvramtool on a system running coreboot would yield a result like this:

 # ./nvramtool -a
 boot_option = Fallback
 last_boot = Fallback
 ECC_memory = Disable
 baud_rate = 115200
 hw_scrubber = Enable
 interleave_chip_selects = Enable
 max_mem_clock = 100Mhz
 dual_core = Enable
 power_on_after_fail = Enable
 debug_level = Spew
 boot_first = HDD
 boot_second = Network
 boot_third = Floppy
 boot_index = 0xe
 boot_countdown = 0xfa
 slow_cpu = off
 nmi = Enable
 iommu = Enable
 nvramtool: Can not read coreboot parameter user_data because layout info specifies CMOS area that is too wide.

Commonly used CMOS/NVRAM options

coreboot v2

Option Used in Comment Possible values
baud_rate src/pc80/serial.c The serial port BAUD rate setup by coreboot. 115200, 57600, 38400, 19200, 9600, 4800, 2400, 1200
debug_level src/console/console.c The coreboot debugging level. Notice, Info, Debug, Spew
ECC_memory src/northbridge/intel/e7520/raminit.c
src/northbridge/intel/e7525/raminit.c
src/northbridge/amd/amdk8/raminit.c
src/northbridge/amd/amdk8/raminit_f.c
Enable, Disable
interleave_chip_selects src/northbridge/amd/amdk8/raminit.c
src/northbridge/amd/amdk8/raminit_f.c
Enable, Disable
max_mem_clock src/northbridge/amd/amdk8/raminit.c
src/northbridge/amd/amdk8/raminit_f.c
mainboard-dependent
dual_core src/cpu/amd/model_fxx/init_cpus.c
src/cpu/amd/dualcore/dualcore.c
src/northbridge/amd/amdk8/coherent_ht.c
src/cpu/amd/dualcore/amd_sibling.c
src/northbridge/amd/amdk8/northbridge.c
Enable, Disable
quad_core src/cpu/amd/quadcore/quadcore.c
src/cpu/amd/model_10xxx/init_cpus.c
src/cpu/amd/quadcore/amd_sibling.c
src/northbridge/amd/amdfam10/northbridge.c
power_on_after_fail src/southbridge/amd/sb600/sb600_sm.c
src/southbridge/amd/amd8111/amd8111_acpi.c
src/southbridge/nvidia/ck804/ck804_lpc.c
src/southbridge/nvidia/mcp55/mcp55_lpc.c
src/southbridge/intel/i82801ca/i82801ca_lpc.c
src/southbridge/intel/esb6300/esb6300_lpc.c
src/southbridge/intel/i82801er/i82801er_lpc.c
src/southbridge/intel/i3100/i3100_lpc.c
src/southbridge/sis/sis966/sis966_lpc.c
src/superio/winbond/w83627ehg/superio.c
src/superio/winbond/w83627hf/superio.c
Enable, Disable
slow_cpu src/southbridge/amd/amd8111/amd8111_acpi.c
src/southbridge/nvidia/ck804/ck804_lpc.c
src/southbridge/nvidia/mcp55/mcp55_lpc.c
src/southbridge/sis/sis966/sis966_lpc.c
off, 87.5%, 75.0%, 62.5%, 50.0%, 37.5%, 25.0%, 12.5%
nmi src/southbridge/amd/sb600/sb600_sm.c
src/southbridge/amd/amd8111/amd8111_acpi.c
src/southbridge/amd/amd8111/amd8111_lpc.c
src/southbridge/amd/amd8131/amd8131_bridge.c
src/southbridge/broadcom/bcm5785/bcm5785_sb_pci_main.c
src/southbridge/nvidia/ck804/ck804_lpc.c
src/southbridge/nvidia/mcp55/mcp55_lpc.c
src/southbridge/intel/i82801ca/i82801ca_lpc.c
src/southbridge/intel/esb6300/esb6300_lpc.c
src/southbridge/intel/i82801er/i82801er_lpc.c
src/southbridge/intel/pxhd/pxhd_bridge.c
src/southbridge/intel/i82801xx/i82801xx_lpc.c
src/southbridge/intel/i3100/i3100_lpc.c
src/southbridge/intel/i82801dbm/i82801dbm_lpc.c
src/southbridge/sis/sis966/sis966_lpc.c
Enable, Disable
pxhd_bus_speed_100 src/southbridge/intel/pxhd/pxhd_bridge.c
hw_scrubber src/cpu/amd/model_fxx/model_fxx_init.c
hyper_threading src/cpu/intel/hyperthreading/intel_sibling.c
iommu src/northbridge/amd/amdk8/misc_control.c
src/northbridge/amd/amdfam10/misc_control.c
Enable, Disable

FILO 0.6

Option Used in Comment Possible values
boot_devices main/grub/grub.c

Etherboot 5.4.2

Option Used in Comment Possible values
last_boot src/firmware/linuxbios/linuxbios.c
boot_countdown src/firmware/linuxbios/linuxbios.c
boot_index src/firmware/linuxbios/linuxbios.c
boot_first src/firmware/linuxbios/linuxbios.c
boot_second src/firmware/linuxbios/linuxbios.c
boot_third src/firmware/linuxbios/linuxbios.c

Things to know

  1. coreboot will ignore the CMOS table if the checksum is incorrect, and will fallback to its hardcoded defaults.
  2. coreboot does not initialize the CMOS/NVRAM to default values. In other words, until you set values with nvramtool, your CMOS table will have an incorrect checksum, and will simply be ignored.
  3. Not all of the fields that nvramtool can set are used by coreboot on every mainboard.
  4. Some of the fields are used by payloads - for instance all the fields that start with 'boot_' in the list above. FILO and Etherboot are two examples of bootloaders parsing NVRAM values (See their pages for a list of known variables)

Old websites

The nvramtool tool is now maintained by the coreboot developers and this page is the main website of nvramtool. For reference, the following websites were previously used, but are now deprecated:

GNU head This work is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify it under the terms of the GNU General Public License as published by the Free Software Foundation; either version 2 of the License, or any later version. This work is distributed in the hope that it will be useful, but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. See the GNU General Public License for more details.