Macbook Pro Early 2011 EFI - Unable to read


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6 years 1 month ago #9345 by jeimuzujohnson
I have been trying to read (and hopefully eventually write) to a Macbook pro early 2011 with EFI chip MX25L6406E. I have two of them and get the same response from both. Flashrom detects a chip but is unable to identify it. I have tried forcing a read and get back a bad dump. I have tried all combinations of power including not using the #WP or #HOLD pins, disconnecting battery, magsafe, etc...

I have followed the tutorial. If my clip doesn't get a good connection, and in some power states flashrom doesn't detect a chip at all. However, most of the time it detects a chip but says it is not able to be read. I know this chip is supported by flashrom. I'm confident that my wiring is right. I've tried two different clips, new wires, you name it. I MUST be missing something.

In reading the forum posts here it looks like with these models there may be some sort of power implication. I'm using a 5.25V 2.4A power supply to the pi. I would really like to avoid removing the chip from the board, which I noticed is how one person on the forum got around this. Is there anyone here who can tell me if they've gotten this to work before and how? I also saw a link to a google drive folder for 2012 macbooks that had some docs with tips for flashing, but I didn't find one for 2011, as I don't know where to look. Any and all help is appreciated.
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6 years 1 month ago - 6 years 1 month ago #9349 by cyber16
Make sure you have these all tied together as WP - Hold need 3.3v
Hold
WP
VCC
Hold & WP needs to have 3.3v+ applied to them to get a read & write I just tie them to the VCC as well via jumper wire connecting those pins at the clip lead connections.

To read MX chip, this is my command that never fails me.
I am working with a PI v3
Adjust the command to match your folder/files location, I work from the desktop within a efi folder.

READ MX chip
flashrom -p linux_spi:dev=/dev/spidev0.0 -c "MX25L6406E/MX25L6408E" -r /home/pi/Desktop/efi/read1.bin

Write MX chip
flashrom -w /home/pi/Desktop/efi/clean.bin -V -p linux_spi:dev=/dev/spidev0.0 -c "MX25L6406E/MX25L6408E"
Last edit: 6 years 1 month ago by cyber16.
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6 years 1 month ago #9350 by jeimuzujohnson
Thank you for the reply! I have tried it with VCC+HOLD+WP all soldered together going to PIN 17 (3.3v) of the Pi and still had the problem. I noticed that the board seems to try to draw power from the Pi on these machines, so I am wondering if it's not getting enough power. I have tried with battery and Magsafe disconnected, connected, and all combinations of the two. Each time I either get that no chip was found or that the chip is not able to be read. Should I try supplying the 3.3v for those 3 lines from an external power source?
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6 years 1 month ago #9351 by cyber16
Make sure you are using at least a 2 amp power supply to the pi
Should work with no battery & no magsafe connected

You can try several other means with or without battery/magsafe.
But on those 1370 & 1466 models I only needed the pi power
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6 years 1 month ago #9352 by jeimuzujohnson
OK, thanks. I'll give it another go sometime tomorrow and maybe take a few pictures just to make sure I'm not losing my mind here!

The model I'm working on is:
everymac.com/systems/apple/macbook_pro/specs/macbook-pro-core-i5-2.3-13-early-2011-unibody-thunderbolt-specs.html

I could be wrong but I think it's a model A1278 EMC 2419. I thought I saw a post on here somewhere that someone else noticed the board drawing the power in and just took the chip out to read it. I don't want to do that if I can at all avoid it. I also saw one where someone suggested a battery, but it sort of ended there.
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6 years 1 month ago - 6 years 1 month ago #9353 by cyber16
my apologies on the 1370 & 1466, I was thinking of another thread.
The older models I really only used the pi power being at least 2 amps.

On some of the newer models the only problem I have found is the dumps are incomplete.
To over-come that, I would power on the unit, then press & continue holding the power button immediately, then read or write
At which point a clean dump, would need to repeat for a write as well.
Last edit: 6 years 1 month ago by cyber16.
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6 years 1 month ago - 6 years 1 month ago #9370 by registrant

jeimuzujohnson wrote: I have been trying to read (and hopefully eventually write) to a Macbook pro early 2011 with EFI chip MX25L6406E. I have two of them and get the same response from both. Flashrom detects a chip but is unable to identify it.

Hi,
I have same MacBook Pro 15" with MXIC MX25L6406E but I after commad:
sudo flashrom -r /efi/read1.bin -c MX25L6404E/MX25L6408E -V -p linux_spi:dev=/dev/spidev0.0
I get this response:
Probing for Macronix MX25L6404E/MX25L6408E, 8192 kB: RDID byte 0 parity violation. probe_spi_rdid_generic: id1 0x00, id2 0x00

How do you know that your Flashrom detects a chip?

btw I have Rpi 3 with 2.5A psu.
Last edit: 6 years 1 month ago by registrant.
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6 years 1 month ago - 6 years 1 month ago #9526 by 0E800
Try:
sudo flashrom -r /efi/read1.bin -c MX25L6404E/MX25L6408E -V -p linux_spi:dev=/dev/spidev0.0,spispeed=8000

Note the appending
,spidpeed=8000

(ref: github.com/flashrom/flashrom/issues/29)
Last edit: 6 years 1 month ago by 0E800.

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