Recovering BMC After Failed Firmware Update

[witsu]

I am looking for some advice on how to recover the BMC on my Talos II after a failed attempt to upgrade to the new 2.0 firmware.
I can see the BMC heartbeat LED flashing rapidly on the board, and I am not able to get any output on the serial console.

From what I've read on the wiki, it looks like I will either need to get a flash programmer to externally re program the chip.
Has anyone here done this recently and can recommend what kind to get?

Thanks

[MPC7500]

AFAIK, you could reprogramming through J7701 header with a serial adopter. No ISP programmer needed. I have an ASSMANN AK-610300-003-E.

You already read this guide?
Debricking the BMC

I haven't done this till now.

[witsu]

Yea I looked at that guide already.
The first 2 methods didn't work for me, I am not getting any output from the BMC over the serial console.
The other method requires the  ASPEED SOC Flash Utility which I don't have, and the link seems to be broken. I assume that's because you need to be a registered developer now to get it. I haven't looked into regisering yet, I assumed getting a flash programmer would probably be cheaper.

[ClassicHasClass]

What method did you use to update it that went wrong?

[witsu]

I was trying to follow the instructions for upgrading to 2.0 on the wiki https://wiki.raptorcs.com/wiki/File:Talos-ii-openbmc-v2.00-bundle.tar

I copied image-bmc over, rebooted th BMC, and then it didn't come back online after that.

[FlyingBlackbird]

The other method requires the  ASPEED SOC Flash Utility which I don't have, and the link seems to be broken. I assume that's because you need to be a registered developer now to get it.
I haven't looked into regisering yet, I assumed getting a flash programmer would probably be cheaper.

It looks like you can download a backup version of the SOC Flash Utility here (not verified - treat this as untrusted source and apply virus checks first eg. via online scanners):

https://github.com/abrahamrhoffman/bmc_tools

[MPC7500]

This error occurs if you forget to decompress the file, AFAIK.

[witsu]

Yea, I don't remember for sure, but that's certainly possible that I just renamed and forgot to decompress the file. I've done firmware updates before with out any issues, so probably just screwed up something this time.

I am a little concerned over using an untrusted utility to recover the BMC, I wouldn't want some malware to get down in there. Not sure how likely that is. Could re flashing the BMC the regular way immediately after take care of that? Or do I actually need to get a flash programmer?

[ClassicHasClass]

It should, yes. At worst it just won't work -- you won't be any worse off.

[MPC7500]

If you don't trust the Github source, you could ask JSharp. He has the ASpeed utilities, too.
I assume you're on the Talos IRC, too? aperson678?

[witsu]

Actually I haven't tried asking in the IRC chat yet.
I had tried to get on there a few months ago but wasn't able to.
I just got some message saying I was banned as soon as I tried to sign in.
I can try again now though.

[MPC7500]

At the moment there is someone who has the similar problem.

You are banned

[witsu]

I ordered a Bus Pirate and cable. We'll see if I am able to get anywhere with it.

[MPC7500]

It should also work with the serial adopter on header J7701. If that doesn't work I hardly guess the pinout of the adopter is wrong or you used the wrong USB DB9 cable.

[witsu]

With the Bus Pirate you mean ? Or using socflash?
My serial adapter should work since I used it before after a bad update and was able to use the u-boot tftp method to recover.
This time is different though since I get no output at all.