Editing AMD Geode/Troubleshooting (section)

== BIOS flashing ==
One night I was bored so I installed Debian 12 in QEMU then transferred it to the board's CompactFlash. The remaining Ethernet connector didn't work but I'm not sure if it ever connected.

I had some trouble with the RAM detecting. The board wouldn't beep due to lack of RAM but it also wouldn't initialize. Under a microscope the joints look bad, but I'm a little more suspicious of the SODIMM connection pins in the socket itself. The RAM doesn't feel like it snaps it properly, or maybe it's not making proper contact.

Only one Ethernet port shows, but even that one doesn't work. Maybe I've fried that chip? Though it wouldn't really enumerate. There was a resistor I lost when desoldering, that might be important.

The Molex USB to power connector also seems to have failed, because the crimping on it failed its once job of handling physical strain. I decided to just solder the crimp and be gentle with it for now.

Once Debian was up and running I used flashrom and chip hot swapping to try BIOS versions v1.18, v1.17, v1.16 and v1.15. None of them had any changes.

I gave up after a while until I decided to try the TV connector jumper on the board. I had tried this previously and had mixed results as it just seems to stop the boot altogether. When I tried booting it the machine didn't power at all. Removing the jumper also kept the system not booting.

I tried swapping RAM sticks but overall it seems like the slot really is failing in some way. But when it did work something interesting happened: The screen completely worked. I managed to see the BIOS screens and GRUB.

I'm tempted to believe this whole thing is some kind of memory issue, but that doesn't make much sense given OSes seemed to run just fine.