Can anyone help me with this borrowed GameOfYou flashcard?

[Arkhan]

Anyone want to mail me their GameOfYou flashcard to use for this convention on the 8th of December?

My NeoFlash is being a real bag of dicks lately and I'm tired of waiting for it to write properly in Windows.

I just need to throw Atlantean on it, use it for a day, and then send it back!

[roflmao]

PM Sent.

[Lochlan]

Dude, get an Everdrive!

[Arkhan]

Dude, get an Everdrive!

That crap is like 90000$.   I just need something quick and useful to demo Atlantean.

[Arkhan]

Got it, but having no luck getting Atlantean to fire up on it.   I just get a white screen.

Sometimes a purple, sometimes a blue.

What'd I f*ck up?

I tried using the software's header remover, and also checked the flip bits box because this is being done on a duo-r, no dice.

[thesteve]

It's your Rom, you should know if it has a header
The card works perfect with any non mapped headerless Rom
Try with and without the swap checked

Sent from my ADR6300 using Tapatalk 2

[Arkhan]

It's your Rom, you should know if it has a header
The card works perfect with any non mapped headerless Rom
Try with and without the swap checked

Sent from my ADR6300 using Tapatalk 2

I think it got broken in the mail, because it was sent in a regular envelope.

The ROMs I tried were all headerless and padded.  I also tried non-padded.  And data bits flipped both ways.


Though, Roflmao mentioned that you have to hold it properly for it to erase the ROM on there for it to write a new one.

It's possible that's the problem, but OldMan's got it right now to see if it got gimped on the way here.

[TheOldMan]

Round 1: Tried known good rom file. stripped the header (it wasn't even multiple of 8K).
Sent to card : No indication that the card was erasing the rom, but the download reported ok.
Tried on both US and JP systems, no dice. Solid color screen is all.
Flipped bit in software, downloaded again. Still no erase indication, download reported ok.
Still a solid color screen.

If you think about it, one of those 4 combinations should have worked (in fact 2 of them should)
Sadly, none of them did, leading me to believe the rom never got written.

Round 2: I tried a different usb cable. Still no luck. Same operation: No indication of flash being erased, download reports okay, game still gives solid color screen on both systems.

Strangely though, while poking across the docs on the protocol, I noted it says the baud rate has to be 256,000. The virtual Com port installed was set at 9600 - and on the advanced tab, there is no 256,000 rate listed. (Win 7 pc). Makes me wonder if that's the problem

Somewhere here I have an xp box. Hopefully it has sp3 on it; if so, I'll try the card there.
More to come....

[Arkhan]

Roflmao claims that if you hold it in your hand just right, it will say that it's erasing, lol.


Maybe do a rain dance, also.


I recall some stuff like this when using serial for Apple II transfers, and you can edit the baud rate through one of the settings.   That'd be comical if that's the issue.

[gameofyou]

If the erase procedure is not occurring (should take approx 5 seconds...led on card will be OFF, and PC will say "please wait, erasing flash), then most likely it is a solder connection has failed on one of the address or data lines.  It could also be that a via has failed (opened), but this is less likely.
 
Reflowing the solder on the flash chip and micro controller chip will probably solve the problem.  Unfortunately, the pins are so tiny that it is difficult to do, unless you are skilled at surface mount soldering.
 
You can try placing light pressure on the flash and micro controller with your fingers during the download.  This exta pressure might be enough to make the connection.
 
The card must be disconnected from the USB cable after each download attempt, though.
 
You only have to check the "flip bits" checkbox if you are playing the game on a JPN system.

[TheOldMan]

If the erase procedure is not occurring (should take approx 5 seconds...led on card will be OFF, and PC will say "please wait, erasing flash),

From connect, LED stays on. Starts blipping when download starts. Never see erase message, just goes right to download....

most likely it is a solder connection has failed on one of the address or data lines

Yeah, that's what I figured. Before I try re-flowing the solder,  I will check on an XP box, just to make sure it's not a com settings problem.
The next step after that is to try pressing on the chips, to see if any connections are loose. Hopefully, (if it works) that will tell me which chip needs re-flowed.

[ And for my information, what kind of soldering station did you end up getting? I'm thinking I'll need one to do these ABCards, since they eprom leads keep popping loose....]

You only have to check the "flip bits" checkbox if you are playing the game on a JPN system.

Debateable. There's 4 cases : 1) US Game on US System => no flip.  2) US Game on JP System => flip.  3) JP Game on US system => flip.  4) JP Game on JP system => no flip.
I've actually tried all 4 on a neo flash, set to us mode.  IIRC, case 3 fails because the jp system I'm using doesn't have the ground mod done.
I can confirm stripping the header and flipping the bits will make a 'stock' HuC .pce file work on a JP system; it's part of our test build for testing games via ABCards. Only recently got the JP system, so I still have to double (and triple) check that.


-In short- Stand by for more testing, roflmao. Maybe you'll get it fixed for free

[Arkhan]

My guess,still, is that the mailmangs broke it.

I popped it in my hardware here and Reflectron (which was on it upon arrival) did not boot.

[gameofyou]

The fact that the led is blinking, tells me that it is receiving USB data correctly, so there is no issue with the USB communication.

[TheOldMan]

The fact that the led is blinking, tells me that it is receiving USB data correctly, so there is no issue with the USB communication.

Round 2: Drug everything out and my xp box isn't sp3. Rather than mess around with actually upgrading it (It has several things I don't want borked by an upgrade), I went back to the win 7 box.
Binder clips on the chips for pressure didn't help, but....

If you put your finger (a broader pressure) on the flash chip, it says it's erasing the chip and lo and behold, it actually works (just finished playing MegaMan).  So we know it's not totally borked, it just needs the flash chip re-soldered.

ROFLMAO: I can give it a shot, or send it back, your call.  I will warn you I might screw it up if I try re-soldering the chip: My current setup has *no* temp control, and I've over-heated a few chips making the ABCards.  Let us know what you want to do.

GameOfYou: Seems wierd that it plays fine without pressure, but won't program without it. I would think that with the address and/or data lines loose, the game would glitch out somewhere.... Granted, MegaMan is only 512K, so it probably doesn't need/use all the address lines, whereas programming it would, but it still seems odd to me....
Something to do with the signals being unstable for high speed programming due to the poor contact?

[Arkhan]

So it does look like the mail trip probably gooned it up!