TSOP to Willem adapter not working

I recently had a TSOP to Willem board fabricated and I am having a hard time getting it to work correctly. The adapter will ID the 29f032, but when writing it will freeze at 12%

The adapter is this one here: http://www.mmmonkey.co.uk/programming-2 ... -on-gq-4x/

I am using a GQ-4X without an external power adapter.

Anyone have any ideas what could be going on?

I don't own a willem but I am making a Tsop adapter for his programmer for the Tsop to mask rom replacement. If you don't get yours to work, maybe after mine are done, you could try it.


Mark

This probably doesn't help you specifically, since you already have a Willem, but I built an adapter to program Flash/E(E)PROMs using a Teensy++, which ends up being a lot cheaper than a Willem, a lot less hassle, and it's fully USB-powered and controlled, unlike most Willems (other than the GQ-3/4X models). EEPROM programming is a simple enough process as to be trivial to implement in a microcontroller (assuming you don't require HV programming). Mainly, you just need a ton of I/O pins for parallel ROMs.

Using a Teensy board you were able to build an adapter? I'm willing to figure it out either way, even if I need to get another adapter. What software do you use then when using your custom done teensy board?

I just wasn't sure if this was something that someone had dealt with prior using the tsop to willem adapter.

My adapter connects the Teensy++ directly to the ROM, so USB->Teensy-> adapter->ROM. Most of the software is implemented on the Teensy, and the PC side is just a serial terminal with the ability to transmit files (I use RealTerm). It wouldn't take much to write a better PC client, but I haven't bothered since RealTerm serves my purposes.

Total cost is the cost of Teensy ($20) plus about $5 for the adapter, depending on the kind of socket you choose to use.

I only mention it to say that a Willem/GQ-_X is more expensive and more trouble than necessary for someone just looking to burn a few ROM chips.

Im satisfied with the GQ-4X for everything except these 29F032 chips. Do you have a guide for building one of the Teensy++ adapters? I have no problem creating an adapter just for this one type of chip since most large SNES games will use this type of chip.

IIRC, the BuyICNow boards for the AM29F032B chips pull /WE high through a pull-up resistor/solder jumper. That would obviously be a problem... I'm really not sure how the guy who made that adapter ever managed to get it working in the first place.

As for my Teensy++ adapter, it's pretty simply a double-sided socket carrier that just connected the pins in such a way that it made the code nicer (connecting contiguous address/data pins to the same I/O port). Bit-bang programming an EEPROM is pretty easy in code. Honestly, the hardest part was creating a PC interface that was flexible and easy to use. My code is still a bit rough, and there is more hard-coding than I'd like, but it works solidly. Here it is if you're interested.

Honestly, once I get my PIC18F45K50 samples in, I could re-spin this design to bring the price of the entire project down to the ~$15 mark. The Teensy++ just made for a convenient starting point.

Well that makes sense. The teensy++ adapter looks pretty cool, if you are able to create and sell adapter boards that are able to program the 29f032 I'll take a couple.

I have one board left. For those TSOP boards, it requires 1 jumper wire, because the /WE pin on the chip doesn't connect to any of the DIP pins. In fact, that's probably the reason your GQ-4X isn't working. Here is the relevant pad on the PCB, though honestly, I don't know where you'd want to connect it on the Willem.

Working with USB Willem and TSOP Adapter. Connect A19 to A22 with a seperate wire on the pcb of willem.

CLose all R-points and it should work.

Thanks

red

Ok so just run a wire from A19 to A22 on the custom done adapter board from mmmonkey?

I'm not following this thread, however I noticed the BuyICNow board up above me. I want to make public there is a board that they now have (IV), although they still call it III by accident. It has all the jumpers besides SJ1 permanently connected (no jumpers). I bought one myself and received it, works flawlessly. In my case, my SNES flasher flashes from within the SNES cart, so I made sure to take the last Mask ROM pin (2nd VCC), which is connected to /WE, and NOT connect it to the SNES cart (ie remove the pin and solder a wire to the top only) and made sure to connect it where you need /WE (I connected to /WR).

For Info purpose the (III) board's connections (as pic'd in above post):
R1 ties /RESET High to VCC (never reset)
R2 ties the middle of SJ1 to GND,
SJ1 ties the Address lines A20, A21 together, along with R2 ties both these lines to GND. This is for using the large flash chip in a smaller capacity situation (perhaps for when substituting this adaptor for the 32-pin mask rom scheme, which has no A20,A21).
R3 Connects /WE to the last Mask ROM pin, (36) VCC.

Buyicnow carries 2 substitutes, perfect replacements, for the AM29f032 chips. One is the ST M29F032D : http://www.buyicnow.com/fincat.php?cat=1070
The other is the Fujitsu 29F033C. I myself purchased the ST model and can say it works perfectly. I've flashed this a handful of ROMs already and am currently playing Dr. Super Mario World : House Calls hack on it (one of the few SMW hacks that works flawlessly on real hardware, out of the handfull I have tried. Chaos Complexx works too . Love it!!!