Information
I've been researching this subject extensively for a cart I want to produce for a friend as an xmas gift. So here's what I've seen:
This site and
ultimate-console.fr seem to have the most useful information. Though most people seem to have derived their knowledge from the sparse
ROMLAB site.
slpcat's Blog has lots of good information as well, though not in much detail. He also has a few related videos
on YouTube.
Rev Pon's Blog is another great source of information.
Nintendo Age also has a well documented cartmod in the issue of their zine from 10/2009, which can be downloaded for free once you register.
SNES Central has lots of technical information about cartridges.
Digit Press's
forum also had some info.
EPROM's
Cartmods can be accomplished with various EPROM's including:
27C801 - DIP32 Package ( 8-bit )
27C322 - DIP32 Package ( 16-bit, uncommon )
29F032 - TSOP40 Package ( Flash )
When searching for these, you'll come across various versions from different manufacturers. If product code contains one of the codes above, then it based on the same design and should be interchangeable.
You'll find most tutorials making use of the 27C801, because it works for most games and is the most easy to accomplish.
It's also important to note that the 27C801 and 27C322 aren't being manufactured anymore (from what I've read), so their prices are rising. You can always erase used ones, but new ones are becoming more rare.
EPROM Programmer
Acceptable and cheaper EPROM programmers included the
Willem and the
GQ-3X/GQ-4X.
Most people don't recommend building one. Though if you want to save money, the
EZoFlash is a Willem compliant option, some people have done this, but if you're new to electronics work you'll save time and anguish buy buying a cheap one.
You should also consider a UV EPROM eraser if you use the 27C801 or 27C322 if you need to rewrite them.
People recommend using the SNES power supply with the Willem instead of USB power for reliability reasons.
Process
The easiest way to get your game ready is to use another game, usually referred to as a donor cartridge, with a PCB that supports the features you need. Generally you remove, what is called, the MaskROM and replace it with an EPROM burned with your new game on it. You need to pay attention to if the game you want to write is HiROM or LoROM, and choose a donor cartridge accordingly, SNES Central has lots of info on this.
For the 27C801 & 27C322, this generally involves making minor alterations to the PCB and adding additional wires to your new EPROM because the pins on the newer EPROM's don't match those of the MaskROM's. Some games require multiple EPROM's and another IC to tell the cart how to use them together. The disadvantage to this is when you need many EPROM's, it can be difficult to make them all fit nicely in the cartridge.
When you're working with the 29F032, you'll generally need to use TSOP to DIP36 adapter board. This circumvents the need to alter the original cartridge PCB resulting ins a cleaner looking mod. It's also important to note that the size of the 29F032 is 4x that of the other EPROM's and therefore is better suited to larger games. The disadvantage is that you'll need to buy or made the additional TSOP to DIP36 adapter. This involves soldering the 29F032 to the adapter board, and this chip's leads are
very tiny. Most people recommend tutorial videos on YouTube to help with technique. Here are a
couple good
ones. The other challenge is that you'll need another adapter to program the 29F032, because it isn't in a DIP form factor, your EPROM programmer cannot use it without one. These can be very expensive. More than some of the cheaper programmers themselves! It is also possible to build a programmer that will let you program the chip from the DIP36 adapter board. A schematic for this is on the ROMLAB site.
buiICnow.com sells the TSOP to DIP36 adapter boards. Many people have designed them, most seem to be working from the design on ROMLAB. I have seen people report success for both of the boards ( Type I and Type II ) listed on the site. As a side note it's important to remember to bridge the resistor contacts on the Type I with either 10 ohm resistors or just solder. Most people claim you don't need the resistors, and that a solder bridge is sufficient.
Once your EPROM is burned it's a matter of soldering it to the cartridge PCB and testing the cartridge. Many people have also made tools, such as cartridges with sockets to allow easy swapping of EPROM's to help with testing.
Edit 12/16/11: BUYICNOW has added a "Type III", which just appears to be a Type II? The numbering is reversed in the PCB image, but other than that all of the traces appear to match identically. Odd. Well I have just ordered 4, so I tell you if I notice anything strange.
I'll happily further update this with more info as I gather it. The challenge is that this information is really scattered across many forums and languages. Remember to use Google Translate!
Now my question!
The one thing I can't seem to find better info on is the TSOP board to Willem adapter. That seems to be an active discussion here right now as well. People have made them. I've seen dead links to what I think are PCB designs for this purpose. There is a
schematic on ROMLAB for one.
Would someone who has built one of these adapters be willing to explain making on in as simple terms as possible? I can't seem to find more information on the subject other than the people who have built them saying they have done so. TSOP is CLEARLY the way to go, but programming them easily seems to be a challenge/expensive without this adapter.
Well, I just promised one of my spares to SkinnyV, but I can provide my CAD files if you want to have one made up. I used Laen's PCB service on DorkbodPDX to have it fabbed up. It took about 2 weeks, and I received 3 copies for about $8 shipped. My design was done with his service in mind, so all of the specs fall within his minimums.
I want to keep my other board just in case something happens to the one I have.
As an aside, I am working on developing a website with all of the information that I have gathered thusfar. As you noted, the information about Cartmodding is spread over a half dozen websites, and numerous chatforums. I have been collecting information to consolidate into one place. Once I have some information put together, I will post this website around for others to use.
I will be putting any PCB designs that I know work on this site as well once complete.
Oh, and 29F032's are no longer being made new in production quantities as far as I can tell. It seems that you can have them made to order, but lead times and prices are long and high (well, unless you want quantities of 1000's)
All I have been finding are pulled-from-equipment AMD/Spansion AM29F032B's and New-Old-Stock ST M29F032D's.
The every-other line spacing and scattered links made me mistake this post for SPAM at a first glance. Spooky.
re:Dwedit
Hehehe... yeah, it kind of does have that effect.
re:rkrenicki
Yes, that would be great! Where can I get the file(s)?
I am looking through my email now. I made the CAD files at work so I may only have them there, in which case I will have to wait until tomorrow to post them. However, If I have a copy at home, I will post it this evening.
However in the meantime, this is the link to the PCB fabrication that I mentioned:
http://dorkbotpdx.org/wiki/pcb_order
EDIT: Looks like I do not have the file at home, so tomorrow morning I will put it somewhere and put a link here. I do need to make a modification to the drillsize on the files, so I will do that first.
Thanks infomation guys.nice to meet you.
im not good english.
I was making 2*TSOP 64Mbit SNES cart.
This cart use 74xx139.
http://slpcat.web.fc2.com/snes_EEPROM_64Mbit.html
here is my website about SNES CART modding.
Im not yet try 96Mbit SNES CART.
http://slpcat.web.fc2.com/snes.html
slpcat: you have some great work there, at some point, I need to go back and work on my 27c801 32mbit test setup, as its not working properly right now, and I may just use your photos there for reference.
re:slpcat
I assume you saw the link from my post above to bring you here! Thanks for posting your work. It's very useful! Please continue to share! More photos and videos, please!
Cheers from the US!
re:rkrenicki
Awesome. Yes please. Post tomorrow if ya can! I'd like to get that order in sooner than later.
Also, slpcat has a page on that particular item:
http://slpcat.web.fc2.com/snes_EPROM_48Mbit.html
rkrenicki wrote:
slpcat: you have some great work there, at some point, I need to go back and work on my 27c801 32mbit test setup, as its not working properly right now, and I may just use your photos there for reference.
hi rkrenicki,if you preparation 27c801 32Mbit ,you upload 27c801 photo.
if you have some question,I can little advice and tips.
and i agree use for reference on my website.
dranore wrote:
re:slpcat
I assume you saw the link from my post above to bring you here! Thanks for posting your work. It's very useful! Please continue to share! More photos and videos, please!
Cheers from the US!
hello dranore. i made lot of machine and photo.
I put my website on some pictures.but now only photo.
http://slpcat.web.fc2.com/syashinkan.html
and thanks visit my website!
I am editing my design for some larger drillsizes. Once that is done, I will post my final version on here.
It bears an uncanny resemblance to mine
6 eprom 27c801 + TSOP 29f032 (32mb) Hirom.
I use a simple switch from 32 MB to 48MB.
Tales of Phantasia (French version) 2 TSOP 29f032, donor PCB Tales of Phantasia (J)
Dwedit wrote:
The every-other line spacing and scattered links made me mistake this post for SPAM at a first glance. Spooky.
I consider people asking about "catmodding", aka, "how to make $100 easily by selling your counterfait cart", to be spam.
I dont resell my carts, nor do I intend on ever doing that. I buy original japanese games, and replace the roms with english translations for my own use. The only cart I have made that is no longer in my possession was given to a friend of mine as a gift.
I understand that some cartmodders do that, but I am sure at least a few are like me, doing it for my own enjoyment and buying original titles.
kogami wrote:
It bears an uncanny resemblance to mine
6 eprom 27c801 + TSOP 29f032 (32mb) Hirom.
I use a simple switch from 32 MB to 48MB.
Tales of Phantasia (French version) 2 TSOP 29f032, donor PCB Tales of Phantasia (J)
Kogami! I am glad to see that you are here as well.. I have gathered alot of my knowledge from you and your tutorials. Your threads on various sites are what have really encouraged me to start this project of mine.
rkrenicki wrote:
kogami wrote:
It bears an uncanny resemblance to mine
6 eprom 27c801 + TSOP 29f032 (32mb) Hirom.
I use a simple switch from 32 MB to 48MB.
Tales of Phantasia (French version) 2 TSOP 29f032, donor PCB Tales of Phantasia (J)
Kogami! I am glad to see that you are here as well.. I have gathered alot of my knowledge from you and your tutorials. Your threads on various sites are what have really encouraged me to start this project of mine.
I'm glad to hear that
I was surprised to see that someone else had also manufacture the same test card Super Nintendo. It took me a long time to design it, but ultimately it's really useful and easy to use.
Your site is very interesting, even if it is in Japanese, it is easy to understand, there are lots of very useful information.
re:rkrenicki
Any luck with posting the PCB?
Also, I'm following the other
thread on the TSOP adapters. Is it true that the Type I ROMLAB style boards can't be programmed directly? Or rather, to state for clarity:
Which boards can be used for writing to the EPROM through the adapter? What steps need to be taken to ensure this is possible? "Why?" is also good to know!
I had some family issues to deal with last night, so I did not get a chance to work on it.
I intend on reworking it and posting it sometime today.
I know that my adapter works fine for Type II boards, I have never owned a Type I, so I cannot speak for those, but I do not see why it wouldnt if the jumpers on the end are set correctly.
Okay! I edited my design to include larger holes, so more sockets and headers should fit better then my original CAD.
Here is a link directly to the CAD files:
http://www.retrohacker.info/pcb-cads/Wi ... dapter.zip
Laen's PCB service located at
http://dorkbotpdx.org/wiki/pcb_order is a great place to have these made up. It should cost right about $8 to have 3 boards made up from this design.
This adapter is also useful for reading back original Mask ROMs, that is how I verified my Seiken Densetsu 3 rom file. This is completely based on someone elses design, but unfortunately I cannot find the original site to properly credit it. If I find it, I will be sure to update this.
EDIT: It was Peccost! His links are 404'ing now, which is why I didnt see it. Peccost, if you are reading this, thanks for your original design! This is a slight modification of yours and published as a set of Gerbers.
No problem!
But it must NEVER be used to make money in any way.
Only for personnal use and passionated people!
I tought this design used to be sold at that french website along with tsop adapter (back when they were hard to find). Am I wrong?
Thanks again for posting those files. I'm ordering some once he starts orders again in December.
Well, this particular set of CADs was made by me. However there really is only one way to do a Willem to Mask ROM/TSOP adapter, so they are all inherently the same.
Routing, spacing, and labeling will obviously differ as there are thousands of ways to make a round wheel, but in the end they are all just that.. a round wheel.
I should be getting my boards soon. Huzzah!
Re:rkrenicki
Question for you, the A19/A20/A21 connector on the side. What should that end up being connected to?
dranore wrote:
Question for you, the A19/A20/A21 connector on the side. What should that end up being connected to?
Those should connect to the appropriate headers on your willem-type programmer.
The Willem programmer only has 32 pins providing no socket location for A19-21, so you jumper them to the additional address lines header on the board.
Here is a photo for reference, this is of the GQ-3X programmer, but it should be similar for others.
Oh right. Duh. I realized that upon rereading the question just now! Thanks for the clarification though, the image certainly clears that up.
I will check your site out as well!
Finally got my shipment from BuyICNow. Man the pins on the AM29F032 are tiny! They were out of the -90EC so I had to go with the -75EC... I hope that's acceptable!
I'm still waiting for the adapter from the DorkbotPDX PCB order... apparently there was a mixup at the board fabrication place so it's running super late. :\ I guess I could breadboard one in theory, but that seems like a pretty silly investment of time at the moment!
Anything lower then -150 would work for your flash chip. that indicates the speed of the chip, but the SNES maxes out at 150. Anything faster then that will just go unused.
Is there an advantage to the faster chips? Just curious.
Still waiting for the adapter PCB's. :\ I'm probably going to try to solder of the chips tomorrow, I think.
nope, the SNES physically cannot access the rom faster than 150ns, so any capability beyond that will go unused.
Here's a side question:
Has anyone identified a battery clip that actually fits inside the cart?
I've ordered some well designed ones, but they're much too tall! Gonna look at a local place and hope for the best, otherwise I'm going to have to go to town with a Dremel.
Hey guys, Im new here, I just been researching because I want to find or reproduce my own Snes Game, I been trying to find a manufacture for SNES compatible PCB boards ready fro EPROM soldering. I am in the process in developing my own SNES game. I even Contacted NINTENDO for this but they said that I have to be a registered gaming company to request licensing.
If you guys have any information about this, I will greatly appreciate it.
Thanks!
PM about this topic is ok
Develop your SNES game. Once it's ready for production, finding someone to produce carts for you will be easy. RetroUSB would be one option as they can/do produce SNES cartridges.
Don't bother contacting Nintendo, you got a form letter. They're extremely picky about who they license, and unless you are actually an established game developer with enough money to show them (as they have capital requirements, if I remember correctly), you have no hope of being licensed. And at this point they no longer support the SNES, so even if you met their licensing requirements they would just tell you that the console isn't supported anymore.
Echoing what MottZilla said, producing the cartridge is the last of your concerns. Worry about that once you have designed, programmed, and tested a game that SNES collectors would actually want to buy.
yeah they seemed uninterested, but they are loosing a quite big market.
imagine if they make a Snes anniversary cart... ppl would flip out lol.
We'll see what happens with this project.
I am going to try to finance it by selling a Facebook app that me and a friend developed for facebook pages.
Nintendo is willing to lose markets that it thinks have a low return on investment. Compare all the shovelware on the consoles in the early 1980s when the North American console gaming market went into a recession. Nintendo's policies are a direct response to this so-called "great crash".
but still with today's technology, manufacturing a new snes cart will be really cheap!
pichichi010 wrote:
but still with today's technology, manufacturing a new snes cart will be really cheap!
After startup costs and about 5000 games later, maybe it'll be cheap after that.
While I chimed in to give my two cents, can you please move this discussion to another thread? This is really off topic unless you're considering making the carts yourself. Cartmodding is really not at all related to the business of manufacturing new carts for commercial production.
dranore wrote:
Here's a side question:
Has anyone identified a battery clip that actually fits inside the cart?
I picked one up at my local Fry's and it works really well actually! It does require a little Dremel work to get it nice-nice, but the finished product is good.
Philmore plastic battery holder
The modifications that are needed:
- The terminals need to be pulled out before working with the clip. They come out without much fuss with a pair of pliers. Just be sure not to twist the metal such that won't fit back in the clip correctly and make good contact with the cell battery.
- It has three plastic feet that can be cut off very easily. There are also two larger plastic feet which support the terminals. They also need to be cut off. Again easy to do with a standard cutoff disc.
- You need to bore into the top clip support at a 45 degree angle. The pins do not line up with the PCB's original holes. By doing this you can bend the clip at an angle and get both clips to line up *perfectly*. Doing this makes it feel loose, but it is quite secure once soldered in place!
- Finally, the lead that goes in the bottom of the clip needs to be elongated by trimming down the sides and thereby making a longer looking lead. By removing the support feet, you end up with a little extra metal that won't fit through the PCB's hole. Sounds messy, but it only takes a microt.
The end result is a tidy looking clip with a battery that can easily be replaced that fits inside the standard SNES cart without any pressure on the PCB or the sides of the cart. It's very svelte. I have been taking lots of photos of everything I've been doing, so I'll post those up with all of my documentation of this process once I'm finished.
I've got another clip that I've seen
someone else use. But it's much too tall to work without cutting the top plastic down considerably as well as altering the leads. It's do able, but if you saw the clip up close it's a lot more work to alter than the other one I found. It also doesn't look so nice. :\
Still waiting on the DorkbotPDX PCB's for the Willem adapter. Laen said they should be shipped out on Saturday or Monday with profuse apologies for the much elongated order time. Then I should be ready to get my chip programmin' on!
Picked up an NHL 95 to make into a test cartridge, since I don't want to have to resolder chips every time I want to test. So yeah... nothing as fancy as what you all have going on, just a cart with a dip socket.
Those are very useful.. Mine was an NHL 97 however. I test every TSOP chip I make using this board.
I have a NHL 97 too, but it's PCB is in better shape; so I'm using that one for one of the cart's I'm making.
I got the adapters and got everything wired up, but the chip isn't giving me an ID yet. :\
I'm going to solder another 29F032 to an adapter board in an effort to isolate the problem. Checking all the leads on the adapter seems to work okay, though it might be the ZIF socket I installed in the adapter not correctly contacting all of the pins. Hard to test.
rkrenicki: Firstly, thanks again for sharing the PCB design. I have some thoughts about the adapter board design... maybe make the board a tad longer? A ZAF socket and the A19-21 pins at the end are a ridiculously tight fit! The holes were a good size this time for sure though. Might also be nice to have holes for the extra 4 legs on a 40 pin ZIF even if they don't actually need to be soldered. Bending them out of the way is okay I guess, but it'd be tidier just having a few more holes on a slightly longer board. The boards are cheap enough that adding another half inch or so isn't really going to cause any significant boost in their price.
I used some right-angle headers for my adapter. If you didnt use a ZIF socket, it would fit just fine with straight headers. There was also the thought of making the board as small as possible to reduce the production cost.
I did have the thought of making a 40 pin version for the GQ-4X, but I do not have that programmer, nor would it be compatible with standard Willem's directly. I suppose both sets of pins could be present, but again.. this was designed with my needs in mind.
Feel free to mess around with the design, thats why I posted it! heh
Huzzah! I have a chip identifying correctly... Now a silly question:
Just to verify I have this correct... in the GQ programmer, you can select the data format. I've chosen ROM and left everything default. Is this a safe way to go?
I seem to finish writing the data but I get an error on verification...
The game does run despite the error, but the error doesn't happen till a ways in. So it seems like things are in order. I'll assume the verification error occurs because of the method I'm using to write the data? I dunno. :\
I leave it at BIN and the rest is 0's.
Are you programming these on the carrier boards with the willem adapter, or are you programming them directly before soldering to the carrier?
What type of chip is this? I would double and triple check that all of the A lines are soldered well, it could be that one is intermittent.
What address does the verify fail at? Have you tried a double-write?
I'm using AM29F032B-75EC with an UL94V-0 (below) adapter board. The resisters are bridged with wire. I am programming it with GQ-4X with their adapter for the A lines interfaced through your adapter board. No ZIF this time. It seems to error at a set of multiple addresses each time I verify about 30% through the check. I have not tried a "double-write". I assume by this you mean writing twice before verifying?
Yes, there is a "Double Write" function in the MCUMall software, I would give it a try.
Otherwise, how are you jumpering the A19-21 lines? I do not believe that the GQ-4X has the additional address lines as headers by default. I seem to remember seeing an adapter to give you that header... EDIT: this one!
http://www.mcumall.com/comersus/store/c ... oduct=4288
Do you have that adapter to give you the additional lines?
I'll try double writing tonight.
Yes, I indeed have the adapter! That's what I was referring to when I said their adapter for the A lines. I'll post a pic. For the record I had to cut notches into the adapter just to get it to fit with your board, and it's still a tight fit.
While I haven't tried it, I assume removing the adapter would prevent me from writing in the first place! It's on an error on verification. Then again... I haven't actually looked at what's going on here in more detail!
EDIT:
I have tried the double write, and I'm still failing on verification. Here's my log. I tried running verify a number of times to see if there was consistency:
Quote:
Ready
H/W Re: GQ-4X Re-1.41
USB Driver Re.2.0
Software Re. 6.14c
Checking new software on server...
DEVICE AM29F032B*TSOP40
<<AM29F032B*TSOP40>>
Load C:\Users\Clayton\Desktop\OURBOUND.SMC
c:\users\clayton\desktop\ourbound.smc.
This software is updated already.
ID check OK
Erasing...
Elapsed time: 40.93 seconds.
Erase completed.
ID check OK
Blank checking... Code
Elapsed time: 24.88 seconds.
Chip is blank
c:\users\clayton\desktop\ourbound.smc.
ID check OK
Writing... Code
Elapsed time: 431.47 seconds.
Writing... Code
Elapsed time: 431.42 seconds.
Device write completed OK
Verifying... Code
Verify Failed, Address=0x0A1DF8, Device=0x00, Buffer=0xFF
Verify Failed
Elapsed time: 146.69 seconds.
ID check OK
Verifying... Code
Verify Failed, Address=0x0A1DF8, Device=0x00, Buffer=0xFF
Verify Failed
Elapsed time: 6.04 seconds.
ID check OK
Verifying... Code
Verify Failed, Address=0x0A1DF8, Device=0x00, Buffer=0xFF
Verify Failed
Elapsed time: 6.40 seconds.
ID check OK
Verifying... Code
Verify Failed, Address=0x0A1DF8, Device=0x00, Buffer=0xFF
Verify Failed
Elapsed time: 6.93 seconds.
ID check OK
Verifying... Code
Verify Failed, Address=0x0AFDBC, Device=0x7F, Buffer=0xFF
Verify Failed
Elapsed time: 6.95 seconds.
ID check OK
Verifying... Code
Verify Failed, Address=0x0A1DF8, Device=0x00, Buffer=0xFF
Verify Failed
Elapsed time: 6.75 seconds.
EDIT 2:
I did it again at Speed 5 (-2) and double write just to be super-sure. And it's still erroring:
Quote:
Speed = 5
ID check OK
Writing... Code
Elapsed time: 1141.94 seconds.
ID check OK
Writing... Code
Elapsed time: 1142.02 seconds.
Device write completed OK
ID check OK
Verifying... Code
Verify Failed, Address=0x0A1DF8, Device=0x00, Buffer=0xFF
Verify Failed
Elapsed time: 244.87 seconds.
I had issues with software version 6.11 and 6.13 with my GQ-3X, and I downgraded to version 5.03 which has worked fine for me. It might be worth trying.
You can download it from MCUMall here:
http://www.mcumall.com/downloads/downlo ... nloadID=50
Otherwise, it seems that your verify fails in the same spot just about every time, perhaps it is just a defective bit on your flash chip... do you have another one to try?
The problem is you bought a willem.
I've seen a lot of people hating on them, but the truth is the MCUMall products are well designed and responsibly produced and are still affordable. For my purposes buying a very expensive "better" chip programmer doesn't make sense from a number of stand points.
Thanks for the software tip. I'll try that next.
5.03 doesn't explicitly support AM29F032 where as the 6.xx versions do. There is an M29F032B*TSOP40 support... which is what I assume you are using?
I'll give it a try anyway!
EDIT:
No luck. Verify fails at around 22%. I'll try once more at slow speed.
Quote:
dy
H/W Re: GQ-4X Re-1.41
USB Driver Re.2.0
Software Re. 5.03B
DEVICE AM29F032B*TSOP40
Device not found!
Load C:\Users\Clayton\Desktop\OURBOUND.SMC
c:\users\clayton\desktop\ourbound.smc.
<<AM27128A>>
<<M29F032D*TSOP40>>
ID check failed.("0141")
Please check device type, chip's orientation and pin contact.
Some OEM chips may have compatible chip ID
Continue?
Yes
ID check skipped
Erasing...
Elapsed time: 39.62 seconds.
Erase completed.
ID check failed.("0141")
Please check device type, chip's orientation and pin contact.
Some OEM chips may have compatible chip ID
Continue?
Yes
ID check skipped
Blank checking... Code
Elapsed time: 24.96 seconds.
Chip is blank
c:\users\clayton\desktop\ourbound.smc.
c:\users\clayton\desktop\ourbound.smc.
ID check failed.("0141")
Please check device type, chip's orientation and pin contact.
Some OEM chips may have compatible chip ID
Continue?
Yes
ID check skipped
Writing... Code
Elapsed time: 431.44 seconds.
Writing... Code
Elapsed time: 431.43 seconds.
Device write completed OK
Verifying... Code
VerifyFailed, Address=0x0C51F8, Device=0xC9, Buffer=0xFF
VerifyFailed
Elapsed time: 181.04 seconds.
ID check failed.("0141")
Please check device type, chip's orientation and pin contact.
Some OEM chips may have compatible chip ID
Continue?
Yes
ID check skipped
Verifying... Code
VerifyFailed, Address=0x0E73B8, Device=0x00, Buffer=0xFF
VerifyFailed
Elapsed time: 7.03 seconds.
EDIT 2:
To be expected but same thing. I'll have to solder up another chip. Dang.
Quote:
Ready
H/W Re: GQ-4X Re-1.41
USB Driver Re.2.0
Software Re. 5.03B
<<M29F032D*TSOP40>>
ID check failed.("0141")
Please check device type, chip's orientation and pin contact.
Some OEM chips may have compatible chip ID
Continue?
Yes
ID check skipped
Erasing...
Elapsed time: 39.26 seconds.
Erase completed.
Speed = 5
Writing... Code
Elapsed time: 1142.01 seconds.
Writing... Code
Elapsed time: 1142.00 seconds.
Device write completed OK
Verifying... Code
VerifyFailed, Address=0x0C51F8, Device=0x00, Buffer=0xFF
VerifyFailed
Elapsed time: 5870.19 seconds.
ID check skipped
Verifying... Code
VerifyFailed, Address=0x0A1DF8, Device=0xC6, Buffer=0xFF
VerifyFailed
Elapsed time: 6.16 seconds.
rkrenicki wrote:
Okay! I edited my design to include larger holes, so more sockets and headers should fit better then my original CAD.
Here is a link directly to the CAD files:
http://www.retrohacker.info/pcb-cads/Wi ... dapter.zipLaen's PCB service located at
http://dorkbotpdx.org/wiki/pcb_order is a great place to have these made up. It should cost right about $8 to have 3 boards made up from this design.
Hello,
can you help me?
Which application I need to open these files? I have Eagle CAD Editor.
The files are intended for fabrication, and as such are provided as standard Gerber format. If your application can open Gerbers, then it should work.
that being said, why do you need to open it? Do you need to make a change to the design? Otherwise, you just provide the gerber files to your fabrication site of choice. I prefer Laen's DorkbotPDX service.
The verification problem is common for 29f032 on GQ-4X, just check on mcumall's forum and you'll see people are having many problems with 29f032 on GQ-4X, including this verification error. Just dump the data after programming the chip and verify it with an hex editor. You were lucky enough to be able to erase and program them on this programmer, most people can't even flash the chip cometly without error with that model.
Now the 4X is having issues? I know that I was having issues with the 3X and the MCUMall TSOP adapters, which prompted me to move to the willem adapter just above here.
Since I have done that, I have no more issues with programming, however I have not programmed any chips in a few months now as all my immediate want carts are done.
fI am having issue with it and if you go on the MCUMall forum you will see that the few peoples who are trying to program 29f032 are getting very similar problems.
Hello, I am a massive nooby, I have just bought a GQ-4X Eprom programmer from MCUmall, I have read these 4 pages and you guys are often referring to an adapter for programming specific eproms.
I want to make my own secret of mana 2 cartridge PAL and I have bought seiken densetsu 3 JAP, now I have bought the GX-4X and will buy a soldering iron very soon (any tips on a decent soldering iron would be great also)
The 27C801's are all I am familiar with, never held one, just seen pics, now the golden question...
Can I plug the 27C801's directly into the GQ-4X emprom programmer or do I need this custom adapter, any info would be appreciated as I have spent alot of money so far and I don't even know if I can do this, I am just desperate to play Secret of mana 2 and I have never even played a ROM before, wanna play on my SNES with a friend, thanks for your help.
The adapter is only needed for the special 29f032 to SNES maskrom board. Your 27c801 does not need any adapter, just set up the GQ4x software to 27c801 in the Device section and insert your EPROM in the ZIF socket. That's it!
Thanks Skinnyv, thats great news.
I'm getting "Error at 0x000000 chip = 67 Buffer = 0xXX"
Anyone help with this?
Thanks.
i have trouble making
Super Mario World Return to the dinasour land.
I just can't find a working donor PCB.
I know Super Mario world uses the same as NCAA basketball but that one has 32 pins not 36 and Im using the AM290f32b's
Plus Mario return to dinosaur is 2.0 megabytes, anyone had success with this one?
I was thinking using NHL standley cup
Thoughts
As far as I can tell, Stanley Cup is no good. It has no battery backup and no decoder chip. I can tell you that there is a version of Super Mario World that is compatible with 36 Pin MaskRoms:
http://www.snescentral.com/pcbboards.ph ... VC-1A1M-01
yes it does it has 16kb and MAD1.
I used it for Dragon Ball Z Legend of the Super Sayian but it only lets you save in one slot. If you have a save in slot one and save in another slot again it deletes everything.
Ah, my bad. It doesn't have a label along with another game which I believe is NHL 93 and so I got them mixed up.
Yeah, I got a test cart which most of the games work with it. and for some reason I can't get this game to work..... ill keep testing other carts.
That one you sent looks good, the only problem is being lucky enough to buy a NCAA basketball game with that pcb
pichichi010 wrote:
yes it does it has 16kb and MAD1.
I used it for Dragon Ball Z Legend of the Super Sayian but it only lets you save in one slot. If you have a save in slot one and save in another slot again it deletes everything.
That is because that game needs 64k of SRAM. According to my records, it originally came on an SHVC-1A3B board.
Yeap i thought so,
I have both the original japan game and my repro, I dont really have a problem with only one save slot.
So I probably had it full working, but I missed your advice on checking the dump. That was a good idea. Too bad I already blanked the good chip.
Now my programmer is on the fritz...
So I'm getting back to this. Had a heck of a time solding another chip today.
I'm also getting the weirdest behavior. So, my GQ-4X ID'ed my chips correctly (the known good and the new one). I blanked the new one, and then BLAM. It won't ID any more. So strange. Hoping to wrap the technical part of this project up tonight. I finished my rom changes a couple months ago, and I need to finish this thing up. Hopefully I'll find some success tonight!
Ug. Okay. I've tried the following versions of the software this evening:
5.03B
6.13C
6.16
None of them will ID any of my chips. :\ I can Erase/Write a couple of the chips. The other one still doesn't work (as expected). The previously working chip no longer runs after Double Write @ -2. The new chip does the same. It "writes" @ -1/-2, but when read, then entire chip is "FF". Tried both with and without external power as well. Disappointing. I'll have to look into this again tomorrow.
Would anyone who already has all the right equipment be interested in making up 29F032 mounted on a TSOP to DIP36 with the desired ROM already burned into it for a fee?
Seems to me getting the burner and ironing out all the quirks is not worth it unless you are going to be doing this for dozens of games. Me, I am only going to need about 10 or so of Super Famicom game purchases modded for personal use.
I'll be getting the original title on a future trip to Japan and I am more than capable of opening up the carts, removing the old rom chip and soldering in a 29F032 mounted on a TSOp to DIP36.
It is the whole burning process that is holding me back. Rather than investing money in the equipment that I am not going to need after a handful of uses I rather pay that out to someone experienced that can get the burning done for me.
If anyone is up for it then PM me your total per unit price.
So I'm at it again.
Reinstalled Windows last go round. No change. So it's not a software problem.
I've soldered up a new adapter board today. Just in case. No change.
So far the only part that I haven't actually remade is the extended address adapter that came with the GQ-4X. Which I assume is behaving fine based on a continuity check passing on a previous bout of debugging.
The only response from the official support board for the GQ-4X was to use the official adapter to write to the chips. That's fine an dandy if you don't mind desoldering TSOP40's every time you want to write to them while debugging.
I don't have two GQ-4X's, so I have no means of determining if the unit itself is behaving correctly. Software checks in USBPrg check out fine. :\
Another update:
So lacking anything else to try, I soldered my last chip to an adapter board. This one id's! So somehow I fried or otherwise screwed my other boards. I have no idea how that could have happened. The only thing that came to mind was not cleaning the flux off well enough. Switched flux brands for the new board.
Anyway, the board id's but the data on the chip once written has errors. Even with double write at -2 (which takes forever).
So the chips write but verify fails each time? I have the exact same problem using the official GQ-4X TSOP-40 adapter. I emailed someone at MCumall and they told me that it is a known issue with the newer software (I believe they said Ver 5.1 worked fine, but dont quote me). Something about the algorithm got messed up for the verify process and they dont seem to keen to fix it. What you need to do is step down the voltage for the verify to 3V and it will work. I have that option on my adapter with just a jumper, and it verifies correctly. But if i leave it on the 5V jumper it fails to verify 90% of the time.
I'm not sure if you have a way to do that with your adapter setup, but thats the only way I can get them to verify on mine. And seeing as they dont have the older software version available anymore I'm not sure what else you can try...
Thanks for the reply!
Lacking more options, I actually ended up soldering a new board with my last chip. That one works! So it would seem I ruined the other boards. I also had a microscopic bridge between two pins that caused some frustration on the new board, but once I cleared that I'm able to write without hassel using the newest (6.17) or the old one (5.03B). The game loads again on the system.
However, I'm still getting verify errors. My test so far was to write at various speeds with double write. I'm still failing on verification. I dumped the read data from one session and diff'd it with the source data and there are exactly 64 mistakes (63 are reading other values instead of FF except for one instance of an FB).
I have a hard time believing the remaining errors are a soldering issue. But I'd like to verify this is just a glitch in verification/reading rather than an actual issue with the data on the chip before gifting this away. I might try writing the erroring data back to the chip and reading that back and seeing if the errors correspond to the same addresses? It's usually a little wishy-washy about where the errors occur, so that probably wouldn't be fruitful.
I don't have any sort of voltage adjustment like the official TSOP adapter does, I'm just using the Willem adapter mentioned earlier in the thread.
I have read several posts now about the many difficulties of the Willem programmer. I use the one made by Andromedia Labs. ARLabs.com You have to buy the adapter for the tsop. The one thing I don't like about the ARLabs programmer is that it's DOS based but once you get used to the programming instructions, it's really not an issue. Anyways....I made for them an adapter that uses both the tsop40 zif socket as well as a socket for the 36 pin mask rom (for reading) and programming the tsop already on the tsop adapter pcb. They were considering making and selling to the Snes community but I don think they got around to it. No matter, I have some spare pcb's I could sell or give the gerbers to whoever wants them. Just so I am clear before anyone considers buying an ARLabs programmer, you would need the programmer (obviously), and the tsop BASE adapter that they sell, THEN, you would need the adapter that I made (and use) that has provisions for a tsop zif socket and also provisions for a DIP socket that has the same footprint/pinout as the snes mask roms and the tsop40 to dip36 adapter that BuyIC.com sells. The adapter I made has to be mated with the base adapter that ARLabs sells. I'll have to take a pic of my set up to give you a visual or what I am talking about. Anyways, this is the setup I use and it works perfectly. Plus, they are still in business and their support is excellent.
Mark
Hi,
I´m trying to make me an Zelda Parallel Worlds using an BA3M but it´s not working;
The game runs, but I can´t go past the save game screen;
I´ve tried to recable it like an BJ0N but with no success;
Any help?
I´ve tried some solutions that I found on Google, here a picture of the actual board;
http://i.imgur.com/v3AaGsX.jpgBest regards
PS.: sorry for my bad english
A BJxx cart is Hi rom mapping and Zelda PW is Lo mapped. The BA3M would be the appropriate host cart to use. The "A" indicates its a Lo mapped cart, the "J" = Hi mapped.
Since the lower rom slot of the BA3M cart is capable of 16mbits natively, the A20 line (pin 1) is location that the game is trying to access. I've never tried the type of conversion you are attempting so this is guess work on my end.... Maybe take the A20 pin hole and tie it to the rom 1 (upper) OE pin and remove that wire from the mad1 pin 1. Then take the mad1 pin4 and tie it to the lower rom OE. Reinsert the mad1 pins back into their solder holes. This is purely guess work on my end though.
But....... if you did the bin swap, you shouldn't need to run wires from the mad1, pins 1&16. Just swap the roms pins 24&31 with each other. Then the mad1 pins will line up as needed.
What are you doing with mad1 pin4?? That's the OE output to the roms. The mad1 sends the OE signal to the 2 roms through pins 1 and 16.
The reason it doesnt work is you wired it all messed up.
You only need to jumper 2 wires from each chip. Pin 31 goes to hole 26, and pin 24 goes to hole 33. You do this for each chip.
The MAD-1 is left completely alone.