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Is there someone to save my ARP ?

cafe-alpha - Mar 24, 2011

		cafe-alpha		Mar 24, 2011
			It seems I accidentally broke my ARP: I wanted to remove it from my Saturn, but I forgot to turn off it before. As a consequence, the flash ROM can't be read normally : bytes at even address are filled with random values. -> As an example, see the image here.... By luck, as "SEGA SEGASATURN " can't be read at the begining of the flash ROM, Saturn prevents ARP from booting. Hence, by using a CD-ROM based application, I could test the PC<->Saturn transfer, and it still works fine. Also, I tried to reflash my ARP, but it didn't fixed the problem. So here is my question: does anyone know which chip I should replace in the ARP when the following phenomenons occurs ? - Bytes in the flash ROM can't be read/wrote on even address. - PC <-> Saturn transfer still works normally. Here is a list of the chips in my ARP: - PALCE22V10H-25PC/4 - DM74LS245N - ATF16V8B-25PC - SN74HC157N (x2) - GM71C17803CJ6 (x2) - C010L (Flash ROM chip ??, x2)

		CyberWarriorX		Mar 26, 2011
			cafe-alpha said: It seems I accidentally broke my ARP: I wanted to remove it from my Saturn, but I forgot to turn off it before. As a consequence, the flash ROM can't be read normally : bytes at even address are filled with random values. -> As an example, see the image here.... By luck, as "SEGA SEGASATURN " can't be read at the begining of the flash ROM, Saturn prevents ARP from booting. Hence, by using a CD-ROM based application, I could test the PC<->Saturn transfer, and it still works fine. Also, I tried to reflash my ARP, but it didn't fixed the problem. So here is my question: does anyone know which chip I should replace in the ARP when the following phenomenons occurs ? - Bytes in the flash ROM can't be read/wrote on even address. - PC <-> Saturn transfer still works normally. Here is a list of the chips in my ARP: - PALCE22V10H-25PC/4 - DM74LS245N - ATF16V8B-25PC - SN74HC157N (x2) - GM71C17803CJ6 (x2) - C010L (Flash ROM chip ??, x2) If you can, I would recommend testing the ARP on a second Saturn to verify it's definitely the cart's chips that are bad. I have a Japanese white Saturn that will botch writes to the ARP and effectively brick it whenever I try. However my old trusty US model 1 works fine and I've used it several times to recover my cart whenever the white one has screwed something up.

		ExCyber		Mar 27, 2011
			cafe-alpha said: - C010L (Flash ROM chip ??, x2) I'm pretty sure these are AT29C010L (Atmel 128Kx8 flash memory). Are they PLCC chips soldered to thin PLCC->DIP adapter boards, with the adapter boards just connected by flowing solder over the edges of DIP holes? I got one like that from someone and it had flash problems too (now it has PCB problems, since I was too hasty in removing the adapter boards). What does arflash give as the vendor and product ID?

		cafe-alpha		Mar 31, 2011
			CyberWarriorX said: If you can, I would recommend testing the ARP on a second Saturn to verify it's definitely the cart's chips that are bad. I have a Japanese white Saturn that will botch writes to the ARP and effectively brick it whenever I try. However my old trusty US model 1 works fine and I've used it several times to recover my cart whenever the white one has screwed something up. Thank you CyberWarriorX ! I tested with a spare Saturn, and it behaved exactly as you told It appears that my first Saturn don't write correctly ARP firmware, but can read it without problem. And when I test with the same ARP and another Saturn, ARP read and write are OK. (BTW, my Saturns are both Japanese white ones.) ExCyber said: I'm pretty sure these are AT29C010L (Atmel 128Kx8 flash memory). Are they PLCC chips soldered to thin PLCC->DIP adapter boards, with the adapter boards just connected by flowing solder over the edges of DIP holes? I got one like that from someone and it had flash problems too (now it has PCB problems, since I was too hasty in removing the adapter boards). What does arflash give as the vendor and product ID? The chips are square-shaped and sold to the main PCB via a thin adapter board as you described. And the following are displayed for my ARP chips: Vendor ID : 0xBFBF Product ID : 0x0707 Does it means they are "repackaged"/counterfeit atmel devices ?

		antime		Mar 31, 2011
			0xBFBF/0x0707 indicates the flash is an SST29EE010 device.

		CyberWarriorX		Apr 4, 2011
			cafe-alpha said: Thank you CyberWarriorX ! I tested with a spare Saturn, and it behaved exactly as you told It appears that my first Saturn don't write correctly ARP firmware, but can read it without problem. And when I test with the same ARP and another Saturn, ARP read and write are OK. (BTW, my Saturns are both Japanese white ones.) The chips are square-shaped and sold to the main PCB via a thin adapter board as you described. And the following are displayed for my ARP chips: Vendor ID : 0xBFBF Product ID : 0x0707 Does it means they are "repackaged"/counterfeit atmel devices ? Glad that did the trick for you. Though I wish we had a better way of verifying a bad connection/cart connector vs. bad chips.