Is there someone to save my ARP ?

cafe-alpha

Established Member
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)
 
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.
 
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?
 
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
smile.gif


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 ?
 
cafe-alpha said:
Thank you CyberWarriorX !

I tested with a spare Saturn, and it behaved exactly as you told
smile.gif


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.
 
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