Dragon375 Posted May 28, 2014 Share Posted May 28, 2014 I have 2 Side2 carts. Being a nice human being I loaned one to a friend. When I got it back it would no longer boot the SDX in the cartridge (just blue screen with cursor in upper left, no farting or anything). I looked here in the forums and found that candle had released an upgrade Side2 XEX file. So, crossing my fingers, I put it on an otherwise blank CF card (in the FAT32 part of course). I flipped the switch up, and the Side Loader did come up and find the XEX. Well, I hit return on it, and I could hear the program load.. then it started flashing all kinda rainbow crap on the screen. I wasnt sure it was supposed to do that, so I let it run for about a half hour hoping it would come back to a screen I could read and say "flash success" or some such. It never did. I rebooted the Atari, and now I just get a black screen, well there is a brief flash of yellow when I cycle power, but thats it. I enabled my ultimate SDX and tried to boot from that, but same thing (with the switch in EITHER position). So, I guess it's bricked.. any way to revive it? An emergency flasher or something? I know it's the Side2 at issue, when I take it out my U1MB and Atari work fine. Luckily, since I have 2 it didnt kill me completely, but they weren't cheap and I bought 2 for a reason (I have about 4 Atari XL's and 2 800's - the 2nd was for those. I would really like to get that thing working again. Any helpful ideas/suggestions? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
phoenixdownita Posted May 28, 2014 Share Posted May 28, 2014 (edited) With an EPROM burner and a PLCC32 adapter you can reflash the 512K FLASH that's inside your Side2, assuming the fault is there. Here's the latest "Side2" image you could use [with updated SideLoader, and updated SDX]: http://atariage.com/forums/topic/222507-apt-update-for-ultimate-incognito-side-and-compatibles/page-4?do=findComment&comment=2967420 I don't know of any other way sorry. Edited May 28, 2014 by phoenixdownita Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dragon375 Posted May 29, 2014 Author Share Posted May 29, 2014 I dont have an EPROM burner or access to one. I will try to figure out how to get that image onto the chip through some other means. Thanks for the reply. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
flashjazzcat Posted May 30, 2014 Share Posted May 30, 2014 Long shot, but do you have an AtariMax 8Mbit flash cart? If so, it may be possible to do a chip swap, short-term at least. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AtariGeezer Posted May 30, 2014 Share Posted May 30, 2014 I dont have an EPROM burner or access to one. I will try to figure out how to get that image onto the chip through some other means. Thanks for the reply. You can use your 800 to fix it: Leave Side 2 unserted in the left slot, run the flashing software, now plug the Side 2 in left slot fast. If no glitches then you can continue flashing the 512k ROM I fixed my Side 1 cart this way... 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Marius Posted May 31, 2014 Share Posted May 31, 2014 You can use your 800 to fix it: Leave Side 2 unserted in the left slot, run the flashing software, now plug the Side 2 in left slot fast. If no glitches then you can continue flashing the 512k ROM I fixed my Side 1 cart this way... Hmm... I guess (If that is not already done) FJC could build in some kind of interrupt stopper, so this can also be done with XL/XE. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dragon375 Posted May 31, 2014 Author Share Posted May 31, 2014 I broke down and ordered a programmer. Should be here in 2 weeks. I should be able to sort it all out then. I tried the Atarimax 8mb cart chip swap thing,but it didnt recognize the chip from the Side2. I tried with the 800 but couldnt seem to get the timing right to successfully reprogram it. Thats why I ordered the programmer. I love my Atari, but having it down while I dont have a means to fix it is intolerable. Programmers are cheap enough now, there is no excuse not to get one and fix this thing the right way. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
flashjazzcat Posted May 31, 2014 Share Posted May 31, 2014 I tried the Atarimax 8mb cart chip swap thing,but it didnt recognize the chip from the Side2. The idea was to program one of the AtariMax ROMs and put it in the SIDE2, but no matter if you've already ordered a programmer. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dragon375 Posted May 31, 2014 Author Share Posted May 31, 2014 The idea was to program one of the AtariMax ROMs and put it in the SIDE2, but no matter if you've already ordered a programmer. LOL I fixed my U1MB using Trub's emergency repair routine a while back. It worked perfect, so that was what I tried with the Side2. It didnt work. I didnt try the reverse (programming one of the Atarimax chips and putting it in the Side2), actually that never occured to me. But, I think that if the Atarimax cart wouldnt recognize the Side2 chip, then the Side2 probably wouldnt work with the Atarimax chip. I'm not looking to destroy any chips in this process, which is exactly why I broke down and bought the programmer. It will all end well, when the programmer gets here (and if it works, I absolutely HATE ordering from Chinese companies, no RMA process). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
flashjazzcat Posted June 2, 2014 Share Posted June 2, 2014 But, I think that if the Atarimax cart wouldnt recognize the Side2 chip, then the Side2 probably wouldnt work with the Atarimax chip. When you say the AtariMax cart wouldn't recognize the SIDE2 chip, presumably you mean the flashing software wouldn't recognize it. AFAIK, the AtariMax flasher expects only a couple of PLCC variants and craps out if it doesn't find them. The SIDE2 flasher (by Trub) is meanwhile far more flexible when it comes to the choice of PLCC, and even if this didn't work, you could try the beta version of UFlash (on my website) which has preliminary support for SIDE and is guaranteed to support the flash chips from AtariMax carts. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dragon375 Posted June 2, 2014 Author Share Posted June 2, 2014 I couldnt find Trub's Side2 flasher. The beta uflash allowed me to select the Side2, but when I tried to flash it said "Please enable Spartdos X and reboot" then exited the program. I mentioned in my first post that the SDX in the Side2 is non-bootable, so this didnt work either. (I was booted from the SDX in the U1MB which is working fine). When I try to boot SDX from the Side2 (disable U1MB SDX), I get a "No DOS" error and cant do anything but reboot. Can you point me in the direction of Trub's flasher and I will give that a go? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
flashjazzcat Posted June 2, 2014 Share Posted June 2, 2014 I couldnt find Trub's Side2 flasher. The beta uflash allowed me to select the Side2, but when I tried to flash it said "Please enable Spartdos X and reboot" then exited the program. I mentioned in my first post that the SDX in the Side2 is non-bootable, so this didnt work either. (I was booted from the SDX in the U1MB which is working fine). When I try to boot SDX from the Side2 (disable U1MB SDX), I get a "No DOS" error and cant do anything but reboot. Can you point me in the direction of Trub's flasher and I will give that a go? Yeah, cart flashing is a bit of a crap-shoot when you need to have SDX enabled and having it enabled hangs the machine. You can try this: http://atari8.co.uk/apt/downloads/SDX446SIDE2.zip Can't guarantee it will recognize a Bright flash ROM, however. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dragon375 Posted June 3, 2014 Author Share Posted June 3, 2014 (edited) First - FJC you are DA MAN!! I was really leery of swapping chips all over the place, but decided to go ahead and give it a shot. First, I took the .bin file you pointed me to, then did a copy /v file+file and did a binary burn to an 8Mb atarimax cart. Pulled those chips out and popped them into both Side2's. PERFECT! They both worked. I did read your caveat about the other software not recognizing the BRIGHT chips from the Atarimax cart, and didnt want problems in the future upgrading and such. So, I popped both original Side2 chips into the Atarimax cart and burnt it again. Replaced both chips back into their respective Side2's.. and now they both work perfectly (and contain the original chips). I wouldnt have believed this problem could be sorted without a programmer, but there you are. Thanks FJC, I wouldve never have solved this on my own. Much props to ya! FWIW: Putting just one Side2 chip into the Atarimax cart didnt work, but when I had 2 in there it worked perfect. Go figure. Edited June 3, 2014 by Dragon375 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Marius Posted June 3, 2014 Share Posted June 3, 2014 @Dragon375: great you have it running again! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
phoenixdownita Posted June 3, 2014 Share Posted June 3, 2014 (edited) Just to be pedantic but although you didn't use a full blown eprom/flash programmer you actually did use "one". The AtariMax 8 reflashing does indeed make the Atarimax 8 act as a rudimentary flash programmer that only support PLCC32 of 512K size and limited type support (what FJC says). As I said, I was just being pedantic , it's great you're back in business without the need to do live swap, I had to do it once to reflash an AR4in1 for a Sega Saturn and I wasn't thrilled .... it worked but I was ready to thrash the whole caboodle if it didn't, Saturn included in case it fried. Bottom line for whomever builds flash based devices is to offer an "easy" route to reflash in case something goes wrong, now that uFlash is available it is a lot easier although the SDX on/off thing is less than ideal. One way would be to have a secondary "old" rescue flash to be able to at least boot the thing in case all else fails. Edited June 3, 2014 by phoenixdownita Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
flashjazzcat Posted June 3, 2014 Share Posted June 3, 2014 Glad to hear about the positive outcome. If there's sufficient interest, I'll finish the latest version of UFlash which handles AtariMax carts, Sic!, SIDE, MyIDE II, etc. It's rather more forgiving as far as the SDX situation is concerned, although the main problem is that SDX sometimes needs to be enabled on the target device in order for the flash banks to be accessible to the programmer. When SDX is damaged and hangs on boot, that's an issue. Anyway: if it's going to be useful to have a single utility which can handle all the major carts of 1MB or smaller, then I'll try and find some time to continue working on it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dragon375 Posted June 3, 2014 Author Share Posted June 3, 2014 Glad to hear about the positive outcome. If there's sufficient interest, I'll finish the latest version of UFlash which handles AtariMax carts, Sic!, SIDE, MyIDE II, etc. It's rather more forgiving as far as the SDX situation is concerned, although the main problem is that SDX sometimes needs to be enabled on the target device in order for the flash banks to be accessible to the programmer. When SDX is damaged and hangs on boot, that's an issue. Anyway: if it's going to be useful to have a single utility which can handle all the major carts of 1MB or smaller, then I'll try and find some time to continue working on it. Well, for me anyway, it was a process full of fear. I don't know if uflash needs to handle atarimax carts, it seems Steve has that handled very well with his software. It would be awesome to have the current crop of CF adapters in there. Maybe if there was a way to decrease the dependance of SDX running on the device to be flashed that would be helpful. Instead of trying to be a Swiss-Army type of flasher and handle everything it may just be better to make it handle the most common without having to have SDX in the mix. Just my opinion of course. I think uflash is awesome compared to how it used to be to update U1MB and Side. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
flashjazzcat Posted June 3, 2014 Share Posted June 3, 2014 (edited) Well, the programming algorithms are pretty generic so it wasn't much extra work to make the program handle AtariMax carts. In that sense it's a "free" extra. The main reason for handling all these different carts was so that I could develop GUI ROMs without having to faff about with different flashers. Sic! was more difficult since it requires ROM switched in at $8000-$9FFF when flashing. As I say: the unreleased version of UFlash itself isn't dependent on SDX any more, but circumstances sometimes dictate that it needs to be enabled anyway. If I have time over the next couple of weeks I'll upload a beta. Edited June 3, 2014 by flashjazzcat Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dragon375 Posted June 3, 2014 Author Share Posted June 3, 2014 Well, the programming algorithms are pretty generic so it wasn't much extra work to make the program handle AtariMax carts. In that sense it's a "free" extra. The main reason for handling all these different carts was so that I could develop GUI ROMs without having to faff about with different flashers. Sic! was more difficult since it requires ROM switched in at $8000-$9FFF when flashing. As I say: the unreleased version of UFlash itself isn't dependent on SDX any more, but circumstances sometimes dictate that it needs to be enabled anyway. If I have time over the next couple of weeks I'll upload a beta. Like I said earlier.. you are DA MAN! I am looking forward to the beta when you get it ready. Thanks for your work! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
phoenixdownita Posted June 5, 2014 Share Posted June 5, 2014 (edited) Like I said earlier.. you are DA MAN! I am looking forward to the beta when you get it ready. Thanks for your work! Yep, I cannot agree more, no FJC, no uFlash -> back to unscrew the caboodle, PLCC extractor, EPROM burner, put back, rescrew the caboodle wash, rinse and repeat. So because there's more than just words: http://www.atari8.co.uk/donate/index.html Edited June 5, 2014 by phoenixdownita Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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