Skunkboard Update

[Tursi]

Glad to hear, thanks for the update, Cyrano!

[UHATEIT]

I have a question on flashing of the skunkboard on the newest update. This thread is about an update to the board which I do have the newest update. When I am flashing mine, I get the rainbow screen as mentioned in the instructions, which goes for about 10 seconds, then mine goes to a flashing full bright yellow screen to black screen back and forth for perhaps 3-4 minutes before it finishes the flash and then the rom loads.

 

Has anyone else encountered this? Would this be a problem with my computer (old and slow), the USB ports being slow, or a crappy cable to the skunk? I read in the instructions it should do the rainbow screen for maybe 10 seconds or so, which mine does but then still takes an additional few minutes it finish the flash. I have not seen online or heard of through searching of anyone getting a flashing yellow screen for minutes.

[+Saturn]

Sounds normal to me. Takes 8-10 minutes for me to flash using XP w/ USB 2.0 and a crappy processor. Takes about 4 minutes with Windows 7 USB 2.0 and like 34 seconds with Windows 8 USB 3.0 both with decent processors (exaggerating a bit, it takes around 2 minutes)

Haven't used any other OS but the screens vary on the 3 mentioned. More than not I have a black screen with yellow horizontal stripes that flicker around. Sometimes I see the rainbow screen using XP though.

[UHATEIT]

Ok that's good then it's not just me! I am on Windows 10 but it is an older HP business type laptop and I do not know what the speed of the USB ports are, I would assume 2.0 or lower tho and then a cheap cable I've had for years laying around the house.

 

I don't get horizontal lines exactly, after the rainbow screen goes away after 10 seconds, the entire screen flashed full bright yellow then black then yellow then black, back and forth until eventually the computer shows the rom is done flashing and then it starts. It does fine once flashed on the unit but the yellow screen flashing is what I haven't heard of from anyone online.

 

I guess for those doing 10-30 seconds they probably have must faster computers than I am! I got anxious before knowing what I was doing and unplugged the cable once the rainbow screen stopped and then nothing would load since it wasn't fully done.

[+CyranoJ]

Try a cheap USB hub.

[Zerosquare]

Yes, the upload process is known to be abnormally slow on some computers. Some people have reported that connecting the Skunkboard to a USB hub instead of directly to the computer fixes the problem. For some reasons, cheap hubs seem to work better for this than more expensive ones.

[UHATEIT]

Such a weird concept it seems to not use the USB hub in the computer itself but make the hub translate the date to yet another hub adding more items into the mix! But yeah I'll have to try that. Maybe that will speed up the process of transferring. But hey 3-4 minutes for completion really isn't that bad, I actually found it took the SAME time if it was a 2mb game or a 4mb game which is odd. I was just lost when it was flashing yellow and black since I never heard of that happening to anyone else.

[Tursi]

This is a long noted issue and I thought it was even documented in the manual. (It was definitely in the FAQ but I lost my forum.)

 

If you aren't seeing about 100k/s to flash (and 200k/s to RAM, IIRC) for the upload, Skunkboard doesn't like your USB port.

 

It blows my mind that anyone would tolerate waiting through that. Oddly the slow response always seems to be 7k/s.

 

We don't know why it's a problem, but using a different USB connection can fix it on most computers. It has nothing to do with the speed of your PC -- there's no USB-native PC that's too slow to transfer 100k/s. Sometimes it's as simple as moving from the front ports to the rear ports on your machine, sometimes vice versa. Sometimes a cheap unpowered hub fixes it, sometimes a powered hub makes the difference. We've never been able to pin down a clear pattern.

 

But it's certainly worth trying.

[UHATEIT]

haha yeah I tried 3 different ports and got the same thing, which is odd. My laptop is a business style laptop with 3 USB ports on it and I think it's fairly old (got it used so not sure how old) but yep all 3 ports did that same slow speed. Not an issue really, it's just a tad slow. I read through the PDF document directions for the Skunkboard and saw that it does the rainbow screen for 9 seconds I think it said (but that's for the erase), then the next phase is the flash. My flash takes 3-4 minutes with a flashing back and forth yellow and black screen. All good tho, hell it works and that little device is awesome! Wish this think had more space to put everything on it and then a selectable menu to pick the rom, but it is what it is and I applaud anyone with the knowledge to make something this cool!

[Tursi]

Right. The erase phase happens entirely on the Jaguar, so the time for that is consistent. The reason you see flashes instead of short lines is that is how long it's taking for a single packet to transfer (the skunkboard changes the background color at the start and end of each packet).

 

I've got one machine myself that has the problem, but even with that I can't really tell what's wrong. But on mine, a cheap little $10 unpowered hub dangling out of the front port "cleans it up". It's definitely worth the difference in performance.

[UHATEIT]

Sounds good, I'll try to grab a USB hub (3.0 if I can) and plug it in. For constant flashing of the skunk since it can only hold a max of 2 games at a time, it would be nice to get it to go faster Thanks again man for this wonderful device!

[+Saturn]

...a cheap little $10 unpowered hub dangling out of the front port "cleans it up". It's definitely worth the difference in performance.

 

Wow, I had a few of these lying around and just tried one on my weak XP laptop that usually takes 8-10 minutes and it flashed in about 1 minute. I'd tried this a while back but it didn't work on that particular machine so I abandoned the idea. Works like a charm on this one..

[UHATEIT]

 

Wow, I had a few of these lying around and just tried one on my weak XP laptop that usually takes 8-10 minutes and it flashed in about 1 minute. I'd tried this a while back but it didn't work on that particular machine so I abandoned the idea. Works like a charm on this one..

That post just got me to go on Amazon and order a USB 3.0 hub. I tried flashing again today and when I actually timed it, it was between 6-8 minutes depending on the size. So hopefully this USB hub goes fast like yours did!

[Tursi]

Bear in mind that the Skunkboard is a USB 1.1 device. The best theory we have is it's related to the initial USB handshake. If you use a USB 1.1 hub, then your PC and the hub handle the version negotiation, and the Skunkboard just passes through. A 3.0 hub may behave the same way as the PC ports. But... this is only a theory.

 

If it does work, I'd love to know just to have another piece of the puzzle (and then we can sort of strike that theory ).

[UHATEIT]

Bear in mind that the Skunkboard is a USB 1.1 device. The best theory we have is it's related to the initial USB handshake. If you use a USB 1.1 hub, then your PC and the hub handle the version negotiation, and the Skunkboard just passes through. A 3.0 hub may behave the same way as the PC ports. But... this is only a theory.

 

If it does work, I'd love to know just to have another piece of the puzzle (and then we can sort of strike that theory ).

That was initially my theory and my reason for not wanting to get a USB hub, as I imagined that the stock USB ports can only go so fast on my laptop, and that the exchange rate for the USB device on the Skunk is only so fast that a 3.0 hub wouldn't work. But it arrives Sunday from Amazon so when I get it I will try to flash some 2mb and 4mb games and time them so I can report back so it will help you and others to know! I am hopeful that ti will speed it up as it did for Saturn when he tried it.

[UHATEIT]

Wow I got my 3.0 USB hub in the mail today and tested the skunk flash with my old laptop running Windows 10. This morning before the hub arrived it took 9 minutes for a 4mb game and then around 5 minutes for a 2mb game.

 

With the hub plugged in I used the stopwatch on my phone and it did the rainbow erase and flash to game start at 37 seconds for a 2mb game and 1 minute 11 seconds for a 4mb game.

 

Thanks for telling me about this you guys! Definitely get a USB hub if you don't have one. This one I got was $8.99 off Amazon and the brand is Sabrent. I attached a picture of it as well

[JagChris]

Thank you very much for sharing this info. Many people won't bother sharing that info even after being asked. Putzes

[UHATEIT]

Thank you very much for sharing this info. Many people won't bother sharing that info even after being asked. Putzes

I was happy to do this since tursi was curious and then really happy with the performance of that little hub. Now I can use that also for data and picture transfers from my cell phone when I back things up too

[+Stephen]

Excellent info - thanks for sharing. Now you can enjoy the Skunk even more

[VladR]

Careful with reusing the same hub for other devices!

 

I got 3 hubs at home and none of them in reality allows that without consequences. Sure, you can use use whatever device you plug into hub, while skunk is plugged there too.

But then, when you unplug the new device, it's impossible to get skunk working without manual uninstallation of drivers and reinstall from scratch.

 

You might get lucky with yours, but I don't think it's worth the risk, unless you don't mind restarting your windows, of course.

 

I do think it's much simpler to just use another USB port...

[UHATEIT]

Careful with reusing the same hub for other devices!

 

I got 3 hubs at home and none of them in reality allows that without consequences. Sure, you can use use whatever device you plug into hub, while skunk is plugged there too.

But then, when you unplug the new device, it's impossible to get skunk working without manual uninstallation of drivers and reinstall from scratch.

 

You might get lucky with yours, but I don't think it's worth the risk, unless you don't mind restarting your windows, of course.

 

I do think it's much simpler to just use another USB port...

By using it for other things, I mean when not using the Skunk for flashing, I can use it when I save and backup my pics to my laptop from my cell phone. The normal USB to the cell phone to then copy tons of pics over (I do it once a month) goes really slow. I back them up just incase I lose my phone or break it. My wife and I have a small child and we take a lot of pics and to lose the pics we've taken would be devastating so I like to back them up.

 

But I get what you mean about using it for multiple things at the same time, likely that would deplete the performance on it.

[VladR]

I don't think we understand each other. It's not about performance during concurrent usage.

 

Once I unplug the other device (tested with mouse and camera), the Skunk becomes inaccessible and no amount of restarting jag/pc fixes that. I must manually uninstall the skunk drivers to be able to jcp into it again.

 

I would be curious if it's just my Windows plus USB hubs or others have same experience-but again now that I know about it, it's not a big deal to use different USB port for other devices.

 

It does make for an adrenaline experience the first time it happens, however...

[Welshworrier]

It's just yours. I use hub connected to eeprom programmer, logic analyser and skunk board. Can switch between any of them dynamically.

 

Usually have analyser and skunk running together.

 

Never needed to reinstall drivers either.

[+CyranoJ]

Agreed, plug, unplug - all good.

[UHATEIT]

Sorry for the rehash again! When flashing some roms, after the yellow and black screen stops, some of them just turn the screen blue or all black and then nothing loads at all. Even after restarting the Jaguar and then trying that bank to load still the same. Is that an issue with the cart or is that just what happens if the ROM itself doesn't work on the skunk? It's happened on a few games for me.