jrhodes Posted December 30, 2021 Share Posted December 30, 2021 (edited) 2 hours ago, arcadeshopper said: I buy the cheapest smallest cards I can find and they work fine. Sent from my Pixel 6 Pro using Tapatalk I have a old sansdisk 128mb micro sd in a micro-to-sd adapter. This card has been a real champ, had it over 10 years. I originally got it to use with my Nintendo DS flash cart, but i hardly use that anymore so i started using it for my Finalgrom. I have a really ancient 32mb MMC card laying around too, from back in the Nokia NGage days. Will Finalgrom read a MMC? Edited December 30, 2021 by jrhodes Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nightengale Posted January 1, 2022 Share Posted January 1, 2022 Well, I put the cheapy SD card in and no change. Then I checked the cartridge port, wow, that felt was groaty! Cleaned that up, thinking, well this is it, it will work; alas no changes. Hmmm I guess it's time to get the fluke out...I don't have an o'scope, logic probe or spec an. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+dhe Posted January 1, 2022 Share Posted January 1, 2022 Do you have a different console to try? If you want to PM and send me your SD card, I can try it in my FinalGrom... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nightengale Posted January 3, 2022 Share Posted January 3, 2022 Thanks much dhe! I have another console to try it on. Curious issue Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nightengale Posted January 4, 2022 Share Posted January 4, 2022 A different console and it worked, but no F18A, I'll need to continue to narrow this issue down on the original console. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+dhe Posted January 9, 2022 Share Posted January 9, 2022 For normal operation, does it matter if the write protect tab is enabled or disabled on the sd card? I ask, because one of my cards has no positive click, and I believe inserting and extracting changes the position of the switch. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+arcadeshopper Posted January 9, 2022 Share Posted January 9, 2022 For normal operation, does it matter if the write protect tab is enabled or disabled on the sd card? I ask, because one of my cards has no positive click, and I believe inserting and extracting changes the position of the switch. The only write that I know of is mini memSent from my Pixel 6 Pro using Tapatalk 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Asmusr Posted September 21, 2022 Share Posted September 21, 2022 On 5/10/2021 at 3:12 PM, Asmusr said: I often have to go through several rounds of pressing the reset switches, turning the computer off and on, removing the cartridge and reinserting it, removing the SD card and reinserting it, and whatever else I can think of, before I can get my FinalGROM to load anything. I think it's worse on my F18A console than on my other console, and I believe other carts work fine, but I haven't done any systematic testing. Every time it fails I get a new result. Sometimes it fails on the opening screen, sometimes there is no menu, sometimes it seems to work but then loaded program fails - it seems completely random. In then end it suddenly works, and then I can often load other programs if I just press reset. Replying to my own post since I might have found a solution. My consoles still had the felt pads in the cartridge connector, and yesterday I finally took the time to remove them, and I haven't had any problems since. It's too early to say if that was the problem, but its looking good. For information about removing the felt pads see https://www.arcadeshopper.com/wp/ti-99-4a-faq-maintenance-cleaning-cartridge-port/ 6 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+9640News Posted November 16, 2022 Share Posted November 16, 2022 A question was asked here about whether there is another terminal program other than TE2 that is available as a cartridge image for the FinalGrom 99? Can someone create a cartridge for something like FastTerm or MXT and make it available? 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+arcadeshopper Posted November 20, 2022 Share Posted November 20, 2022 On 11/16/2022 at 10:29 AM, 9640News said: A question was asked here about whether there is another terminal program other than TE2 that is available as a cartridge image for the FinalGrom 99? Can someone create a cartridge for something like FastTerm or MXT and make it available? it's already in the topic in the main forum.. as I stated in that topic Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tmop69 Posted March 25, 2023 Share Posted March 25, 2023 In December I've purchased a second FinalGROM and it seemed to working fine, although I've just run some quick tests with some of my preferred games (Donkey Kong, Munch Man, etc.). Today I used it to test one new homebrew I'm developing and it was crashing. To summarize, after various tests (different TI99, SD, etc.) it seems that the problem is related to the FinalGROM. In particular, it's not able to run the varios XB, RXB carts, Popeye, the various homebrew/game requiring the 32K. It works instead with QBert, Frogger and Tuthankham from Parker Bros, Miner, the various Atarisoft game, some homebrews (Borzork, Obstacle Course), EA, MM, DiskManager. I've updated it using the last .AVR and .PLD files and also tested with the QI version, but nothing is changed. Any suggestion/advice on other things to try and/or the cause of the problem? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ralphb Posted March 25, 2023 Author Share Posted March 25, 2023 1 hour ago, tmop69 said: Any suggestion/advice on other things to try and/or the cause of the problem? So all of the listed images work on your first FinalGROM, but not on the second one? Very strange, as I don't really see a pattern here ... Have you tried my test images? addrtest1m.bin banktest1m.bin ramwrite1m.bin 2 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tmop69 Posted March 25, 2023 Share Posted March 25, 2023 1 hour ago, ralphb said: So all of the listed images work on your first FinalGROM, but not on the second one? Very strange, as I don't really see a pattern here ... Have you tried my test images? addrtest1m.bin 1 MB · 0 downloads banktest1m.bin 1 MB · 0 downloads ramwrite1m.bin 1 MB · 0 downloads I've run the tests. The addrtest seem to be ok, but the banktest is reporting at botton "error in bank: xx" with the "xx" value changing continuosly. The ramtest is reporting "error in 00" 7000 7004. In attachment the photos. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HOME AUTOMATION Posted March 25, 2023 Share Posted March 25, 2023 It works(error detection). That's so kool! ...sorry. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ralphb Posted March 28, 2023 Author Share Posted March 28, 2023 On 3/25/2023 at 8:38 PM, tmop69 said: I've run the tests. The addrtest seem to be ok, but the banktest is reporting at botton "error in bank: xx" with the "xx" value changing continuosly. The ramtest is reporting "error in 00" 7000 7004. In attachment the photos. Unfortunately that's not a very conclusive result. addrtest also uses bank switching, so it's not that this is the one cause of the problems. ramtest failing is not that big a deal, and might be a consequence of using the QI firmware IIRC. The difference between addrtest and banktest might explain why some games work and other don't, as banktest uses high-frequency bank switching. This seems like the CPLD has some issues, but it could also be timing issues caused by other hardware. I still have a few CPLDs left, so I could send you one, but this really is hit or miss. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tmop69 Posted March 29, 2023 Share Posted March 29, 2023 18 hours ago, ralphb said: Unfortunately that's not a very conclusive result. addrtest also uses bank switching, so it's not that this is the one cause of the problems. ramtest failing is not that big a deal, and might be a consequence of using the QI firmware IIRC. The difference between addrtest and banktest might explain why some games work and other don't, as banktest uses high-frequency bank switching. This seems like the CPLD has some issues, but it could also be timing issues caused by other hardware. I still have a few CPLDs left, so I could send you one, but this really is hit or miss. Thanks for the offert, I've agreed with the vendor that he'll send me another FG99 from the next batch. For curiosity I'll run ramtest switching back to the standard firmware to see if I get the same errors. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
YannAros Posted April 6, 2023 Share Posted April 6, 2023 (edited) Hi, I just got a second hand FinalGROM and it was working ok for 1 hour. After that is started to behave strangely with some screen corruption and after 2/3 resets I doesn't work at all anymore. As soon as I start the computer I get this kind of screen, the LED isn't flashing (one flash and then stays OFF) I've tested with a blank SD Card and get the same. Did I break something? Shall I try to update it the AVR? Edited April 6, 2023 by YannAros Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Willsy Posted April 6, 2023 Share Posted April 6, 2023 Maybe try cleaning your cartridge port, and also clean the fingers on the FinalGrom too. Use isopropyl alcohol if you can. If you don't have any to hand use some aftershave! It'll smell nice too! 4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
YannAros Posted April 6, 2023 Share Posted April 6, 2023 I'm answering myself, the issue was with my power supply, apparently it was not powerfull enough to power the TI and the FinalGROM. I've changed to use an original one and now it is working again. 8 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fabrizio Posted February 16 Share Posted February 16 (edited) Good morning, we are building some finalgrams for the associates, but I have a problem with programming the Xilinx. Here's the situation: when I power the FG without the SD, the LED blinks once per second approximately. When I insert the SD, the LED blinks rapidly for 5 times, stops, and then starts again. I've tried multiple SD cards, do you have any help? THANK YOU Edited February 16 by fabrizio 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GDMike Posted February 16 Share Posted February 16 5 hours ago, fabrizio said: Good morning, we are building some finalgrams for the associates, but I have a problem with programming the Xilinx. Here's the situation: when I power the FG without the SD, the LED blinks once per second approximately. When I insert the SD, the LED blinks rapidly for 5 times, stops, and then starts again. I've tried multiple SD cards, do you have any help? THANK YOU I found that when I used a good SD card as in a high storage fast card that it doesn't seem to work so make sure you use a smaller cheaper card. That might be the only problem it is Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fabrizio Posted February 16 Share Posted February 16 (edited) I have tried some that I have used in the past, perhaps the problem is another, we are soldering some FG99s for the associates, that's why I was asking the meaning of the LED that flashes for 6 times. Any errors during the update will be indicated by a blinking LED. The blink pattern tells you what kind of error occurred: #U1 (o)........(o).........(o)........(o)........(o)........(o) ... indicates a bad SD card reader, a bad SD card, or the wrong filesystem, Edited February 16 by fabrizio Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fabrizio Posted February 16 Share Posted February 16 (edited) Can someone send me the file fg99-xsvf for working ti99? Edited February 16 by fabrizio Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HOME AUTOMATION Posted February 17 Share Posted February 17 I'm guessing you would have to generate that file yourself. I think there's a simpler route... Quote Programming the CPLD requires the Xilinx ISE 14.7 Web Pack to generate a JEDEC file or an XSVF file. ISE Web Pack is freely available for Windows and Linux. After the installation, open ISE and open the project in vhdl/. Click on the little green arrow next to the process window to generate a JEDED file. The microcontroller contains an XSVF player to program the CPLD without JTAG cable. Generate the necessary XSVF file from the JEDED file by running (you may have to adjust the path in impact-batch) $ cd vhdl/src $ ./impact-batch fg99-xsvf Copy the resulting .XSVF file as UPDATE.PLD to an SD card and start the FinalGROM 99 with it. The cart will program the CPLD just like a JTAG cable would do. Once microcontroller and CPLD have been programmed, the assembled FinalGROM 99 is ready to use. firmware.pld ...rename to UPDATE.PLD, for use from SD card. 1 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HOME AUTOMATION Posted February 17 Share Posted February 17 Did I forget to mention, that in order to update the PLD, the AVR, must already be updated. version_1_3.avr ...rename to UPDATE.AVR, for use from SD card. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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