PlusCart(+) + SD

[cfarl]

On 8/31/2021 at 2:19 PM, WicoKid said:

A bit of advice, test and flash your ESP8266 before you solder. Had 3 of same brand (bottom pictured below) from Amazon and none of them worked....seemed to flash but never detected by ESPlorer or PlusCart SD. Got another brand and 2 of those 3 flashed and worked under ESPlorer. May wire jumpers in to try the working ones, as the nonworking ones are going to be challenging to remove.  

So, finally I have received my pcb and mounted my cart.

 

I used pluscart duo 2.1.1 firmware, and it it is working with sd card.

 

But.... It seems the esp is not working. It doesn't find any wifi network. 

 

Before soldering I have updated its firmware with ESP8266Flasher and ESP8266_NonOS_AT_Bin_V1.7.4, as suggested by Al_Nafuur:

 

 

 

So, I have a question.... I just soldered the esp at the pcb. Do I have to jump some of its terminals?

Edited October 8, 2021 by cfarl

[cfarl]

And.... there is some way to test the esp after the flashing to see if it is working?

 

Thanks!  

[+Al_Nafuur]

5 hours ago, cfarl said:

So, I have a question.... I just soldered the esp at the pcb. Do I have to jump some of its terminals?

No.

 

21 minutes ago, cfarl said:

And.... there is some way to test the esp after the flashing to see if it is working?

 

Thanks!  

 

you can connect to the ESP8266 directly and send AT commands with an terminal program like ESPlorer (the connection speed is 115200).

 

see this thread on how to connect and which AT commands to send:

 

@cfarl

there had been a single request from a new PlusCart with v2.1.1. firmware about 2,5 hours ago. From which country are your requests?

 

 

[cfarl]

I'm from Brazil, but I don't think it was me....

 

I couldn't see the wifi networks, so I couldn't reach PlusCart site.

[+Al_Nafuur]

1 minute ago, cfarl said:

I'm from Brazil, but I don't think it was me....

 

I couldn't see the wifi networks, so I couldn't reach PlusCart site.

No, it wasn't Brazil. And I checked the PlusCart Id and there had been requests from this PlusCart before, so it surely wasn't your PlusCart.

 

Is the LED of the WiFi module on?

Can you see the ESP8266 firmware version in "Setup/System Info"?

 

 

[cfarl]

1 minute ago, Al_Nafuur said:

No, it wasn't Brazil. And I checked the PlusCart Id and there had been requests from this PlusCart before, so it surely wasn't your PlusCart.

 

Is the LED of the WiFi module on?

Can you see the ESP8266 firmware version in "Setup/System Info"?

No, the led is off....

 

I didn't go to Setup/System Info, but I will try it and then I report as soon as possible.

 

I'm thinking trying another esp.

[cfarl]

I'm using a serial adapter to program another esp. 

 

It was flashed with sucess, but I can't send any command to it with ESPlorer.

 

 

It stops in "Communication with MCU..."

[+Al_Nafuur]

40 minutes ago, cfarl said:

I'm using a serial adapter to program another esp. 

 

It was flashed with sucess, but I can't send any command to it with ESPlorer.

 

 

It stops in "Communication with MCU..."

 

 

Double check the memory addresses and the checkbox before flashing with the NodeMCU Programmer:

 

 

The NodeMCU Programmer will "successfully" flash any data to any memory address of the ESP8266, but only if you flash the right data to the right memory addresses the ESP8266 will boot.

 

 

[cfarl]

1 hour ago, Al_Nafuur said:

 

 

Double check the memory addresses and the checkbox before flashing with the NodeMCU Programmer:

 

 

The NodeMCU Programmer will "successfully" flash any data to any memory address of the ESP8266, but only if you flash the right data to the right memory addresses the ESP8266 will boot.

 

 

What a shame!

 

I didn't checked the checkboxes! ?

 

Now I have to remove the esp from the pcb and replace it for correct flashed one! 

[+Al_Nafuur]

1 minute ago, cfarl said:

 

Now I have to remove the esp from the pcb and replace it for correct flashed one! 

maybe you can flash it in circuit:

Just connect it like here:

https://atariage.com/forums/topic/314794-pluscarts-does-not-reconnect/?do=findComment&comment=4703560

 

and connect these PINs to set the ESP8266 to flash mode:

 

[cfarl]

It is not working. I removed the old esp and replaced it by other, with correct flashing.

 

 

Led is off in the cartridge.

 

 

I'm not using any jumper, but I have left this pins jumped. Could be this the problem?

 

 

Edited October 9, 2021 by cfarl
Removind Pluscart id

[cfarl]

I'm using this serial device to flash the esp:

 

 

And to enable esp writing, I'm using this jumper below it:

 

Edited October 9, 2021 by cfarl

[+Al_Nafuur]

17 hours ago, cfarl said:

It is not working. I removed the old esp and replaced it by other, with correct flashing.

 

Pluscart shows nothing in Wifi Firmware.

 

You shouldn't publish your PlusCart's device_id, please delete the image

 

17 hours ago, cfarl said:

 

 

 

Led is off in the cartridge.

 

 

If the LED is not even flashing shortly on power up, there might be a problem with no connection to +3.3V or GND?

You should check the continuity 

 

maybe a Jumper wire is needed (like here):

 

 

Quote

 

I'm not using any jumper, but I have left this pins jumped. Could be this the problem?

No, this shouldn't be a problem

[cfarl]

I will check the continuity....

 

I couldn't delete the image.... Can you do it for me???

[Albert]

1 hour ago, cfarl said:

I couldn't delete the image.... Can you do it for me???

I removed the image.  I also gave you permission to edit that post, so if you want to upload a new image and obscure the device ID, you can do so.

 

 ..Al

[cfarl]

39 minutes ago, Albert said:

I removed the image.  I also gave you permission to edit that post, so if you want to upload a new image and obscure the device ID, you can do so.

 

 ..Al

Thanks!!!!

[Albert]

1 minute ago, cfarl said:

Thanks!!!!

You're welcome!

[cfarl]

5 hours ago, Al_Nafuur said:

You shouldn't publish your PlusCart's device_id, please delete the image

 

If the LED is not even flashing shortly on power up, there might be a problem with no connection to +3.3V or GND?

You should check the continuity 

 

maybe a Jumper wire is needed (like here):

 

 

No, this shouldn't be a problem

Well, I checked the continuity, and it is ok. 

 

No jumper needed, because there is continuity between the two points....

 

Using Arduino IDE I could send a blink program to it, but it is not executing this program. It is detected as "Chip is ESP8266EX".

 

I'm starting to think that I have a no-working esp. 

[cfarl]

On 10/8/2021 at 6:31 PM, Al_Nafuur said:

 

 

Double check the memory addresses and the checkbox before flashing with the NodeMCU Programmer:

 

 

The NodeMCU Programmer will "successfully" flash any data to any memory address of the ESP8266, but only if you flash the right data to the right memory addresses the ESP8266 will boot.

 

 

Well.... I have flashed esp using the configurations below:

 

 

Al_Nafuur, I found in your post you are using QIO intead DOUT, and it didn't worked for me.... 

 

And now I can connect to it with Arduino, and send some AT commands, finally!

 

 

The esp is also detected by ESPlorer:

 

 

Now that it seems to be working, I will replace the one that is in the pluscart pcb by this one.

 

But I will do it tomorrow... And I report the result here.

 

Thanks for all help!

[Fierodoug5]

I have had ESP8266 that worked fine in ESPlorer, but would not work in the Pluscart, very annoying. Hope this one works for you!

[cfarl]

14 hours ago, cfarl said:

Well.... I have flashed esp using the configurations below:

 

 

Al_Nafuur, I found in your post you are using QIO intead DOUT, and it didn't worked for me.... 

 

And now I can connect to it with Arduino, and send some AT commands, finally!

 

 

The esp is also detected by ESPlorer:

 

 

Now that it seems to be working, I will replace the one that is in the pluscart pcb by this one.

 

But I will do it tomorrow... And I report the result here.

 

Thanks for all help!

Hello, just to report, now eps it is working as expected in my Pluscart duo. ?

 

Thanks for you help and pacience, Al_Nafuur and Fierodoug5!

 

So, I was thinking here.... The same idea of this cartridge could be used to build a Sega Master System sd cartridge?

[Ouzy]

On 10/9/2021 at 12:14 AM, cfarl said:

What a shame!

 

I didn't checked the checkboxes! ?

 

Now I have to remove the esp from the pcb and replace it for correct flashed one! 

Thank you so much Cfarl for also making this error. As I did not know I should press the X either and so failed to update my esp8266. I thought all hope was lost and now I have seen your post and success. I also have one on a pluscart board that I will now flash as my previous attempt deleted the firmware on the esp8266 and broke it. I really appreciate this thank you. ?

[Ouzy]

58 minutes ago, Ouzy said:

Thank you so much Cfarl for also making this error. As I did not know I should press the X either and so failed to update my esp8266. I thought all hope was lost and now I have seen your post and success. I also have one on a pluscart board that I will now flash as my previous attempt deleted the firmware on the esp8266 and broke it. I really appreciate this thank you. ?

Yes this worked on the esp on the pluscart too which is now updated to 1.7.4.0. Thank goodness. You guys are just amazing. ? Instructions for updating without desoldering worked fine. Thanks for that Al_Nafuur. 

Edited October 12, 2021 by Ouzy

[+Al_Nafuur]

On 10/10/2021 at 8:05 PM, cfarl said:

Hello, just to report, now eps it is working as expected in my Pluscart duo. ?

?

On 10/10/2021 at 8:05 PM, cfarl said:

Thanks for you help and pacience, Al_Nafuur and Fierodoug5!

You are welcome

 

On 10/10/2021 at 8:05 PM, cfarl said:

So, I was thinking here.... The same idea of this cartridge could be used to build a Sega Master System sd cartridge?

It might work. But the SMS is using a Z80 CPU with 3,58 MHz. This is 3 times faster than the 6507 of the Atari 2600. I am not sure if the STM32 can keep up with this bus speed.

At least the SMS cartridge port has read, write and clock pins. So this would help to sync with the main CPU.

 

btw. there are already SMS SD flash carts..

 

[WicoKid]

When I use the most recent Unocart SD plus firmware from this thread, my cart works fine, but it then asks for a Firmware update...this request is at the top of the startup menu and inevidibly  get clicked, theocrat thenbecomes a plus cart and loses the SD component. How can I make it stop checking for firmware updates?