Geoff Oltmans Posted July 20, 2022 Share Posted July 20, 2022 I am now a member of the bricked FG99 club. lol Just placed an order for a programmer so I can unbrick it again. I tried a variety of different SD cards, the PLD updated fine, but the .avr was no bueno. Quick flashing LED, mostly on while trying to update the .avr. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JJB Posted July 21, 2022 Author Share Posted July 21, 2022 Hi Geoff, Can you give us a bit more detail on how this happened, which versions you used etc? Bricking through SD updating should be unlikely, minus a powerfail or perhaps a bad GROM port connection. I guess if you have a FG99 that has trouble updating the AVR and you brick it, the only way to get it running again is indeed the programmer. Others can just re-update as the bootloader (who does the AVR updating) will still run. Bad luck! Just ping me if you need any help. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+dhe Posted July 21, 2022 Share Posted July 21, 2022 I've sent the programmer I purchased and 2 FG from The Brewer Academy to @arcadeshopper -- Hopefully he will be able to increase our FG99 Legend and Lore! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Geoff Oltmans Posted July 26, 2022 Share Posted July 26, 2022 On 7/20/2022 at 9:28 PM, JJB said: Hi Geoff, Can you give us a bit more detail on how this happened, which versions you used etc? Bricking through SD updating should be unlikely, minus a powerfail or perhaps a bad GROM port connection. I guess if you have a FG99 that has trouble updating the AVR and you brick it, the only way to get it running again is indeed the programmer. Others can just re-update as the bootloader (who does the AVR updating) will still run. Bad luck! Just ping me if you need any help. I followed the directions in one of the prions posts: do the update.pld and then subsequently the update.avr files in the root of the SD card. The pld image seemed to work fine, but not the avr update. I’ve got the programmer now, so I’ll try that next. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Geoff Oltmans Posted July 27, 2022 Share Posted July 27, 2022 Well, I managed to brick mine even worse with the programmer. I think I accidentally set the debugwire fuse bit. I'm borrowing our AVR JTAG ICE from work to reset it. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JJB Posted July 27, 2022 Author Share Posted July 27, 2022 What software did you use with the programmer? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Geoff Oltmans Posted July 28, 2022 Share Posted July 28, 2022 13 hours ago, JJB said: What software did you use with the programmer? Neoprogrammer. Looks like I'm going to have to hook up an external oscillator up to the avr to recover it. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Geoff Oltmans Posted July 28, 2022 Share Posted July 28, 2022 Just to reiterate... this is not an issue with the firmware... this was a result of me fat fingering the tool and messing up the fuse settings on the atmega. 1 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Geoff Oltmans Posted August 1, 2022 Share Posted August 1, 2022 Huzzah! I'm back in business... replaced the AVR and reprogrammed and I'm running the v1.3 firmware again. I'll have to try the QI firmware update and see how that goes. 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Geoff Oltmans Posted August 10, 2022 Share Posted August 10, 2022 OK, I ran a couple of attempts again to run the update after recovering my board.... the first attempt failed with the quick flashing light, and required reprogramming out of circuit. The second attempt did the same thing, but was recoverable loading the old firmware and cpld code through the update process. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JJB Posted August 19, 2022 Author Share Posted August 19, 2022 @dhe any update on your FG99's you sent off? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JJB Posted August 19, 2022 Author Share Posted August 19, 2022 On 8/11/2022 at 12:45 AM, Geoff Oltmans said: OK, I ran a couple of attempts again to run the update after recovering my board.... the first attempt failed with the quick flashing light, and required reprogramming out of circuit. The second attempt did the same thing, but was recoverable loading the old firmware and cpld code through the update process. Hi Geoff, This is puzzling; you say the out of circuit programming went OK (presumably with 1.3?) but when you tried to update the AVR it screwed things up and you had to get out your programmer again; but for the 2nd screw-up you were able to update the AVR normally? Did you try to load the updated AVR firmware at all through the programmer? What about the updated CPLD? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Geoff Oltmans Posted August 27, 2022 Share Posted August 27, 2022 On 8/18/2022 at 10:37 PM, JJB said: Hi Geoff, This is puzzling; you say the out of circuit programming went OK (presumably with 1.3?) but when you tried to update the AVR it screwed things up and you had to get out your programmer again; but for the 2nd screw-up you were able to update the AVR normally? Did you try to load the updated AVR firmware at all through the programmer? What about the updated CPLD? Not exactly. After recovery with the v1.3 image, I attempted to load the cpld and avr update files in order. The updated cpld was accepted, the avr image however did the same fast blinkt thing as it did during the first attempt where it bricked, but this time I was able to recover to 1.3 with the same on target update process. I haven’t tried to load the updated firmware through the programmer yet. To be honest I’m wondering if something else is wrong with my final grom board. Several cartridges do not work correctly when there is anything plugged into the expansion port on the console, speech or peb. Without anything plugged in it seems to function correctly. At first I thought this was a problem with my console, but I’ve since borrowed another from a work friend and it behaves similarly with that one (though not precisely the same). I loaded the test software from the GitHub repo on the SD card and the grom tests flake out when things are connected to the console and run fine without. Maybe something marginal with the cpld programming or the cpld itself? Both consoles are black and silver. mine its an early one, my friends is a later one (no solid state cart badge and the tray for the overlays) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JJB Posted August 30, 2022 Author Share Posted August 30, 2022 I guess your experience is similar to some other members experiencing FG99 instability / random behavior at times. Your marginal comment triggered me as well; although I can't speak for the FG99 I have designed a sideport peripheral myself with an initial batch of 5 working right of the bat after assembly (the hardware isn't overly complicated). 8 months later, I am now building a second batch of 5 with the initial 2 displaying weird timing behavior. I can only conclude that some of the IC's I ordered recently are either marginal or fake. And yes most of them come from reputable sources although for some I can't avoid Ebay. Still curious if the updated AVR would work through your programmer ;-) 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Geoff Oltmans Posted September 1, 2022 Share Posted September 1, 2022 On 8/29/2022 at 8:48 PM, JJB said: I guess your experience is similar to some other members experiencing FG99 instability / random behavior at times. Your marginal comment triggered me as well; although I can't speak for the FG99 I have designed a sideport peripheral myself with an initial batch of 5 working right of the bat after assembly (the hardware isn't overly complicated). 8 months later, I am now building a second batch of 5 with the initial 2 displaying weird timing behavior. I can only conclude that some of the IC's I ordered recently are either marginal or fake. And yes most of them come from reputable sources although for some I can't avoid Ebay. Still curious if the updated AVR would work through your programmer Do you have a .bin file I can program out of circuit via the programmer? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Geoff Oltmans Posted September 1, 2022 Share Posted September 1, 2022 I think I'm going to try and reflow the CPLD and barring that working order a new one to put on the board. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JJB Posted September 1, 2022 Author Share Posted September 1, 2022 52 minutes ago, Geoff Oltmans said: Do you have a .bin file I can program out of circuit via the programmer? Yes I will upload when home from work 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JJB Posted September 7, 2022 Author Share Posted September 7, 2022 @Geoff Oltmans I have sent you a message Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Geoff Oltmans Posted September 14, 2022 Share Posted September 14, 2022 Sorry for the delay... I got the firmware loaded using the programmer and... it works! In fact, it works much better than the v1.3 firmware on my unit. Several games wouldn't work at all if anything was plugged into the expansion connector (speech or PEB) and now they are working properly. I also tried the GROM test images from the github repo and that test passes too. This was on not one, but two non-QI units. One was an early black and silver, and the other a later one (no solid state cartridge badge with drop in overlay tray). 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+OLD CS1 Posted September 15, 2022 Share Posted September 15, 2022 8 hours ago, Geoff Oltmans said: Several games wouldn't work at all if anything was plugged into the expansion connector (speech or PEB) I have run into this issue, as well, but I cannot recall which of my FG was responsible. This is both a thank you to you, and a reminder to me to check this out. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+arcadeshopper Posted September 17, 2022 Share Posted September 17, 2022 i noticed the test firmware removes the ability to load a single cart in the sdcard and have it bypass the menu 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JJB Posted September 18, 2022 Author Share Posted September 18, 2022 On 9/18/2022 at 5:56 AM, arcadeshopper said: i noticed the test firmware removes the ability to load a single cart in the sdcard and have it bypass the menu If I put just one cart image on the SD, it is listed directly as choice 2. What do you see then: nothing, the FG99 choice with just one cartridge, anything else etc? On a separate but related topic: you were going to program the AVR in 2 FG99's out of circuit to see if it would enable the normal AVR update process (a la Geoff's approach); curious if you have any results to share? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+arcadeshopper Posted September 18, 2022 Share Posted September 18, 2022 (edited) 51 minutes ago, JJB said: If I put just one cart image on the SD, it is listed directly as choice 2. What do you see then: nothing, the FG99 choice with just one cartridge, anything else etc? On a separate but related topic: you were going to program the AVR in 2 FG99's out of circuit to see if it would enable the normal AVR update process (a la Geoff's approach); curious if you have any results to share? i just see the fg99 menu entry ..this was on a 4..which doesn't work with the menu properly.. I'll test again and get details been too busy to do the latter but will get to that soon Edited September 18, 2022 by arcadeshopper 1 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Geoff Oltmans Posted September 20, 2022 Share Posted September 20, 2022 I haven't tried a downgrade from Jochen's firmware in circuit to the older firmware to see if the update works better for me with the newer firmware yet. That would probably be a good step to try. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+arcadeshopper Posted October 2, 2022 Share Posted October 2, 2022 ok I updated Dan's two fg99's one works great on a 2.2 the other nothing on the boot menu.. software was identical.. on the one that didn't work right on the 2.2 box I had to slow down the clock to 300khz to program reliably at the fast rate I got errors programming and erasing both work fine on qi and normal ti's with 1981 roms 1 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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