Programmer stalling on program function

ManiN

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Any of you guys use an eetools Allmax+? I just picked one up and it seems to be functional and responds to pc commands, but when I program a chip it seems to lock up at around 50% +/-5 through the burning cycle. Just sits and doesn't go anymore. I don't know if this is specific to the burner, or maybe PC is affecting it or what? I guess I'm looking to see if anyone else has had an issue like this before.

Thanks!
 
I forget... is that a parallel port or ISA bus programmer?

If Parallel port then make sure the port is set as bi-directional and try a different printer cable as some don't have all the necessary wires... Other things to check are for using interrupts in software and that there are no interrupt conflicts.

If ISA bus then slow down the ISA bus timing in BIOS and make sure there are no interrupt or base I/O address conflicts.
 
Thanks for the fast reply!

This one has both connections. I am using parallel port. I'll verify it's on bi-directional and check if interrupts are allowed.
 
Thanks for the fast reply!

This one has both connections. I am using parallel port. I'll verify it's on bi-directional and check if interrupts are allowed.

Check you cable also.

I think you need a straight through cable and not a printer/parallel cable.
 
Those changes didn't seem to affect it. Locks up right on 53%

I'm loading a rom as a binary file and not using any offset or buffer. Assuming the address is correct for start of 00000000 and end 00003FFF.
 
to clarify, the connector on the programmer is the centronics type. The manual refers to it coming with "one 6 foot long parallel printer cable". That's what I'm using, though it's not the original one.
 
DB25 to DB25 or DB 25 to centronics?

I assume that it is the one in the first picture DB25 to DB25.
 

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Over at eetools the lastest version of allmax+ is 28.b released in 2000
If your usind NT an operating system I think you need to use allmax nt driver called max_nt.zip
 
it's the second one with the centronics. Yeah, I am using XP. I tried to load the driver with the driver load tool. Maybe it got screwed up somehow? It seems to communicate when doing self checks and reading etc. Just locks up on the programming at about 53%. Other times it has locked up on like 43% and 17%. I let it sit for about 5 min till it finally shut itself off of 'busy' mode. I could suspect a bad cord, but it was known good last used and also it is pretty consistent on that 53% stop point at 2200.

It seems like each chip I try has it's own fail point. different percentages it stops loading for each one consistently. Wtf?
 
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Bingo! I think I know what your problem is. Your software was never meant to run under XP.
your software was design to run under Dos or Windows NT operating system. Last version of your software was released in 97(NT) and 2000(allmax+). Now you might get it to work by installing the the NT drivers. I think before you look at any hardware issues, I would look into trying to run your eprom burnner in a Dos operating system first.
 
They guy that sold it to me said he had it running under XP. However, I am just now opening the directions to load the driver and find I may have not completed the process. I am hoping it will just run the NT driver under XP. I don't doubt it will, but we'll find out. Yeah, if this doesn't work, I'm going to run it from the DOS prompt and see if it's good after that.
 
The DOS prompt in XP is not the same as MS-DOS... It's emulated MS-DOS and does not have direct control of the hardware parallel port.
 
I had some 27c1000s fail almost exactly like you describe.
Some of the chips in the lot were bad. Others that failed halfway took several erasures and burns before they would program and verify correctly. Also, my two burners hate NEC branded chips.

Also, like others have said, try to build a straight MS-DOS box for the burner. I use a KVM switch to run between my MS-DOS burner computer and my XP box. I transfer files around using 7 zip spanned across floppies (which sucks, but works).
 
well. I ended up making a boot cd to boot to dos and used a usb floppy to run the program and load roms. That seemed to clear up some issue with slow and buggy connection issues. The NT driver writer mentioned he eliminated that in his driver, but apparently the driver isn't taking well on my old laptop running xp. Not sure why, but at that point I wanted to just see if the damn thing works, so I made the boot cd and tried it.

The results of the program and communication are much better, however I had sketchy results working with my chips. I erased them and tried again while some have program errors, others will in fact program. Seems great, but when I use romident, it says it's not found. I even just read a known good chip and saved the file then romident still said it was not found as well. Not sure what is going on.

So in DOS there is no more stall on the programming and better connectivity, but some chips either have an error and wont program at all or they do but nothing checks out / verified.
 
See what address they stop at. If it's a 1Mb chip and it stops at the half way point (half of 1FFFF is 0FFFF or FFFF) then you have the wrong kind of chip selected...

The funny thing about 1Mb EPROMs is that there are 2 major types - JEDEC and non-JEDEC pinouts. The non-JEDEC has pins A16 and /OE swapped and when you program the chip as the wrong type it will fail when it reaches the 1/2 way point and has to toggle the A16 line to high.

RJ
 
Seems like it says 3FFF. I'm working with 27128s.

I wonder if I have an option that needs to be selected? Anyone else use an eetool allmax that can verify program use?
 
I should say I have never programmed chips before. So I may be making a bad assumption in the process.

I load a file into the buffer. It asks if binary, intel, motorola, tektronix, or ascII. I choose binary. It has inputs for file offset and buffer start address but I leave them zeros. On programming, it verifies blank, then attempts programming.
 
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So when you get a rom from the net, do you have to convert it to hex or anything special to load it to a programmer or do you just load it as a binary file? I am talking with the guy who sold it to me (non arcade related) and he suggested that may be an issue.
 
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