Cap Prom file transfer....

[memusa]

Hi to all.... I need a suggestion of what brand to buy to transfer the information of a capx Prom in a PE+, I tried to use the adaptor in a topic I read in this site... using a 512 eprom with some jumpers and connections.. . but didn't get lucky. The cards in the game are "blank" after the burn procedure.. for the record: Using a brand new AM27S29PC which is a 4096 bit (512 x 8) Bipolar prom. Which is the same thing as the N82S147N  Help is appreciated!

[memusa]

In the 25th of this month I'll receive the burner... Hopefully I'll get the problem solved!

[4 Deuces]

I purchased quite a few bipolar proms last year only to realize that these are harder to burn than I thought.  First, they do require a special type of burner because of the voltage required.  Plus, they are one-time only (that's the nature of these types of chips ... in laymen's terms, you basically blow a fuse inside of them).  Finally, these chips don't have a good shelf life.  It's likely that you will only have success with a certain percentage of them.  I can't recall how many I purchased, but only about 30% actually worked.  At least this was my experience.

So, I went the adaptor route here ... http://newlifegames.net/nlg/index.php?topic=1391.msg152862#msg152862
This worked great for me.  The key is to ensure you use a fast enough eprom and the right cap colors.  I'm wondering if the blank cards weren't the color prom, but the graphic eproms instead?   Jay or Knagl might know the answer to that one.

You could also see if Big_D has any more left.  He had them made manufactured.  http://newlifegames.net/nlg/index.php?action=profile;u=3704

Miss my PE+!  Good luck!  :Dave

[4 Deuces]

Hey, I just found something I didn't know I had.  It's an CAPROM reader that I built ... basically, the reverse of the CAPROM writer.  You can put this in the EPROM slot of your burner to read CAPROMs.  It's VERY CRUDE work, but did the job for me when I needed it.  Don't need it anymore.  If you want it, send me a PM and I'll mail it to you.  :Dave

[memusa]

Thanks Dave for the item.. I received it yesterday! I made one test today and still have the same problem.. To be honest with you I haven't tried hard enough to see what am I doin wrong.. Hopefully I'll figure it out later in this week. Thanks again buddy.

[4 Deuces]

Can you clarify the test you did?  Are you using an actual CAPROM chip or an EPROM chip?  If you're using EPROM with an adaptor, what's the EPROM chip number?  If you'd rather do some tests first and come back to this later, that's cool too.  Just trying to help.  :Dave

[memusa]

This is what I did... Y used your "add on board" to read the cap in the burner as a M27C512 and save the file. Then I used the same "add on board" to burn a blank cap rom loading the file I previously saved as well ad a 512 eprom. Well you saw the results in the picture as "Blank Cards" Now I did the same first procedure and burn the file in a M27C512 and did the wiring to match the 28 pins of the EPROM to the 20 pins of the Cap Rom in the board using the shematic where the conections are in red and the background is in black. I'm half way there... See the picture below... I may have a wrong conection or so... I'll post more hopefully by the weekend

[memusa]

Pic

[memusa]

Pic

[4 Deuces]

This is the correct schematic ...

http://newlifegames.net/nlg/index.php?topic=1391.msg147381#msg147381

... and are you sure your burner is capable of burning CAPROMs?  I believe it requires a higher voltage than the typical 5v or 6v.  Check out the article here about bipolar eproms ...

http://www.arlabs.com/help.htm

[4 Deuces]

One more tip ... get yourself a multimeter ($20 at Radio Shack) and check your continuity between each connection before you put this in machine.

Also, what is the chip number of your eprom (the number after the 27C512)?  Because bipolar proms are faster, you need to have a fast enough eprom.

[ADD] Just thought of something else ... you may need to burn the same code twice on the eprom ... can't quite remember how to do that.  Am at work and will have to search for it later.  Basically, the idea is ... you load the code, copy it and paste it at the end so that the code is on the eprom twice back-to-back.  That ensures the machine can read it.  I just can't remember the hex starting point for a 512 chip.  Maybe someone else will reply before this evening.

[knagl]

... and are you sure your burner is capable of burning CAPROMs?  I believe it requires a higher voltage than the typical 5v or 6v. 

I was under the impression that he's using a typical 27c512 EPROM in place of the traditional, hard-to-burn CAP chip.  If that's the case, his standard burner will work just fine.

[ADD] Just thought of something else ... you may need to burn the same code twice on the eprom ... can't quite remember how to do that.

I was kinda thinking that too, but I'm very, very green when it comes to burning stuff.  I have a burner, but I've never used it.


Edited to add: It looks like there might be some data manipulation necessary, depending on the board in use.  Also, it looks like you need a EPROM that is 60ns or faster (that is, a number that is 60 or LESS at the end of the chip number).  Check out this stickied thread for some good information about using the adapter and reading data:

http://newlifegames.net/nlg/index.php?topic=1391.0

[memusa]

Thanks for the info.. And yes I'm using a typical  512 emprom. Brand ST

[memusa]

I got it working!!
Bad connections in pins A5-A8
Thank you Dave for the links placed along with the topic... made the things more clear for me.
 

[4 Deuces]

Congratulations!

[memusa]

Pic

[memusa]

Pic

[memusa]

Just finished placing the chip decently on the board. I didn't liked the spaghetti I had before. It looks nice now!

[memusa]

Used coil wire to make the connections... 

[jamesnore81]

Pic

was very well