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Matthew Joseph Payne

Before I got an amazing and awesomerad super cool programmer from Jazzmarazz, I bought a blank PCB from someone else way rad and tried to build a programmer myself. It looks like this.


It does not work. It gets power, but no computer will recognize it. I suspect that the problem is my soldering on the SMD FTDI chip, which I did by hand with an iron and solder that probably weren't fine enough for the job. Maybe I burned out the chip! Dunno!

I'm going to be doing a lot of cart reprogramming in the coming months, and only having one programmer kinda gives me the willies; I'd really love to have a backup. I also have more money than time right now, so I'd REALLY love to pay someone with some experience in this stuff to troubleshoot the damn thing for me.

So - have you built this project before? Are you super comfortable with SMD work? Have you done a lot of ATMEL or FTDI projects before? Let me know why you think you're the right person to fix this guy for me, and once I find the right person I will:

1. send the programmer and some extra parts I have (extra ATMEL chip, extra FTDI chips although the moisture sensor that comes with them is way past limits if that even matters, maybe other parts)
2. also include some cool stickers and junk
3. pay shipping both ways
4. pay you for your time and any parts needed if you can fix it, and also let you keep the spare parts (except maybe the ATMEL chip)
5. if you can't fix it I'll still probably throw you a few bucks, let you keep the stickers, and pay to send it on to another person who thinks they can fix it

So whaddya think? PM me if you're interested!

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Taichung, Taiwan

Advice!

As far as I know, cartridge programmers are quite robust. The oldest programmer I have is an 8BC version which still works like a champ and is going strong. I wouldn't really worry about it going bad or not working. You should be fine.

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Matthew Joseph Payne

What if I just hate having useless half-finished projects lying around?

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Taichung, Taiwan
kineticturtle wrote:

What if I just hate having useless half-finished projects lying around?

These make my skin crawl and make me want to rip my face off.

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Sweeeeeeden

If you really, really care about getting this board diagnosed/fixed you could send it to me. Qualifications: Working on a new flasher project on my own, nowadays quite comfortable soldering even the smaller SMD variant used for the FTDI chip on the newer programmers.

First I need to ask, has it ever worked, to any capacity? Exactly how does it not work? When you plug it in, do you see a USB device n the device manager? Exactly which FTDI chip is that? Have you programmed the AVR chip? Using which method?

My first reaction is that it's indeed the soldering around the SMD chip which is the main problem. The first problem is that some of the pins may lack enough solder to make reliable contact. The second more serious problem is the flux residue. The flux, depending on type - needs to be cleaned off. What appears to be happening is corrosion from the flux residue is starting to eat the tracks. In particular the ground connection to the FTDI chip (the middle connection on the left side of the image, going out to the big copper lane.) I'm not sure from the image whether that's just dirt or if it's corrosion that has eaten all the way through.

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Michigan

I guess that will be the FT232BM, because it is what Reiner originally used. I built one of those years ago too and never got it recognized. It would always say "USB device not recognized, a malfunction has occurred."

My thought process was the traces becuase they are not very clean, but I tested each with my multimeter and found no bridges or disconnections. I ended up keeping my Atmel and pitching the rest.


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Matthew Joseph Payne

nitro: I may just send it to you. And include the Gowin cart from the other thread.

I don't recall the device ever being recognized by any computer in any way. It has never worked - except for the power indicator lighting up.

I programmed the AVR using this thing I finagled:

The software programmed it successfully and was able to verify.

I can confirm the type of FTDI chip when I get home.

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Michigan

bump

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Matthew Joseph Payne

Haha thanks for the reminder Jazz!

The FTDI is an FT282BL. I have two more in a bag.

Most of the label on the chip installed on the programmer is unreadable, which is interesting and maybe related to the flux-caused corrosion you were talking about, nitro?

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Michigan

282 or 232?

FT232BM datasheet: "A lead free version is available, part number FT232BL."

Last edited by Jazzmarazz (Dec 15, 2013 4:15 pm)

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Sweeeeeeden

*FT232BL

The chip labeling is usually made using laser engraving. If it less readable on the chip that is on the board, this may be due to corrosion, but also just to a layer of flux residue sitting on top of the chip. Try cleaning the top of the chip using a q-tip and some rubbing alcohol if you care, and see if that makes it more readable. And anyway, I'd be more worried about the pins than about the top of the chip case.

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Sweeeeeeden

BTW, just another idea of what might be wrong. Did you program the microcontroller fuses, and not just the hex file? Without the fuses configured, the crystal won't be set oscillate, and the FTDI chip can't communicate. (The crystal is shared between the chips, and the microcontroller is driving it.)

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Matthew Joseph Payne

Yeah 232, brain fart. I was trying to type that with a toddler crawling on me.

I can give this stuff a try! maybe if I clean around the traces as well, I'll be able to get a better idea of whether they've corroded beyond use or not.
I do know that I continuity tested all the traces after I first built it and it failed to work, and they were all good from chip leg to wherever they were going. Still worth a shot though!

Honestly working on this is the only time I've programmed a microcontroller that wasn't attached to an Arduino. I understand what you mean by programming the fuses, but I don't actually know how to do it or how they should be set! I can probably figure it out, but if you have a moment to explain, that would make it go faster!

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Michigan

What software did you use to program your 8515?
Here is a simple utility to calculate the fuse bits;
http://www.elektronik-kompendium.de/pub … 5fuse.html

Nitro helped me to find
L: 0x10
H: 0xC9

For my version, which equates to:

Last edited by Jazzmarazz (Dec 15, 2013 5:27 pm)

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Sweeeeeeden

For this version it's more like L: 0xEE and H: 0xD9. Especially for the low fuse.

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Michigan
nitro2k01 wrote:

For this version it's more like L: 0xEE and H: 0xD9. Especially for the low fuse.

Even though he is using an external crystal? I will not argue with you of all people, but this was my understanding.

Last edited by Jazzmarazz (Dec 15, 2013 5:27 pm)