(Topic ID: 7260)

ROM burners - anyone got recommendations?

By DrAzzy

12 years ago


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    #60 8 years ago

    I gave up on all these Chinese mini-burners. They're good for just EPROMs but not much beyond that. Most don't do the devices I need to program, some claimed to program all parts but just didn't work (TOP3000). Ended up with an Advin U128+ from ebay for $90 and use an old dedicated laptop to program the parts. Can now pretty much program anything including old PROMs and PALS without needing to pull out the old Data-OhNo.

    3 months later
    #64 8 years ago

    Good, ole does everything programmer -- rare to find them under $100.
    However, there is one on ebay right now. See item 172139907014. It's the high end U128+ for $56.

    Software can be downloaded from www.advin.com Can also find the device list for this programmer at that link.
    http://www.advin.com/universal-programmer-chip-list.htm#LEGACY for complete list of these older programmers.
    Requires a computer with a parallel port. For this, I have a dedicated Dell laptop for control. Will run on windows up to XP but no newer.

    Awesome programmer assuming the one they are selling works. Fortunately, these buggers are pretty tough.

    But won't do the later PICs such as the dsPIC33EP as mentioned by phillymadison

    #66 8 years ago
    Quoted from phillymadison:

    I saw you are taking off a few days

    Pretty much everybody came down with the flu at the same time. Everybody's doing better but I don't expect to be back to normal until Thursday.

    Regarding that Advin - it's a beast! Been using them since they first came out a kajillion years ago and they have never let me down.
    Only downside is parallel port driven and requires software to be XP or older. Item had been relisted at $50 -- awesome price! I'm waiting for somebody to put a gang programmer adapter on ebay at an affordable price.

    I also used to own a SuperPro (3000?). Hated it. Worked fine for EPROMs but didn't do PALs at all. Would go through the motions, say it programmed and tested yet the part would still be blank.
    And I have a fairly new MiniPro USB TL866CS sitting next to me. Very limited number of parts that it will do. It just sits there gathering dust.

    1 year later
    #97 6 years ago

    China doesn't "make" newly manufactured clones. They remove old EPROMs from waste boards, make them look pretty and resell them as new. For now it seems most work but as supplies dwindle....

    In most cases you can mix and match revisions and manufacturers. Exceptions to this are the really old EPROMs that require multiple voltages. You can often move up in size easy enough but you need to look at the extended address pin of the larger device. Does it get tied to ground/+5V? Unconnected & floating? Usually they are tied off to ground or +5V.
    For example -- a 27C64 doesn't use pin 26. A 27C128 uses pin 26 as the high order address pin. If the destination board has this tied to ground then you simply copy the smaller EPROM into the larger EPROM. If the destination board has this tied to +5V then you double the image or program the smaller EPROM into the larger EPROM's high order of memory.

    You can still buy OTP type memories from places like Mouser but smallest is 32K x 8. Search for AT27C256R-70PU.
    These are much cheaper than regular EPROMs (just over a buck apiece) but are not eraseable. If you need to update or screw up programming - you simply toss it in the trash and grab another.

    #100 6 years ago

    Wow!
    Those parts are just as bad - they are blatant counterfeits and ST would be real interested in that one. Really importing those by the case?!?! Takes balls bringing those in through customs -> with the right customs agent, a case of those can be accompanied with a $2M fine ($2M for an individual, $5M for a company) plus up to 10 years in jail. I would really think twice about ordering from that source.

    ST discontinued 2732s long, long before 2013. They are blatantly taking some parts from 'somewhere' and marking them with the ST logo, part number and selling them as new ST parts. That clearly qualifies them as counterfeit parts.
    Those could be 'fell of the back of a truck' parts remarked to make them look like STs. Or maybe trash canned 'failed functional test' parts. Or ... who knows.
    When we made parts (yes, unfortunately many were fabbed in China) - functional test was much more stringent than what we pinheads need for our uses. Most "failed" parts would pass what we would consider functional but will fail by small degrees in areas such as access time or power consumption. At the time, more and more of our failed parts were somehow making their way back into the consumer market. To curb this - we had to shred failed parts that were made in China, Korea, Singapore and other far east countries. We still had many parts fall off the backs of trucks. They would ship 100K of one part... and we would receive 95K. Happened quite often and nobody over there gave a fat rat's patootie. "Huh, well... we must have miscounted."

    If the Chinese were smart about this - they would sell them under their own name as new parts. Nobody could contest that. New DingDong brand parts would be better than mystery counterfeit ST parts or no parts at all.

    #105 6 years ago

    I have not been able to get the TL866CS to properly program GAL's either (specifically Lattice GAL16V8's). It would go through the motions -> Erase the part, program the part, verify the part and say everything went OK. Yet the part would still be blank. I use an old Advin for doing this stuff now - at least it works reliably.
    The TL866CS does work properly for late model EPROMs and OTPs.

    3 weeks later
    #116 6 years ago

    While on this topic -- I saw this bit of good info posted by hailrazer over on KLOV --

    Just an FYI for those of us trying to burn Mitsubishi M5L2764's on the GQ-4X

    They are incredibly difficult to burn. A lot of times they won't even pass a blank check. I have over 40 of them from Nintendo VS boards and they were giving me tons of trouble. Only 1 in 10 would pass a blank check after "erasing" them. And those that did pass would hardly ever burn.

    So in order to get them to work you need to open the devices.txt file in the GQ USB Programmer folder on your PC. Remove the following line:

    Name="M5L2764",ID="XXXX",Class="2764(21V Vpp)",Category="EPROM",MFG="Mitsubishi",Message="A pply external power !";//by EZo

    And add this line in it's place:

    Name="M5L2764",ID="XXXX",Class="2764(21V Vpp)",Category="EPROM",MFG="Mitsubishi",VCC="5V",W VPP="21V",WVCC="6.2V",BVCC="5V",RVPP="5V",Message= "Apply external power !";//by EZo

    Then they will burn and blank check every time

    2 months later
    #123 6 years ago

    Not sure anybody really covered erasers.
    By far the best eraser to get is from Spectroline - something like the PE140T (1 bulb) or PE240T (2 bulbs).
    Watch ebay for them. I got a like new PE240T off ebay for something like $30 with a 'buy it now'. I didn't see any today at a reasonable price but they do pop up often.

    10 months later
    #129 5 years ago

    UV erasable EPROMs are no longer made.
    But - you can still buy alternates:

    OTPs (I use these often) -- One time programmable Programmable Memory. Essentially the same as an EPROM but in a plastic DIP package without the window. Not erasable, program it once: if wrong or changes need to be made then you toss it and get another. These can often be purchased cheap enough to compete with the Chinese EBAY EPROMs. And with the OTPs (through a reputable source) - you get new, non-questionable parts. These are available down to size 27256 (32K x 8).

    FLASH PROMs. Bit trickier to use than an EPROM. Dirt cheap but only larger sizes available and in surface mount packages. DIP parts are NLA.

    EEPROMs -- Electrically Erasable, Programmable Memory. Inexpensive and can get these down to 6K x 8 (equivalent to a 27C64), they cost a bit more than 2x that of an OTP but still cheaper than what the UV EPROMs cost when they were still making them. These will run you about $2.50 each at this size.

    Sizes under 27C64 - SOL for replacements.

    1 year later
    #131 3 years ago

    Fortunately, U49 is pinned such that a 32K x 8 (27256) or 64K x 8 (27512) part will work.

    For U49 and replacing a 27128 (16Kx8 size part) -- the extra address line (A14) for the PROM would be pin 27. This pin is tied high (to +5) so only the upper half of the PROM is usable. You can either double the image or just program the data to the upper half of the PROM.

    If replacing a 2764 (8Kx8 size part), it is a bit more involved.
    I don't see that Williams did anything extra with the A13 line for use with the smaller part and probably just doesn't use that address range in software.
    Since they don't show what they did with A13 decoding with a smaller part, you must plan for the worst case that the CPU is addressing with A13 both high and low.
    So to use the 32K x 8 - you actually need to replicate the image 4 times within the PROM. Or just replicate the image twice in the upper half of the PROM.

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