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 True USB Willem Programmer (GQ-2X,3X,4X & GQ-4x4)
 GQ 4x4 no longer reading properly (solved-ish)

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T O P I C    R E V I E W
sk Posted - 02/26/2018 : 14:12:30
Or writing at all.
It's been sat on a shelf for a while, and it used to work, but now when I read (in this case a 27c400) I get back data which I know is wrong. At it fails to write anything to blank eproms.

I had a quick check of the voltages and Vcc and Vpp are set correctly (ie. they match the entries in devices.txt for various devices) but it looks like there's an issue with the ground pin which is coming out at 2.4v, when the address lines (and every other pin) is low they are around 80mv.

Voltages where checked with nothing in the slot, using the hardware diagnostics page.

EDIT: Looks like ground does go to ~0v when the adapter is connected, but Vcc is only 3.9v, the address and data pins are driven at 4.8v

EDIT2: Checked it on an oscilloscope, voltages are correct when actually reading. It looks like a bunch of the address lines never get asserted though, either when reading or enabling the pins on the diagnostic page.
9   L A T E S T    R E P L I E S    (Newest First)
sk Posted - 02/28/2018 : 16:30:41
How would the machine getting upgraded to Windows 10 affect the firmware? And why would using the old software fix that?
Also I don't believe this actually has any memory on it to store the firmware, the software loads it up when you connect it and/or when you select the device you want to program.
Inside there is a small FPGA, another microcontroller and the cypress usb chip (which incorporates another microcontroller), no programmable memory to be seen. Though it would have been nice for the usb chip to have some, then they could have set a custom VID and PID, and maybe a recognisable device description so that it doesn't show up as the default "Cypress FX2LP No EEPROM Device"

When I installed the v7.15 this time I did so on top of the existing installation (it just overwrites everything) and so it kept the settings (preferences, last device select etc) from v7.02
When I first installed v7.15 I uninstalled the previous version first, and so lost the settings.
If I can be bothered (I probably can) I'll check to see if a) using a fresh install of v7.15 breaks it again and b) if there are any differences between the default settings (if I can find where they live).

EDIT: To clarify, the microcontrollers have ram that can be written to, and FPGAs can be programmed but when the power is lost so is everything that was on them.
anniel Posted - 02/28/2018 : 15:34:13
quote:
Originally posted by sk


And let's not forget that I tried it on a completely different machine with a different OS, which had never had this software on it before.




That's why I suspect the firmware.
sk Posted - 02/28/2018 : 14:12:29
I uninstalled the old version of the software and installed the new one (and drivers), so the OS having been upgraded shouldn't have been a problem. Not that I see how it could have been.
And let's not forget that I tried it on a completely different machine with a different OS, which had never had this software on it before.

It's also possible that it's only coincidence that it started to work when I used it with v7.02. Although given the number of times I attempted to use it, and with different variants of the chip I wanted to read...
anniel Posted - 02/28/2018 : 13:08:40
quote:
Originally posted by sk

Yes i'm sure it's genuine.
Now that it's working again I updated to version 7.15 of the software, and it is still working. So I don't know what went wrong or how the issue is resolved, but I'm not sure I really care.

The list of steps to get to this point were:
  • Plug in programmer for the first time in about 8 months
  • Software crashes after connecting to the programmer
    • The computer was upgraded to Windows 10 in that time so...
  • Install latest drivers and software, observe issues
  • Install latest drivers and software on a different machine (running Windows 7), observe the same issues
  • Install software version 7.02 from the cd, programmer works again
  • Upgrade to version 7.15, still works




Probably the upgrade to Windows 10 that did something that prevented the firmware to get an update?
sk Posted - 02/28/2018 : 11:32:05
Yes i'm sure it's genuine.
Now that it's working again I updated to version 7.15 of the software, and it is still working. So I don't know what went wrong or how the issue is resolved, but I'm not sure I really care.

The list of steps to get to this point were:
  • Plug in programmer for the first time in about 8 months
  • Software crashes after connecting to the programmer
    • The computer was upgraded to Windows 10 in that time so...
  • Install latest drivers and software, observe issues
  • Install latest drivers and software on a different machine (running Windows 7), observe the same issues
  • Install software version 7.02 from the cd, programmer works again
  • Upgrade to version 7.15, still works
anniel Posted - 02/28/2018 : 06:49:15
quote:
Originally posted by sk

The latest software and drivers are what caused the problem, only using the software on the cd that the programmer came with resolved the issues.



Sure it's genuine?
sk Posted - 02/28/2018 : 06:27:08
The latest software and drivers are what caused the problem, only using the software on the cd that the programmer came with resolved the issues.
anniel Posted - 02/28/2018 : 03:50:13
Try using the latest software and drivers...
sk Posted - 02/27/2018 : 14:11:25
I checked all the pins to see which worked and which did not and the result is (x = works, o = always low):

--- - - ---
a23 x - ---
a22 o x a21
a19 x x a20
Vpp x x Vcc
a16 x o a18
a15 o o a17
a12 o o a14
a07 o o a13
a06 o o a08
a05 x o a09
a04 o o a11
a03 o o oe
a02 x x a10
a01 x o ce
a00 x x D07
D00 x x D06
D01 x x D05
D02 x x D04
--- - x D03

I think this thing might just be broken. All the pins (that I could be bothered checking) have continuity to the fpga and/or the Cypress usb chip inside, so they're just not being driven when they're supposed to be.
It's a shame, it's not really been used that much.

EDIT: I stumbled across the original install disk, so for completeness I loaded up my virtual machine of Windows 8.1 (on Win10 now), and installed the software there and it all works fine.

It looks like there's a driver / software issue with the latest stuff.
I'd also installed the latest software on a machine with Windows 7, and that also failed in the same way. So it seems more of an issue with the software than windows.

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