dc technical questions.

[boxcutter]

o.k., i modded a dc and now i'm getting just a black screen.

so to narrow it down, i have some questions.

first, will the bootloader bios display anything if it cant see any drives or sd cards?

second, the 256k settings flash.
will the dc display anything if it is corrupt or blank etc?

the soldering looks 100%, so either i messed up the 256k flash while erasing the sector-lock,
or i messed up the main 2meg flash somehow,
or it's not reading the SD.

all these tests are with no GD drive fitted btw, - i simply didnt fit it for the tests.
also, i'm testing with a VGA cable.

[SWAT]

(31.08.2016 05:21)boxcutter писал(а):  first, will the bootloader bios display anything if it cant see any drives or sd cards?

Bootloader should display device info at startup.

(31.08.2016 05:21)boxcutter писал(а):  second, the 256k settings flash.
will the dc display anything if it is corrupt or blank etc?

I think it's can be a problem for stock BIOS, but not for Bootloader.

[megavolt85]

1) what you see on display if boot from original bios?
2) what you see on display if boot from custom bios?

[boxcutter]

there is no original bios.

i think it could be the R/W signal jumper - have to check it.

[Gillbert]

Provide some detailed pics of your mod.

[boxcutter]

(01.09.2016 03:41)Gillbert писал(а):  Provide some detailed pics of your mod.

pics


  flash.jpg (Размер: 341.55 Кб / Загрузок: 18)

  sd1.jpg (Размер: 225.75 Кб / Загрузок: 14)

  sd3.jpg (Размер: 486.68 Кб / Загрузок: 14)

[SWAT]

Kings'on
I'm not sure about this SD card. Those who pretend on other brands usually can not boast quality.
But in any case you should see some text info on screen at startup your DC.

[Gillbert]

The soldering seems pretty fine to me too (good job BTW).

The bios and the bootloader start up screen should appear even with no SD Card inserted.

Since you are not using GD-ROM drive, did you flashed the proper bios (nogdrom)?

[boxcutter]

(01.09.2016 08:26)Gillbert писал(а):  The soldering seems pretty fine to me too (good job BTW).

The bios and the bootloader start up screen should appear even with no SD Card inserted.

Since you are not using GD-ROM drive, did you flashed the proper bios (nogdrom)?

i was "testing" without the drive.
it will be there afterwards - i also am doing an internal eSATA mod on the gdrom drive.


  gdrom-pcb.jpg (Размер: 492.5 Кб / Загрузок: 15)
  gdrom-frame.jpg (Размер: 491.06 Кб / Загрузок: 15)
  IMG00298-20160829-0418.jpg (Размер: 394.09 Кб / Загрузок: 14)

[megavolt85]

what you flash to mx29lv160?

[boxcutter]

yes, it's in the first picture.

MX29LV160TMC-90

[Gillbert]

(01.09.2016 22:28)boxcutter писал(а):  yes, it's in the first picture.

MX29LV160TMC-90

He meant, what type of bios file you flashed to the MX chip.

[Zimada]

(01.09.2016 07:07)boxcutter писал(а):  Provide some detailed pics of your mod.

On photos i see only MX chip... Are you burn the firmware in chip with flash programmer, before soldering it?
Before installing the chip you need to write a firmware with bios file in some programmer!
Links on custom BIOS files by Megavolt85: http://www.dc-swat.ru/forum/thread-2246.html

Or you need put the new\clear MX chip on top of original BIOS chip. And then "burn it" by Dreamcast it self, from "BIOSFlasher utility" that you need to load from GD-rom drive (ofcourse if it work).

More info is here: http://www.mmmonkey.co.uk/sega-dreamcast...free-bios/

[boxcutter]

flash was programmed and verified with "boot_loader_devkit.bios" before it was fitted.
and i did try it with the gdrom fitted.

i will go over it on saturday with a meter - got to sharpen the probes first.

[megavolt85]

if you don't have GD-ROM need use boot_loader_devkit_nogdrom.bios

[SWAT]

Or attach GD-ROM motherboard only.

[boxcutter]

i did attach gdrom for tests.