ROM on Board 771692

[ScotchBroth]

Trying to transfer a ROM to this board. It has a U12 chip but when I connect to it via the COM port I get this result:

System controller (SoC)................. : 88i9146B2 (0x7412)
Internal ROM............................ : No
External ROM............................ : No
HDD Initialization...................... : Ok

It doesn't allow me to wrote a new ROM to it. The option to read or write just isn't there.

Anyone seen this before?

 

[Jared]

That's new to me.... almost seems like the ROM chip has gone bad and isn't being recognized by the MC. Have you tried moving the U12 to another board and see if you can read it there?

 

[ScotchBroth]

Haven't Moved a new chip there yet. That was my next step. I just didn't want to walk ALL THE WAY across the room to my soldering station.

 

[ScotchBroth]

That did it. Got a new winbond chip (not the patient) into the spot and it detected like normal.

Weird. And thanks for the help!

 

[jerovsek]

Hello,

I Will continue in this topic, because it is related to same board and ROM.
I save ROM from 771737 to file and write this rom to 771692(backup was done before I start writing).
ROM write was OK, but PCB bricked. What I do wrong.

 

[Jared]

Was the ROM size the same? You should be able to unbrick it using boot rom code utility.

 

[lcoughey]

I Will continue in this topic, because it is related to same board and ROM.
I save ROM from 771737 to file and write this rom to 771692(backup was done before I start writing).
ROM write was OK, but PCB bricked. What I do wrong.

I have found that if the PCB has an external (U12) ROM and you write it to a PCB that has an embedded ROM or the other way around, it will result in bricking the drive. It also does not help if you write a 512K ROM onto a 256K chip.

 

[jerovsek]

Thank you Jared and Luke for replay.
I unsolder ROM and check and looks good. I didn't have time to compare both images.
I flash back ROM from backup of 771692 PCB and solder it back. I can operate only in kernel mode on PC3000. I was able to write ROM and ROM modules back succesful, but drive remain in kernel mode.
Any suggestion how to fix it.
I just testing on my drive.
Goal was to read ROM over terminal from 771737, and this part was OK.
Then I try to write 771737 ROM to 771692 PCB. This step I perform over SATA connection with isolated heads. ROM write was done OK without errors. But after ROM write and power on, PCB remain busy.

 

[Jared]

Try using a 771692-005 REV A board. I think that's the one I generally use and it seems to always work as a replacement for the 771737's.

Does it go ready even with the preamp still blocked?

 

[jerovsek]

Thank you Jared.

I use 771692-005 Rev A.
I Will try few more options.
On stock I have following PCB's
2060-771692-005 REV A 771692-905
2060-771692-001 REV P1 771692-101
2060-771692-002 REV A 771692-112

Just one question.
over terminal I can read only ROM, without ROM modules.
What is the rule of ROM modules, and how important they are.
Is there any explanation regarding ROM mudules and their role.