I'm just creating this thread to gather everyone who are having the same issues with updating their PIC in one place in order to gain a better understanding of the problem and perhaps find a solution.
So please - everyone who are experiencing the problems I am about to describe, let yourself be heard.
So here goes:
As a few of you might have read on this board, I have yet to have any luck updating my ACube-built MiniMig v1.1 with the new firmware from Jakub and Dennis - despite using a PIC already containing the TinyBootloader code.
Just this morning I received my second pre-programmed PIC from ACube and much to my dismay, I am experiencing the exact same problems as with the first one. Needless to say, after months of waiting to get this damn thing to work, I didn't know whether to burst into tears or smash the board against the wall, swearing to never indulge myself in an Amiga-related hobby project ever again. I counted to ten and decided to do neither, but instead give it one last chance and see if the community can help me out.
Finding a couple of other posts regarding the same issue neatly sprinkled over the many MiniMig threads on the site (none of them apparantly resolved) gives me meager hope that at least I am not the only one.
To sum up my trials and tribulations, I have followed every description to the letter.
- No jumpers on the Spare I/O or on the row behind the joystick ports.
- Jumper set to MCU and not FPGA.
- PIC seated perfectly (and the right way around)
- No peripherals are connected to the MiniMig (neither mouse nor keyboard)
- Null-Modem cable connected to the serial port of my PC and to the serial port of the MiniMig board.
As I power up the MiniMig, the drive light starts to blink when there is no SD card in the reader, and glows constantly if one is present (I have tried both). Then I start the TinyBootloader app on my PC, make sure it is set to the correct COM port (there is only one) as well as the correct baud rate (115200).
I press the CheckPIC button in the TinyBootloader app and immediately after I press the PGM RESET hardware button on the MiniMig.
Then I get this:
Connected to \\.\COM1 at 115200
Searching for PIC ...
pic sending unknown data: "K" <> 0h=
Check baudrate & Start Write while PIC is not sending serial data (e.g. in reset)
ERROR!
The "0h=" part of the string varies depending on how many milliseconds I wait between button presses.
To sum up my experience, I have tried:
- 2 different pre-programmed PICs
- 3 different Null-Modem cables (I even hand-soldered one myself to make sure the wiring was correct), all three tested perfectly as Null-Modem in a cable tester borrowed from the IT department at work.
- 3 different computers (all running Windows XP and using TinyBootLoader, v1.9.7)
In addition I have tried with and without an SD card, changing the jumper from 15KHz to 31KHz, and trying it with and without an attached monitor (not that any of those things would make any sense, but I was desperate).
Using the TinyBootloader software I have tried several hundred times with a various timing, prayers, chanting and incantations, but nothing works. I am still treated to the same array of error messages every single time.
The only thing I have left to assume is that I have a broken board. It seems to work just fine while playing the few games it supported properly out of the box, but obviously there is something wrong with it, since I am getting nothing but garbage in return when I try to communicate with the PIC.
I am prepared to handsomely reward anyone able to come up with a solution, because with the poor compatibility achievable without the recent microcontroller update, the board is all but useless to me.
Kind regards,
- Anders