Amarthar's Secret of Mana 2 repro updates thread

[Rx_79]

I have a question about the eproms what is the difference between 27C801-120 and 27C801-100, most of the ones on ebay are 27C801-100

Can I still use the 27C801 - 100 ones or do they need to be 27C801-120?

Also sometimes there is a F1 or B1 after the number, and some of the ones on ebay are listed as M27C801-100?

I am completely mixed up, can anyone help

[amarthar]

Here's the datasheet on the 27C801 series: LINK. From what you can see on the 11th page is that the numbers after the dash are the access speed. So 27C801-120 has access speed of 120 ns and 27C801-100 has access speed of 100 ns. Also the "F" and "B" stand for FDIP32W and PDIP32 respectively. The first being UV eraseble and the second being one time programmable. The "1" at the end is a symbol for the temperature range. In this case it's 0-70 °C (32-158 F).

[Rx_79]

That's most likey why my previous attempts failed.  I got the eproms too hot when slodering.

But the 27C801 -100 eproms should be okay?  Or is it mandatory that they be 27c801-120?

[amarthar]

That I do not know. Though searching through various sites, I saw opinions that it works (but don't quote me on that).
Also found a nice site about making repros (though visually it's horrible - turn off the backgrounds while browsing it):
http://nintendoallstars.w.interia.pl/ (the section I'm talking about is the "ROM Laboratory").

[destructiveme]

Hi amarthar,

i am currently building my own SoM2 cartridge too and I love your art, its much nicer than the designs already available! I am looking forward to you finishing it and maybe i could create a german translation of it if you don't object

100ns acces speed is okay, in fact everything equal or lower to the snes fast room speed (120ns) should work, see d4s (creator of snesdev.romhack.de) posts here: (even -150 did work)

http://geb.emubase.de/showthread.php?threadid=11438

I plan on ordering 27C801-100s from batronix.com, they are 6,43€ per piece and 5,22€ if you order more than 11. If you still need Eproms we could do a batch order, shipping is only 8€ from here to Poland. I have a good chip programmer from a friend of mine, I could also program them.

PM me if you are interested.

[scarmullet]

If one of you guys complete their SOM2 repro, can you post a guide on how you did it, where to find the parts and the best doner carts to use?

[amarthar]

Hi amarthar,

i am currently building my own SoM2 cartridge too and I love your art, its much nicer than the designs already available! I am looking forward to you finishing it and maybe i could create a german translation of it if you don't object

Sure, though my covers are still incomplete. It's still going through many changes, and may look way different than what is in the first post. But I'll keep you in mind, and once I'm happy with it, I'll send you the PSDs.

100ns acces speed is okay, in fact everything equal or lower to the snes fast room speed (120ns) should work, see d4s (creator of snesdev.romhack.de) posts here: (even -150 did work)

http://geb.emubase.de/showthread.php?threadid=11438

That is really good to know.

I plan on ordering 27C801-100s from batronix.com, they are 6,43€ per piece and 5,22€ if you order more than 11. If you still need Eproms we could do a batch order, shipping is only 8€ from here to Poland. I have a good chip programmer from a friend of mine, I could also program them.

PM me if you are interested.

Thanks for the offer, but -100 are readily available here. I was having problems because of looking for -120.

If one of you guys complete their SOM2 repro, can you post a guide on how you did it, where to find the parts and the best doner carts to use?

That I'll do. Though mine won't be ready for a long time, with all the crap that is going on with my life. But it will be done eventually.

[destructiveme]

Hi amarthar,

i am currently building my own SoM2 cartridge too and I love your art, its much nicer than the designs already available! I am looking forward to you finishing it and maybe i could create a german translation of it if you don't object

Sure, though my covers are still incomplete. It's still going through many changes, and may look way different than what is in the first post. But I'll keep you in mind, and once I'm happy with it, I'll send you the PSDs.

Great, thank you!

[Rx_79]

Okay got eproms in the mail, but I cant get my eprom burner to work.  It is a top853, and when i try to burn I get this message "Write...Error at:00000:(FF)"  Maybe I am doing something wrong with the software.

When I open the file I want to burn it asks for Fill, and I can pick No Clear, Fill by 00, or Fill by FF.

I can also set it to Normal, Continuous, Even, Odd, 1 byte of 4,2 byte of 4, 3 byte of 4, or 4 byte of 4

[destructiveme]

I had my first big success today - since I have never soldered anything I bought the whole package and asked Google,Youtube and some friends of mine for advice.
After breaking Super Soccer and Virtual Tennis (sorry ) I successfully desoldered the Aladdin mask rom from the PCB and reattached it with wires and the game runs!

Yay, now I will order the EPROMs and start next week with the real task
Maybe I can help you then Rx_79 if I encounter the same problem, but maybe you should refer to your documentation or ask the maker of your burner

BTW amarthar, could you send me your main image of your label, I couldnt find it anywhere, this way I could hack up something by myself until you are finished (i mean the background with the girl)


http://img5.imageshack.us/img5/1663/aladdinmodded.jpg

Attachments doesnt seem to work, "path not found" :/

[Rx_79]

After spending all night messing with it. It turned out to be the software.  It must have had a bad install.  I uninstalled it and reinstalled it. Now it works. I wish I could have figured it out sooner, So I could have started the slodering on the week end. Oh well I am just glad it works.

I still dont know about what settings to use. 

I burned my eproms,  with it set to "Normal", and "No Clear".   If anyone knows anything about that please let me know?

Also I finished my label

http://www.mediafire.com/i/?ty0sbc3f0im3dm5

[destructiveme]

Damn software :/ What programmer do you use, the software seems kinda bad?

Nice label, although the translation credits to Neill look kinda out of place... where did you get the text and the background? I can only find grainy scans of it :/

[Rx_79]

Thanks,

Check out some of the other game stickers i made, and let me know what you think

oh and, the back ground image came from the Music Cd. 

The Niell Corlett Logo came from his website.
 

[Rx_79]

It looks like I failed once again.

After spending all evening soldering, and could not get it to work. All I got was a black screen.  I checked all of my connections they look sound.

I going to desolder everything and recheck the eproms, and start from ground zero?

Also I did not know where to solder a few places see pic. 

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and with pin eight bent out on the eproms there is no way to fit it back into the cart.

[destructiveme]

Hey there,

I am happy, it worked for me! I didn't get in the cart either, have to resolder a few thingys tomorrow


http://img801.imageshack.us/img801/1417/som2modded.jpg

I guess your EPROMs didnt get written correctly, you may want to get an better programmer


You don't to solder Pin 9-11 of 74LS139 to anything, just let them be.  You may want to download the datasheets of the 27C801 and the 74LS139 (Google) so that you understand what you are doing. (what the PINs mean)
 
You need the left side of the 74 to emulate a 32MBit ROM to the SNES, the right side is for handling the copyprotection stuff.

The empty pin on the right bottom side between A19 and VCC is basically moe, so you could solder the 74 moe to the pin instead of the mad1 if you like, but you dont need it if you solder like on the diagram. The pin between the two VCC is A24, you need it only for games like Tales of Phantasia.

See if you splitted rom is correct and follow the steps 100%, you need to split it first and then remove the headers, since snestool seems to add header when it splits a file.
Verify if your EPROMs are indeed written correctly, maybe let a local electronics shop do the programming. (if you send me the money I could order good 27C801s for you and program them correctly)

Just connect all the pins with the same colors AND text and you should be fine. Connect the two GNDs on the 74 with a single wire and then connect one of them with the GND on the PCB. You also need only one VCC for the EPROMs and one for the 74L, but i guess it wouldnt hurt if you used both.

I cannot think of any tricky parts now, if you still have questions just ask them

All that is left is a shiny cover for my cartridge, but unfortunately I am not of the artistic kind - if anyone could help me out with a PAL one it would be very much appreciated