UltraHDMI bricked (house lost power during FW update)

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rich!
Posts: 3
Joined: Sat Mar 03, 2018 3:07 pm

UltraHDMI bricked (house lost power during FW update)

Post by rich! »

I received an UltraHDMI board a few days ago via game-tech, and installed it fine...install was a breeze. I set to upgrade the firmware to 1.07a to eliminate the audio "pop" issue using the firmware update rom on this page: http://retrorgb.com/ultrahdmi.html ( http://ultrahdmi.retroactive.be/install ... m_107a.z64).

Halfway through the update, my house lost power - as many of you know, the south of the UK is experiencing one hell of a snowstorm (https://twitter.com/ssencommunity/statu ... 1307075586 is proof my power went out...). Once we got power back, I found out my UltraHDMI was bricked.

I've tried the firmware update *.z64 again with the N64 hooked up to my CRT but that doesn't seem to work, likely because the code to receive the update on the fpga is kaput. I have a capable altera flasher here - but I cannot find the file anywhere online, which I understand is due to safety concerns Marshallh has ....problem is, without a firmware update I can flash to the board, my ultrahdmi is as good as junk and I'm pretty gutted that my £150 install that I only put together a day ago is now useless! I'd rather not have to send the ultrahdmi anywhere as I have the kit here to fix it (quartus prime installed, usb blaster)

I emailed game-tech. No help there at all other than telling me I'm on my own and need to get it serviced. I emailed Marshallh and posted on the retroactive forums, but again, not expecting any kind of prompt response if any :(

Does anyone have any ideas at all or does anyone have access to the raw firmware file I could flash to my board via JTAG? If not, would it not be feasible to extract that data from the upgrade rom? That's gotta be possible, right?

Feeling gutted right now. sigh. Waited three months for the UltraHDMI to arrive, and it gets ruined through no fault of my own.
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Thomas83lin
Posts: 46
Joined: Fri Jun 30, 2017 7:27 pm

Re: UltraHDMI bricked (house lost power during FW update)

Post by Thomas83lin »

rich! wrote:I emailed game-tech. No help there at all other than telling me I'm on my own and need to get it serviced.
Need to get it serviced? who does that? maybe they would have the file you need. I've looked all over the web myself for the raw firmware but no luck!

Only place I've seen mention of updating from the jtag was from Rgbsource, and they mention servicing also. Maybe the file isn't public.

"NOTE: If you're currently running v1.06 firmware be sure to disable the IGR (In-Game Reset) option prior to running the update via a 64drive or ED64. This will mitigate one UltraHDMI kit bricking scenario, which requires servicing to restore (update via JTAG)."
borti4938

Re: UltraHDMI bricked (house lost power during FW update)

Post by borti4938 »

@rich!

I've send you a PM with a solution ;)

BR
rich!
Posts: 3
Joined: Sat Mar 03, 2018 3:07 pm

Re: UltraHDMI bricked (house lost power during FW update)

Post by rich! »

borti4938 wrote:@rich!

I've send you a PM with a solution ;)

BR
As I said in the PM, you're a goddamn legend

thank you!!
syboxez
Posts: 99
Joined: Sun Jul 24, 2016 4:33 am

Re: UltraHDMI bricked (house lost power during FW update)

Post by syboxez »

borti4938 wrote:@rich!

I've send you a PM with a solution ;)

BR
In order to prevent this: https://xkcd.com/979/

Can you post the solution here?
borti4938

Re: UltraHDMI bricked (house lost power during FW update)

Post by borti4938 »

I do have a JTAG programming file on my computer, which I don't want to share in public. I would not sure if Marshall liked it.
rich!
Posts: 3
Joined: Sat Mar 03, 2018 3:07 pm

Re: UltraHDMI bricked (house lost power during FW update)

Post by rich! »

borti4938 wrote:I do have a JTAG programming file on my computer, which I don't want to share in public. I would not sure if Marshall liked it.
FWIW, Marshallh responded to my email yesterday with a 1.07a jtag file. He responded really quickly and was super helpful, so anyone who has an issue should be able to contact him directly with no worries

just dont do the firmware upgrade via cart/rom unless you have backup power!!
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