Flashing Tim Worthington NES RGB

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nullifer
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Flashing Tim Worthington NES RGB

Post by nullifer »

Hello,

I've purchased an RGB mod for my frontloader NES and it appears it was loaded with one of the firmware that has sync problems.
So I've ordered an Altera USB Blaster and it has already arrived.

My question is, Do I need to solder pins to the board to attach the USB blaster?

thanks
Elrinth
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Re: Flashing Tim Worthington NES RGB

Post by Elrinth »

You can solder if you want proper connection as you don't want any of the wires to "not have connection" during flashing.
But me myself, I'd rather make sure it's got proper attachment and not solder.

I am going to do the same thing to my GBA Consolizer soon to up it's firmware.

Here's how a guy who flashed new firmware to the GBA Consolizer did (different flasher than altera usb blaster, but should be exact same):
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JU9xOar ... e=emb_logo
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nullifer
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Re: Flashing Tim Worthington NES RGB

Post by nullifer »

Well here is the thing, here is the cable that was supplied with the USB blaster, it has female headers on each end.
Image

this is what the board looks like , the circled one is the 3v3
Image
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MrMistermister
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Re: Flashing Tim Worthington NES RGB

Post by MrMistermister »

If you end up flashing it, can you share any success you have with it? I'm in the exact same situation, I just don't have a USB blaster and don't want to buy one unless it fixes the sync issue.
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nullifer
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Re: Flashing Tim Worthington NES RGB

Post by nullifer »

OK I think I figured it out, I need to order some Dupont Female to male wires
Elrinth
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Re: Flashing Tim Worthington NES RGB

Post by Elrinth »

you really dont need anything else if you really want to... I'd solder it to ensure the connections tho. I don't really trust me being able to get the wires attached without soldering.

Here's a guide to update nesrgb: http://www.firebrandx.com/nespalette.html
iUE83
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Re: Flashing Tim Worthington NES RGB

Post by iUE83 »

Fair warning that this is a bit dicey, but the only other thing you would need is the jumpers. I just held them in place during the flash. You do want to be careful because I'm pretty sure there are some contact points the lengthy pins can short to. I used the same firebrandx page to help figure out the pinout. If you plan on doing lots of flashing, go the solder route. If you're lazy, fearless, and don't want stuff dangling/hanging out your NES, go this route. I thought I might have the problem firmware, and was willing to risk a one time flash with this rig.

http://www.firebrandx.com/nespalette.html

https://www.amazon.com/GenBasic-Solderl ... 224&sr=8-3

Image
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Greg2600
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Re: Flashing Tim Worthington NES RGB

Post by Greg2600 »

this thing is also recommended to adapt the JTAG cable to the NESRGB.

https://oshpark.com/shared_projects/n2Hu5aBt
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Greg2600
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Re: Flashing Tim Worthington NES RGB

Post by Greg2600 »

iUE83 wrote:Fair warning that this is a bit dicey, but the only other thing you would need is the jumpers. I just held them in place during the flash. You do want to be careful because I'm pretty sure there are some contact points the lengthy pins can short to. I used the same firebrandx page to help figure out the pinout. If you plan on doing lots of flashing, go the solder route. If you're lazy, fearless, and don't want stuff dangling/hanging out your NES, go this route. I thought I might have the problem firmware, and was willing to risk a one time flash with this rig.

Image
I can't get the JTAG to be seen. Quartus Programmer sees my USB Blaster but all I get are JTAG Chain Errors, "Can't Access JTAG Chain." I'm using those jumpers the same as you, and I'm pretty sure I've got them in the right pins.
viletim
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Re: Flashing Tim Worthington NES RGB

Post by viletim »

Greg2600 wrote:I can't get the JTAG to be seen. Quartus Programmer sees my USB Blaster but all I get are JTAG Chain Errors, "Can't Access JTAG Chain." I'm using those jumpers the same as you, and I'm pretty sure I've got them in the right pins.
Maybe you don't have power. Is your NES console powered on while you program the NESRGB board?
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Greg2600
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Re: Flashing Tim Worthington NES RGB

Post by Greg2600 »

viletim wrote:
Greg2600 wrote:I can't get the JTAG to be seen. Quartus Programmer sees my USB Blaster but all I get are JTAG Chain Errors, "Can't Access JTAG Chain." I'm using those jumpers the same as you, and I'm pretty sure I've got them in the right pins.
Maybe you don't have power. Is your NES console powered on while you program the NESRGB board?
Definitely has power. Here's what I'm dealing with. I'm pretty sure I've got it hooked up right. This is a 1.2 board btw.

Image

Image

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viletim
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Re: Flashing Tim Worthington NES RGB

Post by viletim »

Greg2600,

Your wires to TCK, TDO, TMS, TDI are mixed up.

Here is the pin list for the USB Blaster (page 5):
https://www.intel.com/content/dam/www/p ... _blstr.pdf

Here is the pin list for the NESRGB programming header (bottom of page):
https://etim.net.au/nesrgb/background_fault/
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Greg2600
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Re: Flashing Tim Worthington NES RGB

Post by Greg2600 »

viletim wrote:Greg2600,

Your wires to TCK, TDO, TMS, TDI are mixed up.

Here is the pin list for the USB Blaster (page 5):
https://www.intel.com/content/dam/www/p ... _blstr.pdf

Here is the pin list for the NESRGB programming header (bottom of page):
https://etim.net.au/nesrgb/background_fault/
Tim I used this diagram from Firebrand's page. Is this not accurate?

Wire #4 goes into the "3V3" terminal.
Wire #2 goes into the "GND" terminal.
Wire #3 goes into the "TDO" terminal.
Wire #1 goes into the "TCK" terminal.
Wire #9 goes into the "TDI" terminal.
Wire #5 goes into the "TMS" terminal.

Image
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Greg2600
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Re: Flashing Tim Worthington NES RGB

Post by Greg2600 »

Well anyway, I took Tim's suggestion and flipped those wires around and it worked! After updating, I still don't know what palette is the correct one, ha ha. On SMB, two of them (out of Playchoice, FCEUX, Unsaturaed-V6) seem way too saturated/bright. The middle one (no idea how my 3-way switch was wired) seems the most accurate though the brown is a bit too dark.

One thing I noticed, and maybe I haven't before, was that my left audio channel is very very faint compared to the right. Now I know the NES is not a stereo system, but the guy who did the his RGB install was supposed to I guess overlap R to L. Maybe he didn't do it properly?
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Link83
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Re: Flashing Tim Worthington NES RGB

Post by Link83 »

As viletim noted, it looks like you have TDI and TMS mixed up, and TDO and TCK mixed up.
Following the traces on the OSH Park adapter picture may help:-
Image
The only pin it doesn't clearly show the connection for is the GND pin, which can be connected to either pin 2 or pin 10.
<EDIT>Ah I see you have sorted it now.
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maxtherabbit
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Re: Flashing Tim Worthington NES RGB

Post by maxtherabbit »

Greg2600 wrote:
viletim wrote:Greg2600,

Your wires to TCK, TDO, TMS, TDI are mixed up.

Here is the pin list for the USB Blaster (page 5):
https://www.intel.com/content/dam/www/p ... _blstr.pdf

Here is the pin list for the NESRGB programming header (bottom of page):
https://etim.net.au/nesrgb/background_fault/
Tim I used this diagram from Firebrand's page. Is this not accurate?

Wire #4 goes into the "3V3" terminal.
Wire #2 goes into the "GND" terminal.
Wire #3 goes into the "TDO" terminal.
Wire #1 goes into the "TCK" terminal.
Wire #9 goes into the "TDI" terminal.
Wire #5 goes into the "TMS" terminal.

Image
so is that diagram correct or isn't it? it seems to match the pin list in the intel PDF

EDIT nevermind I see he just stuck the jumper wires into the NESRGB in the wrong order
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FBX
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Re: Flashing Tim Worthington NES RGB

Post by FBX »

I know my diagram is correct because I've flashed my NESRGB many times. If it were wrong, it wouldn't have worked for me.
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