ANSWERED RGHing a Falcon with a bad block

[bigstoo]

Help...

I'm almost at the end of my tether with this damn machine.

I have a Falcon that, when I put the NAND through 360 Flash Tool, it tells me I have a bad block at block 39. As this is below 50 I figure I have to follow Martin C's guide to remap the ECC file generated by 360 Multi Builder.

I've done all that, writing the bad block to 0x3FF. However, when trying to boot I never get a green light on the coolrunner.
I've tested all the solder points with my multimeter and it all looks fine. I'm getting a voltage change on the (IIRC) orange and yellow wires, and a change in the noise of the fan every 7 seconds or so when I expect it is trying to glitch but no green light ever.

 

[Martin C]

Did you read my 'roadmap' sticky first and make sure the console boots with the CR installed and enabled?

 

[Goldensavage]

Don't mean to sound silly. But you did create the .ecc after remapping and then write it to the Nand.

Had that error once and couldn't see no green light, because i had generated the ECC, but never actually wrote it to the Nand

 

[bigstoo]

Did you read my 'roadmap' sticky first and make sure the console boots with the CR installed and enabled?

Ah, the tale is a little more complicated. I originally had a Matrix Glitcher installed that I couldn't get to work. I didn't fully trust it (I think it was a Chinese copy) so I thought I'd get hold of a CR and take it from there. So in answer to your question, no I didn't check if it boots with the CR and stock NAND since if was already half done. Do you suggest I flash back to stock and see if it boots with the CR installed? One slight problem is I don't have the DVD drive for the machine (one of the reasons I'm RGHing it). Will it still boot, or start to boot?

Don't mean to sound silly. But you did create the .ecc after remapping and then write it to the Nand.

Had that error once and couldn't see no green light, because i had generated the ECC, but never actually wrote it to the Nand

I've done it so many times in so many combinations that I've lost track of what I've done. The last time I did it, I just ran the stock nand as is through multi builder, then applied the ecc file to the nand, then copied the bad block to 3FF. It went something like this:

nandpro usb: -r16 nand.bin

I then ran that through multi builder to create the ecc, and also made a copy of the nand called nandecc.bin
then...

nandpro nandecc.bin: +w16 image_000000.ecc
nandpro nandecc.bin: -r16 39 1 bb1.bin
nandpro nandecc.bin: -w16 3FF bb1.bin
nandpro usb: -e16
nandpro usb: -w16 nandecc.bin

(This is from memory - the may be errors and typos but you get the idea. I know it's not exactly as in Martin's post but it should work, right?)
One thing I did notice is I didn't get an error when trying to write to block 39, even though it can't be read. Is that normal?

 

[Martin C]

Yes, flash back to stock first and it should boot.

 

[bigstoo]

Right. The stock flash is back on and it now boots to a RROD after about 20secs, which I guess is what's expected since I don't have a DVD drive installed.

 

[Martin C]

No - the RRoD is probably linked to a bad LDV. Check my link for more info.

So the only way forward is to go ahead and glitch it:

Create the ecc from your original NAND.
then copy nand.bin to nandecc.bin

then:

1. nandpro usb: +w16 image_000000.ecc
2. nandpro nandecc.bin: +w16 image_000000.ecc
3. nandpro nandecc.bin: -r16 bb1.bin 39 1
4. nandpro usb: -w16 bb1.bin 3FF

Let me know how you get on.

 

[bigstoo]

No - the RRoD is probably linked to a bad LDV. Check my link for more info.

So the only way forward is to go ahead and glitch it:

Create the ecc from your original NAND.
then copy nand.bin to nandecc.bin

then:

1. nandpro usb: +w16 image_000000.ecc
2. nandpro nandecc.bin: +w16 image_000000.ecc
3. nandpro nandecc.bin: -r16 bb1.bin 39 1
4. nandpro usb: -w16 bb1.bin 3FF

Let me know how you get on.

Ok. I've followed that exactly. Still no dice. I can hear the fan change speed slightly every several seconds but no green light on the CR, ever (the green light does work, though, as it was lit before I programmed the CR).

 

[Martin C]

So it's wiring then. Keep CPU PLL bypass, CPU RST and post out 1 away from any coils or interference.

Make sure the CR is set to phat and confirm it was flashed with a falcon timing file.

 

[bigstoo]

The CR is flashed with falcon.jed. I did try the opus.jed but it didn't make any difference.
As far as I can see, I've avoided any coils. How far away do I need to be?
I'll take some pictures so you can see my routing. I can't really show you my soldering as I've hot glued over the points. If I'm getting continuity though then does that not point to the soldering being ok?

 

[Martin C]

The CR is flashed with falcon.jed. I did try the opus.jed but it didn't make any difference.
As far as I can see, I've avoided any coils. How far away do I need to be?
I'll take some pictures so you can see my routing. I can't really show you my soldering as I've hot glued over the points. If I'm getting continuity though then does that not point to the soldering being ok?

No idea why people are hot-gluing on solder points - such a bad habit to get in to.

Continuity is one thing - if you've bridged another nearby point you won't know for sure without checking.

 

[bigstoo]

Here's a few pictures of the routing.
I hot glued some of the points as I am using alt points for some of them. As I say, I had a Matrix Glitcher installed initially, so I've had to wire in elsewhere on two of the points.

 

[Martin C]

The green light flashes when CPU_RST and CPU_PLL_BYPASS are good.

Try putting a 470pF cap in-line with CPU_RST (one leg on the pad, the other on the wire).