The Sinclair QL Forum

Hi
Happy New Year.

i bought a willeam pcb5.0E2020 from AliExpress so I can program ROMs but unfortunately I cannot get it to work.
It is running on an old PC with Windows XP and using an external power supply rather than the USB power.
I have found various versions of the software none of which seem to work.

I can access the ROM and read it but I get rubbish in the buffer.
e.g. if I load a a rom file that I've downloaded from dilwyn page I can see in the buffer english text - like command names, etc.
However if I read a chip which should have the same on it i just get rubbish.

I've also tried erasing an eprom in a UV erasers (Z88 one actually), but the eprom programmer always thinks it is not empty.
Any attempt to write a rom always fails.

I have all of the jumpers set as per the software recommendations.

Any clues as to what could be going on please?

Have tried various versions on 0.98d of the software (and earlier) with no success.

cheers

mlasham wrote:However if I read a chip which should have the same on it i just get rubbish.

I doubt it can read the standard QL ROM chips because they have odd select pins compared to normal ROMs.

mlasham wrote:I've also tried erasing an eprom in a UV erasers (Z88 one actually), but the eprom programmer always thinks it is not empty.
Any attempt to write a rom always fails.

If you are sure the EPROM is empty then it sounds like a faulty unit. Did you read the empty ROM and get rubbish or all FF? Rubbish might mean EPROM wasn't erased. More tests with confirmed ROM contents is required for definite answer I think.

I am trying to read/write 27C512 and 27C256 eproms.
I've managed to get it so I can half read a Miracle systems rom chip.
In the buffer I see text like "...0F...acle....stems..."
so it looks like it is reading some of the data but dropping or corrupting some.
must be a timing issue but I've no idea how to fix that

I've removed all printer software and anything I can think of that would touch the parallel port.

mlasham wrote:I've removed all printer software and anything I can think of that would touch the parallel port.

Could the BIOS that usually has three parallel port settings make a difference? If it is passing parallel data it might be worth belling out the cable data lines. Do you know what is in the EPROM you are reading for sure to eliminate one variable?

Ruptor wrote:

mlasham wrote:I've removed all printer software and anything I can think of that would touch the parallel port.

Could the BIOS that usually has three parallel port settings make a difference? If it is passing parallel data it might be worth belling out the cable data lines. Do you know what is in the EPROM you are reading for sure to eliminate one variable?

in the bios the port is set to ecp+epp
ive tried various roms that work in the ql but dont read correctly

mlasham wrote:

Ruptor wrote:

mlasham wrote:I've removed all printer software and anything I can think of that would touch the parallel port.

Could the BIOS that usually has three parallel port settings make a difference? If it is passing parallel data it might be worth belling out the cable data lines. Do you know what is in the EPROM you are reading for sure to eliminate one variable?

in the bios the port is set to ecp+epp
ive tried various roms that work in the ql but dont read correctly

Solved it.
I was reading the dip switch settings backwards, so off I had as on and on I had as off.
I thought the white squares where on, but no, the red block was on.

Sounds like a good start to the new year for you. Happy New Year!

Ruptor wrote:Sounds like a good start to the new year for you. Happy New Year!

haha, thanks - did have a sense of achievement to it - especially when my QL booted successfully with the burnt ROM.

Happy New Year to you too