Kazzo USB rom dumper / dev cart programmer

Discuss hardware-related topics, such as development cartridges, CopyNES, PowerPak, EPROMs, or whatever.

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Joe
Posts: 650
Joined: Mon Apr 01, 2013 11:17 pm

Re: Kazzo USB rom dumper / dev cart programmer

Post by Joe »

brian wrote:What kind of EPROM programmer would be best to read these kind of chips?
For chips that old, just about any EPROM programmer will do.

I have a Minipro TL866CS. To read those chips with it, I'd just have to choose a 128kx8 EPROM from the support list (it doesn't matter which one, since reading is the same for all of them) and click the button to save the chip's contents to a file.
brian wrote:How difficult is it to remove the chips from their sockets?
Usually it's pretty easy. I like to use a screwdriver to gently pry the end of the chip up, alternating between both ends so it doesn't bend the pins too much. There are other methods as well, so if you're not comfortable doing that, I'm sure someone else can offer a better suggestion.
lidnariq
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Joined: Sun Apr 13, 2008 11:12 am

Re: Kazzo USB rom dumper / dev cart programmer

Post by lidnariq »

... Sure enough, "A9 MOD". Both PRG and CHR appear to have a diode clamping the voltage on that pin to not go above Vcc. (Is there any identifiable text or symbols on the black-and-blue cylinders?)

I can't figure out what why one'd need that, though; sure, many early EEPROMs have either identification or extra memory when A9 is raised to Vpp, but not the 27C301. (i.e. the modification doesn't match the UVEPROMs)
Joe wrote:I have a Minipro TL866CS. To read those chips with it, I'd just have to choose a 128kx8 EPROM from the support list (it doesn't matter which one, since reading is the same for all of them) and click the button to save the chip's contents to a file.
The 27C301 is a subtly different pinout than the 27C1001 (with A16 and /OE swapped) so it wouldn't be anything ... in fact, looking through my minipro's supported list, it doesn't obviously look like it could dump the entire ROM.

Actually, I'm really surprised that I've can apparently find plenty of NES-SKEPROM protos that all work with either 27C1001 and 27C301s on them and no obvious rework. That doesn't make sense to me...
brian wrote:How difficult is it to remove the chips from their sockets?
I've had good luck with a thin screwdriver, gently inserted in-between the top of the socket and the underside of the CERDIP, and then gently rocked/rotated a little bit at a time to lift out all four corners are uniformly as possible.

http://www.dansdata.com/sbs10.htm seems to be strongly of the opinion—and I think I agree—that historical "DIP pullers" are awful.
Joe
Posts: 650
Joined: Mon Apr 01, 2013 11:17 pm

Re: Kazzo USB rom dumper / dev cart programmer

Post by Joe »

lidnariq wrote:The 27C301 is a subtly different pinout than the 27C1001 (with A16 and /OE swapped) so it wouldn't be anything ... in fact, looking through my minipro's supported list, it doesn't obviously look like it could dump the entire ROM.
Interesting, I hadn't noticed the difference in pinout. It's a small enough change that it's still pretty easy, as long as you don't mind building an adapter.
brian
Posts: 10
Joined: Sat Jul 04, 2015 7:11 pm

Re: Kazzo USB rom dumper / dev cart programmer

Post by brian »

Thanks again for all the help and suggestions.

The black-and-blue cylinders appear to have "R49" on them.

Are there any EPROM programmers that would be able to read these chips without having to make an adapter?

Do you think I would have any better results trying to dump with a CopyNES? Or would I probably have the same issue?

Thanks again!
brian
Posts: 10
Joined: Sat Jul 04, 2015 7:11 pm

Re: Kazzo USB rom dumper / dev cart programmer

Post by brian »

This person is having pretty much the exact problem I am having when he tries dumping Metroid with the Kazzo: viewtopic.php?f=9&t=12974&p=150508#p150508

He said the first 16K is OK, but that "there are big portions that are not matching following that, but some of it does. I dont know if the script is reading the banks in the right order?". This is exactly what I am seeing when dumping the Lolo 3 prototype.

I checked a copy of Metroid that I have and sure enough it also has a MMC1B2 chip in it just like the prototype I am trying to dump.

So it appears that maybe the Kazzo scripts don't support the MMC1B2 chip?
Sbeehive
Posts: 1
Joined: Sun Aug 09, 2015 12:59 pm

Re: Kazzo USB rom dumper / dev cart programmer

Post by Sbeehive »

Hey guys,

Just bought this lovely device and wondering if anyone had the same problem, seems like no other Windows 7 users have reported this to my knowledge.

I'm following the instructions to operate the Kazzo NES INL Retro Dumper but have been running into a problem. I keep getting "Windows has stopped this device because it has reported problems. (Code 43)" as an error code. It seems Windows is shutting the device down before I can even configure it when I try and generate drivers.

Windows 7 refuses to acknowledge the device, when I try and pick the dumper to install drivers on it claims its product id/vendor id is 0x0000 and putting the two proper ID's into the installer does not seem to help. There is an MI ID that I can place but I do not know this value.Any attempt to install drivers fails.

Is there any way to get Windows 7 to recognize this thing before it shuts it down? Is there a way to get drivers onto it via Windows 7 if it keeps doing this?

Thanks,

Steve
prototector
Posts: 44
Joined: Sun Aug 31, 2014 9:55 am

Re: Kazzo USB rom dumper / dev cart programmer

Post by prototector »

Hoping someone can help me with this.

I've fired up my Kazzo on my Windows XP machine finally. Followed all of the installation steps; everything seems to have gone smoothly, but the only difference is that even after changing the device's firmware to the Kazzo's (for dumping), it still appears as INL-Retro Prog in Device Manager (EDIT: Did a re-install and it now appears as Kazzo). I didn't think much of it because the whole installation process went otherwise problem-free.

I decided to get on with backing up some games. I have Blades of Steel and Duck Hunt North American carts for testing. BoS appears to be backing up fine, but it turns up a different checksum for the ROM every single time; of course, the ROMs don't work when testing on an emulator (update: some of the several more attempts created ROM files that do work in emulators, but again, they're different each time and also different from the known retail checksum). The cartridge has no issues and I've selected the correct script (UNROM). Duck Hunt simply won't be dumped at all, giving the error:

AN ERROR HAS OCCURED [the index 'ppu_rom' does not exist]

CALLSTACK
*FUNCTION [dump()] dumpcore.nut line [22]

LOCALS
[ppuarea_memory] NULL
[vram] 1
[increase_ppu] 1
[increase_cpu] 11
[mappernum] 0
[script] "nrom.ad"
[d] USERPOINTER
[this] TABLE

Also:
-When the cartridges are inserted, they are fitted, but can still wobble back and forth a fair amount. I'm fitting them with the orientation shown here: http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showthread.php?p=72806661 (scroll down)
-What does the red light indicate? It turned on during the installation process, but hasn't since then.

Any help is appreciated.

UPDATE: I have now successfully dumped both cartridges. It turns out the culprit was the anago gui; command line version dumped both without a hitch. The BoS cart was being dumped incorrectly in the gui anago because I chose the unrom.af script (which was the only one); the folder for the command line version had the unrom.ad, so I copied that into the former's folder and checked if that would fix the issue. Instead, it gave the same error as for using nrom script. So it seems I'll have to settle with using the command line. Others have reported using the gui version without this problem, so perhaps I need to roll back my Kazzo firmware even further...?
prototector
Posts: 44
Joined: Sun Aug 31, 2014 9:55 am

Re: Kazzo USB rom dumper / dev cart programmer

Post by prototector »

Bump. Still hoping to get help on why the GUI anago is giving that error when dumping carts.
Ice Man
Posts: 547
Joined: Fri Jul 04, 2014 2:34 pm

Re: Kazzo USB rom dumper / dev cart programmer

Post by Ice Man »

I'm curious, are there any scripts to dump TLSROM/TKSROM like Armadillo?
tepples
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Location: NE Indiana, USA (NTSC)
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Re: Kazzo USB rom dumper / dev cart programmer

Post by tepples »

For a T*SROM game, try dumping it with the standard MMC3 script and then changing the mapper in the header after the fact. The relationship between these and standard MMC3 boards (T?ROM) is analogous to that between AMROM and BNROM: only mirroring differs.
Jim VanDeventer
Posts: 4
Joined: Tue Apr 02, 2013 7:00 pm

Re: Kazzo USB rom dumper / dev cart programmer

Post by Jim VanDeventer »

Hi everyone. The Kazzo worked like a charm for dumping most carts; however, there were a few exceptions. I'll start with the most straightforward.

Two games are listed as using a mapper called AOROM. I can't tell from the list of included scripts if any are appropriate. I tried them all without success, though I am out of my element and may have missed something obvious to someone else.

The third game I am having trouble with is Tetris. It is listed as MMC1 and I tried both included scripts (skrom and surom.) Both resulted in a black screen. Then I tried MMC2 (just because) and it sort of worked. The title screen and menus appear as expected but then everything goes haywire when the game actually begins. Am I on the right path or barking up the wrong tree?

Any feedback would be appreciated. Thanks.
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prototector
Posts: 44
Joined: Sun Aug 31, 2014 9:55 am

Re: Kazzo USB rom dumper / dev cart programmer

Post by prototector »

I read that for AOROM games, you can use this anrom script through the command line version of anago (instead of gui): https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/183 ... o/anrom.ad

If it doesn't work, try this. Open the script in wordpad and put a 2 right after the d that's after cpu_dump (so it reads "(d2, pagesize..."), then try again.

On another note, would anybody know what's the purpose of the multiple mmc3 scripts? There is mmc3.ad, mmc3_v2.ad and mmc3.ag Is each specific to certain carts, or is one the most ideal to choose over the others?
tepples
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Location: NE Indiana, USA (NTSC)
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Re: Kazzo USB rom dumper / dev cart programmer

Post by tepples »

SEROM is an MMC1 board whose maximum PRG ROM size is 256 kbit. MMC1 games on SEROM, such as Tetris and Dr. Mario, route A14 differently from most other MMC1 boards. Most MMC1 boards connect PRG ROM A14 to the MMC1's PRG ROM A14 output. But SEROM runs PRG ROM A14 directly to CPU A14. Try dumping the PRG ROM with the NROM plug-in and the CHR ROM with the MMC1 plug-in.

And now some conjecture about the very existence of SEROM:
  • The different A14 routing is to allow use of cheaper slower PRG ROMs, as A14 out of the CPU settles sooner than A14 out of the MMC1.
  • These games use MMC1 instead of CNROM solely to allow switching nametable mirroring or switching PPU $0000 and $1000 independently. Tengen's Tetяis, by contrast, used a board similar in capability to CNROM, GNROM, and MHROM, which behaves exactly like CNROM in the ROM size actually used.
Ice Man
Posts: 547
Joined: Fri Jul 04, 2014 2:34 pm

Re: Kazzo USB rom dumper / dev cart programmer

Post by Ice Man »

Thanks tepples, that worked!
Jim VanDeventer
Posts: 4
Joined: Tue Apr 02, 2013 7:00 pm

Re: Kazzo USB rom dumper / dev cart programmer

Post by Jim VanDeventer »

prototector wrote:I read that for AOROM games, you can use this anrom script through the command line version of anago (instead of gui)
Well that was easy. Thanks.
tepples wrote:Try dumping the PRG ROM with the NROM plug-in and the CHR ROM with the MMC1 plug-in.
Thanks for your suggestion. I wouldn't call the result a success but I'm not disappointed either. That's pretty wild.
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