PS1 Modchip 12C508A problem

Alright guys, so I've been working on making some of my own chips lately. Got a USB K150 programmer and a homemade ghetto serial programmer which I got the schematic for from this site.





I've programmed chips using the MM3 12F629 Hex and it works perfectly on said 12F629. I've also programmed the MM3 Hex file meant for a 12C508 onto a 12F508 rewritable chip and it works fine. Problem is I am unable to get any actual 12C508 to work on a PS1 that I program. I've already wasted a few chips and I'm not in a hurry to waste more. I've tried MM3 and Mayumi v4 Hex files on 12C508A's with different settings and every time it fails to work on either PS1s I try it on , meanwhile all my other non-12C508A chips seem to work. I even have 2 pre-programmed 12C508As which were purchased from a member of this site which both work on the systems.

Note that the ghetto programmer listed above will not read any 12C508As I throw at it; I tried ICprog and Winpic. It will read/program 12F629 and 12F508 fine, but not 12C508A. Not a huge problem because I have my USB K150 which can read and program them. Except they don't work when I test them. I've made sure I set the OSCCAL value like I'm supposed to. What gives??

I've tried programming the Mayumi v4 Hex onto a 12F508 and it flat out refuses to even program properly, doesn't matter which programmer or software I use. But I can confirm that the MM3 Hex designed for 12C508 works fine on 12F508, or at least on the systems I've tested it with.

Any ideas on how to get these 12C508A's to work properly? Can someone refresh me of what settings I should use. Like I said, I've tried different settings but maybe I'm missing something. Thanks in advance for any help.

 

I don't see why would you use 12C508A.
12F508 is newer and can be reflashed,while the 12C508A can only be flashed once.
Anyways,try PICPgm:
http://picpgm.picprojects.net/software.html

 

Because Mayumi 4 doesnt seem to work?

Because the 12C50x are cheaper (at least where I get them from).

Number of reasons really. Though, I would agree that f you can get MM3 running on chips you have with programmer you already own - is it really worth messing about?

 

Thanks for the response guys. It's more about learning and trying out different Hex files and chips, and I'd like to document some of my experiences online after.

PICPgm is a fantastic program and works great with the "ghetto" reader above, but it does not work with 12C508A's. The hardware doesn't read any 12C508As I try using different programs and different PCs, so I'm assuming the hardware itself is just not capable. Furthermore, PICPgm does not have any 12C series chips listed.

The K-150 uses a proprietary protocol and will only work with a proprietary program, and the program lacks a few options. I've read about others online who used the K-150 to program 12C508A's and apparently it works. It will program the 12C508A chips and then read them back but then when I actually try it out it fails to work.

On a side note, I'm surprised you say that the 12C508A's are the cheapest when from my experience (online) they're the most expensive out of 12C508A, 12F508, and 12F629 - and they're only one-time-programmable!

 

Mayumi v4 works great with 12f50x series, and i don't see why not...

 

I tried again using PICPgm and ghetto programmer and got the Mayumi v4 to work on 12F508 perfectly this time, tested stealth too and it works. Also tried with the K-150 programmer and it worked. Not sure why it didn't work before, could be a number of factors. But I have now personally tested MM3 and Mayumi v4 (and others) which were designed for 12C508 and worked perfectly using 12F508.

Still have yet to figure out the mystery of why it wasn't working on 12C508A but I'll give it a try later.

Edit:
Tried again with K-150, got this error, and the chip didn't work (yet when I read the chip, the data appears intact):



Honestly, now that I'm able to get all the good Hex files to work on the 12F508's, there's little need to use the C versions, but I'd still like to figure out how to get it to work. Another chip bites the dust.

 

I get the PIC12C509 cheapest. The 509 and 509a (both C and F versions) are compatible too.

 

i have the DIY k150 and its total trash, i have tried numerous drivers for the prolific usb, and none of them work, i have messed up about 10 pic chips trying to get this damn programmer to work, i have tried it on win 7 x64, win7 x32 win xp x32 as well as windows 98 se, by the way i couldn't get the program microburn to work in windows 98 se, so i had to purchase a willem PCB50B programmer and im waiting on my PIC chips to come in, should be next week before i can test it out and learn how to use it, but i would not recommend the DIY K150 to anyone, its never worked for me
when programming the PIC chips do we need to set the OSCCAL value ? im getting an error OSCCAL = 0x3FFF do you want to use the value from file (0x3FFF) instead ?

 

From my own experience so far, the K-150 works great for 12F629 chips (programming and erasing) and 12F508 (programming only). Erasing using MicroBurn on a 12F508 results in OSCCAL becoming FF (ruining the chip - so make sure you write down OSCCAL values!) and the only way I could fix it was by using another programmer and another program which would allow me to fix it (such as PICPgm). Only certain versions of MicroBurn list the 12F508 in the PIC list, but programming using 12C508 mode also worked for me.
Long story short, I'd avoid the K-150. Build the homemade one pictured above (works perfect with 12F629 & 12F508 but does not work with 12C508) or get a different programmer instead of the K-150.

Yes, you need to program the OSCCAL value. I've found that with some HEX files you can get away with not setting OSCCAL but you should with all of them anyways.

As for the drivers, the drivers here on the Prolific site worked fine for me. I've used the K-150 on Windows XP 32-bit and Windows 7 64-bit and it worked on both. Note however that there are several different clone versions which may use slightly different drivers. Contact the vendor that you purchased the K-150 from and ask them for the drivers; they may have the specific ones that may work.

 

So in response to my own original post, I realized that the reason the Mayumi v4 wouldn't program properly on 12F508 (or so I thought) was because "Code Protect" was auto-enabled so what was happening was it wouldn't verify properly and then reading it back it wasn't all there - because it was protected. So I now make sure I turn off Code Protect because there's no point in having it on.

Again, still never got it anything to work on 12C508A, but I don't really care much anymore since all the other good main Hex files work on the F series without problems.

 

You need a different ghetto programmer for 12C50X chips because of higher voltage requirements.


But yeah, stick with the F series.

 

Hi,what are the essential differences between 12C508A and 12F508??

 

cmos vs flash

 

That was my understanding of things, for whatever reason I couldn't get a 12F508 to work properly with MMC3 as a SCPH-101 modchip. Bought some 12C508a chips and everything is golden. Suppose it could be an issue with my GQ-4X or wiring (extremely unlikely as I simply removed the wires from the chip and attached them one by one to the 12C508a without removing them from the PCB).

Be nice to figure out why as the 12F508 chips are a good 50 cents cheaper per piece on Digi-Key prior to any bulk orders.

 

Ok,PIC 12F508 work with a PAL PSONE SCPH-102??

 

Should, but I've never held a SCPH-102 in my hands so I can't say.