I have dived head first into the whole prom burning thing. I installed some LT1 24lb injectors so I figured this was the best as any. I am using the Intronics Pocket Programmer 2, the software that came with it, TunerCat editing sw and their $32 calibration file. I downloaded mask32_fba350.bin from DIY-EFI.org. I have also purchased the Craig Moates ECM adapter.

I tried burning my 1st chip the other night. The only thing I changed was the injector constant from 20.8 to 22.8. When I installed the adapter and chip the car started up and ran really good but I constant SES light and could not pull any codes. After some research I determined the car was running on limp home mode since both cooling fans where on. I tried burning a new chip with no changes using the same mask file and no difference. I put the original memcal and chip back in and now have no SES light but I am back to square one.

I have read here on the boards and I am trying to find out what I did wrong. I am using AT29C256 chips and according to the intro article on here you have to copy two copies of the file with diff names because you have to fill the chip up.

As all of you can tell I am brand new to this but I am willing to listen, learn, and research. I do not understand all the terms that are used in some of the posts on here but from what has been posted already, it could be a problem with continuity on the adapter, if so, how can i check it? I figure I have probably done something wrong when I burned the chip. I double checked the chip before i burned to make sure it was erased. I had the right chip selected in the software and loaded a copy 1 and a copy 2 into the buffer. The software seemed pretty straight forward so I am not sure what I did wrong there.

Has anyone run into this same problem? Maybe shoot me some tips or things to look for? Any help will be greatly appreciated

 

The information to be burned to the prom should be on the second half of the chip and I would bet that you put it on the first half (or something like that).

The easy fix is to go into DOS and under the directory with you bin type the following;

Copy /b file.bin+file.bin newfile.bin

Of course you need to put in your file name and such. This was my first problem burning proms too.

Basically you turn your 16k file into a 32k file. This places the image to be burned into the correct location.

 

Thanks for the Jichniow! Just to make sure I understand it I go into DOS and the directory I have my bins which in my case is C:/EPROM/Bins and I have in their the bin I created in tunercat named stockchg1.bin So I would type in that directory

"copy /b stockchg1.bin+stockchg1.bin newstock.bin"

So newstock.bin would be the actual file I load into the buffer of the burning software and burn that to the chip? Is there a way I can make sure it goes to the second half of the chip?

 

Yep you've got the idea! I hope it works for you.

I'm sure there is a way to tell the software to place it in the correct spot but I couldn't seem to get it right. So I just do it this way, it seems to work fine.

 

I tried jichniow's method and verifyed the file that was created was exactly 32K. I went to program it to a chip that I verifyed was blank before programming it. It said it programed it, I installed my adapter back into my car and put the chip in and same thing. Car goes into Limp Home mode as soon as it runs for like 1 second or less. Does anyone else know what I might be doing wrong?

 

I have been reading this board for a while and it seems everytime I see " it doesnt work" and "fans" in the same message the bottom line is the prom is in backwards. could this be a problem?

 

Hey Chop, I have been reading the same thing and I have tried it both ways in my car and no change either way. I emailed Craig M a few mins ago to see get definitive answer on which way it is supposed to go.

 

I am running TBI but have one of Craigs switchers so I use the 29c256 with this setup. It stores 8 bins for the TBI.
Any way, I do not erase anything before reprogramming it just flashes over the existing program.
I use a program I wrote to combine the bins but it is just like the dos line someone gave you earlier. But I always start with seprate bins with different names. I don't thik this has anything to do with it but you might try two different bins (or the same one ) with different names...

"copy /b stockchg1.bin+stockchg2.bin newstock.bin"

And make sure you are loading "newstock.bin" into the programer.

 

Craig just emailed me and he confirms, the half moon on the chip faces away from the handle. All night I have been trying to just erase my 2 chips that I have. When I click on Program Compare in teh PP2 software, it says "Device CAN NOT Be Reprogrammed" When I click Blank Check it says "Device is NOT erased"

What am I doing wrong? I have the chip in the programmer right and I have ver 1.52 of the PP2 software. This whole prom programing thing is driving me nuts.

I really appreciate everyone's help with the DIY PROM stuff so far. I could never imagined there was SO much stuff to it.

 

There is a lot of confusion on this topic
In Craigs Adapter the chip notch faces away from the handle


(picture from Craigs site)
In the Pocket Programer the chip notch faces towards the handle

 

Here's a possibility. Make sure you put the memcal on the adapter the correct way. Check the above pic.

 

Did you build the Moates adaptor yourself, or buy it all assembled? If you built it yourself, go back and check out the assembly. Like do a continutiy check, pin to pin. Also check all your solder joints. You might have a solder bridge between pins. The layout of the board is tight, and the thru-holes are close togethor. It will only take 1 bridge to mess things up with your PROM.

Did you try putting the STOCK chip into the Moates adaptor? You said the stock memcal ran the car fine, perhaps you didn't remove the stock chip from the stock memcal.

HTH

 

Mine gives the exact same messages as this, when there's nothing at all in the burner socket. Maybe you have a problem with the burner? You ARE removeing the chip from the adapter and then putting it into bottom slots of the PP2 socket, right? The empty 2 rows of slots that are not used are at the top, handle end? Like the diagram shows on top of the PP2?

You're burning 128k bins in a 256k chip and you've learned how to double them. Now, save yourself some time and IF you can get one to burn click the MOVE DEVICE button and reload what was burned into the memory buffer of the PP2 software. Then click to EDIT BUFFER. The 9th byte, address 00008, should be 6E. If it is then view location 04008 and it should be 6E also. If it is then chances are the bin file loaded properly AND it's a good bin file.

I've heard more than one time of a bad bin file being downloaded so try another that's close to your needs.

Good luck!

 

When I did a few chips for a friends' MAF setup, I ran into a number of problems.

(1) my original read of the factory PROM was bad, and tunercat wouldn't recognize the BIN (some error message).

after re-reading the original PROM, tunercat was happy.

(2) I tried using the dos COPY command to copy two BIN's into one big BIN, and i could NEVER make this work. always SES light and fans on. What finally worked for me, is something I read somewhere else on this site, about setting the "start of device" value in the windows pocket programmer software to (i think!!) 4000, and burning the BIN. worked great!!

 

You get this fixed? Suggestions shown are consistent with whatever input I might have had...

 

Hey Guys, I was out of town over the weekend so I did not get to play with it. I will answer some questions though. I do have the chip in the right way in both the programmer and the adapter. The Moates adapter I bought was pre-built. I have not tested each connection point on it yet but if all else fails, that may be something i need to do.
When I talked about the stock Memcal, I never removed the chip from it. It is all completely in tact and I do not want to take it apart. I have tried setting the start device to 04000 as suggested in earlier posts with no sucess. I have also tried filling it with FF's first.
I wish I could find a stock chip that matched my specs so I could pull the bin from it. As I said before, I am using a mask32 bin that I got from DIY-EFI.org I am in school full time and working full time so I will have to try this again on thursday evening.
I will post updates as i go along.

Thank you for all the help guys!