DRD450RG NOZKT Help

[troy_mccular]

I'm getting ready to give up on this hobby. I've done about 7 420RE's and 1 430RG but this 450RG of mine just isn't working. Has anyone had luck with this IRD. Anyone know where I can get information on this IRD. Have you seen a NOZKT bin for this IRD. Please help.

[m5runner]

use the same 430 flash for the 450...they are pretty much the same unit


M5

[skinerd]

430/431/450/485 all use the same flash and same proceedure.

[Wotan]

Did my 450... Used the "431nozkt_pcr20.bin"... Went as smooth as silk... Been up since a week before Xmas - No problems...

Only suggestions I would make are, 1) keep your wires to your buffered JTAG as short as possible, 2) Use the IRD’s power for the buffered JTAG.

Reason for 1): Lots of noise in these boxes that can create “cross-talk” (errors). You could use ribbon cable with every second wire grounded, but that would be over-kill. But, for a troublesome box, this could be the solution.

Reason for 2): External power can cause potential voltage differences in the JTAG circuitry (errors). Slight voltage differences can make a “0” into a “1” or vice-versa resulting in corruption… Better safe than sorry… :)

W

[troy_mccular]

What ver of ver of Jkeys did you use to earse and then program the flash. Mine just keeps error out. Also what IRD do you tell jkeys you have.

[Wotan]

Sorry troy_mccular,

Didn't get an e-mail that you had posted... Going to have to fix that... :p

Now, I used Version 2.9.9 (build 014) of Jkeys when I did my receiver... The newer versions should work better... Dave2 has only made this utility better and better, and it supports more and more... :)

The model I "told" Jkeys to use, I believe, was DRD430RG... But if your version of Jkeys supports 431, use that. I'm told that there is no difference between the 430/431/450/485 firmware, but that doesn't mean there isn't a difference between the boards (but I doubt it).

What kind of errors are you getting? The dreaded 0x000000? If it is, then you have a communication problem. You should do a continuity test from the Sti5518 TAP pins to the pins of your buffered Jtag IC (74HC244?). The wires from your Jtag header should be less than 6 inches (that’s from the Jtag header to the 74HC244 pins). Shorter, the better!

**Reason I say this is from experience… I made the decision of having an external Jtag circuit that I could use for every receiver that I modded. I thought that I would be “smart”, and would make a Jtag DB-9 “port” that my external Jtag circuit would connect to. I thought I was reducing the chances of errors by having external Jtag elements that I “knew” were in working condition. I did my 450, no problems… Then I tried the same setup on a 420… “Snake-eyes!” I couldn’t, for the life of me, get the thing to communicate (0x0000000)… Checked and re-checked all my lines, connections, etc… Nothing… Everything was right. I scoped the data lines and did see data going back and forth… So WTF? Then it came to me in my sleep, believe it or not! “Mr. Genius” (me) did an excellent job of soldering all his “less than 5 inch” wires to his DB-9 “Jtag port” then… like a moron… Attached the port to his external Jtag circuit, with 6-foot DB-9 cable!? Oh, the continuity was fine… The signals were all there doing their “thing”, but they were totally garbled by the length of that 6-foot cable… I removed the cable and attached the Jtag circuit directly and, BAM! Communications… …And, to think, I had modded my 450 with this same cable in!

Now, this may not be the problem your having, but does show that “length matters” when it comes to Jkeys communications… :D

This was very embarrassing to admit, so let us never speak of it again… I hope that others may learn from my “moronity”… :p

Sincerely,

W