jmayes

Thank you SSP! Jmayes

Ok, I have read until my eyes bleed. Lets go back a few steps, I have built and adapted many MDIO128's now using MDIO studio there was no need for a LCD but now I plan on doing a Midibox64 which says it can use a LCD for configuration, I have the LCD working but exactly where the NAV buttons connect is alluding me. Seems like the MIOS would define this but I keep finding bits and pieces that it could be app specific. I know the Midibox64 project also can use a DIN board, do the nav buttons hook there and if so, which pins? Thankx for any insight someone can offer, Jmayes

I can't believe you took it completely apart, did you try to reassemble it? I used to service those models and know them inside-out, but I doubt you will get it all back again. Those switches on the expression pedal are for piano sustain and Leslie override (switches sound from Leslie to mains). I am hooking midibox to my Hammond Concorde 2300 which uses the same electronics setup inside, it uses negative voltage to key the LSI chips, zero for off -14 for on, there is also a -28v main in the unit for most circuits. Good thing midi is opto-isolated! PM if you need any info on that beast. Goodluck! Jmayes

Just to be clear, I was using the 1.2g bootloader right off the site, it did exactly the same as the clone bootloader I got off the smash chip, what turns out was happening was the UID is not writing correctly using the PicStart programmer. Thankx again all, Jmayes

Bingo!!! changed the ID to zero and everything loads fine and the chip is now perfect!! What a great app to change the ID without a programmer :) I still can not explain why my professional programmer would not properly program the UID but this work around takes care of business :) :) One last note, for some reason many of the code protect bits were flagged on when I used the bootloader hex from the site (1.2g), I had to turn them off before it would allow the app to change the ID. Thankx again for all the help, hopefully this will help the next poor suc#er that trys to use the Microchip PicStart programmer. Jmayes

Ok, I have made some progress and my problems have become even more bizarre! After re-reading the trouble shooting guide I notice that the upload request my chip was generating had a "70" in the ID byte and not zero as I previously thought it did, this translates to 112 dec which I plug'd into the ID of MIOS studio and BAM, got a query. (finally). I have my User ID set to 00000000 so I don't understand why it's on 70h but it is. This is the case with my cloned chips too. Next I uploaded MIOS with no problems and precoded to upload MDIO128 which worked after one (automatic) timeout/retry, I then uploaded my keymap file. Now for the bizarre stuff; I went back to communicate with the chip and na-da, even on ID112, same upload request at boot with 70h in the ID field but no comm. I repeated everything after blanking out the chip and learned after uploading MIOS that MIOS studio would no longer handshake but it would upload the application file (after one retry) AND upload the keymap for MDIO128 BUT would not download it. The chip works exactly like my clone did at this point. Another bizarre thing is that DI is not working, DO is fine (no key inputs but ok on key outputs), again the same behavior for a newly built chip and the clone. Ok, I went on and figured out that the upload request comes form the initial bootloader (active only 2 seconds from boot], If I quickly ask for a query from MIOS studio during that time frame (on ID112) I get handshake on both my newly built chip and the clone. Questions.... First and foremost, can someone enlighten me as to why the ID might be on 70h and not zero? It is clearly set to zeros in the programmer menu's. Is the P18 software designed to work with the PicStart plus programmer from Microchip? If so where do I find the download? I can only assume now that my setup is not programming the pic correctly, tis a shame since it's true Microchip hardware and pretty much the latest and greatest. MPLAB v8.46 PICstart Plus is at V04.50.11 I can not find any newer updates at this time. Again, any help or insight someone can provide will be very appreciated. Jmayes

After reading Altitude's post again, I went back to MIOS Studio and proceded stright to download (to attempt to load MIOS) and still get a "No response from core" error. The chip repeatly sends "f0 00 00 7e 40 70 01 f7" but does not reapond to anything MIOS studio send to it. Is there another way to load MIOS other then MIOS studio? Thankx again all, Jmayes

Thank you for your reply, MIOS studio says "No response from MIOS8.....", I have a working chip so I know it's not my install of MIOS studio or midi hardware. It acts like it's not Device-0 Thankx again, Jmayes

Let me start that if I missed something really dumb here to please excuse me. I have done much searching to find my problem as well before posting so if I missed a past post that would have helped please again excuse me. Also I am experienced with loading chips (many types of CPU's, Mem, etc) so I post this with great dismay that I could not solve this on my own. Now the history of what I have done. I have a PicStart programmer which comes direct from Microchip, it has the latest firmware board update, I am using the latest MPlab software so in my opinion the programming hardware should be be an issue (but I may be wrong) The first PIC18F452 I bought was preprogrammed from Smashtv and it worked fine, when I decided to continue building up my project I elected to buy virgin chips from the local supply house, they are the exact same part as SmashTv sent, PIC18F452-I/P. My first attempt to program them was to clone the working one I got from Smash which I figured should save me some setup time. It worked fine, I replaced the chip in my install and everything went as planned, it even transfered the Midi-map for MIDO128 (the module I am using). Now I bought some more chips to continue my build up. The problem I ran into is that my cloned chips will not communicate with MIOS Studio!! Ok, I took shortcuts with the clone job so I went and setup the bootloader (1.9) from the download, pop'd that in the chip and SAME THING!! The only difference is that the Hail the chip gives off on boot once from the original preprogrammed chip is now repeating over and over. I figure that is normal since I have not loaded MIOS yet (Am I correct with that assumption?) To make a longer story short now, I have tried everything I know to figure out the problem, looked at all the flags, config settings, etc. It acts like the User ID is wrong (It's all zeros for Device 0) However I tried MIOS Studio on ALL Id's thinking if that were wrong it would Communicate on some (unknown) ID. What makes me even more aggravated is I only saved $2 per chip by not buying from Smash so let my lesson help others that may want to do the Virgin thing that it's not always a slam dunk. I should just to buy more programmed ones but now time is an issue and I really want to get down to the bottom of the! Please any help or insight would be appreciated. Jmayes PS, the repeated Hail (via midi) I get when just fresh programmed with the bootloader is; f0 00 00 7e 40 70 01 f7, same as the single hail the fully programmed SmashTv chip gives me at boot.

Dang, I feel stupid now!! I guess I just did not scroll down far enough to see it. Thankx for setting me straight. So far all is working well :) Thankx again, Jeff

Thank you for the help!! For some reason I could not figure out to hit that page, I thought it was just the core files which I already had in the pre-programmed chip I bought from Smashtv. Also NO link on the project page will take you to that page and the search did not help either. Now I know where the apps are hiding so I am all set but I think a link on the application pages will help others. Up and running! Thankx again, J

Forgive me if this seems dumb but after 2+ hours of searching everywhere (especially www.ucapps.de and this forum and wiki) I can not find the actual application firmware downloads. I have built the core and DIO modules and have the studio up and running (and talking to the core) just to find out I need the MIDIO128 application before things will work. Got to say I am very frustrated that every stick of information is posted except for the key file. Please set me straight, How did I miss it after 2 hours of searching??? TX, J