Author Topic: EEVblog #411 - MiniPro TL866 Universal Programmer Review  (Read 1441668 times)

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Offline 4omecha

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Re: EEVblog #411 - MiniPro TL866 Universal Programmer Review
« Reply #725 on: July 05, 2015, 09:55:00 pm »
Hello,

I like the tl866, thanks for this tool.

Two issues though:

1)  TL866 v6.10: The DALLAS DS1245Y-120 NVRAM is effectively NOT supported. When using the "supported DS1245Y" IC settings, garbage is read and garbage is written. I know because I did so once. Nasty bug, lost my cal data this way. One should always do plausability checks of the NVRAM content read.
  ==>  Please correctly support this chip (DALLAS DS1245Y-120) ASAP. Thank you.
  ==>  WORKAROUND (home-made adapter required): use IC "AM27F010" and reroute the differing pins. See also: http://www1.tek.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=5&t=6353AM28F010

2)  TL866 v6.10 and v6.16: A Macronix SPI flash MX25L1605D may be read. When blanked the chip cannot be read from nor written to any more! The chip ID was once "0xC2 20 15" and is "0x00 00 00" after blanking, the TL866 is aborting with "Overcurrent protection.." after the first couple of seconds when programming is tried immediatel after blanking.
When waiting some time before reprogramming the MX25L1605D after blanking it, the programming procedure fails at the very last moment. Please see the attached screenshot.

Let me know if there are any questions. I'll be glad to help testing, too.

Your help is deeply appreciated. Thank you very much.

cheers,

om

PS: Dave, thanks for your awesome blog, keep going! :)

Edit: tested MX25L1605D using v6.16: not working.
Edit2: clarified the tested software version/chip combination.
« Last Edit: July 09, 2015, 03:21:31 pm by 4omecha »
 

Offline coromonadalix

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Re: EEVblog #411 - MiniPro TL866 Universal Programmer Review
« Reply #726 on: July 07, 2015, 02:58:17 am »
you have to email  http://www.autoelectric.cn    for added support ... not  here

I was satisfied with the tl866, used an Willem GQ4X too when tl866 could not do the job, and an Avr Dragon too.

But  since the updates or adding new chips support seems to be slooooow       

I have moved to an tnm5000  programmer,  way more expensive  500$    but has spi, isp, pdi, jtag, high voltage programming, and a 48 pins socket for my adapters ...  but support is fast, they have a request forum, and very frequent updates ...
 

Offline ElektroQuark

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Re: EEVblog #411 - MiniPro TL866 Universal Programmer Review
« Reply #727 on: July 07, 2015, 06:06:08 am »
Quote from: coromonadalix on Today at 02:58:17
I have moved to an tnm5000  programmer,  way more expensive  500$     ...


$50 vs $500. What's the point?
We know there are far better programmers but, are they in the same price range?

Offline coromonadalix

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Re: EEVblog #411 - MiniPro TL866 Universal Programmer Review
« Reply #728 on: July 09, 2015, 02:15:57 am »
well  i understand the low cost of the tl866 and it's use.

People are asking more and more support from Autoelectric ... but they are not in the hurry

If i count all the programmers i've bought, the time lost,  searching to do this and that and waiting for more support, sending emails, asking upgrades ...

Its worth the 500$  it does all the pic and avr's, and have high voltage programming ....   had to bought an Avr Dragon to do just that $$$ 

Became more frustrated ...  over time           downloaded every  Atmel studio that exists,  Xilinx suites,  avrdude, avrdudess, the list goes on and on,  until now 16 gigs of softwares.     

I have
 
usbasp
avrisp
stk500
ispmkII
usbtiny
tl866
GQ-4X
an old chipmaster 6000 lpt ....  past xp it wont do nothing, very powerful, but the 6000xpu model (lpt and usb) are very rare.

How much do you think it cost me until now  $$$$,  and still was not able to do everything i need  before  the tnm5000


It would be fun to see tl866 became more open, it would evolve a lot faster
 

Offline orion242

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Re: EEVblog #411 - MiniPro TL866 Universal Programmer Review
« Reply #729 on: July 09, 2015, 02:55:35 am »
People are asking more and more support from Autoelectric ... but they are not in the hurry

If i count all the programmers i've bought, the time lost,  searching to do this and that and waiting for more support, sending emails, asking upgrades ...

Its worth the 500$

Ditto.  I did the same and broke out $500+ for a for a Xeltek programmer.  The minipro is great for the price but their support device list is optimistic at best and if you need support...good luck.  Get what you paid for. 
 

Offline Votality

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EEVblog #411 - MiniPro TL866 Universal Programmer Review
« Reply #730 on: July 09, 2015, 03:35:33 am »
Personally i would like someone to write an addition to the tl866 firmware that allows for the programming to be handled by the host pc.
I.e so all the logic for driving and reading the pins is handled on the pc

As discussed elsewhere this would make programming very slow due to the usb throughput but for the chips that aren't supported a slow, user definable method to program them would be better than nothing. I personally could handle leaving it overnight for the odd unsupported chip.
 

Offline TiN

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Re: EEVblog #411 - MiniPro TL866 Universal Programmer Review
« Reply #731 on: July 09, 2015, 04:31:04 am »
Two issues though (TL866 v6.10 and v6.16):
1) The DALLAS DS1245Y-120 NVRAM is effectively NOT supported. When using the "supported DS1245Y" IC settings, garbage is read and garbage is written. I know because I did so ...[/url]

Perhaps your pins bent and not making good contact? They quite fragile on these NVRAM chips.
I had no issues programming DS1245Y and DS1248Y's after update to v6.13 software (6.10 does not support writing these, only TESTRW.

As of people complaining for supported chips. Well, sure those 500$+ programmers don't support anything either, I would not surprise if there are some chips which supported by TL866 are not supported by ones mentioned above.
Moral of story: Every tool have it's own use, get them as you need :)
« Last Edit: July 09, 2015, 04:35:05 am by TiN »
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Offline coromonadalix

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Re: EEVblog #411 - MiniPro TL866 Universal Programmer Review
« Reply #732 on: July 09, 2015, 11:15:15 am »
Two issues though (TL866 v6.10 and v6.16):
1) The DALLAS DS1245Y-120 NVRAM is effectively NOT supported. When using the "supported DS1245Y" IC settings, garbage is read and garbage is written. I know because I did so ...[/url]

Perhaps your pins bent and not making good contact? They quite fragile on these NVRAM chips.
I had no issues programming DS1245Y and DS1248Y's after update to v6.13 software (6.10 does not support writing these, only TESTRW.

As of people complaining for supported chips. Well, sure those 500$+ programmers don't support anything either, I would not surprise if there are some chips which supported by TL866 are not supported by ones mentioned above.
Moral of story: Every tool have it's own use, get them as you need :)




exactly :)   nothing's prefect  loll
 

Offline soren

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Re: EEVblog #411 - MiniPro TL866 Universal Programmer Review
« Reply #733 on: July 09, 2015, 12:48:17 pm »
Personally i would like someone to write an addition to the tl866 firmware that allows for the programming to be handled by the host pc.
I.e so all the logic for driving and reading the pins is handled on the pc

I suspect that this may already be possible with the stock firmware for things like logic gate testing.

Unfortunately, that part of the protocol has not yet been reverse engineered or at least there is no mention of it in the https://github.com/vdudouyt/minipro code.
 

Offline 4omecha

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Re: EEVblog #411 - MiniPro TL866 Universal Programmer Review
« Reply #734 on: July 09, 2015, 03:30:30 pm »

Perhaps your pins bent and not making good contact? They quite fragile on these NVRAM chips.
I had no issues programming DS1245Y and DS1248Y's after update to v6.13 software (6.10 does not support writing these, only TESTRW.

Pins not bent.

Good catch, though: I only tested R/W support for the DS1245Y using the v6.10 software which was _not_ working. I edited my previous post to now reflect this correctly.

You say as of v6.13 support for R/W with DS1245Y would work? Jeeez. That's bad luck, I ruined my DS1245Y data using v6.10 while v6.13 was already available but I failed to check that. Thats.. aarrg..

BTW, what's the point of supporting a chip only TESTRW without the user telling so. That's just hideously awful (tm). As it happened, the user (me, who knows how many more?) thinks everything's alright when it's not. OMG.

Thanks for your input.
 

Offline vsmlibs

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Re: EEVblog #411 - MiniPro TL866 Universal Programmer Review
« Reply #735 on: July 19, 2015, 01:34:23 pm »
have a problem with tl866 A modded  im using the latest version 6.13 all tests aok

i cant seem to write to 1001 and 256K eproms however 512K worked 010 works 4096 otp worked

do others get issues or can test and see if im right  seems others have 256K chips size errors
perhaps they have stuck in some sort of detect for tamper and disable bits...
not sure  ill try reverting back to the original

if someone can confirm
then ill send them a bug report


i tried the usual things ...
current of usb port ... used a workstation
testing  all ok
another programmer   i used to 27C1001's in a willem no probs
but my willem has issues with 27C256 chips {missing data line or something so F9 read and not FF}
does many types of logic
tried another few eproms like 1000's  they worked
« Last Edit: July 19, 2015, 01:48:33 pm by vsmlibs »
 

Offline Mirza Adil

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Re: EEVblog #411 - MiniPro TL866 Universal Programmer Review
« Reply #736 on: July 22, 2015, 06:56:27 pm »
Hi
I am new here. I want to know about tl866cs programmer. It,s not like Arduino ide. Thats why i am confuse. I want to know how to write a program in it,s software. Can i write program in c language in other software like Mikro C , Atmel studio , Arduino IDE, ?
 

Offline ElectricGuy

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Re: EEVblog #411 - MiniPro TL866 Universal Programmer Review
« Reply #737 on: July 22, 2015, 07:01:16 pm »
Hi
I am new here. I want to know about tl866cs programmer. It,s not like Arduino ide. Thats why i am confuse. I want to know how to write a program in it,s software. Can i write program in c language in other software like Mikro C , Atmel studio , Arduino IDE, ?

The tl866cs is not a Ide with compiler, its a programmer only. It's used to programme several devices of several brands.
You need to use your regular compiler, generatte the HEX and the use the tl866cs to program. Thats it.
Thank you!
Regards
ElectricGuy
 

Offline papabol_24

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Re: EEVblog #411 - MiniPro TL866 Universal Programmer Review
« Reply #738 on: July 25, 2015, 01:51:36 pm »
Well i updated my tl866cs to 6.17, found out that the tsop48 adapter was now indicating fake  :palm: it was working (V8) on firmware versions 5.19, 6.00, on the  version 6.10 i didnt bother to check if the tsop48 was working until now im on version 6.17...
 

Offline sinranogenma

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Re: EEVblog #411 - MiniPro TL866 Universal Programmer Review
« Reply #739 on: July 27, 2015, 08:30:17 am »
Hello guys,

I have a question that seems to trouble me.I have purchased the TL866A with the 8 adapters.Im trying to program some PLCC32/LPC chips with no success.First i thought it was the adapter but then I tried to find if the TL866A is supporting LPC/FWH chips but i cannot find any information.

So im trying to program SST 49LF004B ,Atmel AT49LH004, PMC PM49FL004T i dont know if these chips are LPC or normal PLCC32 but with the adapter PLCC32to DIP32 the programmer doesnt read/write them.

My question stands: Is the TL866A supporting LPC/FWH chips and if so with which adapter? (also i bought like a moron an ADP-030 LPC/FWH adapter to find out that is supported only with GQ-3X,GQ-4X programmers)

Please help!!  :-//
« Last Edit: July 28, 2015, 06:31:38 am by sinranogenma »
 

Offline servvis

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Re: EEVblog #411 - MiniPro TL866 Universal Programmer Review
« Reply #740 on: July 30, 2015, 07:18:50 am »
Hello. I have a problem with TL866A. I have a Macbook Pro with Paralells with before windows 7 and 10 now. A month ago, everything worked properly . Since yesterday, when connected to a USB programmer crashes error "read error code : 31 ! " . Both Windows 7 and 10 problem , but on the other computer is well . I installed anew drivers and different versions of MiniPro . Does anyone know what could be the problem and how to solve it ? Sorry for my English, I explained that google translator .
 

Offline coromonadalix

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Re: EEVblog #411 - MiniPro TL866 Universal Programmer Review
« Reply #741 on: July 31, 2015, 01:42:41 am »
I t is related to drivers not started by windows, you have to check in device manager if you have an exclamation mark ...  delete all related drivers and uninstall minipro and try again
 

Offline KnuckleheadFlow

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Re: EEVblog #411 - MiniPro TL866 Universal Programmer Review
« Reply #742 on: August 01, 2015, 08:17:30 am »
Hi.
I'm trying to flash the firmware of a remote control transmitter that uses an atmega128A, using the icsp port. I followed the guides, but I keep getting an error (second attached picture). This transmitter (a Turnigy 9x) is commonly flashed, but usually with little serial avr programmers without much issue.
When trying to flash, the programmer first tries to erase. It goes through this very quickly and reports a success; however, after my many attempts the stock firmware is still there I tried changing the fuse settings as recommended on a board for this particular firmware project, (er9x) to no avail. Frankly, I'm new to programming MCUs, having only used this programmer for EEPROMs before and I'm not fully aware of what all the different fuse settings mean.

Now, I could just buy one of the little programmer boards everyone uses, get avrdude and probably be done with it, but I already have a good programmer, I'd rather learn why it's failing and what all the different settings mean. My nascent interest in electronics as a hobby in general is one of the main reasons I'm interested rc and why got this particular radio.
I'm at a loss, any advice regarding what could be wrong, or where do I go from here to troubleshoot?
 

Offline mafioso3

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Re: EEVblog #411 - MiniPro TL866 Universal Programmer Review
« Reply #743 on: August 01, 2015, 08:42:39 pm »
Does anyone have a schematic or details of the "25 SPI adapter" for the TL-866?
They're not wrong - it does fail without it... but I can't find it to buy seperately, or any information on what the IC is on the adapter
 

Offline Deathwish

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Offline dcac

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Re: EEVblog #411 - MiniPro TL866 Universal Programmer Review
« Reply #745 on: August 02, 2015, 10:45:31 am »
Hi.
I'm trying to flash the firmware of a remote control transmitter that uses an atmega128A, using the icsp port. I followed the guides, but I keep getting an error (second attached picture). This transmitter (a Turnigy 9x) is commonly flashed, but usually with little serial avr programmers without much issue.
When trying to flash, the programmer first tries to erase. It goes through this very quickly and reports a success; however, after my many attempts the stock firmware is still there I tried changing the fuse settings as recommended on a board for this particular firmware project, (er9x) to no avail. Frankly, I'm new to programming MCUs, having only used this programmer for EEPROMs before and I'm not fully aware of what all the different fuse settings mean.

Now, I could just buy one of the little programmer boards everyone uses, get avrdude and probably be done with it, but I already have a good programmer, I'd rather learn why it's failing and what all the different settings mean. My nascent interest in electronics as a hobby in general is one of the main reasons I'm interested rc and why got this particular radio.
I'm at a loss, any advice regarding what could be wrong, or where do I go from here to troubleshoot?

Do you have any indication that the TL866 is actually able to correctly communicate with the atmega128 board, like i.e. can you successfully read out the existing FW and fuses settings?



 

Offline coromonadalix

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Re: EEVblog #411 - MiniPro TL866 Universal Programmer Review
« Reply #746 on: August 02, 2015, 04:16:05 pm »
the atmega128 uses jtag port  not spi or icsp  for in circuit programming ...

on the zif socket it uses parallel programming ...
« Last Edit: August 02, 2015, 04:28:00 pm by coromonadalix »
 

Offline coromonadalix

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Re: EEVblog #411 - MiniPro TL866 Universal Programmer Review
« Reply #747 on: August 02, 2015, 04:50:38 pm »
Hi
I am new here. I want to know about tl866cs programmer. It,s not like Arduino ide. Thats why i am confuse. I want to know how to write a program in it,s software. Can i write program in c language in other software like Mikro C , Atmel studio , Arduino IDE, ?


hello   you can't use other software than minipro,  the hardware has been reverse engineered, but not the software.
 

Offline KnuckleheadFlow

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Re: EEVblog #411 - MiniPro TL866 Universal Programmer Review
« Reply #748 on: August 02, 2015, 08:25:03 pm »

Do you have any indication that the TL866 is actually able to correctly communicate with the atmega128 board, like i.e. can you successfully read out the existing FW and fuses settings?

When I read it, it reports success, but nothing shows up in the buffer display. It shows all 0s. When I save it, I get a hex file with something, however it looks to have too much repeated bytes and looks nothing like the stock firmware that I downloaded somewhere else. It's also about twice as long (8196 lines vs the real one's 4092).
Here's a sample of the firmware I read, from line 1024:
Code: [Select]
:103FE000BDBDBDBDBBBBBBBBBDBDBDBDBFBFBFBF01
:103FF000BDBDBDBDBBBBBBBBBDBDBDBDBFBFBFBFF1
:10400000393939393B3B3B3B3D3D3D3D3F3F3F3FF0
:104010003D3D3D3D3B3B3B3B3D3D3D3D3F3F3F3FD0
:104020003D3D3D3D3B3B3B3B3D3D3D3D3F3F3F3FC0
:104030003D3D3D3D3B3B3B3B3D3D3D3D3F3F3F3FB0
:104040003D3D3D3D3B3B3B3B3D3D3D3D3F3F3F3FA0
:104050003D3D3D3D3B3B3B3B3D3D3D3D3F3F3F3F90
:104060003D3D3D3D3B3B3B3B3D3D3D3D3F3F3F3F80
:104070003D3D39393B3B3B3B3D3D3D3D3F3F3F3F78
:104080003D3D39393B3B3B3B3D3D3D3D3F3F3F3F68

Compared to the same lines from the downloaded firmware's:
Code: [Select]
:104030008093C20580E00E942A1F87E28093980542
:1040400008958F92AF92CF92EF92FF920F93CF93FA
:10405000DF93CDB7DEB768970FB6F894DEBF0FBE1B
:10406000CDBF982F19821A821B821C822091640274
:1040700030916502A9014D515F4F1F928AE08F93E5
:1040800060E3862E8DE0A82E00E1C02E7E0108940C
:10409000E11CF11C01E02C513F4F692F88EB94E0AB
:1040A0000E94A91CE0916402F0916502EC51FF4F5F
:1040B00080810F900F9087FF03C010820E94FF73D2
:1040C00068960FB6F894DEBF0FBECDBFDF91CF91DB
:1040D0000F91FF90EF90CF90AF908F90089581E077

Garbage?

the atmega128 uses jtag port  not spi or icsp  for in circuit programming ...

on the zif socket it uses parallel programming ...

Ok, not being facetious here, but why does the Minipro's software show an atmega128a ICSP connection diagram and list it as a compatible device for ICSP?
 

Offline coromonadalix

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Re: EEVblog #411 - MiniPro TL866 Universal Programmer Review
« Reply #749 on: August 03, 2015, 12:41:42 am »
Atmel jtag interface is a 6 or 10 pins idc,   but a different use, i don't recall  minipro saying  isp/icsp  available for those chips.

Atmega128  need  tck, trst, tms, tdi, tdo, reset lines,  tl866 gives  mosi, miso, sck, reset ....    totally different ??

I've checked on the latest 6.17, and i don't see any external pin-out given ???   for an example  if you check  pic devices, it will show at the end of the device "ISP"
you will be able to program thru isp ...  but atmega128   nothing ??

« Last Edit: August 03, 2015, 12:49:51 am by coromonadalix »
 


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