EEVblog #411 - MiniPro TL866 Universal Programmer Review

[ElektroQuark]

The ZIF sockets of those cheap copies are really bad. Change for a 3M made one.

[radioman]

The ZIF sockets of those cheap copies are really bad. Change for a 3M made one.

The ZIF socket has nothing to do with this. The socket quality is indeed sh.t, i replaced myself with the Black Aries type and the effort was worth it.   
@DenisVS,
When you issue a hardware check, in which section do you have a pin error? (VPP, VPP or GND) ?

[DenisVS]

The hardware check says that all OK, tests are passed.
Errors appear while attempts of routines with chips and appear as for example in the screenshots:

[radioman]

Strange. When you checked the resistance between pin 70 and zif socket pin 1 what was the value? should be 510 ohm.

What Windows version do you have, 32 or 64 bit? (i want to give you a test program and i don't know what your OS version is).   

[DenisVS]

When you checked the resistance between pin 70 and zif socket pin 1 what was the value? should be 510 ohm.

Yes, that is right. Recently I measured it.

What Windows version do you have, 32 or 64 bit?

Windows 7 32 bit.

[DenisVS]

radioman, are you an author of  Linux software? Surprise.
By the way tried this utility on FreeBSD, it works!

[radioman]

radioman, are you an author of  Linux software? Surprise.

Yes, one of them 

Anyway i attached a test program (a test branch of that linux software compiled for Windows) with the ability to test logic chips.
Download and unzip it, then from the command prompt (cmd) go to the 32bit folder.
Two files should be there: minipro.exe and test.dat. Now leave the zif socket free and issue the following command from the command prompt:

Code: [Select]

minipro -TWU test.dat -p zif_test
the result should say :

Code: [Select]

Error: Chip failed logic test (4 test vectors failed)Now put a piece of wire between pin 1 and pin 40 in the zif socket (short the zif 1 with zif 40) and issue the above command again.   
If the I/O path between processor pin 70 and zif socket is ok you should receive this:

Code: [Select]

Chip passed logic test
The test.dat file is a text file with some standard test vectors. You can open it and modify for other test pattern. I wrote the current pattern only for pin 1 and 40.

[DenisVS]

With wire

Code: [Select]

Chip passed logic test 

[radioman]

In this case @ElektroQuark was absolutely right. You have a socket bad contact problem. Or if you use an adapter it might be that adapter.

[DenisVS]

Eventually I bought a new 25Q64BSIG and reached a success.
Although my old broken programmer AutoProg worked plenty stable with all my available chips as i recollect.
The new issue is that i cannot write to the all my 24xxx chips: 3 x Atmel 24c01A, Microchip 24LC04B, 4g08 (soldered by me from working mfp Canon 2440! presumably ROHM br24g08).
Each of them can be read, but writing cause a message "not empty error memory addr".
What else is wrong with it?

[CChin254]

I did a IC Identification for the PCBs of this device:
There is a block diagram included here, but I'm not as confident of the one I made for this device than my past few device block diagrams I made.

[oPossum]

MCU is a PIC18F87J50

Schematic: https://github.com/radiomanV/TL866/tree/master/docs

[CChin254]

Fixed IC Identification and Block Diagram:

[hyuma]

Anyone have issue programming PIC with this? I got some problem with pic16f676 and with TL866IIplus... programming successful but the pic doesn't work as it should..

[hyuma]

I'm doing now some PIC16F84 test with the file.hex code:

:020000040000FA
:10000000816A8A6A936A81880BEC00F0816A0BEC42
:1000100000F003EF00F07D0E606F640E616F830EE1
:10002000626F622F11EF00F0612F0FEF00F0602F71
:100030000DEF00F0560E606F8E0E616F612F1EEF98
:1000400000F0602F1CEF00F0040E606F602F26EFB1
:0600500000F000001200A8
:00000001FF

This should be a one led blinking.
After flashing with my tl866IIplus i got the error:

ERROR! CODE Address 0x000000 Buf_Val:0x2A81 IC_Val:0x0000

I tried different .hex code but same result but different error code with values..

[dibro]

@hyuma

the hex file is incorrect, my emulator gives an error when loading the hex code:
  Input program file in Intel Hex Format contains errors.
  Line number 2: Invalid data byte in the record.
So I have analyzed the hex code and compared it with what Xgpro shows when loaded.
the maximum value for every second byte (little endian) may not exceed 3F
The * denotes the invalid values that will be truncated by Xgpro because of this
See the results below:


:10000000816A8A6A936A81880BEC00F0816A0BEC42  -  the analyzed record

:        record start
10       hex byte count (= 16)
0000     start address
00       record type
81 6A  8A 6A  93 6A  81 88  0B EC  00 F0  81 6A  0B EC  - record data
   *      *      *      *      *      *      *      *
81 2A  8A 2A  93 2A  81 08  0B 2C  00 30  81 2A  0B 2C  - when loaded in Xgpro
42       checksum

[Southerner]

I have not seen much chatter about bricked TL866CS and how to get it back to the living lately.  A friend just ran RadioMan's updater.  He had installed v6.85 from their site and then ran the RadioMan updater to convert to TL866A but it bricked the unit.  Now nothing sees the device.  Where is the procedure to unbrick a unit and is it relatively current?

Thank you.

Jim

[tsmith35]

Maybe look here?

[Shock]

As tsmith35 mentioned the documentation is on github.
https://github.com/radiomanV/TL866/blob/master/docs/TL866_prog.pdf

The green LED will indicate signs of life, if your programmer is not entering bootloader mode in the software or as indicated in the updater you can try forcing bootloader mode by using the resistor method outlined in the document at the bottom of page 3.  Then use the software or the updater to attempt to reflash your programmer (or as in my case renable the code protection by using the updaters advanced menu).

I found holding the resistor in place a little awkward as I wasn't working under ideal conditions, so I soldered it place in series with a switch. This allowed me to toggle it off easily after I confirmed it had entered the bootloader mode successfully.
 
Failing that if your programmer is fully bricked and bootloader mode is not working you probably need to manually reflash. This can be done via the programmers internal ICSP connection and discussed on the last few pages of the document.

[Dany]

hello radioman,
I need to ask you for some information about a program.
I can explain the problem to you
Thank you
Dany

[parkerlewis404]

Sorry to be dumb.... I have a MiniPro TL866A which I haven't used for years... today dug it out as I want to try and program a GAL 16V8 and went looking for the PC software.... I find http://www.autoelectric.cn/en/download.html v6.85 which my PC won't let me install as it is a virus risk... and looking at the analysis it does look a bit scary.
I found and downloaded  v682 which isn't blocked by the PC but when running it I get...

"The current application software verion is too old and not available. Please download the new  application software"

It displays "Hardware Interface Ver: TL866A V03.2.86" at the bottom but any operation gives the out of data error above.

What's the best way out of this?  Thanks in advance

PS
I believe it to be a genuine TL866A according to the genuine/counterfeit rules on their web site... i.e. silkscreen line doesn't cut through box, no lugs inside case, good relief and position of markings, non-rounded cooling fins etc.

I just had this same thing happen to me!   "The current application software is too old and not available.   Please download the new application software." Unfortunately, it seems autoelectric.cn no longer supports or has new software for this model, so I'm stuck.

Also the manufacturer seems paranoid about counterfeit programmers.. possibly even bricking clones, but looking at the pictures, seems my device is an original.
http://www.autoelectric.cn/en/note.html

Plus, the software sees the USB device "Hardware Interface Version :  TL866CS V03.2.86", so I think the hardware is still good.. but just can't find any software that works.  (v6.17, 6.50, 6.85 etc.)

Perhaps it's possible to examine the .exe and disable the check?  If not, is there any programmer that can program an am29lv160dt TSOP48?

[ebastler]

I just had this same thing happen to me!   "The current application software is too old and not available.   Please download the new application software." Unfortunately, it seems autoelectric.cn no longer supports or has new software for this model, so I'm stuck.

[...]just can't find any software that works.  (v6.17, 6.50, 6.85 etc.)

6.85 is the latest (and presumably final) software version for the TL866A/C programmer. It is still available from the Autoelectric website (http://www.autoelectric.cn/en/tl866_main.html, right column, scroll down.)

It is not clear to me at which point you are stuck. Did you not find that software? Did your virus scanner refuse to install it, as experienced by NivagSwerdna? Or do you run 6.85 and then get the "tool old" message?

[Shock]

The firmware 3.2.86 is for lastest software version 6.85 which is probably why you get a warning. I listed all the versions in this other post for convenience. So first it might be best to remove the old software completely and ensure you have 6.85 installed and running.

If anyone wants to compare against my SHA1 checksum for integrity this was the setup/executable file downloaded from the official website in April 2020.
minipro_setup685.rar
d0e1b5e66ccce151d501377cc92a6bb41fc9ba78
minipro_setup685.exe
c51ab1da5d8985277f6c095ecfbc4f27babd8c4f

Not that it means much (as it can be easily changed) the date stamp on the executable is Friday, ‎October ‎19, ‎2018, ‏‎6:22:58 PM.

[parkerlewis404]

Thanks, I was getting that popup everytime I tried reading the chip-id.. so I un-installed everything, downloaded 6.85 again, and it works!   

The software is now talking to the hardware, but the ID always reports FFFF FFFF  (instead of XX01 22C4 for the AM29LV160DT)

The chip was carefully pulled from a good board.. however, I've never used the TSOP32/40/80 adapter, is there any setting needed to tell minipro that I'm using it?  The "Set Interface" seems to only allow 40P adapter.   Any thoughts what else I could try?

[Shock]

I don't have that adapter but here is some info I found after a quick search, is it this problem? The programmer firmware rollback is a workaround obviously.
https://proghq.org/wiki/index.php/TL866_TSOP48_adapter

There is also a substitute firmware to turn a board into a V3 please check though if it's the latest firmware and info on this, as I've not done it.
https://www.eevblog.com/forum/blog/eevblog-411-minipro-tl866-universal-programmer-review/msg936055/#msg936055

Other than that I'd be verifying the programmer works on anything. Then pay close attention to the seating and orientation of the adapters and device. If you have just taken it off the board this includes cleaning and removing excess solder/flux/corrosion. Sometimes some slight pressure helps with intermittent contacts and sockets may need cleaning as well.

Have you used the programmer before? Are you saying you cannot perform a successful read? Are you getting a specific error? You can try turning the "check device ID" off. Attach some detailed shots of the front and back of the adapters so they can be identified and how you are orientating or setting them up.