CSPPC firmware (I) [eng]

Whew, after many difficulties of all kind, here is finally a new article...

Thierry Phase5 CyberStormPPC wasn't working anymore... After the traditional 060 socket change, it starts again... But the PPC part doesn't...

Even after taking off the 604e@233 et soldered a @375 version, the whole PPC part still doesn't give any sign of life... Sniff

Well, I had also another CyberStormPPC from DCE which was sleeping in my cartons : I had discovered on it two wormy holes under one of the two Mach231SP ! Unbelievable but true, however there isn't any capacitor around... If somebody understand what happened here, hats off :

Even after a full cleaning, this DCE is out of service...

There is still an interesting thing on this broken card, it's the eeprom which contains the firmware. Indeed, the CyberstormPPC from DCE have a soldered AM29F040B which can hold 512 Ko. All of the MK3 and PPC from Phase5 are equiped with AM29F010B (only 126 Ko). So it is why, contrary to the BlizzardPPC, the ppc.library and the 68060.library aren't in the firmware : there is no more space...

 Here is the exact reference of this famous DCE eeprom freshly unsoldered...

I had already realised this hack on the MK3, it is back again with another method, a lot more safer and serene :

The very simple idea in front of this tiny pastilles (which are about 0.170 millimeters large) is to unsolder and solder only with hotair, without any physical contact.

Once the old AM29F010B removed, suffice to well positioned the new one, brush a little bit the eeprom pins with RMA223 paste, letting on the pastilles the old soldering as it :

Then heat at 310° celsius during some minutes and then the welds will be done by themself !

An apparently successful operation : no contact with the card, everything has been realised with hot air. Thereby there is no risk to damage the very fragile pastilles

Thus now, with 512 Ko, it become possible to put more programs than before...

(translated by Squaley)