AutoProm bin reading - or rather not???

[Billygoat]

I must be overlooking something basic, but I can not figure it out...

So here is what I have, I took the Howell chip out, put it in my Autoprom, read it, saved the bin file. I even then flashed that program onto a 28pin chip and put that in the computer and the truck runs.

However I open the bin file I saved (which windows shows as 32 mb) and I have tried both the 6E.xdf and 42.xdf and the bin looks BLANK!
I can open the apyp.bin file that came with TunerPro and it shows all kinds of stuff... And in the chip read/burn screen I can open the hex editor and see stuff on my howell bin.

So what in the heck am I missing????

[chrism]

I am not familiar with the howell setup or autoprom.
Also I assume that you meant the bin file size is 32KB not MB.
If the chip size you are using is larger than stock and your bin size is 32KB most likely you need to tell the autoprom to read in the the bin from the proper offset. I think your bin size should be 4KB.

Some reading:

http://support.moates.net/2010/04/05/programming-chips-using-offsets/

[Billygoat]

Yeah, I meant KB...

I am not trying to burn a chip - that worked, I am trying to load the dang program so I can edit it.

[Woodchomper]

As you probably know, you need the correct XDF file to read the bin. You can bet Howell has a proprietary XDF file that they hold onto dearly. Since you already have the autoprom why don't you experiment with your own bin. Start with a stock GM bin and start burning.

I have the Moates ostrich eprom emulator. I normally just leave the ostrich hooked up and every so often I burn a chip for a backup in case the ostrich dies.

[chrism]

I am not trying to burn a chip - that worked, I am trying to load the dang program so I can edit it.

Yep I got that but the 42.xdf is expecting a 4KB bin. When you read in the chip your autoprom is reading in the entire 32KB of the chip much of which is probably blank. You only want to read in the part of the chip that contains the actual binary. I don't know if the autoprom can do this or not. Maybe try reading the chip in as a 2732?

[Billygoat]

I read the chip in as 2 different ones, the only 2 that would read it, neither show any data in the xdf file.

I know FSJ_Guy uses the 42.xdf file with the Howell program, has it listed right in the sticky on adding spark control to the Howell kit.

I'll shoot a question to Howell and see what they say....

[chrism]

Here is something else to try. Open up tunerpro. Go under tools and open up the bin stacker/splitter. Change it to split. Use the 32KB bin as the input file and the following settings:
Bin size: 4kb
Chip size: 32KB
Block size: 4kb

Save pos0 to a bin file and then open that up in tunerpro. You could also email me the bin file and I will extract it for you and send it back. PM me if you want to do that.

[FSJ Guy]

I don't think you read the Howell bin correctly. It should save as a 4K (kilobyte, I think) file. It should not read 32K. You should not need to split bins read from chips that do not have stacked bins.

When you read the bin from the Howell chip, there is an option to edit the bin. Take a look at the contents and just make sure it looks like gibberish. LOL! It should not be all the same values/characters on every line. I think you already did this, but it's good to double check.

The xdf file is ECM dependent and not related to any particular company. The 42.xdf should work fine.

EDIT: See post #10

[chrism]

You should not split bins read from chips that do not have stacked bins.

I am curious why.

[FSJ Guy]

I am curious why.

Sorry, that should read "You should not NEED to split bins from chips that do not have stacked bins."

Reading the chip should provide the correct file size automatically.

[FSJ Guy]

Oh, and make sure you specify the correct chip that you are reading. You want to be reading the 2732 chip, IIRC. It will show as read only. You will not have a write (burn) option.

[Woodchomper]

The xdf file is ECM dependent and not related to any particular company. The 42.xdf should work fine.

Wow I always figured Howell and others would try to protect their intellectual property. I never realized their bins could be read with the 42.xdf file.

[FSJ Guy]

Wow I always figured Howell and others would try to protect their intellectual property. I never realized their bins could be read with the 42.xdf file.

They probably would if they could. (I don't blame them.)

But they can't. So they don't.

If you're re-programming chips, it's honestly not anything you or I couldn't do ourselves. You're paying for the fact that it's already done for you and it's a complete turnkey system.

Back to the OP, did you get it to read correctly, yet?

[Billygoat]

I redid what I did originally and took screen shots...

Scientific method, since I didn't know what chip the howell one is, and the printing on it does not match anything on the list, I started at the top of the read only listing and tried to read it, this is the first on that worked...


check the hex editer


then save it


then I tried the last chip listed and it read


check hex


save it


then I reset to the first chip setting I read, loaded the bin into the buffer and verified, it failed, so I figure that is not the right chip setting


set to the second chip setting, loaded the bin to buffer, verified - success


as you can see, both bins saved at 32kb


just for kicks I loaded the fist (bad) bin rear and looked at it with the 6E and 42 xdf formats, and blank




Then loaded the second bin I created, same results....




Just for kicks I loaded the arap bin that came with TunerPro and looked at it with both xdf's and all kinds of stuff in there, so I know the xfd's are good. I have a strong computer background (I am the backup domain admin's at work) so this is really frustrating me....

Remember I flashed the read from the 27C512 setting onto a 28pin flash chip and the trucks runs fine with it installed.

[FSJ Guy]

I redid what I did originally and took screen shots...

Scientific method, since I didn't know what chip the howell one is, and the printing on it does not match anything on the list, I started at the top of the read only listing and tried to read it, this is the first on that worked...

You're reading the wrong type of chip. You want to read the 2732A chip. As set up, it thinks it's reading a larger chip. The info is there, but there's an offset built that is created when a smaller file is burned/read from a larger chip. The burner takes care of it, but TunerPro isn't set up to deal with it.

This is why you can burn the same file back onto the chip using the wrong settings and still have it work.

To READ, set it to 2732A. To write to the 27SF512 chip, set it to the 27SF512 chip.