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UltraHDMI bricked (house lost power during FW update) Help needed!


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What horrible luck. I received an UltraHDMI board a few days ago via game-tech, and installed it fine...install was a breeze. I set to upgrade the firmware to 1.07a to eliminate the audio "pop" issue using the firmware update rom on this page: http://retrorgb.com/ultrahdmi.html ( http://ultrahdmi.retroactive.be/installer_files/ultrahdmi_firm_107a.z64)

 

Halfway through the update, my house lost power - as many of you know, the south of the UK is experiencing one hell of a snowstorm (https://twitter.com/ssencommunity/status/969656831307075586 is proof my power went out...). Once we got power back, I found out my UltraHDMI was bricked.

I've tried the firmware update *.z64 again with the N64 hooked up to my CRT but that doesn't seem to work, likely because the code to receive the update on the fpga is kaput. I have a capable altera flasher here - but I cannot find the file anywhere online, which I understand is due to safety concerns Marshallh has ....problem is, without a firmware update I can flash to the board, my ultrahdmi is as good as junk and I'm pretty gutted that my £150 install that I only put together a day ago is now useless! I'd rather not have to send the ultrahdmi anywhere as I have the kit here to fix it.

 

I emailed game-tech. No help there at all other than telling me I'm on my own. I emailed Marshallh and posted on the retroactive forums, but again, not expecting any kind of prompt response if any :(

 

Does anyone have any ideas at all or does anyone have access to the raw firmware file I could flash to my board via JTAG? If not, would it not be feasible to extract that data from the upgrade rom? That's gotta be possible, right? If I can simply open up the file with a hex editor and take out what I need, that'd be fantastic - but I have no idea where to start with that.

Edited by richisawesome
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What horrible luck. I received an UltraHDMI board a few days ago via game-tech, and installed it fine...install was a breeze. I set to upgrade the firmware to 1.07a to eliminate the audio "pop" issue using the firmware update rom on this page: http://retrorgb.com/ultrahdmi.html ( http://ultrahdmi.retroactive.be/installer_files/ultrahdmi_firm_107a.z64)

 

Halfway through the update, my house lost power - as many of you know, the south of the UK is experiencing one hell of a snowstorm (https://twitter.com/ssencommunity/status/969656831307075586 is proof my power went out...). Once we got power back, I found out my UltraHDMI was bricked.

 

I've tried the firmware update *.z64 again with the N64 hooked up to my CRT but that doesn't seem to work, likely because the code to receive the update on the fpga is kaput. I have a capable altera flasher here - but I cannot find the file anywhere online, which I understand is due to safety concerns Marshallh has ....problem is, without a firmware update I can flash to the board, my ultrahdmi is as good as junk and I'm pretty gutted that my £150 install that I only put together a day ago is now useless! I'd rather not have to send the ultrahdmi anywhere as I have the kit here to fix it.

 

I emailed game-tech. No help there at all other than telling me I'm on my own. I emailed Marshallh and posted on the retroactive forums, but again, not expecting any kind of prompt response if any :(

 

Does anyone have any ideas at all or does anyone have access to the raw firmware file I could flash to my board via JTAG? If not, would it not be feasible to extract that data from the upgrade rom? That's gotta be possible, right? If I can simply open up the file with a hex editor and take out what I need, that'd be fantastic - but I have no idea where to start with that.

 

Oh and just to clarify (would edit the post above, but the options seems to have disappeared!), I've got quartus prime installed, and I'm able to flash the cyclone 3 on the UltraHDMI (EP3C10F256) via jtag easily. I just need the file!

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Not until you explain how they fixed you up on that big issue. It really wasn't your fault or abuse having a random dumb power failure at that one little moment in time when the flash was being tinkered with.

Of course.

 

I went on a little bit of a panicked posting spree, asking for help on the forums I knew. Someone on shmups forwarded me a PM with a raw 1.05 version firmware file that can be flashed to the board with a usb blaster. It was previously only shared on irc #n64dev, so he didn't want to post it publicly.

 

Later on, Marshall sent me an equivalent jtag file for 1.07a via email. I emailed him using a private email gained from someone who is in close contact.

 

So basically, if I hadn't had the contacts I had, I would have been fucked. Game-tech were unfortunately no help whatsoever, which is shocking when this situation could easily happen to any one of the hundreds of customers for the item. Or easily for any reseller/installer.

Edited by richisawesome
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That's great and lucky news thanks. Also good on you calling out game-tech. That's some pretty shoddy service and shady business on their end. A proper company selling goods that cost hundreds of dollars needs to get their crap together or it looks exploitative on the surface otherwise. To have such a simple fix but not supply it or even help in any sort of way, even if it meant mailing it to them with a small fee is just pretty wrong. It makes it look like they just want you to buy a second one being better for them than providing support fee based or free to repair.

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That's great and lucky news thanks. Also good on you calling out game-tech. That's some pretty shoddy service and shady business on their end. A proper company selling goods that cost hundreds of dollars needs to get their crap together or it looks exploitative on the surface otherwise. To have such a simple fix but not supply it or even help in any sort of way, even if it meant mailing it to them with a small fee is just pretty wrong. It makes it look like they just want you to buy a second one being better for them than providing support fee based or free to repair.

 

To be fair to Jason at game-tech, I honestly believe only myself and a select few others have the native *.jic file. To quote my email from game-tech:

 

 

That file will never be public for copy protection, i'm sure you can understand.

I believe the only way is to send it to marshall for a reflash.
sorry!
J

 

So I wouldn't blame them at all, really.

 

The issue is that quite influential sites such as retrorgb are linking to the install file (which is found only on the private installer page) directly, with no disclaimer or warning: http://retrorgb.com/ultrahdmi.html

 

screenshot:

---------------------------------------------------------------

post-63650-0-70603700-1520272987.png

---------------------------------------------------------------

 

Now, considering that game-tech alone sell 400 units per batch, that's a significant chance of a lot of them being fucked over by it. And these aren't installers out to make a profit, they're just standard hobbyists like myself.

Edited by richisawesome
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  • 2 years later...

This is an old thread but this just happened to me. My ultra hdmi n64 just got bricked. I finally got around to updating to 1.08 and while it was updating I simply changed inputs and apparently that was enough to brick the hdmi board. I've tried to run the update rom again without luck. The n64 still works out the multi-out for analogue output so at least the console isn't dead. I'm probably pretty fucked myself unless someone can point me in the right direction. Maybe Marshal can help but I don't have his contract information. Any help or ideas would be great. Thanks

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9 hours ago, djsquare said:

This is an old thread but this just happened to me. My ultra hdmi n64 just got bricked. I finally got around to updating to 1.08 and while it was updating I simply changed inputs and apparently that was enough to brick the hdmi board. I've tried to run the update rom again without luck. The n64 still works out the multi-out for analogue output so at least the console isn't dead. I'm probably pretty fucked myself unless someone can point me in the right direction. Maybe Marshal can help but I don't have his contract information. Any help or ideas would be great. Thanks

 

I'll send you the jtag file via PM. You'll need an altera usb blaster, some jtag header pins and intel quartus prime on your PC. Once flashed, update to the latest FW using the update ROM.

Edited by richisawesome
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I can't thank you enough, I honestly didn't think anyone would actually get back to me on this topic. I'll have to figure out how to flash the thing. I have reflashed an NESRGB board before in the past, I imagine it would be similar to that. At least not I'm thinking about buying a used Ultra HDMI 64 off ebay anymore. Thank you again. At least there is hope now

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  • 3 weeks later...
On 12/6/2020 at 3:24 AM, richisawesome said:

 

I'll send you the jtag file via PM. You'll need an altera usb blaster, some jtag header pins and intel quartus prime on your PC. Once flashed, update to the latest FW using the update ROM.

update on my problems...it worked...it actually worked. After going through 2 usb blasters and much crying and yelling, it works. If I could buy you a beer or two I would. Merry Christmas and thank you again

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  • 1 month later...

Hi Everyone, not sure what to do and I'm hoping I will have the same luck as the previous two folks who had this problem. I was upgrading from 1.6 to 1.8 via everdrive and walked away for a few minutes. Upon return, the screen shut off and stopped responding. After an hour of nothing, I killed the machine. Officially bricked.

 

I've emailed a support email I found, followed up 1 week later, and failed to receive a response from anyone.

 

I'm really hoping someone could help!

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  • 2 weeks later...

I saw your Q&A with RetroRGB. He is right that Marshall/RetroActive expects your installer to support any issues, but I can help if it really is just a failed update.

 

Mine bricked when updating to unreleased 1.08FW back in 2018 and, as an installer, Marshall shared everything I needed to unbrick it.

 

I bricked mine by pulling DCDI while it was updating (changed inputs on my TV), which caused the UltraHDMI to disable itself. The final FW1.08 fixes this by ignoring DCDI during FW updates, but there is nothing the 1.08 Updater can do about it until you are updated to 1.08. Since there is nothing newer than 1.08, anyone updating today still has the potential to run into this issue. :(

 

When updating: Don’t switch inputs or power off the TV. Don’t unplug the HDMI cable or move anything that could cause even a momentary disconnect. ...and, of course, all the usual about maintaining power and such. ;)
 

What installer code is on your console’s UltraHDMI sticker?

Edited by CZroe
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On 2/23/2021 at 5:04 PM, MJF309 said:

Hi Everyone, not sure what to do and I'm hoping I will have the same luck as the previous two folks who had this problem. I was upgrading from 1.6 to 1.8 via everdrive and walked away for a few minutes. Upon return, the screen shut off and stopped responding. After an hour of nothing, I killed the machine. Officially bricked.

 

I've emailed a support email I found, followed up 1 week later, and failed to receive a response from anyone.

 

I'm really hoping someone could help!

Please see above. :)

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On 3/8/2021 at 9:48 AM, MJF309 said:

Hey, sorry, just seeing this. Here are the two stickers on the install

470442C0-DD25-42E4-8D59-C65B35AD437F.jpeg

Thanks. Just wanted a peek at the installer code (0CB) to see if it was one of mine since RetroActive uses them to establish a chain of responsibility for these. Not sure who has 0CB but GameTechUS is 0BN and I am 0DC (his HW2 pic was one of my kits ;)).

Anyway, I'm happy to try my recovery file but that requires sending me the kit. I just noticed a similar post about a bricked UltraHDMI kit on Shmups forum but the username was different: Fazz84. Is that also you? I plan to reach out over there next, just in case.

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Yup, that was me under a different name. This story has a happy ending, got a recovery file from someone as a reaction to this thread, got a programmer, and it now works. 
 

I am extremely grateful for the responses, and if it’s okay with you, I would like to post the info on why it bricked in a follow up to Bob’s next Q&A. Given how much of a cost the mod, it’s worth publishing.

 

Thanks again!

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14 minutes ago, MJF309 said:

Yup, that was me under a different name. This story has a happy ending, got a recovery file from someone as a reaction to this thread, got a programmer, and it now works. 
 

I am extremely grateful for the responses, and if it’s okay with you, I would like to post the info on why it bricked in a follow up to Bob’s next Q&A. Given how much of a cost the mod, it’s worth publishing.

 

Thanks again!

Great! I should point out that the eBay installer didn’t add solder to the HDMI mounting tabs on the bottom which is something I planned to correct but since you won’t have to send it I might as well point it out. :)

 

FWIW, RetroActive has not authorized me to share that file but I would have contacted him for permission and sent the programmer if you were were not able to send the kit. Sending you a PM. :)

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  • 10 months later...

Hi every one,

 

This also happened to me. I just bricked my Ultra HDMI N64 mod when I tried to update from 1.08 to 1.10.

I wasn't checking the screen all the time, but at least I saw 32%, 68% and 81% and when I came back the screen was all black. I decided to wait 15 min more and ... with no difference I decided to restart the N64.

Since there is "no signal" on my HDMI TV where the N64 is connected. I switched to analog source (SCART) to "update" again and the screen freeze when I proceed (half bottom black and half top with "fixed CRT snow" as you can see on picture 1).

 

My N64 is NUS-001 (EUROPE)

My Ultra HDMI mod is : HW1, 0BN (Picture 2)

 

Picture 1 :

IMG-20220206-160704.jpg

Picture 2 :

IMG-20220206-161806.jpg

 

Can you please help me ?

As I understood reading this thread, I need :

  • To find someone (or electronics repair shop/service) to "flash" directly the Ultra HDMI ?
  • To try to flash it myself with additional stuff : altera usb blaster + jtag header pins + intel quartus prime + a "jtag file" ? (I never did it before but I can search how to do it)

 

Thanks in advance for your help

 

Best regards

 

 

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  • 1 month later...

I'm so glad I found this thread as I've been scrambling to find out why my Ultra HDMI stopped working. 

 

Darkhost perfectly describes the issue I'm having so at least now I look to getting it resolved.

I don't know what the cost would be to get hold of altera usb blaster, jtag header pins and intel quartus prime or the likelihood of acquiring the correct jtag file so I might contact some installers to see what they will charge.

The added complication I have is my installer is UK based and I am Australia based so postage won't be cheap.

Oh well, I'll see what I can find out. 

Thanks to all who have posted.

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So I have a weird one here that has me stumped. Was on FW 1.08 on a HW1 board. Upgrade to 1.10 ran through fine with no errors. Switched it off, as per the instructions turned it back on all was OK. Made some changes in the menu then played a game for around an hour. Unplugged it and went to bed. Following day, ive connected it back up and im getting no signal on the TV and the board is doing the slow pulse to say its not detecting a HDMI signal. Tried 2 different cables but still no change. I know both cables work as I've tried them with another device. Checked flex cable connections and all are good and have done continuity checks and they pass. Tried with and without a game but still can't get it to see there's a cable attached. Tried the reset button combo still no change. Do you think my board is somehow bricked itself? I'm at my wit's end as it's been solid for 5 years and now this. Could anyone suggest anything. TIA

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  • 1 month later...

Hi everyone,

 

I have now received everything to reflash my ultrahdmi board :

  1. USB Blaster
  2. Quartus 2 software
  3. The "jtag file (xxx.jic)" to be flashed
  4. Some jtag header pins

I have now an issue :

When I plug the jtag header pins to the board and the to the usb Blaster, my computer doesn't find anything.

Do i need to solder the "jtag header pins" to the board ?

 

Some pics to explain where I am :

1 / I have still the ultrahdmi board connected to the N64 (do I need to disconnect it ?)

IMG-20220514-151407.jpg

 

2 / When I connect the USB Blaster, the software doesn't "autodetect" the board

 

IMG-20220514-191651.jpg

Altera-error.png

 

3 / So maybe do I have to solder the jtag header pins to the board ?
IMG-20220514-184656.jpg

 

If someone can confirme the operation it will be a great help, I don't want to do something wrong / worse ! ?

 

Thanks in advance !

 

BR

 

 

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