Transferring ROM Data To & From A Flash Cart Options

[viMaster]

Did you try to load kasumi ninja while native was still playing?
Personally, I'd probably reset the jag before every file transfer to the skunkboard or RAM.
As for the problem now... I dunno. Just let the jag sit turned off for a few minutes and then try turning everything back on and see if it works again. Disconnect/reconnect the usb cable before turning it on... I dunno.

Sometimes I get a red screen if something just simply doesn't load. I just send the reset command and everything is fine again, so not sure what happened.
I'd try to reproduce your results, but now I'm scared

[Tursi]

Lots of stuff in this thread, let me see what I can do.

Concerning the "Skunk Board", Would I have to use Win 9.x environment to flash from my computer to the Jag?

JCP is a full 32-bit Windows application and does not require DOS access like older tools, so is fully compatible with Windows 2000, XP, and Vista. It is not tested nor is compatibility guaranteed with Win9x or WinME (although I have heard it works).

lso when I type "jcp -r" to reset the Jag or "jcp -s" to get the serial number, it works like clock work

JCP -r works by directly kicking registers on the card, and is a good first test. It only tests as far as the USB microcontroller.
JCP -s uploads a program to Jaguar RAM and communicates the result back, so is a full test of the communication chain. If both of these work, your skunkboard is working (the flash can then be tested separately).

How do I tell the skunk board where the ROM is located?

This is a standard command prompt access question and is not specific to the Skunkboard utilities. You basically have three choices, either add the folder that JCP is in to your command path so that it's available anywhere, specify the full path to the file you want to load, or always have the two in the same folder.

There's nothing magical about JCP's file access. It works the same way as every other command prompt program.

Adding to the path is a bit advanced, but the manual suggests one way to temporarily do it.

To specify a path, just type the whole thing. For instance:

CODE

jcp C:\MYFILES\MYJAGFILES\NATIVE\NATIVE.JAG

As was noted, there are different commands needed depending on whether what you are loading is targetted to RAM (ie: files compatible with BJL)...

CODE

jcp mybjlfile.jag

...or ROM (ie: files that previously only worked on Alpine or flash cart)...

CODE

jcp -f myflashfile.jag

it's now proven that it's possible to dev on the Jag using newer version of "Windows" with no dev environment setup.

This was the entire point of releasing the SkunkBoard.

I tried to load another ROM "Kasumi Ninja" into the Jag RAM. When I did that, the program told me that this particular file needed to be flashed using the "-f" command so I did so. During loading, the Jag screen turned red and the command prompt still showed that it was still loading.

Several comments here.. first is that we do not support loading commercial ROMs. If you do it, you're on your own.

It's unusual that it would turn red /during/ upload, though. Leading me into...

Now my computer won't recognize the skunk board any more and when I plug the skunk cart on my jag then turn it on the screen still turns red.

It turns red how -- with the Jaguar logo, or solid red?

If it's with the Jaguar logo, you probably have a dirty connection - clean as suggested. Be careful while doing so, check that your port is in good shape, etc. Solid red should not happen under any circumstance in the scenario you describe.

Make sure you do NOT have a BJL cable plugged into the machine. As a test, also unplug both controllers.

The manual says to reset the skunk with either the "jcp -r or jcp -s command" to restart/erase whatever's left in the flash chips.

You are misinterpreting what you read. "jcp -r" only resets the Jaguar. "jcp -s" only retrieves the serial number of the board. The only way to erase the flash chip is to use "jcp -f" to flash another file.

Did you try to load kasumi ninja while native was still playing?

This won't work, JCP will just spin because nothing on the Jaguar is reading the data from the PC. Should not cause any issues.

I'd probably reset the jag before every file transfer to the skunkboard or RAM.

You pretty much have to. For the few cases you don't, I do myself anyway, too.

You're not screwed, anyway, try the steps above. If you want to cover it outside the forum you are also welcome to PM me.

[ACE]

JCP -r works by directly kicking registers on the card, and is a good first test. It only tests as far as the USB microcontroller.
JCP -s uploads a program to Jaguar RAM and communicates the result back, so is a full test of the communication chain. If both of these work, your skunkboard is working (the flash can then be tested separately).

When the Jag is turned on with the Skunk Board in the cart slot hooked to the computer usb port; when I type either one of those commands, a message comes up that implies that there's no connection with the Skunk Board. I'm not at home, I'm at a public library right now but to my memory the message was "couldn't find connection" or something to that nature. I saw the link in the Jaguar main forum... I'm going read over that and see it helps.

[Tursi]

Sounds like no communication at all.

If you are not getting the solid green screen, I need you to clean your Skunkboard contacts and the cartridge port itself, test with another game, and then if that doesn't work, describe the screen to me (is it solid red or the Jaguar logo failure screen?) Without the green screen it's not ready to communicate with the PC.

[ACE]

It's solid red Jag logo failure screen. I cleaned both the Skunk Board and the cartridge slot alcohol... I don't know if I did too good of a job cleaning the cart slot because I used a slightly damp business card to do so... Cybermorph works; the Skunkboard is still showing a red screen. I provided a link to the "Kasumi Ninja.ROM" I tried to flash to the Skunkboard. How long does it usually take for a 4MB ROM to flash from the PC to the Skunkboard...? Because just before my PC lost contact with the Skunkboard, while it was loading Kasumi Ninja, the Jag screen turned Jag-logo-failure red, yet Kasumi Ninja was still loading despite the red screen. I waited a couple of minutes to see if the loading process would complete before I exited out of DOS during loading thinking that the Skunkboard Driver had froze. Then I turned off the Jag to reboot, which I beleive is where I lost contact between the Skunkboard and my PC because when I turned the Jag back on, that little pop-up box at the corner Windows that indicates "a USB device is connected" didn't show up afterwards or since then.



This post has been edited by ACE: Oct 6 2008, 09:59 AM

[Tursi]

There's no reason it would turn red during a flash.. so I'm not sure what happened there (sure it didn't finish?)

I don't support loading of commercial ROMs so I'd ask you to switch to something else and not provide links to ROM sites.

If you are getting the failure Jaguar screen then either the boot got corrupted or the Jag isn't seeing the card. You can ship it back to me and I'll either repair or replace. That's probably faster than fiddling. PM me.

[ACE]

That works for me... I just deleted the links from my post. I'll try and get the Skunk Board in the mail ASAP. This Skunk Board is going to help to make a lot of very interesting programs... If the commercial ROMs doesn't work on the SB, now we have to program new stuff for the Jag system which is a good thing. I don't endorse piracy.

[Tursi]

Commercial ROM policy is: We don't support them. If you can't make them work, we are not going to help. Technically that extends to gorking your board while loading one.

But, your symptoms are odd and should not have happened, so I'm willing to take a peek at what went wrong. Should be an easy correction if there's actually something wrong.

[Doctor Clu]

Commercial ROM policy is: We don't support them. If you can't make them work, we are not going to help. Technically that extends to gorking your board while loading one.

But, your symptoms are odd and should not have happened, so I'm willing to take a peek at what went wrong. Should be an easy correction if there's actually something wrong.

Gorking eh? That is my new word for the day.

[Tursi]

Gorking is old-school!

[viMaster]

Just out of curiosity, was there a solution found for this problemo?

[Tursi]

Just out of curiosity, was there a solution found for this problemo?

Yes, install the bios update. That was its main purpose.

[viMaster]

Just checkin'