Hi! This is my first post. I have been lurking here for a few weeks and decided on getting an W65C816SXB board to get my feet wet and see where I want to go... And that is a hurtful experience so far.

I did try some sxb.py-scripts that are floating around first, because I do not run Windows on any computer. They all gave communication issues.

When powering the board from factory the X has flashes that goes around 4 laps, then the SRAM LED turns on.

When trying to communicate with the board the VIA2 LED turns on.

I did install a VM with Windows and followed the guide on https://wdc65xx.com/ but the program locks up for a long time on startup and when I go to "View Target Info" I only get in all fields.

If I choose restart and then Go To "2000" I get "WDCDB Info" -> "Unknown fault at 00000000: code = 00FF"

The FTDI chip is identifying fine and I have tried multiple USB cables.

Is this salvageable before I need to try to return it? I hope I can download a ROM dump someone made and write to the flash, but I don't have a flasher so before investing hours to build one or a lot of cash to buy one I would like some kind of hint that it might work.

I don't have anything helpful to add but I am looking for the stock ROM for the W65C816SXB too. I managed to overwrite the monitor / communication programs on mine. I didn't think it would let me do that.

viewtopic.php?f=4&t=6326&start=15#p91144

That is the one I am hoping will help for me.

I have just ordered a socket and some hardware to build a flash reader/writer. It should get here in a few days and I'll keep this thread updated. Hopefully no one else has this issue, but if they do this might help.

Thanks for the helpful attitude, cyberdo. And congrats on your graduation from lurkerdom!

--Jeff

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In 1988 my 65C02 got six new registers and 44 new full-speed instructions!
https://laughtonelectronics.com/Arcana/ ... mmary.html

So, a really ugly rats nest (both in hardware and software) later I managed to read the flash and it indeed looks like it is accessing XCS* to blink the LEDs. The disassembly was not good but looks close enough to something viable. The interrupt vectors does not match the XLEDFLASH nor the monitor and it blinks the X like the monitor does not but accesses VIA-USB like the XLEDFLASH does not.

I did get a very quick reply from Western Design Center but he didn't have time to help at that time (he's hopefully getting back this week).

He was suspecting something as easy as the monitor being updated and the software being outdated. That would be simple and an easy solution. I have other engagements I can focus on while waiting, so this might be delayed a few days.

So, this issue has been resolved!

The problem is that newer dev boards use a newer monitor with a new protocol. I did ask if I was allowed to publish the flash images (old and new) but did not get a response.

The uploader is MIT licenced though, so I am attaching it here. USE IT AT YOUR OWN RISK of course. For me it worked flawlessly on Linux using Python3.

The image it expects is the output file from the WDC assemblers. My current "myled.s" starts at and the make script is:



EDIT: A warning: The monitor leaves the CPU running in native mode (non-emulated, so not the same state as on boot). This caused me a lot of head scratching. Symptoms are for instance:
requires a trailing nop (to account for the missing byte of the second half of 16 bit value). Sequences like:

takes much longer time than expected since X is 16 bits instead of 8.

For newcomers using the WDC assembler, this is the first few lines I use to set up the org and switch back to 6502:


EDIT: "WDC assembler" instead of "WDC compiler"

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x86?  We ain't got no x86.  We don't NEED no stinking x86!

I have now corrected the compiler/assembler.

Thanks for clarifying and explaining! For all intents and purposes I am pretty new to this.

Welcome, cyberdo! Don't worry about the pedantry, be sure to enjoy yourself!

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x86?  We ain't got no x86.  We don't NEED no stinking x86!

I'm not posting insults, BDD. I'm aware of the difference in dialects - there are plenty of places where "compiler" and "compiling" is the term in use. I'm adopting the descriptivist stance, rather than the prescriptivist stance. You could do the same, if you wished. You can't convert the world's usage, one person at a time - but you can certainly run the risk of putting people off.

I definitely know of people that would be put off by comments that might be well meaning, but was interpreted as negative. I did not interpret the correction as such, but I could have if I had been in the wrong mood. So I am fine. I appreciate you both for trying to educate AND encourage. Thank you! But maybe we could nip it in the bud?

Now, to stay on topic: I have put up a modified uploader at https://github.com/cyberdo/wdc_uploader_term including some changes to enable binary and Intel HEX-format (besides the original ZARDOZ format).

If someone is interested in the future.

I also have MS BASIC running on the board and have sent a PR to https://github.com/mist64/msbasic for the changes but I am not sure it is "in the spirit" of the repo because it is a new board. We'll see.

I feel I should start a new thread as a diary. My wife lost interest way before I started playing with this