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Problem reading what I believe is a Spansion S70FL256P with Flashcat

William Humphreys

William Humphreys

New Member
I’m trying to read (still soldered to the board) what I believe reading the writing on the chip is a Spansion S70FL256P. I’ve attached what I believe is the data sheet.

http://www.datasheetlib.com/datasheet/1371179/s70fl256p_spansion.html

The board it’s on is a cable modem (Netgear) but branded Virgin Media in the UK VMDG485 that I happened to have spare and don’t care about breaking. (I just had it spare so I figured it was what I would test the Flashcat with first)

I’ve attached the Flashcat (SPI) by basically the way it describes in the manual.

Now without attaching anything to VCC it won’t see anything. If I click “Use these setting” in SPI setting in then sort of sees something (Its sees the correct size of 1 of the 2 internal devices but it’s just like a blank chip, it will let me read it though there is no data) but I think it’s just the default script doing something. It doesn’t detect it with its real name either.

The board the chip is attached to ISNT powered (should it be?). Now when I attach the VCC (3.3) to VCC on its own and (also to pin one later as well) the software just disconnects and the lights on the device go daft (sometimes even messing up the driver and needing a reboot.

I also purchesed one of these to connect to the chip but I havnt had any luck with this either.

http://www.datahardware.co.uk/test-...ckcat-usb-spi-16way-test-clip-isp-sb6120-vmdg

I’ve asked around on a few forums but I get so many silly conflicting answers.

I’m assuming the device is working fine as I’ve re-flashed the device without issue and it does seem to do the “right” things after that.

Am I doing something daft here or does it need some config or suchlike?? I am a programmer so I would attempt to write a script but to be honest I get the syntax but not what I’m supposed to put in it.

It would be great if anybody could point out what SPI device commands relate to what setting in the data sheet then I may be able to do this for different chips in the future.

Being honest this is a great device if I can get it to do what it says on the tin.

My next test will probably be to de-solder the chip and attempt to read it but I thought I would ask yourselves first as it’s a pain to solder back on.
 
This specific chip is supported in FCUSB software from what i can see in the source code , so there should be no need to input the manual settings .
If you are soldering direct onto the chip and using a 3.3v source to power the chip then you should get a detection unless the modem is draining to much of the power to actually power the chip itself using this method it is not recommended to apply power to the modem itself , allthough i have read in some cases that this does work ..
When you use the test clip and apply the ISP pin to the correct postion (with the modem powered on) you should see that it either halts the modems led's or dims them , then you should be able to get a detection.
Are you using a v2.x FCUSB device ?
 
Hi, Im using the lastest Flashcat as I have only just purchased it.

If I connect the test clip http://www.datahardware.co.uk/test-...ckcat-usb-spi-16way-test-clip-isp-sb6120-vmdg (with the ISP lead unconnected) (no power to the board the chip is soldered to) it sort of detects the chip if I set it to not autodetect in the SPI Flash tab but incorrectly though it does get the size right. It will actually do a dump but all the data is blank like its not actually reading the chip.

If I apply the ISP lead to the ISP point (I am informed is correct) the software just disconnects.

I could take some screenshots if that helps.
 
Where are you connecting the ISP point ? .
If you have the soic clip connected and no power to the chip what you are seeing is a false detection , as the chip requires power to be read/written too.

any pics of your connection as well as screenshots would be useful
 
I decided to take the chip off the pcb and try reading again in a socket but just same result.

When the software is first run (with the programmer and chip connected) it just says disconnected.

If I then select the SPI Settings tab and tick Use These setting (all left at default) then go back to the Status tab I see this:

2GYSnS.jpg


And the other tabs display:

kucUS8.jpg


sEP4Ih.jpg


And I know this chip does have data on it.

The programmer is set to 3.3v

The chip itself is one of these:

k7aZ2J.jpg


Which again I think is this http://www.datasheetlib.com/datasheet/1371179/s70fl256p_spansion.html
 
This is interesting ,as I have the same exact chip and when I removed it from the board and put it in the exact same socket holder , I get flash not found.
I know the socket holder is OK as other chip's detect in it.
If you connect this chip back onto the modem , can you see it it still boots OK ?
I have a feeling there is something specific happening with these chips once removed from the board.
 
This was exactly the same when the chip was attached to the PCB before it was removed. Same messages etc etc.

I suspect this board is now wrecked :-( as I was testing some new desoldering tools that didnt work out as well as I expected.

I have a Bus Pirate I may fire up later and see if it can read anything from the chip.
 
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