Rom dumping

[jennifer]

     I know nothing on this subject other than apparently some of the better programs dump the Rom 3 times under different voltage conditions and compare the results.... Would anybody here happen to know what program that is, and any helpful information on the subject.
                                                                                                                                              As always, Your friend Jennifer

[Haze]

no replies? you'd be better off talking to people like the Dumping Union when it comes to such questions.

I'm not sure how many do this type of thing automatically, afaik the best ones do what you tell them to, nothing more, nothing less, but the general advice is that once you've finished dumping something you should go through all the chips and do them for a second time, to make sure they match.  While such techniques don't eliminate 'used the wrong settings' issues (or even in some cases the programmer software being buggy and not actually having the correct pinout for things and thus producing bad dumps) they will pick up on roms suffering from bitrot, or insertion errors etc. which become evident if your two dumps don't match.

[jennifer]

     After a bit of research What you say may be true... OMG, Haze, you live in a dark world. The Mame Isnt really where I was headed with this project, but apparently they are the only group of people that understand whats going on under the hood. do they have a fourm or anything, All I seem to find is random awesome spread over a large area.... EDIT, I found them, thank you.

[NOP]

I have a fairly pro-end eeprom burner/reader (http://www.ebay.com/itm/BP-Microsystems-BP1200-BP-1200-Universal-Device-Programmer-/360727685911?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item53fd0bab17) and it not only supports hundreds of different rom types/manufacturers and sets up the programmer appropriately for them, but it also verifies the data is read at different voltages to make sure it got the data correct.  The trick is being able to identify the part correctly, which may require removal of stickers that might be on them.

Not that I suggest you go out and buy such a thing (mine was a gift from work and didn't realize til I dug this one up on ebay how expensive it still is), but maybe you find a local nerd who can dump your eeproms for you if you really want to be positive you are getting the data out.  Lots of vintage computer geeks like me actually have these eeprom burners set up in their offices for just such an occasion!

[jennifer]

     Thats a suprising twist to this project, although now I know what the tools of the trade are, [at least one of them]. This burner seems to be a bit on the "older" end but of top of the line quality, and I must say the the price is a little shocking, but not out of line... The sticker your refering to once removed kinda voids the theoretical warenty and points to the fact its been tampered with?

[NOP]

I guess it depends on the sticker of that may or may not be on the roms you're looking to dump.
Usually, they are only stickered with the version # of the software and/or the rom location on the motherboard that particular chip fits into.  You'd only need to peel off said stickers to try to find some kind of manufacturer+part number of the rom itself to know which part you're putting into the eeprom burner so it can be configured properly.  (ie, SST 28C648) it may be obvious enough from the part, and there may be clues on the bottom of the rom too.

I'm thinking from the perspective of taking an old motherboard and getting the data off the roms- likely no warranty to void there, and it would have expired years ago anyway, so no harm done except for the historical significance of that sticker.

If you can, post some pictures of what you're looking at dumping and maybe the solution will be more obvious.

[jennifer]

     When I get closer to actually knowing a bit about this Jen will gladly share her experimentation exploits, I have boxes and crates of old boards, so its not one particular, but many. The problem to this point is I have no idea what some of them are, so dumping them sounds like my only realistic solution.... I had great hopes of silenty following along on threads pertaing to the subject, And after finally finding The union, Wound up joining another site... Unfourtunally, It took me hard core left turn into Mame, not really the subject of chips.

[Haze]

Well you're going to find some of the guys who have been dumping things for MAME know a lot, because they've encountered all kinds of exotic boards and ROM types during their work.

Also keep in mind that there will be interest in any board you have to dump; MAME emulates everything from standard video arcade games to screenless gambling machines, while MESS (which is really just the same project) emulates everything else..  So essentially if you have a unique previously undumped board of anything it is going to be of interest to somebody at some point ;-)

[jennifer]

   I wound up on a forum where you are [I think] Jen8... And yes quite Mame orientated, I decided to try the Arduino Mega board just to see if I can do it, then work my way to the more upscale of burners. If There is an interest in my exploits, Sharing with those that help wouldnt be unheard of.
   I have however gotten bit by the Mame bug, and may give that a try again [after all these years] just to see what you guys have been up to.

[Haze]

I don't use Mameworld myself, but yes, there are people who know about dumping there (Smitdogg etc.)  (I saw your account)

Obviously in a community people help each other ;-)