Latest sivercrest SL65 from Lidl UK

[BU508A]

Ripping the lid of the latest silvercrest SL65 from Lidl (another mongrel)

Processor ALI M3329C E1 (128 pin 14x14mm cip with alloy heatsink - soldered to PCB)

No visible Flash chip (so must be in with the CPU).

Usual Sdram - samsung K4S641632K

Tuner - sharp S7VZ0502

Nice menu - all the usual functions.

Revision details from menu -
H/w M29C 1.3.0.1
s/w FTA CMG-0.2.0.3 65GB.IE
date 16:14:54 Jun 1 2007

Not sure about CAS

Can anyone provide info on ALI m3329C version

I am aware of the m3329A, M3329B and the M3329E

Tony C

[solunauk]

The Ali M3329C E1 is mentioned in connection with an SL35 key editor on a German site, _www.sat-ulc.com. See the post from 14 Aug. It seems to indicate that the chip may be patchable, at least.

Sol

[BU508A]

Yes - Looking back through my saved data I've found reference to

Comag/Truman and part number 'RG405 DS1' which, is on the under side of the case
on the Silvercrest SL65. Reference on Dreampirates SL35-65 Ali

There's also mension of wrt45.exe - Jtag for various version of Ali M3329 chips.
Still no mention of the M3329C.

Have Jtag cable ready - so will attempt a backup - not sure about the flash type.

Tony C

[BU508A]

Found flash Device (need magifying glass)

Its a spansion S25FL016A (8 pin) - 16Mb serial (50Mhz clock) Flash device.

data sheet readily available on the net.

have dumped SL65 code - using SL35 tools from dream pirates SL35-65-M3329C-E1.

patch for SL35 availble - using the M3329C-E1 chip.

Unable to upload patch via RS232 until fix bootloader (jtag)

Tony C

[BGonaSTICK]

Do you have a wiring diagram for the JTAG cable?

I understand it's made with a floppy drive cable and a printer lead?

[BU508A]

download wrt-ali.zip from link below, it has Jtag diagram for comag 6 pin.

_http://dream-pirates.gmc.to/wbb2/thread.php?threadid=4657&sid=e231c4f01224b10885a07 2626484bcdf]dream-pirates.gmc.to/wbb2/thread.php?threadid=4657&sid=e231c4f01224b10885a07 2626484bcdf

Please note that on the new silvercrest SL65 - ali M3329C E1
the ground pin 6 is on the left, looking with EJtag connector
below and slighty to right of M3329C chip. i.e. pin1 is nearest to J1 index

Warning - the bootloader M29C 1.3.0.1 is very special,
It has the code to access the serial Flash device.
Don't attempt to replace it with SL35 or other code, or you'll kill the box.
All the other bootloaders access standard flash EEproms.

I've downloaded the contents of the serial flash device using tools from same website.
There's a comag utility for up and downloading SL35 software via RS232.
It works OK for reading back only i.e. Box to PC
Note you must save file as .bin - or it don't work.

I think this box is going to require a lot of work.

Tony C

[BGonaSTICK]

That's a very good thread with lots of tools. I've deactivated the URL as we don't allow live links to other forums.

Here is the wiring diagram. I presume it's the same for the cables used successfully on the older SL65s other than your comment above.

Here's a youtube of how to do it if you know what chip you have:

_http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PmOgqxEHS8Q

[Nipper]

Would it be possible to desolder the heat sink and get the info of the chip at all? if so i might give it a go as i just got one of these last week.

[BGonaSTICK]

The processor is soldered to the board, but I should imagine that the heatsink is just stuck to the chip with some gloop. Pull it off and have a peek, but if it's this years model SL65, it's almost certainly going to be an E1 based on Tony's findings.

[kendo999]

I managed to release the heatsink on mine and can confirm that I have an E1 chip too.

Made up a 6-pin JTag connector but Jkeys couldn't identify my box. Can anyone confirm which parallel port pins go to which of the six pins on-board and what response I should get from Jkeys. I don't know if this is going to be worth having if some clever person comes up with a patch solution and it only needs the RS232 port