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Nintendo 64 Test Cart ROM
- rwmj 3y agoI assume a Test Cartridge is some kind of developer tool from back in the day?
- coldpie 3y agoSounds from the article like it was used in factories, maybe to verify that a new production line or hardware revision is building consoles that function correctly? Related and also interesting: https://tcrf.net/Category:Nintendo_Console_Testing_Software https://tcrf.net/Category:Nintendo_Console_Testing_Software
- serf 3y agoit was also used during warranty/return phase to validate customer concerns. The production line usually checked the boards via the JTAG pins.
- yjftsjthsd-h 3y agoDid they take the JTAG pins off? I'm wondering why you would test differently on the way out of the factory and back in for repair claims
- anamexis 3y agoIt's a lot easier to pop a cartridge in than to disassemble the case to get at the JTAG pins.
- monocasa 3y agoI don't think there necessarily ever were pins. JTAG on a production line is normally hooked up via a bed of nails.
- colechristensen 3y agoThese are called pogo pins https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pogo_pin https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pogo_pin
- naraic0o 3y agothese care called a bed of nails https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bed_of_nails_tester https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bed_of_nails_tester
- InitialLastName 3y agoIn addition to what the others said regarding disassembly, it's a lot easier to distribute (and train remote technicians to use/maintain) a test cartridge to service centers around the world than to set up the $xx,000+ bespoke bed of nails test fixtures that you would use on the production line.
- mips_r4300i 3y agoJTAG doesn't really exist on the N64 hardware, it's only present on the CPU and the pins are hardwired to VCC/gnd. Even if it did work, it wouldn't be sufficient to test the rest of the system, which doesn't have any concept of JTAG. The other major chip (RCP) does have an undocumented test mode, it allowed the verification guys at SGI introspection into various registers/state by exposing them onto the cartridge bus as gpio. I don't think this is written down anywhere though.
- Sniffnoy 3y agoWorth noting that (AIUI) such test ROMs are often used these days to test the faithfulness of emulators.
- Arrath 3y agoClever!
- nunez 3y agoWow; this was fascinating! Interestingly the world class service number in the SNES Aging test is still active!
- Waterluvian 3y agoThere’s a ton of these designed in modern times for emulator development. I’m not specifically sure about this one though.
- asda22sdasd 3y ago> I’m not specifically sure about this one though. Curiously, details is in the article being discussed.
- mips_r4300i 3y agoIt's a production test suite, designed for use with a custom jig that plugs into all the various ports to fully test everything, not just the cartridge. The custom test jig named 'zaru' which if I recall is Japanese for a rice strainer (appropriate for go/no-go tests) can be detected by the test suite and unlocks all the tests. It even controls the operator pass/fail lights on the jig from this software. Also, authorized Nintendo service centers got the carts as a way to diagnose customer issues, but obviously without the factory jig. The funny part is that the stress tests parts actually render all sorts of interesting 3d models that engineers inside SGI grabbed at random. The Utah teapot, a rocking chair, a cow, a VW beetle, the SGI logo itself. All rendered into an off screen framebuffer and checksummed.
- deleted 3y ago[deleted]