Everything You need to know about your M4 ATX

Fox_Mulder · 05-10-2008, 04:50 AM

Ok this thread is like others of it's nature (ie FAQ type responses not for troubleshooting)

How do I connect my M4 to the USB Port on my computer?

You need a 4 core cable with header connections on either end.
Header connectors look like this: (image from melbpc.org.au)

Inside the manual for the M4 the pinout for the usb connector is incorrect,
the correct pinout is shown below:

Connect 1 end of the 4 pin cable to an onboard motherboard USB header, and the other to the correct pins on J8 shown above.

Or another way that this could be achieved i doing the following:
Parts:
2x 10 pin female IDC connectors
2 lengths of 10 core flat cable
1 pin header connector
1 USB Type A socket.

Attach one of the 10 pin IDC connectors to one end of the 10 core cable, like this:

This will go to J8 on the M4 ATX.

Attach the other 10 pin IDC connnector to the other length of 10 core cable you have.
This will attach to the motherboard usb header.

On the cable that attaches to your M4 ATX, attach the 2 pin header on pins 7 & 8. This will go to the "on" pins on your motherboard.

Then attach Pins 2-5 on this cable to the other cable with a 10 pin IDC connector according to the pinout of the motherboard usb header. As most motherboard USB headers support 2 USB ports, I attached the Type A USB socket to this cable to make use of this so I didn't waste a usb port.

Here are pictures of this:

The M4 should be recognised as a HID device in windows. Mini-bos has yet to release software that will allow us to interact with the M4 via USB.

My M4 doesn't follow the timing diagram in the manual, rather it always takes 1min/30secs to issue the shutdown pulse, regardless of the dipswitches. It follows the timing diagram if the ignition goes off/on/off.

This is a known bug in version 1.0 of the firmware. The fix is detailed below.

How do I reprogram my M4 ATX?

This requires a bit of soldering and electrical know how, if in doubt just send it back to mini-box for them to upgrade the firmware.

Things you need:
New Firmware (v1.1 attached to this post)
WinPic here

an ICSP (In circuit serial programmer) for the 18F2450 microcontroller, if one of these is not available you will have to build one.

Parts to build an ICSP:
Q1,Q2 2N3904 NPN Transistors
R1 1.5k Ohm Resistor
R2 10k Ohm Resistor
R3 100 Ohm Resistor
D1,D2,D6,D7 1N4148 Diodes
D3 5mm LED
D4 6.2v Zener Diode
D5 5.1v Zener Diode
C1,C4 Capacitor in the range of 22->100pF
C2 100uF 16v Capacitor
C3 22uF 6.3v Capacitor
DB9F PCB Mount Connector
5 pin IDC Connector
5 core cable

Schematic is shown below: (original schematic from obddiag.net, modified to fit the M4 ATX)

Build the schematic
Attach unit to a free serial port on your computer
Make sure the M4 is connected to nothing, and connect the programmer to the M4.
To do this locate the header J5. Pin 1 on J5 is closest to the the dip switches (circled):

Open WinPic
Click the Interface Tab
Select "JDM2 for serial port" under "Device type", select your com port and click "Initialize !"

Click the Device Tab
Select 18F2450 under "Part"

Click File then open and select the new firmware that is attached to ths post.
Click open and then click the "Code" tab. It should look like this:

Then all you do is click the button with the red arrow pointing at the microchip (on the rigt hand side of the floppy disk icon) to program the new firmware on.

Disconnect M4 from the programmer and you are done!

NOTE:
Winpic will fail on verification. I'm not too sure what impact this has on the programming itself, however my M4 works fine after loading the new firmware.
The reason is explained from obddiag.net
"Winpic doesn't check the configuration word properly, as the devices have user-configurable memory space from 300000h-30000Dh. Two config registers are missing, namely CONFIG3L(300004h) and CONFIG4H(300007h). WinPic is trying to program it as contiguous memory block and failing on verification."

jimmler · 05-10-2008, 11:12 AM

Great work, Fox! I assume when you say the M4 is connected to nothing, you mean absolutely nothing, not powered up with 12v, etc.?

Fox_Mulder · 05-10-2008, 11:29 AM

Yep thats right, absolutely nothing. No 12v, no ATX (except of course the ICSP programmer!)

GhostRiderDad · 05-10-2008, 07:43 PM

Fox,

Excuse me for sounding ignorant, but what is a "4 core cable with header connections on either end" and where does one get one? I've tried to look for a 10-pin IDC connector and cable and have yet to find one I could use.

Does anyone know the answer to this?

Fox_Mulder · 05-11-2008, 03:17 AM

4 core cable is just a cable with 4 insulated wires inside, The header connectors are those thin black connectors. I've edited the first post showing you how I made my cable, and what the header connectors look like. I couldn't find them either and thats why I used 10 pin IDC connectors they fit perfectly.

kibble · 05-25-2008, 12:17 PM

Hello, I'm new to the forum, as you can tell by my first post.. LOL

Great instructions you got here!

Anyways, I had purchased the M4-ATX power supply and it power up my pc just fine, but I believe I have the v1.0 board with the timing issues. I saw fox's thread (this one) about how to update the thing and I even built myself the JDM2 programmer he showed on the schematic. I had to install PortTalk on my pc because I got an error first time I tried to run winpic that the program couldn't communicate with the driver.

So anyways, long story short, I followed your instructions, Fox, and attempted to update the firmware. It starts to do the programming, which only takes a few seconds, then it says verifying for a few seconds and then it says "programming failed". Is this what you meant by the "verification fails"? Is it supposed to take longer than a few seconds on each process?

I then try plugging the USB into my PC and I go to look at the hardware properties and I believe it's still saying that it's got V1.0. According to mini-box you can check the version this way. I don't think It's getting programmed at all.

Another thing that doesn't work is the settings reset. According to the instructions for the m4, if you jump j1 and apply power, the led on the board is supposed to blink rapidly to show that it's reset to the defaults. Mine does not do that.

Any suggestions about what I can do to get the thing programmed properly? I've tried many different things and I've checked, double checked, triple checked the programmer I built to make sure that I didn't mess up somewhere. I've even tried it on different pc's but no luck.

Thanks for any help anyone can provide.

Fox_Mulder · 05-25-2008, 12:45 PM

The LED binks so fast you dont actually see it blink lol but the settings are getting reset. You should see the LED come on for a second and fade out when the jumper or power is removed.

Do you still have the timing issues after uploading the new firmware?

Yep it will say programming failed and it might or might not have a note saying it failed on verification - cant remember.

You can try programming it with a different ICSP if you have access to one, but I did it according to the method in the first post and it fixed the timing issues for me.

I havent checked the version in the hardware properties on my M4, will do that tomorrow.

kibble · 05-25-2008, 02:26 PM

Well, I haven't really done much extensive testing of the timing after attempting to program it, but I could do that with a power supply tester that I have instead of putting everything back together, I'll connect the thing to my oscilloscope and check for the pulse and all to see if it's working as it should.

I thought when they said it would blink that you'd be able to see something more visual than just a quick on/off and that's it.

The biggest timing issue I have with the power supply is that I'm using an intel board and for some reason, they feel the need to completely turn on the power supply for a second and then turn it off after the 5VSB turns on. Well, what happens is that the m4 sends the "on" pulse right before this procedure finishes and the mobo misses it and somehow the m4 latches all the rails in the "on" state, so even though the mobo isn't telling the m4 to be on, all the rails are on. When it's like this, I can't do anything. I found a work-around but it involves shorting out the ps-on line to ground for a second and then the m4 shuts off. Once the m4 is off again, I have to remove the ignition signal and then re apply it before it goes into hard off and THEN the mobo will power on. I was hoping maybe with the new timings this wouldn't be an issue, but I'm not holding my breath.

If this doesn't make sense, I'd have to make a timings chart or show a video so it makes more sense. I know it sounds very confusing.

If I can't get this solved, I'll have to resort to making an extra circuit that waits for a few seconds longer to turn on the mobo. It's very frustrating because I have to completely disassemble the pc to get to the power supply. I haven't even mounted it in my car yet because I haven't gotten this to work.

Oh, one more thing. On the changelog on mini-box is says that:

04/15/2008 Removed C53 (adjustment to the 5V rail rise time)

Do you happen to know what exactly it did to the rise time? Did they completely remove it or change the value to something else?

kibble · 05-30-2008, 11:53 AM

Quote: Originally Posted by Fox_Mulder

Yep it will say programming failed and it might or might not have a note saying it failed on verification - cant remember.

You can try programming it with a different ICSP if you have access to one, but I did it according to the method in the first post and it fixed the timing issues for me.

I havent checked the version in the hardware properties on my M4, will do that tomorrow.

\

Well, apparently the ICSP I made worked ok. I downloaded that little application from mini-box and it's saying that I have firmware 1.1. Still have the timing issue, which is related more to the mobo than anything else, but I found a work around for the time being. I'll be making a separate circuit board to help out with this issue later on.

Thanks again for the schematic fox.

phuz · 05-30-2008, 12:47 PM

Quote: Originally Posted by kibble

\

Well, apparently the ICSP I made worked ok. I downloaded that little application from mini-box and it's saying that I have firmware 1.1. Still have the timing issue, which is related more to the mobo than anything else, but I found a work around for the time being. I'll be making a separate circuit board to help out with this issue later on.

Thanks again for the schematic fox.

What exactly is your timing issue?

lol...perhaps if I read up, I would see it. You have the same issue I had. Laci @ Minibox gave me an app to change parameters of the power supply. I changed the delay from 500ms to 1000ms so the motherboard catches the first pulse.

Send me an email. mattkeperling@gmail.com

hailrazer · 06-04-2008, 07:19 PM

Ok apparently a new problem.

My battery keeps dying. Everything else works perfect, but it doesn't sense a low battery and shut itself off like it is supposed to.

If I don't drive the car for 3-4 days the battery goes dead.

It's not an issue of something else hooked up drawing the power because everything in the car is the same except the new pc/screen.

Any ideas anyone?

Right now I have set the PC to completely shutdown when the M4 sends the shutdown pulse instead of hibernate to try to combat this problem. But it is annoying waiting the extra 30 seconds for startup and shutdown.

kibble · 06-05-2008, 12:38 AM

Well, even hibernate is almost the same as completely powering down the system, it just saves the last state the pc was in on the hard drive instead of having to do a complete boot. What mode do you have the power supply set at? What kind of screen are you using?

Fox_Mulder · 06-05-2008, 03:00 AM

It might still sensing the low battery, but the battery has already reached a point where it does not ave enough charge to turn over your engine.

hailrazer · 06-05-2008, 08:52 AM

I have evry screen and device running off the 12v line of the M3. And I checked and they are not receiving power, so that is not the problem. Also the 5v rail is turning off.

I don't know. It must be like you say Fox. When the battery gets below 11.4v, the M4 is probably turning off but there just isn't enough juice to crank that Darn Yukon XL up

Guess I have to leave the computer in shut down mode.

GiODi · 06-05-2008, 12:29 PM

I think there's a problem with the M4 and and the low battery shutoff because my battery has been dying since I've switched to it from the M2.

I'm using it the same way: standard PSU mode because I have a uSDC. With the M2, if I didn't drive my car for more than a day, the PSU would shut all the way off and I'd be able to start my car (CPU would do a cold boot). With the M4, there's been twice now that my battery has been completely dead (key fob won't even unlock doors, no chime) after about 15 hrs.

I've even tried raising the low voltage shutoff to 12v