Files
CydandClaude Fable 5 30d5223b9b RIO firmware: v4.2 EPROM dump, 68HC11 disassembly, reply-latch wedge patch
- RIOv4_2.bin: 64K image dumped from the board's AM27C512 (code at
  $C000-$FFFF, TMP68HC11).
- disasm_6811.py + RIOv4_2.disasm.asm: vector-rooted 68HC11 disassembly;
  SCI ISR at $D630 traced to the $2521 reply-in-progress latch leak that
  wedges the analog reply path under button-mash stress.
- make_patch.py + RIOv4_2_patched.bin: two in-place edits (abort-path stub
  at $DFF0, unconditional latch clear at $DA21) statically verified by
  re-disassembly diff. Dynamic proof awaits a burned W27C512.
- Analysis + burn/validation plan in RIOv4_2-ANALYSIS.md and README.md.

Co-Authored-By: Claude Fable 5 <noreply@anthropic.com>
2026-07-06 09:29:33 -05:00
..

RIO board firmware

  • RIOv4_2.bin — RIO cockpit I/O board firmware v4.2, dumped 2026-07-04 from one of our own boards' EPROM: an AMD AM27C512-150 (64K x 8 UV EPROM, 150ns — the image fills it exactly). sha256 60a88718835c654b6135dbec7721c40ef99dca07df2ad4b57eedeb24037a5f73. For the eventual patched burn: a pin-compatible Winbond W27C512 (electrically erasable, TL866-friendly) drops straight into the socket; the original AMD chip gets labeled and preserved unmodified.

First-look analysis (from the image alone, confirmed on hardware)

  • MCU: Toshiba TMP68HC11 (read off the chip; the code fingerprint agrees — 6800-family opcodes with writes into the 68HC11 internal register block at $10xx).
  • Memory map: image is FF up to 0xC000; 16KB of code occupies $C000-$FFFF (EPROM mapped at the top of the HC11 address space).
  • Startup at $C000: SEI; LDS #$8000; STAA $1024 (TMSK2); STAA $1022 (TMSK1); ... then a long JSR init chain — textbook HC11 bring-up.
  • Vector table ($FFD6-$FFFF, big-endian):
    • $FFFE RESET → $C000
    • $FFD6 SCI (serial) → $D630 — the entry point of the board's receive/protocol interrupt handler. The suspected board-side DISABLE_AND_DIE-style wedge (see RIO-NOTES.md: the board mirrors the game's PCSPAK state machine, and mash-stress leaves the reply path dead while the button/event path stays alive) is reachable from here.
    • $FFE4$C1B2, $FFE6$C18E (timer output-compares); most other vectors → $DB07..$DB3D stubs.

Why this exists

The remaining RIO reliability issue is board-side: under button-mash stress the board's reply/analog state machine wedges (RX dead, TX alive; a button press or power cycle revives it), reproduced identically on two different USB serial adapters. The game-side half of the protocol was binary-patched for tolerance (BTL4OPT patches v2-v4); the board firmware is the other half. Plan (RIO-NOTES.md "Board firmware patch plan"): disassemble as 68HC11 from $C000 with the vector entries as roots, find the SCI state machine (protocol constants FC=ACK FD=NAK FE=RESTART FF=IDLE, idle-reload-4 patterns), patch the early-ACK/error wedge path or widen its window, burn a new EPROM, keep this original safe.