Hack the Holidays

Hack the Holidayshttps://community.element14.com/challenges-projects/project14/hacktheholidays/Hack the holidays with electronics projectsen-USTelligent Community 12<link>https://community.element14.com/challenges-projects/project14/hacktheholidays/b/blog/posts/the-n-o-before-christmas-upgrade-time?CommentId=6a9df06f-4f6e-4196-966d-2d8cb9ab39bd</link><pubDate>Wed, 18 Mar 2026 16:30:00 GMT</pubDate><guid isPermaLink="false">93d5dcb4-84c2-446f-b2cb-99731719e767:6a9df06f-4f6e-4196-966d-2d8cb9ab39bd</guid><dc:creator>shabaz</dc:creator><description>To me it seems unlikely that the chip is fried, because you mentioned it worked before. There was a possibility that the chip was not soldered well and a pin was making intermittent contact to the PCB, but I think that is very unlikely too, since the soldering visually looks fine from the photos. If you're unsure, put a tiny dab of flux on the board, and just run your soldering iron against each joint; it will reflow and the flux will clean up the joint. You don't need to add any extra solder into the joint (just ensure the tip is clean and tinned, i.e. lightly coated in solder). I'm guessing it's programming tools related OpenOCD or the programmer, but it's just guesswork I'm afraid : (</description></item><item><title /><link>https://community.element14.com/challenges-projects/project14/hacktheholidays/b/blog/posts/the-n-o-before-christmas-upgrade-time?CommentId=63ba72c7-d446-4a69-8b98-fd98662dd6c3</link><pubDate>Wed, 18 Mar 2026 16:24:00 GMT</pubDate><guid isPermaLink="false">93d5dcb4-84c2-446f-b2cb-99731719e767:63ba72c7-d446-4a69-8b98-fd98662dd6c3</guid><dc:creator>Persichini</dc:creator><description>I actually got so frustrated last night that i reinstalled Ubuntu 22 to see if that would fix thing. so I'm running a clean fresh install. could i have fried the chip trying to reflow it? i checked the pins with a multimeter and only one pin is grounded.</description></item><item><title /><link>https://community.element14.com/challenges-projects/project14/hacktheholidays/b/blog/posts/the-n-o-before-christmas-upgrade-time?CommentId=d78643e2-3e9d-41c3-908a-bae6e2ade494</link><pubDate>Wed, 18 Mar 2026 15:16:00 GMT</pubDate><guid isPermaLink="false">93d5dcb4-84c2-446f-b2cb-99731719e767:d78643e2-3e9d-41c3-908a-bae6e2ade494</guid><dc:creator>shabaz</dc:creator><description>From the photos, to me it seems fine. Did the other instructions you followed alter the OpenOCD software? Googling, it seems that could be causing the "Error: this device has a single bank only" problem. It may be worth a shot retrying step 3 in this blog post (Install Debugger/Programmer Software (OpenOCD special build)) if you suspect some other version is being used. Other than that, I don't have any other suggestion currently, since I've never seen this issue occur.</description></item><item><title /><link>https://community.element14.com/challenges-projects/project14/hacktheholidays/b/blog/posts/the-n-o-before-christmas-upgrade-time?CommentId=31302140-3148-4642-a143-8eb2c8441701</link><pubDate>Wed, 18 Mar 2026 13:02:00 GMT</pubDate><guid isPermaLink="false">93d5dcb4-84c2-446f-b2cb-99731719e767:31302140-3148-4642-a143-8eb2c8441701</guid><dc:creator>Persichini</dc:creator><description>I'm not confident on my soldering skills. i tried to reflow the chip a few times but i don't have a hot air station, just a solding iron. i did pre tin the chip and the board.</description></item><item><title /><link>https://community.element14.com/challenges-projects/project14/hacktheholidays/b/blog/posts/the-n-o-before-christmas-upgrade-time?CommentId=0a6b06ca-a32a-40f0-80e9-e5163545926b</link><pubDate>Wed, 18 Mar 2026 13:00:00 GMT</pubDate><guid isPermaLink="false">93d5dcb4-84c2-446f-b2cb-99731719e767:0a6b06ca-a32a-40f0-80e9-e5163545926b</guid><dc:creator>Persichini</dc:creator><description /></item><item><title /><link>https://community.element14.com/challenges-projects/project14/hacktheholidays/b/blog/posts/the-n-o-before-christmas-upgrade-time?CommentId=e5457b59-85bc-4042-935f-d9cd7b5e249c</link><pubDate>Wed, 18 Mar 2026 11:25:00 GMT</pubDate><guid isPermaLink="false">93d5dcb4-84c2-446f-b2cb-99731719e767:e5457b59-85bc-4042-935f-d9cd7b5e249c</guid><dc:creator>shabaz</dc:creator><description>The information here suggests that the OpenOCD version you're using may be different to the "special build" that is referred to in this guide. But, I don't know for sure. I have not experienced this issue.</description></item><item><title /><link>https://community.element14.com/challenges-projects/project14/hacktheholidays/b/blog/posts/the-n-o-before-christmas-upgrade-time?CommentId=e83f90ac-8a3f-4811-ac01-962cd34a5419</link><pubDate>Wed, 18 Mar 2026 02:47:00 GMT</pubDate><guid isPermaLink="false">93d5dcb4-84c2-446f-b2cb-99731719e767:e83f90ac-8a3f-4811-ac01-962cd34a5419</guid><dc:creator>shabaz</dc:creator><description>Hi, I don't know the answer I'm afraid, but I searched around and someone on a webpage mentioned that it may be due to the Flash chip not being soldered properly (e.g. it might have made intermittent contact the time it worked for you). Another person mentioned that they were using an unpatched (i.e. non- special build) version of OpenOCD to cause that error. I don't know what tools or what level of soldering work you did, but if you are unsure, then if you have a detailed high-res photo of the Flash chip pins from all sides, perhaps that may reveal something. If you're confident the soldering went well, I cannot see what the issue may be unfortunately.</description></item><item><title /><link>https://community.element14.com/challenges-projects/project14/hacktheholidays/b/blog/posts/the-n-o-before-christmas-upgrade-time?CommentId=dc581735-a6d2-4fe7-80c1-3366529f98ca</link><pubDate>Tue, 17 Mar 2026 17:56:00 GMT</pubDate><guid isPermaLink="false">93d5dcb4-84c2-446f-b2cb-99731719e767:dc581735-a6d2-4fe7-80c1-3366529f98ca</guid><dc:creator>Persichini</dc:creator><description /></item><item><title /><link>https://community.element14.com/challenges-projects/project14/hacktheholidays/b/blog/posts/the-n-o-before-christmas-upgrade-time?CommentId=0f32b84c-28ed-470d-aea0-c37c07832e92</link><pubDate>Tue, 17 Mar 2026 12:27:00 GMT</pubDate><guid isPermaLink="false">93d5dcb4-84c2-446f-b2cb-99731719e767:0f32b84c-28ed-470d-aea0-c37c07832e92</guid><dc:creator>Persichini</dc:creator><description>Looking for help. I feel like i have a partial brick. just can't figure it out. So i followed the guide, got everything working, but there was no dual boot. So i tried to flash a different version to get it. now i'm stuck. the LCD won't turn on, and i get these errors. Info : STM32H7 flash has a single bank Error: this device has a single bank only Error: auto_probe failed ** Programming Failed ** this seems like it should be fixable. please help</description></item><item><title /><link>https://community.element14.com/challenges-projects/project14/hacktheholidays/b/blog/posts/the-n-o-before-christmas-upgrade-time?CommentId=161ec947-9462-4a92-b2e5-2335c279a1b5</link><pubDate>Tue, 17 Mar 2026 12:19:00 GMT</pubDate><guid isPermaLink="false">93d5dcb4-84c2-446f-b2cb-99731719e767:161ec947-9462-4a92-b2e5-2335c279a1b5</guid><dc:creator>Persichini</dc:creator><description>Ok so i messed something up somewhere. here is my path of stupidity. I folllowed the guide to the letter, and got it installed with a few games. However i didn't realize that dual boot wasn't in this guide. so like a idiot i followed a different guide to reflash it. now i'm stuck with what i assume is a softbrick. the LCd stays black but when i tried to follow the guide to reflash (skiped the backup parts) i get this. oot@anthony-IdeaPad-Slim-3-14IRH8:/home/anthony/development/gamewatch/game-and-watch-retro-go# make flash COVERFLOW=1 JPG_QUALITY=90 COMPRESS=lzma GNW_TARGET=zelda EXTFLASH_SIZE_MB=64 Entering 'LCD-Game-Emulator' Entering 'blueMSX-go' Entering 'caprice32-go' Entering 'fceumm-go' Entering 'gwenesis' Entering 'potator' Entering 'prosystem-go' Entering 'retro-go-stm32' Entering 'smw' Entering 'tamalib' Entering 'zelda3' make[1]: Entering directory '/home/anthony/development/gamewatch/game-and-watch-retro-go' [ BASH ] Checking for updated roms openocd -f scripts/interface_stlink.cfg -c "program build/gw_retro_go_intflash.bin 0x08000000 verify reset exit" Open On-Chip Debugger 0.11.0 Licensed under GNU GPL v2 For bug reports, read http://openocd.org/doc/doxygen/bugs.html Info : auto-selecting first available session transport "hla_swd". To override use 'transport select '. Info : The selected transport took over low-level target control. The results might differ compared to plain JTAG/SWD none separate Info : clock speed 1800 kHz Info : STLINK V2J37S7 (API v2) VID:PID 0483:3748 Info : Target voltage: 3.267066 Info : stm32h7x.cpu0: hardware has 8 breakpoints, 4 watchpoints Info : starting gdb server for stm32h7x.cpu0 on 3333 Info : Listening on port 3333 for gdb connections target halted due to debug-request, current mode: Thread xPSR: 0x01000000 pc: 0xfffffffe msp: 0xfffffffc ** Programming Started ** Info : Device: STM32H7Ax/7Bx Info : flash size probed value 128 Info : STM32H7 flash has a single bank Info : Bank (0) size is 128 kb, base address is 0x08000000 Info : Device: STM32H7Ax/7Bx Info : flash size probed value 128 Info : STM32H7 flash has a single bank Error: this device has a single bank only Error: auto_probe failed ** Programming Failed ** shutdown command invoked make[1]: *** [Makefile.common:1006: flash_intflash] Error 1 make[1]: Leaving directory '/home/anthony/development/gamewatch/game-and-watch-retro-go' make: *** [Makefile.common:1035: flash] Error 2 Help... Please</description></item><item><title /><link>https://community.element14.com/challenges-projects/project14/hacktheholidays/b/blog/posts/the-n-o-before-christmas-upgrade-time?CommentId=7a5f5651-a7b9-4bd2-8847-f83fa850b8c5</link><pubDate>Sun, 28 Dec 2025 22:33:00 GMT</pubDate><guid isPermaLink="false">93d5dcb4-84c2-446f-b2cb-99731719e767:7a5f5651-a7b9-4bd2-8847-f83fa850b8c5</guid><dc:creator>shabaz</dc:creator><description>Hi, If you're stuck on step 3 "Install Debugger/Programmer Software (OpenOCD special build)", then unfortunately I don't have a solution, other than just using an x64 (i.e. Intel or AMD) Linux box, rather than Raspberry Pi. I don't know what's in the "special build" so I can't be sure what needs to be done for the rpi. I'm sure it is feasible to use a rpi,but it's not something I can recall, since it's been a long time that I tried that. Long story short, if you do have access to an Intel or AMD box, then it is worth considering to just use that, because that will more closely follow the steps that I took, which have worked successfully for me, and for some others as discussed in the comments.</description></item><item><title /><link>https://community.element14.com/challenges-projects/project14/hacktheholidays/b/blog/posts/the-n-o-before-christmas-upgrade-time?CommentId=0a460587-27c8-421e-a92c-d148fc08553e</link><pubDate>Sun, 28 Dec 2025 20:57:00 GMT</pubDate><guid isPermaLink="false">93d5dcb4-84c2-446f-b2cb-99731719e767:0a460587-27c8-421e-a92c-d148fc08553e</guid><dc:creator>tmcmanamey</dc:creator><description>Hi, I'm trying to use my rpi for this but having trouble building openocd for it. It doesn't look like the owner for the link above is responding to other users. Am I better off getting an stlink and using an amd compatible system? src/flash/nor/stm32h7x.c: In function ‘stm32h7_probe’: src/flash/nor/stm32h7x.c:960:13: error: ‘stm32x_info’ undeclared (first use in this function); did you mean ‘stm32h7_info’? 960 | if (stm32x_info->idcode == 0x10016480) { | ^~~~~~~~~~~ | stm32h7_info src/flash/nor/stm32h7x.c:960:13: note: each undeclared identifier is reported only once for each function it appears in make[4]: *** [Makefile:3740: src/flash/nor/stm32h7x.lo] Error 1 make[4]: *** Waiting for unfinished jobs.... make[4]: Leaving directory '/home/tmcmanamey/ubuntu-openocd-git-builder/openocd-git/openocd' make[3]: *** [Makefile:5105: all-recursive] Error 1 make[3]: Leaving directory '/home/tmcmanamey/ubuntu-openocd-git-builder/openocd-git/openocd' make[2]: *** [Makefile:2194: all] Error 2 make[2]: Leaving directory '/home/tmcmanamey/ubuntu-openocd-git-builder/openocd-git/openocd' make[1]: *** [Makefile:6: all] Error 2 make[1]: Leaving directory '/home/tmcmanamey/ubuntu-openocd-git-builder/openocd-git' dh_auto_build: error: make -j4 returned exit code 2 make: *** [debian/rules:4: binary] Error 255 dpkg-buildpackage: error: debian/rules binary subprocess returned exit status 2</description></item><item><title /><link>https://community.element14.com/challenges-projects/project14/hacktheholidays/b/blog/posts/the-n-o-before-christmas-upgrade-time?CommentId=9e4464f4-ea8b-4cd9-b1cf-f9afcac6f649</link><pubDate>Wed, 20 Aug 2025 16:15:00 GMT</pubDate><guid isPermaLink="false">93d5dcb4-84c2-446f-b2cb-99731719e767:9e4464f4-ea8b-4cd9-b1cf-f9afcac6f649</guid><dc:creator>joanserrat</dc:creator><description>You have a BIG part on this, because of your EXCELLENT support and friendiness. You are great!</description></item><item><title /><link>https://community.element14.com/challenges-projects/project14/hacktheholidays/b/blog/posts/the-n-o-before-christmas-upgrade-time?CommentId=3da7ebce-59f8-4de5-b263-ad2bb1ef4678</link><pubDate>Wed, 20 Aug 2025 15:11:00 GMT</pubDate><guid isPermaLink="false">93d5dcb4-84c2-446f-b2cb-99731719e767:3da7ebce-59f8-4de5-b263-ad2bb1ef4678</guid><dc:creator>shabaz</dc:creator><description>Congrats, that's awesome! Glad you persevered, despite there being a lot of steps and not the easiest thing in the world, with the tiny Flash chip work, and all the procedures to back-up and then building the custom image and so on. Great job!</description></item><item><title /><link>https://community.element14.com/challenges-projects/project14/hacktheholidays/b/blog/posts/the-n-o-before-christmas-upgrade-time?CommentId=37c64e70-1a70-48e9-99bb-a3dcc6c3e0e7</link><pubDate>Wed, 20 Aug 2025 10:12:00 GMT</pubDate><guid isPermaLink="false">93d5dcb4-84c2-446f-b2cb-99731719e767:37c64e70-1a70-48e9-99bb-a3dcc6c3e0e7</guid><dc:creator>joanserrat</dc:creator><description>Hello ! I have achieved it !!! you cannot imagine how happy am I right now... THANK YOU FOR ALL YOUR HELP ! how nervous! It has been such a great experience ! looking at all the G&W at the screen again is pure happiness man ! i also had that error in OpenOCD when flashing, solved by issuing the command ¨ export OPENOCD="/opt/openocd-git/bin/openocd" Then, the first time I have tried I got some errors (I don't know why); I changed the usb connection to another non usb hub, changed the current adapter for the console, poweredd off the console and reattach it to the current and then it worked (the first time it complained about not being able to reach the memory... Those moments waiting for the 34 chunks of memory being written down to the new chip were.... oh my god hahah ! Bye-bye !!!</description></item><item><title /><link>https://community.element14.com/challenges-projects/project14/hacktheholidays/b/blog/posts/the-n-o-before-christmas-upgrade-time?CommentId=9fcd1139-dadb-4801-94d9-903ac4867006</link><pubDate>Mon, 18 Aug 2025 15:06:00 GMT</pubDate><guid isPermaLink="false">93d5dcb4-84c2-446f-b2cb-99731719e767:9fcd1139-dadb-4801-94d9-903ac4867006</guid><dc:creator>shabaz</dc:creator><description>Hi, I wouldn't run it as su unless the instructions mention that. The " Error 4 " you're seeing is some network issue, could be a flaky WiFi connection, or something else. At line 1167, the Makefile.common file is trying to download individual files that make up a STM32 SDK , and it's failed to download the file, either entirely, or partially. This is line 1167, the wget command there is used to download the file from the Internet: $(V)wget -q $(SDK_URL)/$(SDK_VERSION)/$@ -P $(dir $@) You can see that the file path/name mentioned in the error does indeed exist on the STM32 GitHub repository online, by going to the following web link: https://raw.githubusercontent.com/STMicroelectronics/STM32CubeH7/v1.8.0/Drivers/STM32H7xx_HAL_Driver/Inc/stm32h7xx_hal_dma.h So, we know the file exists online, but the makefile was unsuccessful in downloading it due to a network issue which was probably temporary since you were able to download some of the other files in the SDK. One solution is to delete the mentioned file in case it was only partially downloaded (e.g. type rm Drivers/STM32H7xx_HAL_Driver/Inc/stm32h7xx_hal_dma.h ) and then simply re-issue the entire make command, and it will resolve itself, even if you have to re-do the rm command and re-type the entire make command multiple times, because the network problem may have resolved itself intermittently. The real solution is to get to the bottom of the network connectivity issue however.</description></item><item><title /><link>https://community.element14.com/challenges-projects/project14/hacktheholidays/b/blog/posts/the-n-o-before-christmas-upgrade-time?CommentId=08a01535-409a-4196-a8bc-366c55a358b3</link><pubDate>Mon, 18 Aug 2025 13:08:00 GMT</pubDate><guid isPermaLink="false">93d5dcb4-84c2-446f-b2cb-99731719e767:08a01535-409a-4196-a8bc-366c55a358b3</guid><dc:creator>joanserrat</dc:creator><description>I have tried again as su, and this time the output is slightly different: root@roger-MS-7C56:/home/roger/development/gamewatch/game-and-watch-retro-go# make COVERFLOW=1 JPG_QUALITY=90 COMPRESS=lzma GNW_TARGET=zelda EXTFLASH_SIZE_MB=64 Entering 'LCD-Game-Emulator' Entering 'blueMSX-go' Entering 'caprice32-go' Entering 'fceumm-go' Entering 'gwenesis' Entering 'potator' Entering 'prosystem-go' Entering 'retro-go-stm32' Entering 'smw' Entering 'tamalib' Entering 'zelda3' [ WGET ] stm32h7xx_hal_adc.h [ WGET ] stm32h7xx_hal_adc_ex.h [ WGET ] stm32h7xx_hal_cortex.h [ WGET ] stm32h7xx_hal_dac_ex.h [ WGET ] stm32h7xx_hal_dac.h [ WGET ] stm32h7xx_hal_def.h [ WGET ] stm32h7xx_hal_dma_ex.h [ WGET ] stm32h7xx_hal_dma.h make: *** [Makefile.common:1167: Drivers/STM32H7xx_HAL_Driver/Inc/stm32h7xx_hal_dma.h] Error 4</description></item><item><title /><link>https://community.element14.com/challenges-projects/project14/hacktheholidays/b/blog/posts/the-n-o-before-christmas-upgrade-time?CommentId=5d932a68-2c9e-4c0b-a93e-94cd45363246</link><pubDate>Mon, 18 Aug 2025 12:52:00 GMT</pubDate><guid isPermaLink="false">93d5dcb4-84c2-446f-b2cb-99731719e767:5d932a68-2c9e-4c0b-a93e-94cd45363246</guid><dc:creator>joanserrat</dc:creator><description>Hello, After the command ¨ make flash COVERFLOW=1 JPG_QUALITY=90 COMPRESS=lzma GNW_TARGET=(mygamename) EXTFLASH_SIZE_MB=64 ¨ , I get an error: Entering 'LCD-Game-Emulator' Entering 'blueMSX-go' Entering 'caprice32-go' Entering 'fceumm-go' Entering 'gwenesis' Entering 'potator' Entering 'prosystem-go' Entering 'retro-go-stm32' Entering 'smw' Entering 'tamalib' Entering 'zelda3' [ WGET ] stm32h7b0xx.h [ WGET ] stm32h7xx.h [ WGET ] system_stm32h7xx.h [ WGET ] cmsis_compiler.h [ WGET ] cmsis_gcc.h make: *** [Makefile.common:1167: Drivers/CMSIS/Include/cmsis_gcc.h] Error 4 Thanks again !</description></item><item><title /><link>https://community.element14.com/challenges-projects/project14/hacktheholidays/b/blog/posts/the-n-o-before-christmas-upgrade-time?CommentId=c77bb1f5-7799-43da-a034-3e2c9bda0660</link><pubDate>Sat, 16 Aug 2025 13:39:00 GMT</pubDate><guid isPermaLink="false">93d5dcb4-84c2-446f-b2cb-99731719e767:c77bb1f5-7799-43da-a034-3e2c9bda0660</guid><dc:creator>shabaz</dc:creator><description>Hi, Congrats on the unlock! In step 7, you'll see some output generated, such as this: External flash usage Capacity: 64708608 Bytes ( 61.711 MB) Usage: 13114618 Bytes ( 12.507 MB) Free: 51593990 Bytes ( 49.204 MB) You can see I had 49.204 MB free, but you don't need to leave much free, even if it's 1.0 MB free, that's more than enough. I don't think there is any way to test beforehand unfortunately., but provided you're seeing the correct outputs in each step, I don't think there's high risk of any issue. The steps outlined end up supporting multiple emulators, so feel free to insert games into the other folders too. I just checked my system, I inserted files into the gb, gg, md, nes and sms folders, and they all worked fine.</description></item><item><title /><link>https://community.element14.com/challenges-projects/project14/hacktheholidays/b/blog/posts/the-n-o-before-christmas-upgrade-time?CommentId=6a3f9163-a4e8-455f-9899-daa4408c6ed5</link><pubDate>Thu, 14 Aug 2025 23:15:00 GMT</pubDate><guid isPermaLink="false">93d5dcb4-84c2-446f-b2cb-99731719e767:6a3f9163-a4e8-455f-9899-daa4408c6ed5</guid><dc:creator>joanserrat</dc:creator><description>Hello again... Back again with good news; I've got myself another green one, and this time I have achieved to unlock the SOC! (Just with tweezers attached to the debug holes, no soldering! ) Now I'm working in preparing the image with all the stuff for the new memory chip (the one supported with the highest capacity). I have some questions: 1: how can I calculate the maximim size for the image file? 2: Is it needed to left some free space for the saves and savestates for each game? 3: Is there a way to test it on some emulator or tool to check if it is well-formed before flashing it? 4: does the emulator support other lcd games apart from the g&w (gnw*.zip)? THANK YOUUUU! BACK ON TRACK MAN.... STILL ROCKING!</description></item></channel></rss>