The Blizzard SCSI Kit IV is the end of line SCSI adapter for the Blizzard accelerator cards. The latest firmware is at version 8.5 and still downloadable from the Phase5 website. Unfortunately, the firmware cannot be programmed via software instructions but needs to be flashed to a chip located on the card. The following page contains notes on the procedure as well as indicating the required equipment.

• Blizzard 1230 SCSI IV 8.5 ROM

In order to flash the chip, an EEPROM programming device is needed - the best choice of device is the one that is capable of flashing a large variety of chips. A good budget choice that packs a mean punch is the "MiniPro TL866II+":

It boasts with support for over 10k chips and for what it offers, the price is quite reasonable. Additionally, a PLCC32 to DIP32 adapter is needed.

The Blizzard SCSI Kit chip that has to be programmed is labeled AM27C256 and fully supported by the TL866II+.

The AM27C256 chip that is described as AM27C256-120JC 256K (32K x 8-Bit) PLCC32.

The chip is the smallest one on the Blizzard SCSI Kit board and located next to the largest chip in the top-left corner of the PCB.

and will need a PLCC IC extracting tool.

In order to secure the chip onto the TL866II+ EEPROM programmer the AM27C256 has to be inserted into the PLCC32 to DIP32 adapter and then placed into the socket on the XGPro TL866II+. The AM27C256 has a slight notch on one of its sides indicating the first pin - contrasted to other chips that have the notch in a corner.

With the AM27C256 attached to the adapter and, in turn, to the TL866II+ EEPROM programmer, the USB cable is inserted into the computer and the blizzard_1230_scsi_iv_8.5.rom is loaded from the File menu. Clicking on Select IC, the AM27C256 chip is searched and selected.

To flash the chip, select the menu option Device → Program(P) from the menu:

and the default options are accepted to flash the chip. The flashing procedure should last a few seconds and the XGpro should report a success status.

With the programming completed, the chip is extracted from the PLCC32 to DIP32 adapter and fitted onto the Blizzard SCSI Kit IV.

After booting the Amiga, in a CLI, enter the following command to check the version of the 1230scsi.device:

version 1230scsi.device

which should output something along the lines of:

1230scsi.device 8.5

indicating the new 8.5 ROM version just flashed.