How does a 5000CT flash ram break ?

I was looking at some comments on an auction site and i noted that someone was unlucky to buy a 5000CT that was "broken" in its flash ram.

I assume this is some reference to exceeding the write limit of the 5000CT.

How does a person find out what is broken ? Would replacing that chip remove the bootloader also ?

I know that in some cases early flash ram was integral with the ROM chips. IT would arrive as one package.

Are there any notes on this problem and given the out-of-warranty status, it would make no difference to me if the repairs didnt work. So I am looking around for some broken units to see what they are made of.

Is all the information on how its made secret ?

 

Once the flash inside the processor wears out you are toast.

For the very early 5000CT's the processor manufacturer specified the number of write cycles to the flash as a minimum of 100. This was later upped to a minimum of 1000 cycles.

The lifetime of flash devices is not an exact science, so the flash memory manufacturers do all kinds of accelerated life tests and mathematical extrapolations to come up with a figure that they are confident to quote in their literature. This means that the typical life is much longer than the quoted figure.

The only practical situation I can think of where flash wearout might be an issue is for a very early 5000CT that was being used as a "test mule" on a bench somewhere for testing projects before being delivered to site.

Replacing the processor is not an option for anyone other than Clipsal as PICED cannot talk to a blank processor, it needs the bootloader, and specialist tools and software are required.

 

Could a professionally repaired unit be sent for bootloader coding ?

 

I doubt that Clipsal would entertain "finishing someone else's repair", but you never know. I'd start by giving Tech Support a call and see where you go from there.