SWTPC 6800 issues again

[Ian S. King]

On Mon, Nov 28, 2016 at 8:22 AM, Brad H <vintagecomputer at bettercomputing.net
> wrote:

> Hey guys,
>
>
>
> You might recall a while back I was having issues where I'd have to power
> up/power off multiple times before I'd get the 6800 to start up correctly
> and give me the SWTBUG prompt.  What I did was remove an overwrought
> modified RAM board and replaced it with a more basic 4K board set to the
> $A000 range.  That worked great for a while, but not we're getting back to
> the situation where I power up many times and get either ? marks, a string
> of 4s, or some other random character.  I have to power off and on several
> times before I get the $ prompt.
>
>
>
> I figured out how to run a proper RAM diagnostic and no errors came back.
> I
> wasn't sure how to properly test the $A000 board -  I assumed I couldn't
> let
> the test test the address space used by the test program itself, so I set
> it
> to run from A07F to AFFF (I think I did that right, I set the MSB in A002
> to
> A0 and LSB in A003 to 7F, and for the upper limit MSB in A004 to AF and
> A005
> to FF).
>
>
>
> I'm wondering now if this is really a RAM problem or maybe something else.
> I don't think it's the serial card.. I've tried both the MP-C and MP-S and
> no change.
>
>
>
> I have an NOS MP-B2 motherboard here.  The 'check pins' on the molex
> connectors for the cards haven't even been cut.  I could set that up for
> testing although, being totally unused I'm hesitant about altering it.
> What
> do you think on that?
>
>
>
> Brad
>
>
My first question (and pardon me if this was addressed in your earlier
thread) is, have you checked the power supply?  If possible, use a scope,
but even a good DVM will tell you if you're maintaining voltage.  And if
the filter cap is the original, just replace it - they have a limited
lifespan.  I bought one from Digi-Key for $19.  Hope that helps -- Ian

-- 
Ian S. King, MSIS, MSCS, Ph.D. Candidate
The Information School <http://ischool.uw.edu>
Dissertation: "Why the Conversation Mattered: Constructing a Sociotechnical
Narrative Through a Design Lens

Archivist, Voices From the Rwanda Tribunal <http://tribunalvoices.org>
Value Sensitive Design Research Lab <http://vsdesign.org>

University of Washington

There is an old Vulcan saying: "Only Nixon could go to China."