Unfortunately the NiCd battery was dead and already replaced twice.
The unit was without power (no cable or battery) for several days since I 
struggled to find the NiCd battery. 

Considering the age of the unit I think most of the electrolytic capacitors are 
dead.
No one suggested to replace any specific capacitor... Do I have to consider the 
mass replacement or it is not a common issue on this computer?

Mauro



Sent from my iPad

On 15/dic/2017, at 01:14, John Gardner <[email protected]> wrote:

> If you're convinced it's stuck in a loop,  removing all power (including
> 
> the NiCd) for a time should fix that....
> 
> 
> 
> On 12/14/17, Mauro Pintus <[email protected]> wrote:
>> Thank you Fugu and Brian for the feedback.
>> 
>> Yes I tried the beep BASIC test with no luck and also the cold start (the
>> M10 and the M100 are almost identical...).
>> 
>> I made few other measurements trying to replicate what Brian is doing and
>> for sure the unit is in a loop...
>> 
>> In the linked google photo album I added another picture (the first one)
>> showing the ROM CS (Pin 20 yellow trace) and the IO/M of the main processor
>> (Pin 34 blue trace)
>> https://photos.app.goo.gl/8YSbaAxZBuXu5rjC2
>> 
>> As you can see at the beginning of the repeted sequence, I get only 5 pulses
>> on the IO/M
>> 
>> The strange thing is that there is so little activity on the RAM CEx (chip
>> enable), like nothing is loaded.
>> 
>> Finally I measured also the CSx (chip select) on the LCD connector and none
>> are moving, confirming that on the LCD nothing can be displayed.
>> 
>> Mauro
>> 
>> 
>> 
>> 
>> On Dec 13, 2017, at 7:01 AM, Fugu ME100 wrote:
>> 
>>> Vee at –4.9V is good.
>>> 
>>> You may have already looked at these options, so apologies if you have…
>>> 
>>> The repetitive nature of the ROM CS cycling could be the CPU in a software
>>> loop waiting for keyboard input.   Have you tried the BEEP test from BASIC
>>> to see if the motherboard is actually running?
>>> 
>>> Have you tried a cold start?  On the M100 press ctrl+pause while powering
>>> on, not sure about the M10.  It could be the memory is corrupted with the
>>> loss of backup power.  Always a good idea when first powering after
>>> switching off/on the backup power..
>>> 
>>> 
>>> From: M100 <[email protected]> on behalf of Mauro Pintus
>>> <[email protected]>
>>> Reply-To: <[email protected]>
>>> Date: Tuesday, December 12, 2017 at 5:24 PM
>>> To: <[email protected]>
>>> Subject: Re: [M100] diagnose
>>> 
>>> Hi,
>>>  I have a not working Olivetti M10 and a Rigol DS1104Z oscilloscope, so I
>>> made few measurement to try to help Brian and in the mean time try to
>>> troubleshoot my unit.
>>> 
>>> My unit was working properly and stopped as soon as I flipped the NiCd
>>> battery switch off while the unit was ON (done by mistake with the cover
>>> open).
>>> Now the screen turn on but I can regulate just the contrast and no text
>>> appear on the screen.
>>> I also made a small arduino circuit to test the LCD alone, and I'm able to
>>> write text on it, so the LCD should be fine.
>>> 
>>> BTW I think Brian is using way too long ground leads on the oscilloscope
>>> probe.
>>> I made my measurement clipping the alligator clip to the metal case of the
>>> main crystal that in the M10 is grounded with a pice of bare wire.
>>> Is your scope grounded? I can see in one of your pictures the usual US
>>> plug with only 2 terminals...
>>> 
>>> Here are some screenshots of my measurements.
>>> 
>>> https://photos.app.goo.gl/8YSbaAxZBuXu5rjC2
>>> 
>>> Pictures:
>>> 1) CLK pin 37 of the 8085
>>> 2) Pin 7 of the 8085
>>> 3-4) CS Pin 20 of the ROM it seems to cycle over and over
>>> 5) Reset * at power on
>>> 
>>> VEE is 4.9V
>>> V across the battery is 4.02 when the unit is on and 3.9 when off
>>> 
>>> Tomorrow I'll continue hoping Brian or some of you can confirm/compare
>>> some of my measurements.
>>> Have a nice day
>>> Ciao
>>>  Mauro
>>> 
>>> NOTE: I think I will measure all the pins on the system bus so anyone with
>>> an oscilloscope can do the same without opening the unit case...
>>> 
>>> 
>>> 
>>> 
>>> 
>>> On Dec 11, 2017, at 9:28 AM, Fugu ME100 wrote:
>>> 
>>>> Ah the “special tool” requirement always hated to see that in any
>>>> step…..
>>>> 
>>>> What did the –5V measure on the meter?  If it is not within spec neither
>>>> the LCD or buzzer will work.
>>>> 
>>>> From: M100 <[email protected]> on behalf of Brian White
>>>> <[email protected]>
>>>> Reply-To: <[email protected]>
>>>> Date: Sunday, December 10, 2017 at 11:30 PM
>>>> To: <[email protected]>
>>>> Subject: Re: [M100] Fwd: Re: diagnose
>>>> 
>>>> Thanks for that tip.
>>>> 
>>>> And oh like some GM repair manuals where replacing an entire transmission
>>>> might be 11 steps, but one of them is to use the $12,000 machine no one
>>>> outside of the factory has ever even seen.
>>>> 
>>>> 
>>>> On Dec 8, 2017 1:38 PM, "Fugu ME100" <[email protected]> wrote:
>>>> It might be better to use the CLK (37) output as a reference if it is
>>>> needed.  The CLK is derived from the X1,X2 XTAL inputs and should not be
>>>> impacted by the loading of the scope probes.
>>>> 
>>>> The M100 reference manual is quite good for troubleshooting some parts,
>>>> although it does have a few broad instructions like “Check All IC’s”.
>>>> :-)
>>>> 
>>>> From: M100 <[email protected]> on behalf of Brian White
>>>> <[email protected]>
>>>> Reply-To: <[email protected]>
>>>> Date: Friday, December 8, 2017 at 9:55 AM
>>>> To: <[email protected]>
>>>> Subject: Re: [M100] Fwd: Re: diagnose
>>>> 
>>>> I noticed something a couple days ago. Those noisy gnd and 5v lines were
>>>> only like that because I happened to have probes on both X1 and X2 at the
>>>> same time.
>>>> 
>>>> Later I was looking at a good M100, and happened to only be watching X1
>>>> and others but not X2, and everything was much better. But just by
>>>> touching a probe to X2 while another was on X1, both gnd and 5v went
>>>> exactly like those pics I posted from the bad M100. I can probe either X1
>>>> or X2 and it's fine, but not bith at the same time.
>>>> 
>>>> I don't actually see any special reason to monitor either of those
>>>> signals except briefly to verify they exist, or to provide something
>>>> steady to trigger on while probing others. Just pointing out something I
>>>> saw that explains those ugly traces.
>>>> 
>>>> On Dec 7, 2017 11:45 AM, "Josh Malone" <[email protected]> wrote:
>>>> Yeah - there is something very weird with the ground on that Tandy.
>>>> Maybe some problematic traces? Or a bad IC leaking current to ground?
>>>> 
>>>> Can you measure the DC power consumption? It should be ~60-70mA IIRC.
>>>> 
>>>> On Wed, Dec 6, 2017 at 10:14 PM, Brian White <[email protected]> wrote:
>>>>> After watching a youtube video about how to use an oscilloscope by
>>>>> sparkfun,
>>>>> I switched all probes and channels to 10x and adjusted the trim caps in
>>>>> the
>>>>> probes against the built in test signal to make the square wave look
>>>>> square.
>>>>> 
>>>>> With gnd ref on the cpu gnd pin 20 instead of chassis gnd, and a
>>>>> couple
>>>>> probes on X1 and reset_in, and one probe on chassis ground, now the x1
>>>>> and
>>>>> reset_in signals are steady, reset_in looks flatter, and only the trace
>>>>> for
>>>>> chassis ground floats and bobs up and down now.
>>>>> 
>>>>> So chassis ground simply floats around in relation to the rest of the
>>>>> board,
>>>>> or at least in relation to the cpu. Not a bad afe in the scope.
>>>>> *chagrin*
>>>>> 
>>>>> 
>>>>> --
>>>>> bkw
>>>>> 
>>>>> On Dec 6, 2017 7:38 PM, "Brian White" <[email protected]> wrote:
>>>>>> 
>>>>>> This is the bobbing I was talking about. It's dumb for me to even be
>>>>>> talking about it yet since I haven't even done a basic comparison
>>>>>> check on
>>>>>> some other reference yet.
>>>>>> 
>>>>>> https://youtu.be/b9jAYsfTOzQ
>>>>>> 
>>>>>> And here's another look at a different signal hooked up a different
>>>>>> way.
>>>>>> Here, I have the ground ref hooked to the gnd pin 20 on the 8085, NOT
>>>>>> the
>>>>>> chassis ground. And CH4 is on pin 18, AD6. The offsets, trigger, and
>>>>>> vertical scales are all visible on-screen.
>>>>>> 
>>>>>> https://photos.app.goo.gl/mel4CKym2EtcV1352
>>>>>> 
>>>>>> https://photos.app.goo.gl/K1AIj3Pmt15xXfR72
>>>>>> 
>>>>>> 
>>>>>> --
>>>>>> bkw
>> 
>> 

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