Hi The AO error means the COM port is already open for use so the IPL.BA will fail when it tries to use it. Not sure why it should be open before the IPL. I had similar sorts of issues with my old TPDD that I bought of the well know auction site. It appeared never to have been used or perhaps used once or twice. It came with everything including the Util Disk. I did overhaul it with a new belt and made sure the internals were clean before using it.
I went through the following steps with my TPDD: 1) Cold Reset of the T102 to clear out the memory. Then try the IPL.BA see if it functions any differently. It had been used to do other things before I bought the drive. 2) Verify the Serial port on the T102 is OK. I did this on mine by connecting it to a PC via a USB-Serial cable and running Coolterm (or other serial program). If you then run the IPL.ba you should see the S1 record appear on the Coolterm screen. Coolterm also shows the status of the CTS and DSR lines to verify they work, they are needed by the TPDD drive. If that checks out OK then the T102 is probably fine. You can also just open TERM on the T102 and type text which should appear on Coolterm and vice-versa. Mine verified OK in this step…. 3) Test out the cable by checking pin to pin connectivity and that there a no bad lines. Turned out this was my problem and I suspect the reason why the unit appeared never to have been used. One of the pins was intermittent. After I fixed this problem everything seemed to work. 4) This step is new and I did not try it but appears useful in this context to verify the TPDD is working. It should/might be possible to use this program on a PC http://www.club100.org/memfiles/index.php?&direction=&order=&directory=Kurt%20McCullum/TPDD%20Client to read the disk on the TPDD to make sure the serial port on the drive is working it will also verify the cable is OK. The program states for use with TPDD2 not sure if it will work with the TPDD drive. It is not my program but might be worth looking at to verify the drive is working. After I had Coolterm working I started to use mcomm and did not use the TPDD again once I had seen Floppy.co :) From: M100 <[email protected]<mailto:[email protected]>> on behalf of Mr Lurch <[email protected]<mailto:[email protected]>> Reply-To: <[email protected]<mailto:[email protected]>> Date: Saturday, December 23, 2017 at 12:17 AM To: <[email protected]<mailto:[email protected]>> Subject: [M100] TPDD1 help? Evening all, So I managed to get a copy of the proper utility disk (thanks Gordon!) - but still no joy. I've created the IPL.BA<https://eur01.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=http%3A%2F%2FIPL.BA&data=02%7C01%7C%7C2bfd8d13b48542bb845a08d549ddacca%7C84df9e7fe9f640afb435aaaaaaaaaaaa%7C1%7C0%7C636496138788243218&sdata=5Og33kHo9JOwWZ6tP75td8g84nRVo9nYm%2Bck9pkRgv4%3D&reserved=0> file (and triple checked my inputs). Running it does the following (everytime) First run: AO error. Go back to Menu. Run it again. Screen goes blank, disk reads for a split second, then nothing. Thats all she wrote. Initially, on the second run, the disk would read for a split second and then the battery LED would flash continuously. Like I hadnt set the DIP switches to On (which I had). I gave the switch bank a spray with contact cleaner and moved them back and forth a bunch of times. That *seemed* to fix the flashing battery light, and thats where im at now. Not sure if this is related, but if I switch on the drive first, and then the M102, the battery light flashes continuously until I switch off/on the drive again. - Jase
