Here is what my 200 does:
With nothing installed in the option rom socket:
this will wipe all ram: Press CTRL+BREAK+RESET (shift not necessary)
date should go to jan 1 1900 00:00:00
19590 bytes free
Launch MSPLAN
file: junk
press F8 to exit MSPLAN
19540 bytes free
If you get any other values then there is something else still wrong
somewhere.
On Wed, Aug 7, 2024 at 9:37 AM Tom Blum <[email protected]
<mailto:[email protected]>> wrote:
I'm having fun now. And success getting MSPlan running. Plus a new
mystery.
A close inspection of the T200 insides found the following:
1. Light corrosion on the negative terminal of the backup battery;
will replace that as soon as the new NiMH battery arrives
2. a bit of the coating on thermistor TH2 chipped away, component
still functioning (see below)
3. no signs of leaking capacitors or fluid/liquid intrusion
4. no signs of degradation or consequential damage to traces
5. on the bottom of the main PCB, some surface mounted components
with discoloration around the mounting pads and on parts of the
components: R185, M30, M32, T17-T19 in particular (see below). All
of my vintage computer experience has been with Ohio Scientific
boards manufactured before 1980 and not involving components at
these small scales. I can't tell if the discoloration is due to
excess flux or some sort of discharge. Whatever the cause, the
system is functioning. I'm certain I don't have the skill/steady
hands to work with components on this scale.
6. No sign that anyone previously mucked around inside the system
7. The MSPlan ROM (M14) was installed with pin 10 bent all the way
under the IC. Before reseating the ROM, I bent the pin back out.
Once the M14 ROM was reseated and the unit reassembled, MSPlan
launched just as it should. And all other ROM-based applications
launch as they should. BUT....
*New mystery*: the system now reports in BASIC 17,868 bytes free
-- that is 1,466 bytes fewer than should be the case. HIMEM is also
reduced by 1,466 bytes.
Now I am wondering if pin 10 was supposed to be left bent under and
the ROM just needed to be reseated. Exactly how that would relate
to the availability or non-availability of 1,466 bytes I don't know.
Tom
On Tue, Aug 6, 2024 at 9:40 PM B 9 <[email protected]
<mailto:[email protected]>> wrote:
Brian is right that whatever happened to make tge builtin ROM
disappear is pretty serious. Birt has some good videos
<https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1adlQo3UI90> on fixing up such
problems on his YouTube channel
<https://www.youtube.com/@HeyBirt>. Even if you don't have the
time right now to completely fix it, it would be good to open it
and clean up any corrosion.
One last thing to try, although I'm pretty sure it will be
exactly like running it from the menu: On my Tandy 200 you can
launch MSPLAN from BASIC by using `CALL 61167, 1`. What does it
do on yours?
—b9
On Tue, Aug 6, 2024 at 8:00 AM Brian K. White
<[email protected] <mailto:[email protected]>> wrote:
I can only confirm that MSPLAN works with no option rom
installed.
Could be either bad ram or bad rom. There are two rom chips
inside
besides the option rom socket outside. Or anything else like
a corroded
trace making a stuck address line. These units all have
leaking caps and
batteries by now, even if they are still working.
Don't be loath to open it, run to open it to arrest the
development from
getting worse as soon as possible.
--
bkw
On 8/5/24 09:51, B 9 wrote:
> That's actually pretty cool and I'm curious what GTE's
firmware does.
> What software version are you seeing?
>
> I'm not sure why they would overwrite MSPLAN yet leave it
in the menu,
> but if they added an "option ROM", I believe you can run
it with `CALL
> 61167, 2`.
>
> —b9
>
>
> On Sun, Aug 4, 2024 at 6:10 PM Tom Blum
<[email protected] <mailto:[email protected]>
> <mailto:[email protected] <mailto:[email protected]>>>
wrote:
>
> Hello,
>
> New to the community and apologies if I'm raising a
question/issue
> already addressed. Just purchased a working T200.
Power cycles
> nominally and shows classic menu options. Selecting
Multiplan from
> the menu places the T200 into a frozen state. LCD
screen appears to
> fill (shaded) completely but program does not start,
no visible
> text/graphics. Resetting and power-cycle necessary
to get back to
> the main T200 menu. Noted that this T200 has a
property label on
> the bottom indicating that GTE, Inc. (the telecom
company) was a
> previous owner and appears to show a unique GTE
software version #.
> Is it possible that the original/built-in Multiplan
ROM was (or
> could be) removed from the T200. As a newbie to the
T, am loathe to
> open up a working unit to see if a ROM is missing.
Is there a past
> or present ROM option module for the T200 that would
have Multiplan
> installed (or installable)? Tom
>
--
bkw
--
bkw
