ChildOfCv Posted February 9, 2019 Share Posted February 9, 2019 I guess one possibility is that small creatures made a home in the printer while it was in storage. Hopefully not, but possible anyway... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Opry99er Posted February 9, 2019 Author Share Posted February 9, 2019 Indeed.... that is possible Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Opry99er Posted February 10, 2019 Author Share Posted February 10, 2019 So I took the cover off the printer and looked inside..... At first I didn't notice anything particularly devastating.... no busted capacitors, no mice or other rodentia. Traces seemed to be in good shape and there were no bulging caps. I did notice some corrosion on the legs of one 74LS373 chip though.... looks like it could be pretty bad. This is an 8 bit latch and could very well be a part of the printer's 1K Print buffer system. It is hard to tell whether the corrosion is bridging pins or not. See the last picture for an up-close picture of the chip in question. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Opry99er Posted February 10, 2019 Author Share Posted February 10, 2019 I cleaned up the area and scrubbed the pins. Let's see what happens... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Opry99er Posted February 10, 2019 Author Share Posted February 10, 2019 No dice. I am using a very nice Space Shuttle-C parallel printer cable hooked up to my CF7+ device. I have tried 3 different methods now... printing from RS232 PIO port, from the CF7+ parallel printer port, and from LPT1 on my PC. All yield the same stubborn silence from my printer. The programs on the TI from which I am trying to print all exhibit the same behavior (freeze up or pause until I break out of the attempt with FCTN+4). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ChildOfCv Posted February 10, 2019 Share Posted February 10, 2019 (edited) You might also need to check the bottom of the board. I see that spot of corrosion off the board too. I pulled an old Colecovision controller out of storage to map its electronics, and noticed the screws were rusted. Getting inside, I found even more corrosion. When following traces, I discovered a couple of spots where the the traces were completely corroded off--no electrical connection whatsoever across that spot. If that turns out to be the case here, you're going to have to run some jumper wires. Also, do you happen to have a manual with a schematic? Edited February 10, 2019 by ChildOfCv Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Opry99er Posted February 10, 2019 Author Share Posted February 10, 2019 I've got jumper wires.... I'm just not looking forward to taking this board out. It's under all the mechanical components, and I don't see a super easy way to detach the board from the case or the carriages. I'll look at it again tonight... see if I am missing something obvious. At this point, I may be done. Thanks so much to everyone for your help. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Opry99er Posted February 10, 2019 Author Share Posted February 10, 2019 ***. I have a really nice Operations manual (30-40 pages) but not a service manual. There is no full schematic available from what I've seen so far online. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Opry99er Posted February 10, 2019 Author Share Posted February 10, 2019 This is what happens when you store components in your garage living in Tennessee. Heat, humidity, and then wet nasty icy cold in the winter. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HOME AUTOMATION Posted February 10, 2019 Share Posted February 10, 2019 Icy cold weather bad for electrolytics! Tarzan check power supply... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Opry99er Posted February 10, 2019 Author Share Posted February 10, 2019 I do have indicator lights that work, and the printer does a lovely test print. It just won't receive data from the parallel port. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Opry99er Posted February 11, 2019 Author Share Posted February 11, 2019 I have one last thing to try. This will eliminate ALL possibility of a cable issue, since the cable is built-in. This has never been used before, so I can rule out the possibility of abuse or worn components. Will try tonight. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Opry99er Posted February 12, 2019 Author Share Posted February 12, 2019 I attempted to use the AXIOM with the same results. That locks it up for me. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ChildOfCv Posted February 12, 2019 Share Posted February 12, 2019 Hmmm... I wonder what that 26-pin header is for? I read somewhere that there was a serial port option for the printer... maybe it plugs in there? Anyway, I wonder if those pins are supposed to have connections in common with the Centronics connector? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Opry99er Posted February 12, 2019 Author Share Posted February 12, 2019 It looks like the internal disk drive connector on the TI disk controller. Don't know what it's use is here. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HOME AUTOMATION Posted February 12, 2019 Share Posted February 12, 2019 maybe testing... I imagine you have tried "PIO/1" vs. "PIO/2". Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+Lee Stewart Posted February 13, 2019 Share Posted February 13, 2019 maybe testing... I imagine you have tried "PIO/1" vs. "PIO/2". There is only one PIO port. [EDIT: I spoke too soon! There is only one port per card but PIO, PIO/1 and PIO/2 (for second card) are all recognized by the DSR—sorry about that.] ...lee 4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Opry99er Posted February 23, 2019 Author Share Posted February 23, 2019 I picked up a Panasonic KX-P1124 today at a local junk shop. The ribbon is probably completely dried out, but it will teach me what I need to know. I'll hook it up tonight once I get my room straightened up. I'm long overdue for a good Cleaning our and re-organizing. That's going to be the rest of my day... 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+arcadeshopper Posted February 25, 2019 Share Posted February 25, 2019 I picked up a Panasonic KX-P1124 today at a local junk shop. The ribbon is probably completely dried out, but it will teach me what I need to know. I'll hook it up tonight once I get my room straightened up. I'm long overdue for a good Cleaning our and re-organizing. That's going to be the rest of my day... wd40 will revive the ribbon enough for testing Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Opry99er Posted February 25, 2019 Author Share Posted February 25, 2019 For sure. I've got some ordered now. I've been putting my new shiny OS9 machine through its paces the last couple nights. Now that I'm comfortable there, I'll be hopping back to the TI to try and get some printing done. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+arcadeshopper Posted February 26, 2019 Share Posted February 26, 2019 For sure. I've got some ordered now. I've been putting my new shiny OS9 machine through its paces the last couple nights. Now that I'm comfortable there, I'll be hopping back to the TI to try and get some printing done. you mean MACos9 NOT os9 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/OS-9 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Opry99er Posted February 28, 2019 Author Share Posted February 28, 2019 Yup.... so weird how printing a few lines of text on an ancient printer with a dead ass ribbon can feel like such a "Win" 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+arcadeshopper Posted February 28, 2019 Share Posted February 28, 2019 wooo! so it was your old printer that was the problem? Greg Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Opry99er Posted February 28, 2019 Author Share Posted February 28, 2019 Indeed. The 1091 is dead.... or at least the portion of it which accepts and interprets input from a computer. This one--I just plugged in my old cable, turned on BASIC, and it immediately did what it was told.... admittedly with a dried out ribbon. I have a fresh pack of ribbons on the way. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+arcadeshopper Posted February 28, 2019 Share Posted February 28, 2019 woot! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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