Mitkraft Posted May 12, 2015 Share Posted May 12, 2015 So I got my Navarone Cartridge Expander from eBay yesterday, tried it out and discovered it behaved strangely. First, the 3 carts I have didn't really lock in place all that well. It seems they don't snap down completely against the expander and they seem to have a significant bit of "wiggle". 1 of the carts is standard TI and the other two are Atarisoft. Also the XB 2.7 suite cart seems to play havoc on the expander. It seems to take over and if its in the expander then the XB 2.7 menu loads regardless of which cart is selected. On several attempts the XB 2.7 initial menu would load but when I hit the space bar to see the games sub-menu it would go to a blue screen and hang there. Are these things normal? Are there known repairs or mods to the expander that I might need to do? If XB 2.7 won't behave with the expander than that kinda makes the expander useless since I'm guessing XB will be my most used cart. My hope was that I could leave it in place and only change carts 2&3 when desired. Thanks! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+Lee Stewart Posted May 12, 2015 Share Posted May 12, 2015 So I got my Navarone Cartridge Expander from eBay yesterday, tried it out and discovered it behaved strangely. First, the 3 carts I have didn't really lock in place all that well. It seems they don't snap down completely against the expander and they seem to have a significant bit of "wiggle". 1 of the carts is standard TI and the other two are Atarisoft. Also the XB 2.7 suite cart seems to play havoc on the expander. It seems to take over and if its in the expander then the XB 2.7 menu loads regardless of which cart is selected. On several attempts the XB 2.7 initial menu would load but when I hit the space bar to see the games sub-menu it would go to a blue screen and hang there. Are these things normal? Are there known repairs or mods to the expander that I might need to do? If XB 2.7 won't behave with the expander than that kinda makes the expander useless since I'm guessing XB will be my most used cart. My hope was that I could leave it in place and only change carts 2&3 when desired. Thanks! The XB 2.7 behavior is documented in that thread. You cannot use other carts in the expander when it is present. ...lee Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+Schmitzi Posted May 12, 2015 Share Posted May 12, 2015 Hi, if you have the possibility (and skills), I would open the Navarone for a visual control inside. A very good thing is to clean it inside, all the contacts, slider and what ever. I had one expander with the same issues, a friend of mine did some cleaning-work on it inside, smooth and carefully, and now all issues have gone. I really don´t know wether it is "allowed" to use the XB2.7-cartridge on an expander, but I just don´t do that in this case. i.e. the MiniMemory-cart is definetely a cartridge that you should not use with an Slot-Expander. schmitzi Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+Schmitzi Posted May 12, 2015 Share Posted May 12, 2015 Hi Lee, this was very good timing, wasn´t it ? :) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+Lee Stewart Posted May 12, 2015 Share Posted May 12, 2015 Yeah—right on top of each other! ...lee 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+Lee Stewart Posted May 12, 2015 Share Posted May 12, 2015 Hi Lee, this was very good timing, wasn´t it ? :) I was first; but, in a flurry of posts, that's a good way to get ignored on this forum—maybe any forum, to be fair. ...lee 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+Schmitzi Posted May 12, 2015 Share Posted May 12, 2015 yes, I was later, but so I am more actual :) 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+OLD CS1 Posted May 12, 2015 Share Posted May 12, 2015 I was first; but, in a flurry of posts, that's a good way to get ignored on this forum—maybe any forum, to be fair. ...lee You are already on my ignore list Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mitkraft Posted May 12, 2015 Author Share Posted May 12, 2015 The XB 2.7 behavior is documented in that thread. You cannot use other carts in the expander when it is present. ...lee Can you point me to "that" thread? I did a search and found some vague references to something about the expander not working with certain carts but not a thread dedicated to it or specific to the XB 2.7. Thanks! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Omega-TI Posted May 12, 2015 Share Posted May 12, 2015 Can you point me to "that" thread? << HERE >> Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mitkraft Posted May 12, 2015 Author Share Posted May 12, 2015 << HERE >> Thank you. I need to go do some information absorbing so that I can better grasp some of the terms and concepts like Grom, Ubergrom, Gram..etc. I only loosely grasp them at the moment. I should have previously but I didn't fully understand that the XB cart was/contained an Ubergrom. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+arcadeshopper Posted May 12, 2015 Share Posted May 12, 2015 Thank you. I need to go do some information absorbing so that I can better grasp some of the terms and concepts like Grom, Ubergrom, Gram..etc. I only loosely grasp them at the moment. I should have previously but I didn't fully understand that the XB cart was/contained an Ubergrom. Yes it's in an ubergrom, also the RXB and XB 3.0 carts are also ubergrom boards Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TI-GAMER Posted May 12, 2015 Share Posted May 12, 2015 Yes it's in an ubergrom, also the RXB and XB 3.0 carts are also ubergrom boards XB 3.0??? I wasnt aware of this cart. Is it the same as the XB 2.7 with upgrades or a more current version? Thanks Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+Schmitzi Posted May 12, 2015 Share Posted May 12, 2015 I think, it is this here (Asgard/Winfried Winkler, 1993): Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+Ksarul Posted May 12, 2015 Share Posted May 12, 2015 XB3 is the Winfried Winkler XB that Asgard released. It is not related to XB 2.7. All of the XB variant cartridges we produce now are done on an UberGROM board, as that is the only cartridge-sized GROM emulation available at this time, and you need GROM for Extended BASIC. The UberGROM board identified a quirk in the Navarone cartridge expander. It doesn't do a fully clean switch between cartridges with the switch, which a lot of cartridges don't notice, but there are some that care. The UberGROM is one of those that care--and thus the switch doesn't switch it out. It is OK to use an UberGROM in a cartridge expander, but only as long as the other slots are empty. Some folks also noted that the various multicarts act weird when you have three of them in the cartridge expander. That latter issue is due to current drain--three of them suck down a bit more power than an equivalent group of TI cartridges, which introduces instabilities. Two of them are fine--just don't try three. They also work in the two multicarts and one TI cart configuration (filling all three slots with cartridges). 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+arcadeshopper Posted May 12, 2015 Share Posted May 12, 2015 XB 3.0??? I wasnt aware of this cart. Is it the same as the XB 2.7 with upgrades or a more current version? Thanks When I have ubers back in stock you can order one with xb3 or rxb or the multi xb which has ti, 2.7 and xb3 all in one.. gazoo's been busy Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+Schmitzi Posted May 12, 2015 Share Posted May 12, 2015 ah, now I understand it is not this very old module what he means, with XB3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+Ksarul Posted May 12, 2015 Share Posted May 12, 2015 It is the same code, Ralf--but not the same release of the cartridge. It is a re-release, as there are only about a dozen of the original XB3 cartridges in existence (based on my conversations with Chris Bobbitt back when it was originally released and again last night). 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TI-GAMER Posted May 12, 2015 Share Posted May 12, 2015 (edited) When I have ubers back in stock you can order one with xb3 or rxb or the multi xb which has ti, 2.7 and xb3 all in one.. gazoo's been busy Thanks for the update. BTW... Did you receive the package today? I just wanted to make sure its in your hands. The payment is in an envelope inside the box along with the RS232. Thanks again for doing the HDX Mod and the carts. I am really looking forward to some new toys. Edited May 12, 2015 by TI-GAMER 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+arcadeshopper Posted May 13, 2015 Share Posted May 13, 2015 Thanks for the update. BTW... Did you receive the package today? I just wanted to make sure its in your hands. The payment is in an envelope inside the box along with the RS232. Thanks again for doing the HDX Mod and the carts. I am really looking forward to some new toys. yep made it fine! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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