1200XL Compatibility

[Ransom]

Is the 1200XL compatible with the cartridge versions of Millipede, Galaxian, Pole Position, and Jungle Hunt?

 

I've been using the 1200XL since it was introduced, and I'm embarrassed to say that I no longer remember if these games ever worked in it. They don't now. But I don't know if it's always been that way, or if there's something wrong!

 

The carts work fine in the 800XL, so I know they're not the problem.

 

And when I load the same games from disk, those games work fine in the 1200XL.

 

So I'm kinda stumped.

 

Any help would be greatly appreciated!

Edited February 24, 2008 by Ransom

[yorgle]

Is the 1200XL compatible with the cartridge versions of Millipede, Galaxian, Pole Position, and Jungle Hunt?

 

I've been using the 1200XL since it was introduced, and I'm embarrassed to say that I no longer remember if these games ever worked in it. They don't now. But I don't know if it's always been that way, or if there's something wrong!

 

The carts work fine in the 800XL, so I know they're not the problem.

 

And when I load the same games from disk, those games work fine in the 1200XL.

 

So I'm kinda stumped.

 

Any help would be greatly appreciated!

 

I know Galaxian works because I just happen to have it and tried it on my 1200xl.

[Ransom]

I know Galaxian works because I just happen to have it and tried it on my 1200xl.

 

Thank you for the response!

 

In my case, near the end of the first wave, I start seeing the background stars occasionally lining up diagonally in the upper right hand corner. By the second wave, the effect is more frequent and pronounced. Eventually, it just freezes up.

 

So yours doesn't do any of that?

[+bob1200xl]

Sounds like a hardware problem - refresh/memory failures act the way you describe. All those carts should work fine.

 

Bob

 

 

 

Is the 1200XL compatible with the cartridge versions of Millipede, Galaxian, Pole Position, and Jungle Hunt?

 

I've been using the 1200XL since it was introduced, and I'm embarrassed to say that I no longer remember if these games ever worked in it. They don't now. But I don't know if it's always been that way, or if there's something wrong!

 

The carts work fine in the 800XL, so I know they're not the problem.

 

And when I load the same games from disk, those games work fine in the 1200XL.

 

So I'm kinda stumped.

 

Any help would be greatly appreciated!

[Ransom]

Sounds like a hardware problem - refresh/memory failures act the way you describe. All those carts should work fine.

 

Bob

 

I replaced the RAM and that didn't help. Is there something else that's the likely culprit (I have a populated 1200XL MB that I can draw from as needed)?

 

 

-Joe

[Urchlay]

The only one of those carts I own is Millipede, and it doesn't work on my (heavily modded) 1200XL. I just get a black screen, though.

 

Same cart works fine on my 800 or 800XL, but runs with graphics glitches on my 64K modded 600XL (all other carts work fine on the 600XL though). Running the same game from disk works fine on all of the above...

 

Oddly, BASIC XL doesn't work on my 1200XL either (messed up screen display, lockups).

 

One of these days I really need to get a stock 1200XL and see what happens...

[+bob1200xl]

ANTIC does refresh for you. The PAL may be bad. Those are U20 and U14. Try all the chips, one at a time. Not very elegant, but effective. The delay line is soldered in, I'm afraid, so you can't try that very well. It usually just croaks, anyway.

 

Does the spare motherboard work? You don't want to end up with two bad 1200XLs... try your spare for a while.

 

Bob

 

 

 

Sounds like a hardware problem - refresh/memory failures act the way you describe. All those carts should work fine.

 

Bob

 

I replaced the RAM and that didn't help. Is there something else that's the likely culprit (I have a populated 1200XL MB that I can draw from as needed)?

 

 

-Joe

[Ransom]

ANTIC does refresh for you. The PAL may be bad. Those are U20 and U14. Try all the chips, one at a time. Not very elegant, but effective. The delay line is soldered in, I'm afraid, so you can't try that very well. It usually just croaks, anyway.

 

Does the spare motherboard work? You don't want to end up with two bad 1200XLs... try your spare for a while.

 

Bob

 

The spare works, but I haven't done the video upgrade on it. I'd prefer to get the current board working if at all possible.

 

I suppose I'll try more chip swapping this weekend and see what happens.

 

I still don't understand why it only affects four games out of 50+, and only when they're in cartridge form (as opposed to files loaded from floppy disks). It makes no sense to me, really.

 

Thanks for your help!

Edited February 25, 2008 by Ransom

[Ransom]

The only one of those carts I own is Millipede, and it doesn't work on my (heavily modded) 1200XL. I just get a black screen, though.

 

Same cart works fine on my 800 or 800XL, but runs with graphics glitches on my 64K modded 600XL (all other carts work fine on the 600XL though). Running the same game from disk works fine on all of the above...

 

Oddly, BASIC XL doesn't work on my 1200XL either (messed up screen display, lockups).

 

One of these days I really need to get a stock 1200XL and see what happens...

 

I think you're onto something. My 1200XL is upgraded, too.

 

It still doesn't make sense why this is only affecting these four games, and only when they're loaded from cartridge.

 

Hmm. Since removing the RAMBO XL upgrade (which meant swapping three chips plus all the RAM) had no effect on solving the problem, all that's left is the super video upgrade and the powered SIO port fix.

 

Does your 1200XL have both of those mods?

[Urchlay]

Hmm. Since removing the RAMBO XL upgrade (which meant swapping three chips plus all the RAM) had no effect on solving the problem, all that's left is the super video upgrade and the powered SIO port fix.

 

Does your 1200XL have both of those mods?

 

I've got:

 

- 256K RAM upgrade by Steve Tucker (he didn't use the Rambo kit, but it's compatible with it)

- Internal MyIDE

- 32-in-1 OS

- SIO power fix

- Clearpic (not Supervideo, but similar)

- Internal SIO2PC

 

I don't see how the video mod could possibly affect the cartridge port... and the powered SIO fix is just replacing one resistor with a piece of wire. If you don't have any SIO-powered devices hooked up, no current flows through the wire or resistor, so I don't see how that can matter either... but obviously *something* is going on.

[Rybags]

It's probably something simple, like dodgy cart slot, or dirty contacts.

 

Try disengaging the interlock on the carts - that will allow you to push the protective flap in, to get access to wipe the contacts.

 

The only other thing I can think of is that maybe the system doesn't like 16K carts.

 

Do you have any other 16K carts that do work?

[+bob1200xl]

I don't know... When you run from cartridge, only some of your RAM is accessed during the game. Memory has to be "turned over" regularly or the data just fades away. Running from RAM with the same program uses more of your RAM and turns over more memory, so you don't lose data. Refresh is what the computer uses to make sure all the RAM is turned over, but even if refresh isn't working properly most programs use enough memory to retain RAM data. Some will not, however. I've seen bad refresh slowly eat the screen and finally crash the system.

 

It's weird...

 

Doesn't matter - swap all the chips.

 

Carefully.

 

Good luck!

 

Bob

 

 

ANTIC does refresh for you. The PAL may be bad. Those are U20 and U14. Try all the chips, one at a time. Not very elegant, but effective. The delay line is soldered in, I'm afraid, so you can't try that very well. It usually just croaks, anyway.

 

Does the spare motherboard work? You don't want to end up with two bad 1200XLs... try your spare for a while.

 

Bob

 

The spare works, but I haven't done the video upgrade on it. I'd prefer to get the current board working if at all possible.

 

I suppose I'll try more chip swapping this weekend and see what happens.

 

I still don't understand why it only affects four games out of 50+, and only when they're in cartridge form (as opposed to files loaded from floppy disks). It makes no sense to me, really.

 

Thanks for your help!

[Ransom]

It's probably something simple, like dodgy cart slot, or dirty contacts.

 

Try disengaging the interlock on the carts - that will allow you to push the protective flap in, to get access to wipe the contacts.

 

The only other thing I can think of is that maybe the system doesn't like 16K carts.

 

Do you have any other 16K carts that do work?

 

All my other carts seem to work fine. I have just just about all the carts Atari produced for the 8-bit line. I'm not sure which are 16K, though. Any suggestions?