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Scrambled keys common problem?


djpubba

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I recently picked up a 1040STf and a PS3000 monitor and the keyboard input is hosed. Completely different letters than I type are what appear on screen. Otherwise the system works great. Joystick and mouse work fine. Is this a common problem with an easy fix? If not I'll probably just buy a replacement.

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I recently picked up a 1040STf and a PS3000 monitor and the keyboard input is hosed. Completely different letters than I type are what appear on screen. Otherwise the system works great. Joystick and mouse work fine. Is this a common problem with an easy fix? If not I'll probably just buy a replacement.

 

If that's an STf it sounds like you might have a rom from a foreign country. I could be wrong though.

 

What version TOS is in it?

 

There might be a way to make a start up disk with the correct keyboard layout on it. I'm not sure how (sorry) but I believe its possible to load various TOS versions via floppy.

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I got the monitor from a seller on Craigslist. He said he got it from an Atari store in the 90's in Bellevue, WA. Yeah it has a built in floppy. I paid $50 for it but got the seller to include a floppy holder full of original games. OMG the power brick for the monitor is the size of a volkswagen bus.

 

I also found a 20 meg Supra hard drive at the local PC recycler for $10.

 

I think the keyboard input is bugged beyond a foreign language thing. Every time I hit a key, a different random character appears. Even backspace does it. Probably the keyboard controller is hosed. How do you tell the TOS version? When I go to the About Desktop screen it just says TOS.

 

Piccy of the monitor attached.

post-14057-1222812494_thumb.jpg

Edited by djpubba
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The PS3000 is a neat monitor but the drive is only single sided. Ive owned 3 of them over the years. The power supply weighs as much as the monitor itself. If I remember correctly there are chips missing from the board in the monitor that made it look like is was going to have 2 drives later but never did.

 

One of the Atari dealers sells the power supply for the PS3000 it like $100 plus you need to ship that anchor.

 

I saw it on craigslist to but Im to far away :(

 

AO

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I got the monitor from a seller on Craigslist. He said he got it from an Atari store in the 90's in Bellevue, WA. Yeah it has a built in floppy. I paid $50 for it but got the seller to include a floppy holder full of original games. OMG the power brick for the monitor is the size of a volkswagen bus.

 

I also found a 20 meg Supra hard drive at the local PC recycler for $10.

 

I think the keyboard input is bugged beyond a foreign language thing. Every time I hit a key, a different random character appears. Even backspace does it. Probably the keyboard controller is hosed. How do you tell the TOS version? When I go to the About Desktop screen it just says TOS.

 

Piccy of the monitor attached.

The problem back in the day used to be the chip on the kb on the underside. Try removing it and reseating it. Also sometimes MMU and Glu would be loose in the plcc socket, these are the 1x1" chips on the motherboard, If you don't have a chip puller try pressing down on the center of these chips. One of these two things should fix the problem though sometime the KB chip does fail.

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I recently picked up a 1040STf and a PS3000 monitor and the keyboard input is hosed. Completely different letters than I type are what appear on screen. Otherwise the system works great. Joystick and mouse work fine. Is this a common problem with an easy fix? If not I'll probably just buy a replacement.

 

Way back in the day, I once saw a similar problem with my 1040STf. In my case, the scrambled keyboard input was due to my using Atari 7800 ProLine controllers with the ST. When I removed the ProLine controllers and replaced them with standard CX40 (2600-style) sticks, the keyboard started working again once I cold booted.

 

I recommend that you try disconnecting all joysticks (and maybe even the mouse) in order to troubleshoot this. Make sure that you cold boot the system after removing them, and then go from there. If that doesn't fix it, the keyboard chip might need to be reseated, as some have suggested.

 

Good luck.

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I recently picked up a 1040STf and a PS3000 monitor and the keyboard input is hosed. Completely different letters than I type are what appear on screen. Otherwise the system works great. Joystick and mouse work fine. Is this a common problem with an easy fix? If not I'll probably just buy a replacement.

 

Way back in the day, I once saw a similar problem with my 1040STf. In my case, the scrambled keyboard input was due to my using Atari 7800 ProLine controllers with the ST. When I removed the ProLine controllers and replaced them with standard CX40 (2600-style) sticks, the keyboard started working again once I cold booted.

 

I recommend that you try disconnecting all joysticks (and maybe even the mouse) in order to troubleshoot this. Make sure that you cold boot the system after removing them, and then go from there. If that doesn't fix it, the keyboard chip might need to be reseated, as some have suggested.

 

Good luck.

Could be, I have seen rapid fire joysticks cause this problem

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How do you tell the TOS version?

Find a copy of SysInfo that should tell you, the XControl panel will also list the TOS verson and RAM size but I can't remember where off hand, you either need to select the "General" CPX module or it can be found from one of the buttons above the list of available modules.

If you don't have either of these you should be able to do a search and download them and if you using the original control panel definately repalce it with XControl it is cooler than the original as there is no 6 accessory limit and lots of nice downloadable modules including games.

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