AnthonyD. Posted June 27, 2010 Share Posted June 27, 2010 hi, i recently bought a near mint 130xe in the box.. i have no programs with it. can you tell me what i can do with it ? when it turns on all i get is a blue screen with a white square. i press keys and nothing happens.. please help! THANKS !! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MEtalGuy66 Posted June 27, 2010 Share Posted June 27, 2010 Wow. You should get a READY prompt.. Chances are, it could have some bad memory... Try holding down OPTION when you turn it on.. You should get a SELF TEST screen.. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
spookt Posted June 27, 2010 Share Posted June 27, 2010 Stuck start key would produce the screen you describe. Do you hear a tone from the TV ? Holding start at power on triggers a cassette boot, the tone tells you to press play on the tape and then hit return to start loading data. I saw an 800XL once with a stuck start key which caused this problem. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AnthonyD. Posted June 27, 2010 Author Share Posted June 27, 2010 when i hold down the start key i get a tone so it cant be stuck. i cant get to the self test screen by holding option.... anything else i can try? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mimo Posted June 28, 2010 Share Posted June 28, 2010 try taking it apart, unplug the keyboard and give the connecting strip a gentle clean, re-fit and try again Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AnthonyD. Posted June 29, 2010 Author Share Posted June 29, 2010 I just figured something out guys. when the computer is on i have to press the BREAK key 3 times to get a ready prompt and when i hold down OPTION on startup and press BREAK 3 times i get the SELF TEST screen, weird huh?? but after i get the ready prompt the comuter works normal!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rybags Posted June 29, 2010 Share Posted June 29, 2010 Normal, but weird if it doesn't give "READY" within about 5 seconds without you doing that. The normal delay is the OS trying to disk boot and check for certain serial devices - if the computer is just hanging at that point and you need to press BREAK, then something's amiss. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AnthonyD. Posted June 29, 2010 Author Share Posted June 29, 2010 also after i press break 3 times,i get the ready prompt, then i can reset it or turn it on and off and the ready prompt comes on fine when i turn it back on.......... also, my 130xe box says rev a.. is there a rev b model?? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Havok69 Posted June 29, 2010 Share Posted June 29, 2010 That's very strange - does that happen with nothing plugged into the SIO port? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sloopy Posted June 29, 2010 Share Posted June 29, 2010 also after i press break 3 times,i get the ready prompt, then i can reset it or turn it on and off and the ready prompt comes on fine when i turn it back on.......... also, my 130xe box says rev a.. is there a rev b model?? there are several 'revisions' of the 130XE... all are basically the same to the user... mostly changes internally for cost etc... sloopy. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+therealbountybob Posted June 29, 2010 Share Posted June 29, 2010 I had a problem with my 130XE keybaord many years ago (eventually dealer repaired) from memory the symptoms were the Option key wouldn't work and when I used the break key strange things happend like the screen display turned off and on... maybe the break and console keys are on the same part/trace of the keybaord connector and this is where the fault lies - am sure someone will know more about this (see Preppie!!'s post and maybe he can expand on what you need to do) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
atariksi Posted June 29, 2010 Share Posted June 29, 2010 I had a problem with my 130XE keybaord many years ago (eventually dealer repaired) from memory the symptoms were the Option key wouldn't work and when I used the break key strange things happend like the screen display turned off and on... maybe the break and console keys are on the same part/trace of the keybaord connector and this is where the fault lies - am sure someone will know more about this (see Preppie!!'s post and maybe he can expand on what you need to do) It looks like a bad POKEY chip. The break key, SIO, most of the keyboard, and timers are all on the POKEY chip so try swapping POKEY chips. Ooops, I forgot 130XE may not be socketed so send to MetalGuy to fix it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AnthonyD. Posted June 30, 2010 Author Share Posted June 30, 2010 so do you think its worth getting fixed if it still works??? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AnthonyD. Posted June 30, 2010 Author Share Posted June 30, 2010 That's very strange - does that happen with nothing plugged into the SIO port? there is nothing plugged in to it except power and RF.... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
atariksi Posted June 30, 2010 Share Posted June 30, 2010 so do you think its worth getting fixed if it still works??? Did you try with some games that play around with timers and 4 voices? You may want to try a disk drive or simulated one to see if you can read/write. If you just need to use cartridges, no big benefit in the 130XE over older models. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AnthonyD. Posted June 30, 2010 Author Share Posted June 30, 2010 i ran the self test and every thing went fine.............. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Marius Posted July 1, 2010 Share Posted July 1, 2010 It is a known problem when you have devices connected to the SIo port and errors appear (especially BUFFER errors). When nothing is connected it is definately a RARE problem. In the 26 years I'm in the 8bit scene I have never had an atari 8bit having this problem in the startup sequence where nothing is connected at the sio bus. There are a few things that might cause this trouble. 1. Open the atari and check if there are resistor-looking capacitors installed around the sio bus. They might be shortcutting and creating real trouble on the sio lines. In any way you'd better remove them anyway. 2. Another option is that there is a buffer defect. I'm not sure if there is a buffer between SIO and Pokey. I'm Sure metalguy can tell you that. It might be defect (if there is any). 3. I don't think it is the issue, but... you might want to check another PSU. If your PSU is weak, or disturbed, strange and inexpected things might happen. It is worth a try. 4. Like others already said: check what happens when you try to boot a tape or disk... Good luck! Marius Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Divya16 Posted July 1, 2010 Share Posted July 1, 2010 i ran the self test and every thing went fine.............. That's funny. That self-test doesn't test anything thoroughly (practically speaking). They just had some extra ROM space left over so put some code in there. I would take the memopad or some Typo-Attack type game there which would test a lot more stuff than the self-test. Self-test is part of the same ROM that it tests. It uses the RAM in order to test the RAM. As far as I know, if POKEY, 6502, ANTIC, and/or GTIA go bad, self-test most likely won't run either. And as far as PIA chip goes, it doesn't test that. Now if they had put a Typo-Attack game in that at least would have some use since you can play it and test the sounds, keyboard, ANTIC/GTIA/6502/RAM/ROM at the same time. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sloopy Posted July 2, 2010 Share Posted July 2, 2010 i ran the self test and every thing went fine.............. That's funny. That self-test doesn't test anything thoroughly (practically speaking). They just had some extra ROM space left over so put some code in there. I would take the memopad or some Typo-Attack type game there which would test a lot more stuff than the self-test. Self-test is part of the same ROM that it tests. It uses the RAM in order to test the RAM. As far as I know, if POKEY, 6502, ANTIC, and/or GTIA go bad, self-test most likely won't run either. And as far as PIA chip goes, it doesn't test that. Now if they had put a Typo-Attack game in that at least would have some use since you can play it and test the sounds, keyboard, ANTIC/GTIA/6502/RAM/ROM at the same time. well then if the self-test runs your half way home to a working machine :') sloopy. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
atariksi Posted July 2, 2010 Share Posted July 2, 2010 i ran the self test and every thing went fine.............. That's funny. That self-test doesn't test anything thoroughly (practically speaking). They just had some extra ROM space left over so put some code in there. I would take the memopad or some Typo-Attack type game there which would test a lot more stuff than the self-test. Self-test is part of the same ROM that it tests. It uses the RAM in order to test the RAM. As far as I know, if POKEY, 6502, ANTIC, and/or GTIA go bad, self-test most likely won't run either. And as far as PIA chip goes, it doesn't test that. Now if they had put a Typo-Attack game in that at least would have some use since you can play it and test the sounds, keyboard, ANTIC/GTIA/6502/RAM/ROM at the same time. well then if the self-test runs your half way home to a working machine :') sloopy. But if they extended Missile Command in the XEGS ROM so it had a bonus round of catching letters w/4 voice sounds, you would be more than half-way home to a working machine. You would be able to test track-ball, joystick, keyboard, POKEY sounds, ANTIC/GTIA/6502, etc. I actually have a machine that runs fine but has problems running self-test so it's not that useful. And that extra bit in PORTB could be really useful for memory expansion. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AnthonyD. Posted January 8, 2020 Author Share Posted January 8, 2020 Reviving my thread a decade later! today I am building a USB power cable since 5v and GND are all common. I will let you guys know my results. Thanks for the help 10 years ago and thanks today! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AnthonyD. Posted January 8, 2020 Author Share Posted January 8, 2020 Oh baby, we got bodges! currently making an iPad USB to Atari PSU adaptor. 5v yay Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+Stephen Posted January 8, 2020 Share Posted January 8, 2020 Lotta shit been flushed from the pond in the last 10 years Happy 2020 all. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AnthonyD. Posted January 1, 2022 Author Share Posted January 1, 2022 Hi guys, is this forum still alive? I wanna play with my 130 XE after a decade, it'll be revived. Ironically its a year since the last post and a decade before that. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pins Posted January 1, 2022 Share Posted January 1, 2022 Surfing here 30 minutes after you. Still love my 130XE, gonna try fujinet-pc on a raspberry pi tomorrow with a USB2SIO. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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