gozar Posted January 4, 2014 Share Posted January 4, 2014 I decided to fire up a 1200XL I bought years ago, and it doesn't work right. I can get into the memory test, and it completes it fine. Nothing else works, I get gibberish on screen right before it locks up. Attached is a screen shot when I first turn it on with nothing attached before it goes into the hardware test. Where should I start? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gozar Posted January 4, 2014 Author Share Posted January 4, 2014 And I forgot to attach the picture... :-) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kyle22 Posted January 5, 2014 Share Posted January 5, 2014 open it up, carefully push down on all the socketed chips to re-seat them if they are loose. If that doesn't work, try swapping ANTIC and GTIA with known good ones. Could be the OS ROM(s) as well. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
1050 Posted January 5, 2014 Share Posted January 5, 2014 I've seen the same type of gibberish with eventual lock up just as reported when I had RAM timing issues, I'm thinking it cleared up after I replaced the 74LS08 AND chip with an HCT08 one (phase two clock generation) and it's hammered along just fine these 15 years since. But this was on an 800XL, don't know if this will work for the 1200XL since it may not be the same chip doing the same job in there. Verify that much yourself first and I think it might be worth trying? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kyle22 Posted January 5, 2014 Share Posted January 5, 2014 The 08 is involved in Phase2, but, is most likely not a problem here. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gozar Posted January 5, 2014 Author Share Posted January 5, 2014 I pulled up each of the main chips and re-seated (re-sat? :-) them and the gibberish went away. I can boot it into MyDos just fine. I tested it with Action! and didn't see any problems. I also found a bonus, apparently it has a Newell 256K upgrade installed! But.... Spartados X doesn't boot, and neither does my MyIDE+Flash. Also, it looks like the previous owner cut out a square above the cartridge port. Any idea why? (See attached pic) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gozar Posted January 5, 2014 Author Share Posted January 5, 2014 Oh, and HISIO.COM reports incompatible OS. I thought it worked with all of the XL/XE OSs? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gozar Posted January 5, 2014 Author Share Posted January 5, 2014 Geez, hate replying to myself... Spartdos X does work. MyIDE+Flash does not. I get my initial boot menu, but no matter what I select it won't boot from the drive. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BillC Posted January 5, 2014 Share Posted January 5, 2014 I pulled up each of the main chips and re-seated (re-sat? :-) them and the gibberish went away. I can boot it into MyDos just fine. I tested it with Action! and didn't see any problems. I also found a bonus, apparently it has a Newell 256K upgrade installed! But.... Spartados X doesn't boot, and neither does my MyIDE+Flash. Also, it looks like the previous owner cut out a square above the cartridge port. Any idea why? (See attached pic) If the opening had extended all the way to the outside I would think it was to allow insertion of an ICD SDX or RT8 cartridge. As is it might still allow reassembly with either already in the cartridge slot? 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
russg Posted January 5, 2014 Share Posted January 5, 2014 (edited) Geez, hate replying to myself... Spartdos X does work. MyIDE+Flash does not. I get my initial boot menu, but no matter what I select it won't boot from the drive. That's a funny looking 1200XL, with a cart port on top of the case. If it is really a 1200XL, and has a Newell, it is for sure extensive modification. Oh, pardon me, that is just your avatar, not the computer in question. Edited January 5, 2014 by russg Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
flashjazzcat Posted January 5, 2014 Share Posted January 5, 2014 That's a funny looking 1200XL, with a cart port on top of the case. If it is really a 1200XL, and has a Newell, it is for sure extensive modification. Oh, pardon me, that is just your avatar, not the computer in question. Yes - amazing. The 1200XL in his avatar has been extensively modified to exactly resemble an 800XL. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gozar Posted January 5, 2014 Author Share Posted January 5, 2014 If the opening had extended all the way to the outside I would think it was to allow insertion of an ICD SDX or RT8 cartridge. As is it might still allow reassembly with either already in the cartridge slot? It doesn't go through the case at all. I guess it would allow for access to the inside, but there isn't anything there. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
flashjazzcat Posted January 5, 2014 Share Posted January 5, 2014 It doesn't go through the case at all. I guess it would allow for access to the inside, but there isn't anything there. Bill means the cut-out in the cartridge tunnel (not the case) looks as if it's intended to accomodate the "lip" on the SDX and R-Time 8 cartridges. They certainly don't fit the standard bay, but having just tested one, I'd say the cut-out is precisely for the purpose Bill suggested. I don't think the cut would need to go all the way to the edge. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gozar Posted January 5, 2014 Author Share Posted January 5, 2014 Bill means the cut-out in the cartridge tunnel (not the case) looks as if it's intended to accomodate the "lip" on the SDX and R-Time 8 cartridges. They certainly don't fit the standard bay, but having just tested one, I'd say the cut-out is precisely for the purpose Bill suggested. I don't think the cut would need to go all the way to the edge. Oh! That makes sense. Since I've never used a 1200XL, I just assumed the Sparta carts would fit. :-) Now to figure out why my MyIDE+Flash won't boot. Plus I have to do something about the video, it's painful compared to my 800XL! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
russg Posted January 5, 2014 Share Posted January 5, 2014 (edited) Yes - amazing. The 1200XL in his avatar has been extensively modified to exactly resemble an 800XL. Oh, well. I checked it. The RTime and SpX carts don't fit. The cutout is for ICD carts. It seems to allow insert the cart, but it just doesn't go far enough. Edited January 5, 2014 by russg Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
flashjazzcat Posted January 5, 2014 Share Posted January 5, 2014 Oh! That makes sense. Since I've never used a 1200XL, I just assumed the Sparta carts would fit. :-) Yeah - the cart tunnel is a bit of a pain in that respect. On the other hand, the SDX and RT8 carts are a non-standard shape... as are a lot of modern cartridges which won't fit without modification to the tunnel. Now to figure out why my MyIDE+Flash won't boot. Plus I have to do something about the video, it's painful compared to my 800XL! The 1200XL video sucks famously. Plenty of mods out there you can try, though. I gave up and put a VBXE in there, but I have to say the 1200XL video mod I did looked a lot better when I converted the machine to PAL - not sure why. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gozar Posted January 5, 2014 Author Share Posted January 5, 2014 The 1200XL video sucks famously. Plenty of mods out there you can try, though. I gave up and put a VBXE in there, but I have to say the 1200XL video mod I did looked a lot better when I converted the machine to PAL - not sure why. The Clearpic mod looks pretty doable. I've done a few of the mods to my 800XL, and the output looks really good. It looks amazing compared to the 1200XL, lol! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
flashjazzcat Posted January 5, 2014 Share Posted January 5, 2014 The Clearpic mod looks pretty doable. I've done a few of the mods to my 800XL, and the output looks really good. It looks amazing compared to the 1200XL, lol! Yeah - Clearpic may have been the one I did. It was certainly an improvement, but LCD screens still suffered from a lot of smearing on certain colour combinations. Things miraculously improved when I converted it to PAL. I always said the 800XLs had decent video, though. I managed to tweak one or two to look really nice through LCD screens. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gozar Posted January 5, 2014 Author Share Posted January 5, 2014 Yeah - Clearpic may have been the one I did. It was certainly an improvement, but LCD screens still suffered from a lot of smearing on certain colour combinations. Things miraculously improved when I converted it to PAL. I always said the 800XLs had decent video, though. I managed to tweak one or two to look really nice through LCD screens. I have a Dell 20" with composite input, but it looks like crap. That's why I dug out my Commodore 1702 monitor, looks so much better! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
flashjazzcat Posted January 5, 2014 Share Posted January 5, 2014 I have a Dell 20" with composite input, but it looks like crap. That's why I dug out my Commodore 1702 monitor, looks so much better! Annoyingly, I was forced to resort to s-video LCDs when I first got the 1200XL because none of my 1084S monitors would sync to 60Hz y/c. Now the 1200XL's PAL, I use tubes exclusively. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BillC Posted January 5, 2014 Share Posted January 5, 2014 I have a Dell 20" with composite input, but it looks like crap. That's why I dug out my Commodore 1702 monitor, looks so much better! I've found with some LCD monitors that Composite is better than S-video and on other monitors it's the S-video thats better, it depends how the manufacturer designed the input circuits. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gozar Posted January 5, 2014 Author Share Posted January 5, 2014 I've found with some LCD monitors that Composite is better than S-video and on other monitors it's the S-video thats better, it depends how the manufacturer designed the input circuits. I've been meaning to build a cable for SVideo from my 800XL, but haven't gotten around to it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BillC Posted January 6, 2014 Share Posted January 6, 2014 I've been meaning to build a cable for SVideo from my 800XL, but haven't gotten around to it. The stock 800XL doesn't come with the Chroma/color signal connected to the monitor port, but it's a simple modification. The commonly available stereo DIN5M to 4 X RCA cable works with monitors like the Commodore 1702 which uses 2 x RCA jacks for chroma/luma inputs, more modern TVs/monitors normally have an mini-DIN port. 8-bit Classics sells such a cable, it has the mini-DIN for s-video, RCA for composite, and the single audio channel is on 2 RCA plugs for connection to TVs/monitors with stereo inputs. http://www.8bitclassics.com/Atari-800-XL-XE-5-Pin-DIN-S-Video-Cable.html Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gozar Posted January 6, 2014 Author Share Posted January 6, 2014 The stock 800XL doesn't come with the Chroma/color signal connected to the monitor port, but it's a simple modification. The commonly available stereo DIN5M to 4 X RCA cable works with monitors like the Commodore 1702 which uses 2 x RCA jacks for chroma/luma inputs, more modern TVs/monitors normally have an mini-DIN port. 8-bit Classics sells such a cable, it has the mini-DIN for s-video, RCA for composite, and the single audio channel is on 2 RCA plugs for connection to TVs/monitors with stereo inputs. http://www.8bitclassics.com/Atari-800-XL-XE-5-Pin-DIN-S-Video-Cable.html Already added the chroma connection to use with the separate jacks on my 1702, but that cable looks really nice. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Like us on Facebook
Follow us on Twitter
AtariAge on Instagram
Watch us on YouTube
Chat on Discord
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.
Note: Your post will require moderator approval before it will be visible.