Splatm4n Posted January 30, 2018 Author Share Posted January 30, 2018 I agree with many above. Reseat all the socketed IC's in the 8000. Then test again. I'll bet it works. But if not, then it is probably the SIO cable. They do go bad. The 800 gives you and error, so the problem most likely not in there. Good Luck!! Hey, I used a DMM to measure the Atari800 connector and soldier joints, it's good I then ohmed-out the SIO cable itself. Looks pretty good. Then did the same (with SIO cable plugged in) from Atari side SIO cable to solder joints inside ATR8000. All good. I reseated all chips. Still when I boot up Atari800 (after powering up ATR8000), type in LPRINT and nothing. Just the buzz (farting noise) and Error - 138. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Splatm4n Posted January 30, 2018 Author Share Posted January 30, 2018 Where are you located? there might be someone close enough to you to help troubleshoot in person. I'd get a 1050 and a standard 360k drive to aid in diagnosing the problem. And have someone send a couple floppies with MyDos and the ATR's RS-232 handler to check other parts of the board... I'm in northern cali. San Jose area. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ricortes Posted January 30, 2018 Share Posted January 30, 2018 I'm in Los Gatos. I can test out some stuff and be ready by this weekend if you don't get a better/faster offer. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ClausB Posted January 30, 2018 Share Posted January 30, 2018 Could the EPROM be faded? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KLund1 Posted January 31, 2018 Share Posted January 31, 2018 I am also in the the bay area, perhaps Atarigeezer, Splatm4n, ricortes, and I could all meet up somewhere nearby for an afternoon, and see about getting it to work. I have a ATR8000 and a percom drive that I have never fired up fully. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
_The Doctor__ Posted February 1, 2018 Share Posted February 1, 2018 I've had to buy 8 inch cleaning disks and solvents.. the drive sometimes acts completely dead when full of crud... shot in the dark, but it's worked for me... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Splatm4n Posted February 2, 2018 Author Share Posted February 2, 2018 I've had to buy 8 inch cleaning disks and solvents.. the drive sometimes acts completely dead when full of crud... shot in the dark, but it's worked for me... Thanks for that offer, but it seems based on typing LPRINT with no floppy plugged in my first issue is 800 not talking to the ATR8000. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Splatm4n Posted February 2, 2018 Author Share Posted February 2, 2018 Could the EPROM be faded? That's possible? If I had a schematic of this thing that'd help. Will go search for that now. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Splatm4n Posted February 2, 2018 Author Share Posted February 2, 2018 (edited) I am also in the the bay area, perhaps Atarigeezer, Splatm4n, ricortes, and I could all meet up somewhere nearby for an afternoon, and see about getting it to work. I have a ATR8000 and a percom drive that I have never fired up fully. I gotta take a biz trip for a week, but when I get back I'm definitely going to hit you guys up. Im also going to try to see if anyone is willing to sell a 1050 here too. No one responded to my initial post, so I'll post another. You guys are all awesome BTW> Thanks to everyone for the great advice. This is a blast. My kid is loving it. He can't save his code still but my 12-year old is now into the graphics section and bugging me to go buy a (working) controller since he wants to move graphics around on the screen. Such good times. Glad I got him to read Ready Player One because that's what kicked off his interest in all this. Edited February 2, 2018 by Splatm4n 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Splatm4n Posted March 9, 2018 Author Share Posted March 9, 2018 Hey all, still not working, bought a used drive (not confirmed working) and nothing boots up. Starting to think it's the atari 800 that was/is the problem. @Ricortes / @Klund1 any chance you guys are willing to help me test this? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rcgldr Posted July 11, 2018 Share Posted July 11, 2018 (edited) If the ATR8000 is homing / calibrating the floppy head(s), then the code is running. It seems to do multiple calibrate commands in a row upon power up or reset. Some 8 inch floppy drives (like mine) will not move the heads unless a floppy disk is inserted into the drive. My ATR8000 has a switch just above the reset button on the back to change between CP/M mode and Atari peripheral mode. It it's in CP/M mode, then it's expecting a return character on the computer in Atari type connector, either from a terminal or from an emulated terminal, after which it will display ATRMON .. # (I think it uses the return character to determine baud rate of the terminal). At that point you enter "B" to boot CP/M from drive 1. Even if you don't have CP/M, you could try this to see if the ATR8000 attempts to boot from the floppy drive. If it's in Atari peripheral mode, it should be in standard SIO mode. As already posted, for the floppy drives, you want a straight through cable, and drive select normal (versus a PC where both drives are configured as drive 2, and a twisted cable is used for drive A). Note that pin 1 on all the ATR8000 connectors are on the power cord and reset button side of the back of the ATR8000. Looking at the ATR8000 from the back side, all the pin 1's are on the right side of the connectors, with the power cord and reset button on the far right. Edited July 11, 2018 by rcgldr Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AgedAtari Posted September 14, 2020 Share Posted September 14, 2020 Also in Bay Area trying to get my childhood ATR8000 working ... stupid COVID. Splatm4n did you get yours to work? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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