bluejay Posted November 29, 2019 Share Posted November 29, 2019 This is one of the problems I couldn't resolve with my CoCo 2. Mine came with a CCR-81, and it doesn't seem to load or save programs, and whenever I try to load a saved game in Dungeons of Daggorath, it reboots the computer. It doesn't seem to have problems reading or writing music on cassettes. I don't think it's the cassette's problem, since I've been recording music on the Radio Shack tape it came with. When loading in BASIC, it prints "IO ERROR". I've fiddled with the volume knob a billion times, and nothing changes. I'm getting reallt sick of having to start from the beginning whenever I die in DoD. Help please!!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nateo Posted December 2, 2019 Share Posted December 2, 2019 How old is the cassette recorder? It might be that there are belts that need replacing, or the heads need to be realigned, etc Have you tried loading from your phone or computer using a .wav file from the Color Computer Archive? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bluejay Posted December 3, 2019 Author Share Posted December 3, 2019 My cassette is the Tandy CCR-81, sold by Radio Shack from back in the early 80s for TRS-80 computers. .wavs didn't work well either. I got an IO error or a jumbled screen, or the system would just crash. The heads spin fine, and music plays/records fine too. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gamemoose Posted December 3, 2019 Share Posted December 3, 2019 Bad cable maybe? Is there another CoCo you have access to so you can test the recorder/WAVs on there? Or another cable? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bluejay Posted December 3, 2019 Author Share Posted December 3, 2019 Unfortunately, no. This was my first CoCo, and all the stuff came with it, and when you thjnk about it, there isn't a reason to keep an extra cassette cable. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nateo Posted December 4, 2019 Share Posted December 4, 2019 Hm, you know, I have a CoCo 1 that really struggles to read cassettes that my CoCo 2 has no problem with. I wonder what chip is largely in control of the cassette stuff? Maybe that needs to be replaced? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jhd Posted December 5, 2019 Share Posted December 5, 2019 18 hours ago, Nateo said: I wonder what chip is largely in control of the cassette stuff? Maybe that needs to be replaced? The Peripheral Interface Adapter (PIA) is the 6821 (or maybe the 6820); there should be two of them. If one of those chips has has failed, the joystick and/or keyboard would also not work. There is also a mechanical relay to turn on/off the cassette motor. It makes an audible sound when it trips, so it is easy to determine if it is working. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bluejay Posted December 5, 2019 Author Share Posted December 5, 2019 My joysticks and keyboard works fine, and the "tick" sound must be the relay. So it must be the cable's fault? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jhd Posted December 5, 2019 Share Posted December 5, 2019 If you have a multimeter (or a similar tool), you can check the continuity of the cable -- making certain that each pin is connected to the appropriate tip. It is essentially just a piece of wire, so there is not much to test. The Technical Reference Manual should have the details of the cassette cable. See also page 45 for some information on testing/diagnosing the cassette interface. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Turbo-Torch Posted December 7, 2019 Share Posted December 7, 2019 On 12/5/2019 at 9:49 AM, bluejay said: My joysticks and keyboard works fine, and the "tick" sound must be the relay. So it must be the cable's fault? Or belts, dirty head, magnetized head, capacitors, placed too close to a monitor or some other source of RFI in the room, old cassettes that are no good, trying to save data on cheap cassettes or metal cassettes. Unless your brain and ears are attuned frequencies streaming at 1500 baud, being able to listen to music on it means nothing. I replaced the belts and all capacitors in my CTR-80 to make it reliable again. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rietveld Posted December 8, 2019 Share Posted December 8, 2019 On November 28, 2019 at 8:51 PM, bluejay said: This is one of the problems I couldn't resolve with my CoCo 2. Mine came with a CCR-81, and it doesn't seem to load or save programs, and whenever I try to load a saved game in Dungeons of Daggorath, it reboots the computer. It doesn't seem to have problems reading or writing music on cassettes. I don't think it's the cassette's problem, since I've been recording music on the Radio Shack tape it came with. When loading in BASIC, it prints "IO ERROR". I've fiddled with the volume knob a billion times, and nothing changes. I'm getting reallt sick of having to start from the beginning whenever I die in DoD. Help please!!! Inn the old days the trick with the coco cassette player was to lay it upside down (bottom up). Not sure why but it works Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bluejay Posted December 21, 2019 Author Share Posted December 21, 2019 The cassette recorder and cable works just fine on my Model 100. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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