XEGS power questions

[+Zeptari]

So I just set up my XEGS for the first time in a few years. Messed around with basic for about 10 minutes and then played two games for around 20 to 30 minutes. I went back to basic and every minute of two it would lock up on me. Resets didn’t do a thing I had to shut it off and turn it back on. Is this a power supply issue or something worse? 

See attached picture for power supply I’m currently using. 

 

And if it’s the power supply, well the funny thing is I almost ordered a new one from the Brewing Academy when placing my order for the ultimate cartridge. 
 

Thanks for any advice. I’ve been out of the 8-bit world for a long time.

[+DrVenkman]

That power supply should be fine - it's not the dreaded "Ingot" that, when it fails, tends to destroy chips inside the machine. Having said that, if you have a multimeter, it would be a good idea to verify you're getting a good steady +5V out of it.

If the PSU is good, locking up could be caused by a number of things but it's hard to diagnose more without some more details. Is it locking up ONLY in BASIC and not while playing games? Have you played the built-in MISSILE COMMAND for any length of time without lockups?

[Paul Westphal]

This might help..

[Guest]

Unfortunately I don’t have a multimeter on hand right now. I might be able to borrow one from someone at work this week. 
 

In the session I just had it only locked up during basic not while playing games. 
 

Is there a way to access missile command without unplugging the keyboard? 
 

thanks for the speedy reply! 

 

i’d like to have this fixed or at least the problem identified before my ultimate cartridge arrives!

[Paul Westphal]

Here are some alternatives :

 

https://thebrewingacademy.com/collections/atari-800-xl-xe-xel-xld/products/atari-xl-xe-replacement-power-supply

 

With this one you need a 1.5amp USB power block :

https://thebrewingacademy.com/collections/atari-800-xl-xe-xel-xld/products/atari-xl-xe-replacement-power-via-usb

[Paul Westphal]

Missile Command : Try holding the select button on boot, if I remember correctly.

 

[Guest]

@DrVenkman and @Paul Westphal

 

https://thebrewingacademy.com/collections/atari-800-xl-xe-xel-xld/products/atari-xl-xe-replacement-power-supply
 

Is this a safer option?

Edited June 14, 2020 by Zeptari1
You guys are fast with the replies ! Lol

[Paul Westphal]

Much safer than what you are CURRENTly using.

Edited June 14, 2020 by Paul Westphal

[+DrVenkman]

5 minutes ago, Paul Westphal said:

This might help..

I disagree with your second poop, the one on the bottom. That one is not the Ingot (which is the one on top). The bottom one is fine. I've got one and it's been rock-solid for years. This is a better visualization. In both cases, however, it's worth noting that the original photo is nicked from Bruce's eBay auction store (B&C Electronics).

 

 

[Guest]

Holding the select button is correct to access missile command. I played a few games , it ran fine except for during one level. See picture attached. When the next level stated it was fine. Basic still locks up. 
It seems to happen the most when I hit return to type in a second line. 
I have a European 7800 game pad plugged in. Would that cause any issues? Doesn’t seem like it would. 
i’ll mess around with it some more tonight and report back tomorrow after work. 

 

thanks again.

Edited June 15, 2020 by Zeptari1
Added video

[Guest]

Ram and rom tests are fine. 
A few of the keys on my keyboard are not responding on the keyboard test. Control, both Shift and the Break key do nothing. They don’t bleep and they don’t let up on the screen. 
 

 

[Guest]

@DrVenkman

 

yup Missile Command locks up too!

 

time to borrow the multimeter I guess. 

[+DrVenkman]

Do other carts work without locking up?

The reason I ask is, in the XEGS, the operating system ROM + BASIC + MISSILE COMMAND are all stored on a single custom 32K ROM chip that is prone to failure. If other carts work without a problem, your issue is probably a bad system ROM.

[+MrFish]

36 minutes ago, DrVenkman said:

I disagree with your second poop, the one on the bottom. That one is not the Ingot (which is the one on top). The bottom one is fine. I've got one and it's been rock-solid for years. This is a better visualization. In both cases, however, it's worth noting that the original photo is nicked from Bruce's eBay auction store (B&C Electronics).

 

 

Yeah, those small power supplies are fine. The only thing to note is that it's a 1 amp supply. The one in the lower-right is also only 1 amp. The other three should all be 1.5 amps.

 

[_The Doctor__]

Correct ingot is deadly and the 1 amp supplies are not up to the task of many of the SIO powered device demands of today...

Stick with the Beauties and Peanuts. Forget the boat anchors and starved supplies.

[Paul Westphal]

1 hour ago, DrVenkman said:

I disagree with your second poop, the one on the bottom. That one is not the Ingot (which is the one on top). The bottom one is fine. I've got one and it's been rock-solid for years. This is a better visualization. In both cases, however, it's worth noting that the original photo is nicked from Bruce's eBay auction store (B&C Electronics).

 

 

I am Friends with Bruce and he is aware of this.

Edited June 15, 2020 by Paul Westphal

[+Stephen]

28 minutes ago, Zeptari1 said:

Ram and rom tests are fine. 
A few of the keys on my keyboard are not responding on the keyboard test. Control, both Shift and the Break key do nothing. They don’t bleep and they don’t let up on the screen.

CTRL + SHIFT won't register by themselves - they need pressed with another key.  Keep in mind, many SHIFT+CTRL+Key combos will not work.  I am not sure if break ever registers in the KB test.  In BASIC, the key is easy to test.  Pressing it should just advance the cursor to the next line without doing anything.

[Guest]

31 minutes ago, Stephen said:

CTRL + SHIFT won't register by themselves - they need pressed with another key.  Keep in mind, many SHIFT+CTRL+Key combos will not work.  I am not sure if break ever registers in the KB test.  In BASIC, the key is easy to test.  Pressing it should just advance the cursor to the next line without doing anything.

Your correct! How foolish of me. I booted up the keyboard test again, and sure enough I need to hold the SHIFT or CTRL keys with something else to register. Yup, BREAK key does nothing.

 

I said I was going to bed.... well that didn't happen.  Too much Atari on my mind.

[Guest]

58 minutes ago, DrVenkman said:

Do other carts work without locking up?

The reason I ask is, in the XEGS, the operating system ROM + BASIC + MISSILE COMMAND are all stored on a single custom 32K ROM chip that is prone to failure. If other carts work without a problem, your issue is probably a bad system ROM.

@DrVenkman

I played about 30+ minutes on 2 different carts: Donkey Kong and Q-Bert.

 

!!!Zero lockups!!!!

 

Ohh and my high scores for the 15mins with each:

 

Donkey Kong: 30,300

and

Q-Bert: 32,020

 

Both are excellent conversions. Donkey Kong is especially great! Controls and music are superb!

Wife came in the room while I was playing Qbert and was disappointed with Qberts death scream.

I thought his transparent eyes are odd, and the pause after death freak me out for a second. I thought 

the XEGS froze for a second.

 

What's my next step? Ignore it? Replace the ROM? Who you gonna call!?!?!

 

Goodnight all.. I'm serious this time.. Yawn..

 

 

 

 

 

[+DrVenkman]

22 minutes ago, Zeptari1 said:

Replace the ROM? Who you gonna call!?!?!

I think you should consider replacing the ROM. I think Best Electronics sells new/old-stock ROM chips but they have a minimum order dollar amount plus shipping costs, and the owner Brad has kind of a reputation for being, shall we say, quirky to deal with. You might be able to replace it with an EPROM created by a friendly forum member. I don’t know off-hand if the XEGS requires any modification to use an EPROM versus an ordinary ROM chip for the OS. 

 

I wonder if anyone else knows off-hand? @mytek? @Nezgar? @Rybags? Any of you guys know if you can replace an XEGS ROM with a drop-in 27256 EPROM or do you need to do some reconfiguration of the XEGS motherboard first?

[+Nezgar]

22 minutes ago, DrVenkman said:

I wonder if anyone else knows off-hand? @mytek? @Nezgar? @Rybags? Any of you guys know if you can replace an XEGS ROM with a drop-in 27256 EPROM or do you need to do some reconfiguration of the XEGS motherboard first?

Indeed a 27C256 type EPROM or similar is a pin-compatible replacement in the XEGS. Only downside is the XEGS is not socketed, so you'd at a minimum have to de-solder the original ROM and install a socket. If you don't care about the old ROM, you could also cut all the pins of the old rom to make it easier to desolder them...

 

@Zeptari1 I'd be happy to mail you a replacement programmed EPROM and socket, just PM me.

 

Edit: Maybe it could also be the MMU? I have GAL's to replace those to, but have not tested using one as an XEGS MMU yet...

[BillC]

6 hours ago, Paul Westphal said:

Missile Command : Try holding the select button on boot, if I remember correctly.

 

IIRC just booting the XEGS without keyboard attached and no drives will bring up Missile Command.

[Paul Westphal]

This is a good time to bring this possible fix up.

Xegs Fix.txt

[Guest]

Sorry busy week here at work.My Ultimate Cart came in yesterday!  Addicted Ridiculous Reality for the moment.

 

On 6/14/2020 at 10:05 PM, DrVenkman said:

I think you should consider replacing the ROM. I think Best Electronics sells new/old-stock ROM chips but they have a minimum order dollar amount plus shipping costs, and the owner Brad has kind of a reputation for being, shall we say, quirky to deal with. You might be able to replace it with an EPROM created by a friendly forum member. I don’t know off-hand if the XEGS requires any modification to use an EPROM versus an ordinary ROM chip for the OS. 

@DrVenkman

I have no idea what an EPROM vs a Rom is. And I have zero skills installing such a device. I've dealt with Brad a couple times. He's always done right by me. But yes a little quirky. LOL 

 

On 6/14/2020 at 10:26 PM, Nezgar said:

Indeed a 27C256 type EPROM or similar is a pin-compatible replacement in the XEGS. Only downside is the XEGS is not socketed, so you'd at a minimum have to de-solder the original ROM and install a socket. If you don't care about the old ROM, you could also cut all the pins of the old rom to make it easier to desolder them...

 

@Zeptari1 I'd be happy to mail you a replacement programmed EPROM and socket, just PM me.

 

@Nezgar So very kind of you. But I have zero de-solder skills. I'd probably blow up my XEGS is the process. I'll have to fix it if I want to use a floppy drive, correct? 

I had a 800XL with a 1050 floppy back in the day. I sold it so long ago. My memory is fuzzy at best.

 

Seems like I might have to recruit one you fellows to repair my XEGS if it kicks the bucket. If your into that sort of thing.

 

On 6/15/2020 at 11:59 PM, Paul Westphal said:

This is a good time to bring this possible fix up.

Not sure what I'm looking at, but I'll read the attached text file.

[TapperP]

On 6/14/2020 at 7:49 PM, DrVenkman said:

I disagree with your second poop, the one on the bottom. That one is not the Ingot (which is the one on top). The bottom one is fine. I've got one and it's been rock-solid for years. This is a better visualization. In both cases, however, it's worth noting that the original photo is nicked from Bruce's eBay auction store (B&C Electronics).

 

 

I have the one on the upper right with the silver sticker for a 130XE I just bought today locally.

 

The seller told me it was not a safe power supply and recommended to not use it. He recommended I order one from brewingacademy, which I have done.

 

So, the Atari one I have (model C061982) is safe after all?

Edited June 21, 2020 by TapperP