THe Wookie Posted January 20, 2021 Share Posted January 20, 2021 I am in need of some assistance. I have purchased an Atari 800XL and have not had one in almost 30 years. I am looking to run the Self Test, but following the instructions and it is not running. If I turn the computer on without holding anything down it says THE XL BOSS V1.0. What does this mean? When I reboot and hold down OPTION, I get READY. Do I just need to type BYE? If I do and nothing comes up, what am I doing wrong? Thank you, Eric Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+David_P Posted January 20, 2021 Share Posted January 20, 2021 Your 800xl has a modified Operating System installed, which (a) doesn't have the self-test mode and (b) has the OPTION key on startup reversed. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
THe Wookie Posted January 20, 2021 Author Share Posted January 20, 2021 28 minutes ago, David_P said: Your 800xl has a modified Operating System installed, which (a) doesn't have the self-test mode and (b) has the OPTION key on startup reversed. Weird question, is the an ok operating system? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+David_P Posted January 20, 2021 Share Posted January 20, 2021 I don't know much about it, unfortunately. Is there any sort of switch on the outside of the computer? Sometimes modified OSes would be installed with the ability to switch back to the default Atari OS as well. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
THe Wookie Posted January 20, 2021 Author Share Posted January 20, 2021 29 minutes ago, David_P said: Your 800xl has a modified Operating System installed, which (a) doesn't have the self-test mode and (b) has the OPTION key on startup reversed. 1 minute ago, David_P said: I don't know much about it, unfortunately. Is there any sort of switch on the outside of the computer? Sometimes modified OSes would be installed with the ability to switch back to the default Atari OS as well. I don't see any switch on the outside. Do you know anyone that may know more about it? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+David_P Posted January 20, 2021 Share Posted January 20, 2021 There are a few threads where that OS is discussed: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NISMOPC Posted January 20, 2021 Share Posted January 20, 2021 My guess is that someone swapped the stock OS with a BOXX XL eprom. You would need to source a stock OS ROM and swap it. That chip is more then likely socketed, especially if it's a non-stock OS. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
_The Doctor__ Posted January 25, 2021 Share Posted January 25, 2021 Just run a memory test program, why do you need one in the OS? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+Nezgar Posted February 10, 2021 Share Posted February 10, 2021 On 1/20/2021 at 1:01 PM, THe Wookie said: If I turn the computer on without holding anything down it says THE XL BOSS V1.0. The XL BOSS OS ROM gives better 800 compatibility than the stock XL/XE OS mostly for older games, sacrificing some other things uncommonly used in the 80's (Namely PBI support) for some other features. Here's a previous thread about it with some documentation and such: It would be most telling if you open up the machine and inspect what's in the U5 socket at the top right of the motherboard. If it's a single 27128 EPROM, then it can be only 1 OS. If there's a stack of 2 chips, or a 27256 EPROM, there might be some mechanism to switch between the two... Maybe post a picture here? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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