Electronics > Repair
Vintage chip Programmer : " Micropross ROM 3000U "
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m k:
File came just fine without account logged in.
ROM3000.img is a standard raw image, HxC will read it and then you can export it to imd format and write using ImageDisk.
You could do that with linux dd since it's an exact dd output file, but for that you need a correctly formatted disk.

TSDR,
maybe it's a TeSt DRive and includes a write test.
Vince:
OK, been trying to troubleshoot this for the past 3 hours now...

First tried to check if the DD drive was at fault or not, so :

- I transfered it to the PC along with is original ribbon cable, so as to test the complete setup.
- IMD chocked on it : when I tried to run an analysis, it simply froze immediately, had to reboot the PC.
- Then I tried writing an image to the disk. This time IMD did not freeze, but it didn't try to spin the disk, it immediately showed an error : " Failed to receive interrupt from FDC ".. something along those lines.
- So I thought hey, maybe a duff cable. So instead I used the cable from the PC, then swithced the DD drive to S1 instead of S0 because somehow the cable in the PC is twisted even though it can only connect one drive not two, go figure.
- Well that did it : IMD is now happy with the drive. I wrote an image file to the disk, and rad it back , with success. Zero errors or anything out of the ordinary.

So the drive looks good and it's just a bad cable, I was overjoyed.

So I pulled another cable from my stock.... but it would not plug into the FDC board somehow.... then I eventually realized that was because... well I am sure MK and PCprogrammer know why... this old cable had one of its pins FILLED with a plastic plug. So çof course it could not plug properly....
So I tried yet another cable, this time with no plug in it... but it too would not go in.
Access to the header on the board is next to impossible : the rear panel of the programmer is so close to the connector, you can't see what you are doing and can barely manoeuvre your fingers in there, it's a total nightmare. So I could not get the freaking connector in, no matter what. Pulled an inspection mirror out of my toolbox, a flash light, and inspected the pins... one was bent. Used an angle dentist pick to straighten it... was a pin but worked.
Now I could plug the cable.... but the programmer still beeps just 3 seconds after power up and does not even try to do anything with the drive : no spinning, no LEDs no nothing.

So I unplug it and inspect the pins again with a mirror.... there see that somehow one of them is PUSHED IN quite a bit, so of course not making a reliable contact, or no contact at all.
I guess this was due to me trying to plug that cable that had a plug in one of the pins... the plug just pushed the corresponding pin on the socket on the board.

So only way to fix this is to take the FDC board out, which is no fun at all.
Once the board was extracted, I could push the pin back into place. Put the board back in, plug the ribbon cable... no joy, programmer still beeps immediately and ignores the drive.

Now throw a BOOT error code #26 at the terminal... that's new, yet another code.... so we have so far 4 BOOT error codes then : 1E, OF, 25 and 26. Great.....

So I am not happy.... I just don't know what to do... which is not good. It means I will button it back up in agner, put it aside for several years then evnetually scrapit, which would be a shame given how close we were to getting something done with this thing, pfff...

So I will try to concentrate on the bright sides :

- preicous programemrs DD drive appears to still work just fine
- We have made severa good, error free copies of the boot disk.
- Despite all these boot problems, the CPU / programmers remains alive and responsive at all times : it still talks to me via the terminal.

This project is getting really messy.... the vintage PC and programmer in bits all over the bench, and that's without a monitor attached to the programmer's video output.

So since it looks like this is gonna stay on my bench for a while... I need to make this mess. less messy.
I need to be able to monitor the video output with the programmer's "lid" in place, no big breadboard anymore, and no external power supply powering the GBS video converter board, and no huge 30+ inch monitor.
I need to make as I said before, a tiny PCB to replace the brad board. I need to shove the GBS bvoard inside the programmer, I think it might fit, and power it via the programmers 5V supply. I need to get a tiny VGA monitor that takes no space. Either an old 14/15" , early LCD computer monitor, or even better, may be cheap modern tiny 10" or something, LCD screen, after all the built-in CRT monitor of the 5000 model is tiny as well, so hey...

I need to button up the vintage PC and get a 15" LCD for it as well, to gain space on the bench.
I was thinking maybe just the one PC monitor and share it with the programmer with a switch... but I really want to be able to see both video output at the same time.
Then I need to make space on the bench generally... so that's easier said than done. But I have at least a couple square feet of components to sort on the left side of the bench... need to get cracking sorting them. I really need to get some gear out of this house to gain space, it's getting critical...  my big haul the other day really put me in trouble in this regard  :palm:


OK so the plan now...

1) Need to be able to monitor the video output at all times while trying to debug this thing. So need to order a selection of small and tiny proto boards to replace my boards.
2) Look in the 5000 documentation to see if I can find what the BOOT error codes mean.
3) No more playing with disk images for now.We have a good known to work boot disk(s), we don't need any more disks to work on our boot problem...
4) I am well pissed.


Vince:

--- Quote from: Robert763 on January 08, 2023, 05:24:19 pm ---Hi Vince,
As you have been working wih at least one dirty disk it would be worth cleaning the heads on the drive. I assume you dont have a head cleaning disc. The alternative is to use a strip of paper. Stiff is good mabe 100-120 gm/sm. Cut a strip, add a couple of drops of isopropyl alcohol. Just moisten the paper, don't soak it. just slide the paper back and forth between the heads. Don't apply any pressure. If there is visible dirt on the paper swap to a new strip.  Make sure the heads have dried completly before putting a disk in.

Robert G8RPI.

--- End quote ---

Hi Robert,

Oops our posts collided... my bad fr taking so long to write my messages.

Sadly no easy way out for me, it's not a cleaning problem... as I just posted, the programmer doe snot even TRY to rad the disk, doe snot even spin it.  That, plus the fact that I tested the drive on the PC and it reads and writes images flawlessly. So looks I have an actual problem  :palm:
Vince:

--- Quote from: m k on January 08, 2023, 05:38:53 pm ---File came just fine without account logged in.

--- End quote ---

Good to know ! So now I know I can use this Google Drive thing to share files with people with people without them having to create an account to any website. PLus, since it is MY drive... the link will not time out / disappear in a week or a month or 6 like it does on third party hosting websites... nope. As long as I don't delete it myself from Google Drive thing, it will still be there in years.


--- Quote from: m k on January 08, 2023, 05:38:53 pm ---ROM3000.img is a standard raw image, HxC will read it and then you can export it to imd format and write using ImageDisk.

--- End quote ---

Yep I did actually just that last night !  ;D
But I have not tried writing that file using IMD because... well, shit happened last night as you now know, so I had much bigger problems to think about !  :palm:



--- Quote from: m k on January 08, 2023, 05:38:53 pm ---You could do that with linux dd since it's an exact dd output file, but for that you need a correctly formatted disk.

--- End quote ---

I don't understand... I thought the whole point of dd was to make a binary image of a disk, just like IMD does, so there was no need to format the disk. Image would contain whatever formatting was there originally... just like I was able to make boot disk using IMD on DD disks that were blank, or maybe pre-formatted but definitely not with the format the programmer uses...


--- Quote from: m k on January 08, 2023, 05:38:53 pm ---TSDR, maybe it's a TeSt DRive and includes a write test.

--- End quote ---

That's an idea !  8)

m k:
And you have a correctly positioned drive select jumper?
 
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