EPROM cart won’t catalogue and caused hard reset

[okto]

I have a 32k EPROM cart that previously had PCLink burned on it, so I know it works.

I have run it through an EPROM eraser three times for a total of an hour and a half of exposure; it still will not catalogue.

Today, after the third erase cycle, I plugged it in (after switching to Index like I’m supposed to), and the screen blacked out and flickered and the machine hard reset, losing a bunch of work.

What gives!?

[Flatulentia]

I believe it is possible to kill an EPROM with too much UV. There's a limit to how many times you can erase them due to the damage it does.

[Jbizzel]

A known problem is leaving eprom cards in z88s without power. Apparently that can lead to them being corrupted?? It's written about on the Rakewell shop site

[okto]

Sounds like it's time to whip out the desoldering tool.

[okto]

Very belated update: it turns out the Chinesium EPROM eraser just wasn’t strong enough, so the cartridge wasn’t actually erased. I’ve since acquired a metal-bodied good ol American-made EPROM eraser that did the trick with about 15 minutes of exposure, and the cartridge works fine now.

Now I just have to get >=128k in the machine so I can run RomUpdate and blow EazyLink into it.