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Re: ZX81 rebuild

Posted: Sat Dec 09, 2017 9:15 am
by Lardo Boffin
1024MAK wrote: Sat Dec 09, 2017 12:54 am Don't Panic is a phrase on the cover of The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy...
Hence is the standard response to any situation... :lol:

Mark
Clearly I forgot my towel.

Re: ZX81 rebuild

Posted: Sat Dec 09, 2017 6:02 pm
by 1024MAK
Lardo Boffin wrote: Sat Dec 09, 2017 9:15 am
1024MAK wrote: Sat Dec 09, 2017 12:54 am Don't Panic is a phrase on the cover of The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy...
Hence is the standard response to any situation... :lol:

Mark
Clearly I forgot my towel.
Available here and here apparently ;)
<Galactic trading rules dictate that Earthlings must trade at their own risk>

Have you got any further? I'd be tempted to remove the RAM and ROM chips and make a "NOP" generator and put this in the ROM socket. You could then use your logic probe to confirm that each address line is active at different frequencies.

A NOP generator is simply eight resistors mounted on a DIL socket (or DIL header if you are feeling rich). The value of the resistors is not critical, any value between 330 ohms and 1k should be fine. Wire each resistor between a data line (D0 through D7) to the 0V/GND pin so that when the DIL socket is inserted into the ROM socket on the ZX81 board, the correct connections are made. These two web sites may help you: linky1 and linky2.

Mark

Re: ZX81 rebuild

Posted: Sun Dec 10, 2017 10:53 pm
by Lardo Boffin
1024MAK wrote: Sat Dec 09, 2017 6:02 pm
Lardo Boffin wrote: Sat Dec 09, 2017 9:15 am
1024MAK wrote: Sat Dec 09, 2017 12:54 am Don't Panic is a phrase on the cover of The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy...
Hence is the standard response to any situation... :lol:

Mark
Clearly I forgot my towel.
Available here and here apparently ;)
<Galactic trading rules dictate that Earthlings must trade at their own risk>

Have you got any further? I'd be tempted to remove the RAM and ROM chips and make a "NOP" generator and put this in the ROM socket. You could then use your logic probe to confirm that each address line is active at different frequencies.

A NOP generator is simply eight resistors mounted on a DIL socket (or DIL header if you are feeling rich). The value of the resistors is not critical, any value between 330 ohms and 1k should be fine. Wire each resistor between a data line (D0 through D7) to the 0V/GND pin so that when the DIL socket is inserted into the ROM socket on the ZX81 board, the correct connections are made. These two web sites may help you: linky1 and linky2.

Mark
Top towel links! Although sad they used the modern Marvin...

I have not had chance to do much this weekend - combination of work (actual paid stuff) and family.

However I did take all the ICs out and put them in another board - it worked fine and brought up a K.

So there is definitely a problem with the board not the ICs. If that narrows it down...
Also I had got the whole thing working with one of the original ZTX313s before going back to the MS2369 experiments. Oh how I long for those halcyon days! Well, 5 minutes. :?

So my conclusion is:-

I bodged something while playing with transistors, either creating a short somewhere (most likely with solder, although I cannot see any) or by physically damaging a component somehow.

I have given the solder side a good few scrub downs with a toothbrush in order to try to get rid of any stray solder but I have found some really small flakes even after doing this. Although I have not found any where they would cause issues. It may be time to get the magnifying glass out again... :cry:

Re: ZX81 rebuild

Posted: Mon Dec 11, 2017 10:21 am
by Lardo Boffin
Found some very small solder strands (after much holding the board up to the light at odd angles to see if anything glinted) and removed them. No difference. :evil:

Re: ZX81 rebuild

Posted: Mon Dec 11, 2017 11:21 am
by sirmorris
Rule the third:
'there's always one more'

Re: ZX81 rebuild

Posted: Mon Dec 11, 2017 4:27 pm
by gammaray
Is there a ZTX313 at TR1 position too? I would use a ZTX313 on both TR1 & TR2.

As Wilf wrote me once "...check the pin out...(again)"

Good luck!

Re: ZX81 rebuild

Posted: Mon Dec 11, 2017 5:28 pm
by Lardo Boffin
sirmorris wrote: Mon Dec 11, 2017 11:21 am Rule the third:
'there's always one more'
Wise words!

Re: ZX81 rebuild

Posted: Mon Dec 11, 2017 5:29 pm
by Lardo Boffin
gammaray wrote: Mon Dec 11, 2017 4:27 pm Is there a ZTX313 at TR1 position too? I would use a ZTX313 on both TR1 & TR2.

As Wilf wrote me once "...check the pin out...(again)"

Good luck!
Also wise words!

Re: ZX81 rebuild

Posted: Mon Dec 11, 2017 9:21 pm
by gammaray
Good thing I am a spectator coaching the game from general seating! I know it takes more effort and brains than I have to actually do it. :cry:

Re: ZX81 rebuild

Posted: Tue Feb 06, 2018 11:54 am
by Lardo Boffin
I had come to the conclusion that diagnosing this was way beyond my meagre skills and equipment so I sent it off to Mutant Caterpillar Games be looked at.
They spend a number of hours trying to figure out what was wrong and in the end identified the 6.5 mHz resonator as being at fault! Apparently it was not consistent / accurate enough. When a different resonator was used it booted to the K. When the resonator in mine was put in another zeddy it caused the same issues.
So there you go!
I do feel better that it was not an obvious gaff on my part but that does lead to how do I find an unused resonator that works? :shock: