[Coco] auto-starting game paks

[Roger Taylor]

I've got a little question.

What keeps an auto-starting ROM Pak (Q signal tied to CART) from 
continuously looping to $C000 instead of running the ROM code?

If BASIC is responsible for resetting the FIRQ behavior before 
jumping into the ROM, I can understand how this would work right, but 
if the CPU itself is responsible by using the upper hardware vectors 
to jump directly to $C000 before BASIC even gets a chance to start, 
then if the ROM code doesn't start with ORCC #80 (mask IRQ/FIRQ), 
then I can't see the code ever getting past the first instruction, 
which in some cases is a NOP.

Any ideas?
-- 
Roger Taylor

http://www.wordofthedayonline.com