[Coco] Coco 3 with problems, can anyone help me troubleshoot?

[K. Pruitt]

Mark,

Do you still have any of these cassette units with cables available?  Need a 
drivewire cable too.

I'm still looking forward to getting my coco hooked up to a PC via drivewire 
and cloading via cassette seems to be the only option
available at the moment.

Tried to fashion one a drivewire cable myself the other day and discovered I 
can't see well enough anymore to even solder a wire in to those infinitely 
small holes on the back of a 4-pin din connector.  Getting old sucks.

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Mark Marlette" <mmarlette at frontiernet.net>
To: "CoCoList for Color Computer Enthusiasts" <coco at maltedmedia.com>
Sent: Saturday, February 11, 2012 7:24 PM
Subject: Re: [Coco] Coco 3 with problems, can anyone help me troubleshoot?


>
> Not to say that it isn't possible that the deck could be bad, it would be 
> the first in over 100 units.
>
> What is more than likely the problem is a BLOWN SALT chip IC8, on the 
> CASSIN .
>
> You would hear the audio, but wouldn't get the data in this case.
>
> Mark
> http://www.cloud9tech.com
>
>
> ----- Original Message ----- 
> From: haywire666 at aol.com
> To: coco at maltedmedia.com
> Sent: Saturday, February 11, 2012 8:35:11 PM
> Subject: Re: [Coco] Coco 3 with problems, can anyone help me troubleshoot?
>
> Yes but its a brand new cable. I got this cassette from cloud9, I belive 
> it was brand new never opened... The cable came with the cassette...
>
>
> This is a very strange problem I don't recall ever seeing this type of 
> problem before...
>
>
> Also tried cable in AUX or MIC as suggested by instructions, same thing 
> happens both ways...
>
>
> Tried with volume all the way up, all the way down and in the middle...
>
>
> Steven
>
>
>
> -----Original Message----- 
> From: Mike Rowen <mike at bcmr3.net>
> To: CoCoList for Color Computer Enthusiasts <coco at maltedmedia.com>
> Sent: Sat, Feb 11, 2012 8:55 pm
> Subject: Re: [Coco] Coco 3 with problems, can anyone help me troubleshoot?
>
>
> Have you checked your cassette cable?
>
> On Feb 11, 2012, at 8:45 PM, haywire666 at aol.com wrote:
>
>> I removed and thoroughly cleaned the gime chip and socket. no gook or
> noticable grime to speak of though when I started....
>>
>>
>> Interestingly no more garbage screen bootups so cleaning the gime chip 
>> and
> contacts did something, but when I try to CLOAD the same
>> problem happens (S character in upper left hand corner of screen) tape 
>> plays
> and machine locks in that state...
>>
>>
>> Motor on/motor off commands work.
>>
>>
>> audio on and audio off commands work.
>>
>> CSAVING appears to work. At least I think so... With audio on, I hear a 
>> bunch
> of buzzing when what I saved is played back...
>>
>>
>> Steven
>>
>>
>>
>> -----Original Message----- 
>> From: haywire666 <haywire666 at aol.com>
>> To: coco <coco at maltedmedia.com>
>> Sent: Sat, Feb 11, 2012 8:20 pm
>> Subject: Re: [Coco] Coco 3 with problems, can anyone help me 
>> troubleshoot?
>>
>>
>> 1) I have a ccr radio shack cassette I just got from cloud9.
>>
>>
>> 2) When I use audio on commands I can hear stuff from the tape, but its 
>> been
>> years since I heard a data tape. Sounds right from what I recall.
>>
>>
>> 3) When I cload, the tape indeed starts, I get an S in the upper left 
>> corner
> of
>> the screen. The tape stays on forever. The machine's state never changes, 
>> even
>
>> when I left it for an hour.
>>
>>
>> 4) I don't have a prerecorded tape to check. I am just now getting back 
>> to
> cocos
>> (My first computer love) after many years off...
>>
>>
>> 5) I don't think its high speed poked, I boot the computer the cursor 
>> looks
>> regular speed, when I try it from clean cold boot this happens.
>>
>>
>> 6) Someone else suggested pulling and cleaning the contacts of the gime 
>> chip.
>> Just got back from radio shack, got an extraction tool... so I'm trying 
>> that
>> now.
>> Pulled the chip, both the chip and the sockets contacts look really dingy 
>> and
>> dirty... so I hope maybe thats it. I'm going to go work on this now will 
>> post
>> results.
>>
>> Thanks for everyone's help... Hopefully my poor coco3 will be feeling 
>> much
>> healthier soon!
>>
>> Steven
>>
>>
>>
>> -----Original Message----- 
>> From: Arthur Flexser <flexser at fiu.edu>
>> To: CoCoList for Color Computer Enthusiasts <coco at maltedmedia.com>
>> Sent: Sat, Feb 11, 2012 6:54 am
>> Subject: Re: [Coco] Coco 3 with problems, can anyone help me 
>> troubleshoot?
>>
>>
>> You might narrow down things by using the AUDIO ON command to see if
>> the tape sounds normal when it is saving and when you attempt to load
>> a program.
>>
>> Also, make sure you aren't in the double speed mode; the cassette
>> routines must be patched to work properly at that speed.
>>
>> When you say it "just hangs", I assume you've verified that the tape
>> is advancing properly? Do the MOTOR ON and MOTOR off commands
>> function?
>>
>> Art
>>
>> On Sat, Feb 11, 2012 at 5:12 AM, <haywire666 at aol.com> wrote:
>>>
>>> I have a color computer 3 with some problems. I thought it was a cold 
>>> solder
>> joint or something. Occasionally it would not boot right (I'd get a 
>> garbage
>> screen) The real problem however is that once its working, I can save 
>> programs
>
>> with csave to cassette, but when I try cload, I get an S on the upper 
>> left
>> corner of the screen and then it just hangs.
>>>
>>> Has anyone seen this before? Can anyone give me some trouble shooting 
>>> tips?
>> Not being able to save programs (just bought a cassette for that purpose) 
>> is
>> driving me kind of nuts.
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>> Steven
>>>
>>>
>>> -- 
>>> Coco mailing list
>>> Coco at maltedmedia.com
>>> http://five.pairlist.net/mailman/listinfo/coco
>>
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