DB> Ok i clipped out the old 16k chips..installed sockets and put the new 41464 chips in and in 40 columns everything is fine in 80 columns i can see the cold start screen..but everthing is "junky" i can read what it says only becuase ive seen it a million times..i
Not nice :-(
DB> thought old or bad chips..so i replaced them with some outta a known working 128 ..nothing....even new 16k
Nothing, or the "junk" you mentioned above ?
DB> chips...nothing...i put the 64 k chips back in..and did that test someone put up and the 64 vdc was found..just can't seem to get the 80 column side to work...replace the long 80 column chip also ..nothing..
I have bad news for you I'm afraid. Assuming that the results of your chip changing produced the same "junk" as the first time ("nothing" implies a blank screen or completely dead), anyway, as I was saying, assuming it is the same "junk" each time then you have one of either two problems.
1. you lifted one of the solder tracks when you removed the pins from
the old chips (*very* easy to do).
Or
2. When you soldered in the new sockets you used too much solder and
you have created a short circuit between one or more of the pins
and the tracks that run *between* them, or you didn't use enough
solder or your iron was to cold and the solder didn't flow through
the holes for contact with the tracks on the top side of the PCB.
The first thing to do is, don't panic!
Remove the RAM IC's from thier sockets, and remove the VDC chip.
Grab a hold of a multimeter or continuity tester and place one tip of it on pin#1 of either of the sockets for the ram chips. With the other end of the probe touch it to each of the pins of the large VDC socket. Jot down which pin(s) give a short circuit reading.. There should be exactly one pin that will give this reading.. if you don't find it follow the track back and look for an open circuit. If you find more than one, then trace it back until you find where the short is.
Repeat this sequence for ALL of the pins on the RAM chip sockets.
Note#1. The process is a lot faster if you have a C128 schematic in front of you, because you should be able to determine what pin of the RAM is joined to what pin of the VDC before you even take a mesurement.
Note#3. The power supply and earth lines will measure a pretty low resistance anyway. The chances are that you haven't got a problem with these lines anyway.. else you would have smoke.
Do the same check on the other RAM chip socket.
Tips: *don't* try to repair any damaged tracks - you will probably
not have much luck, and you may damage other tracks in the
process.
If tracks are shorted with solder simply remove the excess with
a solder wick and check again.
If tracks are broken use a *sharp* knife and tidy them up by
trimming any loose bits. Find the socket pins of each end of
the broken tracks and bridge them with fine insulated wire. This
is far easier and more reliable than trying to bridge a broken
track with solder.
Warning: Under NO circumstance should you attempt to remove those
sockets. I guarantee that in doing so you will cause even
more damage.
One final bit of advice.. don't rush it, and if you don't feel confident at what you are doing then take it to a repair centre and explain *exactly* what you have done and what the problem is (don't just tell 'em its faulty, without telling them that you inflicted the fault .. else the poor 'ol tech will spend a lot of time looking for a "natural" fault before s/he eventually traces it back to your handiwork.
Oh, don't feel bad that you've messed it... I consider myself somewhat of an expert at this kinda thing, yet even I mess up with at least one out of 3 of these that I've done. It took me two hours to fix Gaelyne's C128 because I lifted about 3 tracks when upgrading hers. The effects were as you described.. "junky" text.
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Repairing the 128D
From : Larry Schafer
I just found that a 128D repair manual is available from Sam's publications, at 1-800-428-SAMS, as a photocopy for $24.95+S+H, or thereabouts.
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Re: FD-2000
From: Doug Cotton
pfb> Big Blue Reader works fine, only quirk is that If you want to read HD disks you need to FORMAT them (with the BBR Format program) to IBM format on the 2000 then write to them with a PC (or the FD of course) crazy thing if you ask me but the BBR people say thats the only way.
> > This is SICK! The PC format on a HD disk doesn't differ depending on what drive it was formatted on, now does it. You have the experience so I don't doubt what you say, but please give me a reason I can live with! WHY? ;-)
Basically because BBR hasn't enough memory to deal with the expanded FAT and directory, so the author made it so that it would work with HD disks only if these were limited (max FAT size for BBR is 3 sectors, and the author recommends limiting directory size to 112 entries). I think this is a case of an author looking to minimize the amount of work he needed to do by patching the old version instead of doing a major rewrite to free up space.
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TWS header-footer information.
From: Jean P Nance
A while back I asked if anybody had been able to make the "hr" command work with TWS, to put a header or footer over in the right margin. I got a private message from Gaelynne Moranec, who said she had worked on the problem but not solves it. In case anybody here is interested, I wrote Eric Lee, author of TWS and got the answer. In the manual section on headers and footer, it is not made clear, but in order to use the "hr" command, you also have to have an "r" command to put the header over at the right margin. Just "r" puts it even with the right margin. "hr2;r" for example, will put the header 2 spaces from the right side of the paper. If you think you will ever need this, add this as a note in your manual. The same commands set the header and the footer. "hr2;fo3;r" for example, will set a footer at 3 lines from the bottom of the paper, and 2 spaces in from the right margin. "hr2;he3;r" will set header 3 lines from the top of the page and 2 spaces in from the right margin. TWS if full of little deals like that, which are useful but need some study. The manual is sort of terse.
