dukes909

Got it, thanks!

Ok I will open it up and get some pictures and post in a bit. Thanks!

I'm being dense and my apologies for being ignorant on this, but you said XEX and the file is an .exe? Is this a Windows file? Unfortunately I don't run Windows if so. 😞

USA No, I'm not familiar with it. .arc? I don't know that extension either. Can I load it via a Fujinet?

Well it isn't the GRAPHICS command! I started to type in some other commands and the unit locked up on it's own before even completing the line. This is a bummer!

Locks up on GRAPHICS 8 as well!

Can I upgrade to C from B if that is what the problem is?

It locks up typing GRAPHICS 1 as well. Sorry I am thinking of my 800 with 48k when i type ? FRE(0) and it displays 37902 (recalling from memory here, not in front of it yhis second), which is the same number this 600Xl shows. I forgot the 64k doesn't show the hidden 16k...

New to the XL line and have a new to me 600XL. Typed in a little BASIC program that the first line is GRAPHICS 11. The unit appears to lock up on that statement. BREAK key does not work. RESET does. If I reset and type in GRAPHICS 11 (or any other value) the machine locks up again. This unit has the 48k upgrade. Any ideas of what to look at? Edit: Unit passes ROM,RAM self tests Cheers

In your article you said "This project worked well on my Atari 800XL. However, I could not get it to work on two different Atari 800s. I am not sure why." While the joystick ports operate the same on the 800 & 800XL for game controllers, output is a little different. Also, on the 800 PORTA (joystick ports 1 & 2) operates a little differently than on PORTB(joystick ports 3 & 4). You might try the program over again on the 800 using PORTB (with joystick port 3) and I think you will see that it works! Instead of address 54018 use 54019 and instead of address 54016 use 54017. See this thread for a better explanation of the differences between PORTA & PORTB: You might also be interested in this old article that does some nifty tricks with the joystick ports: https://www.atariarchives.org/creativeatari/Interfacing_Your_Atari.php Cheers

Pretty sure it was the head on both of these.

Update #2 - RESOLUTION!!! The new old drive came in and I swapped out each board one by one. ALL of the boards on my 2 original non-working 810's were good! What was bad - the Tandon drive mechanism. I tried the drive mechanism in each of my non-working 810's with everything else being the same and both work flawlessly. 🤩 I am ordering a second "new" Tandon drive mechanism to get the 2nd 810 back in working order. What a ride! All that troubleshooting and I had it resolved in less than 10 minutes with a single good working drive. I suppose there is no way to fix the old Tandon mechanisms. Actually, nevermind, I don't even want to attempt that. I will put them up on eBay for sale as "parts or non-working". 🤪 THANKS to everyone who chimed in here to help me try and troubleshoot this.

I really wish I could have made it to this!

I bought a sideboard (DOA) off of eBay and determined CO14316-1 1Mhz crystal oscillator is dead. Is there anything special about the one from Atari or will any 1Mhz oscillator work?

Update: I have located a "new" drive that has been tested and verified for alignment, speed etc. that I hope to be able to swap boards with to track this down in an easier manner. Will follow up once received!

Ah, ok, got it. I will give that a try. Thanks!

Sorry, I don't follow what you're asking here! It does! Well, the drive still won't read...

Received a dead C019745 in an online purchase and cut it open to replace blown fuse. My surgery on it didn't turn out as well as @_The Doctor__ did back in this post. I could use epoxy? superglue?.. to hold it back together and sand down the squeeze-out but was wondering if anyone has a model for a 3D print of the case for this that would make it look all new and nifty? Cheers

A 14 gauge between chassis and sideboard.

As near as I can tell. It's a lot of pins to check. There were tight going on. I have 5V on all of the chips on the sideboard. EDIT: Checked all 30 connections + ground connections with 14 ga. ground wire. All good. Device powers on but will not take commands from 800.

EDIT: I spoke too soon. I suppose I can't use a set of 6" header cables to connect from the power board to side board due to some length limitation? Anyone? With the header cable connected the drive will spin up and the LED goes on and off like it is supposed to but just sits there when I try to do a directory from DOS 2.0 then ERROR 138. It is such a pain to try and get readings off the chips when the sideboard is mounted vertically in the drive. How did technicians back in the day do it?

I have rigged up a set of header cables from sideboard to power board that allows me to lay the sideboard down flat. I will go through to make sure I am checking the right pins one at a time. Stay tuned.

Ok Pin to pin for both pairs, I get perfect continuity (well, 0.001 ohms) according to DMM. I can't make sense of it. 🤨

All these new chips are from Mouser, so hopefully not counterfeit ones from them. 🤔 First A205 pin 6 and matching A203 FDC pin 26 Then A205 pin 3 and matching pin A203 FDC pin 27 I also checked A208 pin 9 which also feeds into A203 pin 27: and A206 pin 5 that goes to A203 pin 26. I tried 2 different A208 hex inverter chips (new, from Mouser), with same results as well as swapping the A203 with a couple of different ones. All looked the same on 26 & 27 Not sure about all this. Should I be checking these or getting the data separator board looking right first?

Do you mean a known working 810 with identical parts? If so, no. I have another 810 that doesn't work either that I have swapped parts with but it has made no difference. I have been watching eBay for a verified, working 810 but nothing so far. Which board are those chips on?