Dead Warp Speed v2.0 cartridge

[+OLD CS1]

My beloved Warp Speed v2.0 cartridge, the version which supports the 1581 and MSD SD-2 drives, has died. I just get a blank blue-on-blue screen. I am distraught -- this venerable old cartridge has been with me since the beginning, dutifully fast-formatting and copying disks, making all of my loads and saves blindingly fast, and I learned 6502 assembly using this cartridge.

 

I have cleaned the cartridge edge and checked the 64/128 switch. It just seems dead.

 

Has anyone had this happen before? Is there a known problem with these cartridges? It has been stored away for the past four years, and it worked fine the last time I had it out. This unit has a masked ROM, not an EPROM, and was apparently worked on way way way back in the day.

 

Now, there are three wires which appear to connect three pins of the ROM to the underside of the board, maybe a bad trace or pass-through, which I have not yet checked, but that is on my list. I suspect the ROM was replaced at one time as all of its solder points have been re-done.

 

I am beside myself. At least I have a v1.0 handy I can use for the time being.

[landgraf]

ReplayResources has schematics of the cart that might help to pinpoint the faulty component. There are also links to binaries of the rom contents, in case it's really the masked rom has that has died (can happen) and needs to be replaced by an eprom. You probably need to burn the "raw" dumps linked there as there seems to be some sort of readout protection within the cart - the information on this is kinda vague, though.

Edited April 21, 2016 by landgraf

[+OLD CS1]

Thanks. Yeah, I saw that, too. I was thinking that if the v1.0 and v2.0 hardware are the same I would just move the v2.0 ROM to the other cart (which is working.) That is a little bit of work for me right now, but I have other things I need to do, as well, like install a JiffyDOS ROM into an MSD SD-2, so I would probably be well-served by getting my soldering stuff set up, anyway.

 

I guess this means I should also finally cave and buy an EPROM burner. Would be useful for my Commodore as well as my TI stuff.

[RobertB]

I did the v1.0 to v2.0 transplant several years ago to one of my Warpspeeds. I had a socket installed on the board and had an EPROM burned with the 2.0 data. Though it was a tight fit to close the casing with the socket installed, the Warpspeed worked perfectly.

 

Truly,

Robert Bernardo

Fresno Commodore User Group

http://www.dickestel.com/fcug.htm

July 30-31 Commodore Vegas Expo v12 -

http://www.portcommodore.com/commvex

[+OLD CS1]

Good to know, thanks. That is exactly what I was hoping to find out.

 

Funny thing -- I found some reviews on Warp Speed versus other fast-loader cartridges and find that it is/was not held in high regard, yet I love mine. To see it told, the only thing it has going for it is the 64 and 128 modes whereas all others are one mode or the other.

[RobertB]

I found some reviews on Warp Speed versus other fast-loader cartridges and find that it is/was not held in high regard...

That's odd. All the old reviews I read had always had high marks for it. It was faster in loading and saving than many other cartridges. It, too, is my favorite cartridge (beating out Super Snaphot v.X). The only thing that is I wish it were compatible with CMD devices.

 

Truly,

Robert Bernardo

Fresno Commodore User Group

http://www.dickestel.com/fcug.htm

July 30-31 Commodore Vegas Expo v12 -

http://www.portcommodore.com/commvex

[+OLD CS1]

That's odd. All the old reviews I read had always had high marks for it. It was faster in loading and saving than many other cartridges. It, too, is my favorite cartridge (beating out Super Snaphot v.X). The only thing that is I wish it were compatible with CMD devices.

 

Truly,

Robert Bernardo

Fresno Commodore User Group

http://www.dickestel.com/fcug.htm

July 30-31 Commodore Vegas Expo v12 -

http://www.portcommodore.com/commvex

 

Maybe I am just reading the wrong reviews

[carlsson]

Is there a such thing as a difference between US available and European available utility cartridges? Were the TFC series, the AR series etc as common in the US as over here? I get the impression you had a bunch of different cartridges than we had, perhaps with other functions/released earlier on, and in a modern day comparison you might pitch them all together no matter origin, as things tend to be more available these days then they were 30 years ago.

[RobertB]

The Final Cartridges and Action Replays were not common in North America. The most common ones here were Fastload, Mach 5/Mach 128, Warpspeed, and Super Snapshot.

 

Gave away a few Fastloads at our April club meeting,

Robert Bernardo

Fresno Commodore User Group

http://www.dickestel.com/fcug.htm

July 30-31 Commodore Vegas Expo v12 -

http://www.portcommodore.com/commvex