rietveld Posted January 2, 2021 Share Posted January 2, 2021 The board seems to pick and choose when it will work. Either both serial ports work or both dont. I can go online with 80 when it works . when it does not work i can not even use the modem in 30 column mode any ideas? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rietveld Posted January 2, 2021 Author Share Posted January 2, 2021 it seems that every time the 80 column TERMINAL port does not work then the MODEM port wont work either Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NIAD Posted January 2, 2021 Share Posted January 2, 2021 Are you talking about the new MIB238 or an old Micro Innovations MIB2 or MIB3 from the 90s? If the new MIB238, what Power Supply are you using? The 238 chips that are used are power hungry and if you don't have a solid +5 line, you will have these types of issues. Trust me, I am in the same jam and am getting a Memory Console modded with an Internal PSU to fix this. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rietveld Posted January 2, 2021 Author Share Posted January 2, 2021 6 hours ago, NIAD said: Are you talking about the new MIB238 or an old Micro Innovations MIB2 or MIB3 from the 90s? If the new MIB238, what Power Supply are you using? The 238 chips that are used are power hungry and if you don't have a solid +5 line, you will have these types of issues. Trust me, I am in the same jam and am getting a Memory Console modded with an Internal PSU to fix this. I tried on all 3 of my Adams and i get the same issue using 3 different printers as a PSU. This morning I turned my Adam on and it worked, then I shut it off made a coffee, turned it back on and it does not work. Very unreliable so far, unless I am doing something wrong? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NIAD Posted January 2, 2021 Share Posted January 2, 2021 I’ll bet that your +5v line is on the low side especially since you are using 37 year old power supplies. You’ll have to test with a MultiMeter to see what you are getting. I have a custom power supply that the MIB238 has never worked with and 1 Adam Printer that the MIB238 worked with 2 times out of about 20 tests. It’s not an issue with the MIB238, it’s an issue with not in spec / out of spec (per Coleco tech manual) power supplies. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rietveld Posted January 2, 2021 Author Share Posted January 2, 2021 50 minutes ago, NIAD said: I’ll bet that your +5v line is on the low side especially since you are using 37 year old power supplies. You’ll have to test with a MultiMeter to see what you are getting. I have a custom power supply that the MIB238 has never worked with and 1 Adam Printer that the MIB238 worked with 2 times out of about 20 tests. It’s not an issue with the MIB238, it’s an issue with not in spec / out of spec (per Coleco tech manual) power supplies. i dont have a stand alone PSU. all i have are 3 printers to use. i have a meter . what pin on the printer do i check for plus 5v? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rietveld Posted January 2, 2021 Author Share Posted January 2, 2021 1 hour ago, NIAD said: I’ll bet that your +5v line is on the low side especially since you are using 37 year old power supplies. You’ll have to test with a MultiMeter to see what you are getting. I have a custom power supply that the MIB238 has never worked with and 1 Adam Printer that the MIB238 worked with 2 times out of about 20 tests. It’s not an issue with the MIB238, it’s an issue with not in spec / out of spec (per Coleco tech manual) power supplies. Do you know if its possible to add a plus 5v wallwart inline on the printer to bump it up? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
adamcon Posted January 2, 2021 Share Posted January 2, 2021 2 hours ago, rietveld said: i dont have a stand alone PSU. all i have are 3 printers to use. i have a meter . what pin on the printer do i check for plus 5v? Center pin #3 in the 5 pin power connector is +5 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rietveld Posted January 2, 2021 Author Share Posted January 2, 2021 4 hours ago, adamcon said: Center pin #3 in the 5 pin power connector is +5 All 3 of my printers are putting out 12.02v and 6.2v Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NIAD Posted January 3, 2021 Share Posted January 3, 2021 Check out this video on building your own ADAM Power Supply. Glen discusses the pin assignments on the power cord with the 9-pin Female Connector from the power supply that plugs into the Memory Console. You can test what the Printer power supply is outputting as he shows in the video with his new power supply, but the best test will be to open up the Memory Console and take reads off of the small Power Adapter PCB with all your hardware installed and the system on. http://www.sacnews.net/adamcomputer/downloads/videos.html The diagram that Adamcon provided above is the 9-pin Male Connector for Power/Adamnet on the left side of the Memory Console. Aside from that, I am an electronics illiterate so so better for the experts to chime in. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NIAD Posted January 3, 2021 Share Posted January 3, 2021 This is another great video on building a power supply for the ADAM, but a lot more involved than just going with a Mean Well PS. Anyway, he discusses the pinouts shows checking voltages on the ADAM Logic Board. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rietveld Posted January 3, 2021 Author Share Posted January 3, 2021 i am just hoping to get a MIB that willwork with a stock adam printer psu Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tekman Posted January 3, 2021 Share Posted January 3, 2021 I’m going to send you my personal MIB238 card as it’s the only one I have available and let’s hope for the best! Sorry for your troubles. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rietveld Posted January 3, 2021 Author Share Posted January 3, 2021 2 hours ago, Tekman said: I’m going to send you my personal MIB238 card as it’s the only one I have available and let’s hope for the best! Sorry for your troubles. Thank You. I cant see the issue being with my Adam since I tried it on 2 of my stand alone adams and also my Colecovision with Adam expansion module. None of these 3 Adams can use the serial ports. I have tried swapping all 3 printers between the adams also; with out any luck. I ordered 2 different USB to serial adapters from Amazon as well as the one I had before . None of the 3 adapters will display using either Putty or h19. I also tried 2 brands of wifi modems and neither of them are seen by the Adam Again thank you for sending the replacement card. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rietveld Posted January 15, 2021 Author Share Posted January 15, 2021 (edited) I just followed John's advice and de-soldered c11 on the MIB. The board works perfectly now . It now starts up in 80 col every time I turn on the Adam with CP/M from hard drive. I will let John explain how he came up with this fix. Thanks John Edited January 15, 2021 by rietveld 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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