Atari XEGS need to wait over 30 seconds between restarting

[andrew@meler.us]

I recently acquired XEGS.  It works fine, but most of the time I need to wait 30-40 seconds to do a full restart. 

Simply power off and on doesn't fully restart the machine - it typically is stuck on a READY prompt or a cursor in the corner.

 

Is there any solution to this?

 

I think my problem is similar to what's described on best-electronics-ca.  I wonder if there is a hardware solution to this?

 

"Sometimes the XEGS MMU chip (the Atari custom chip that controls the Cartridge and other XEGS motherboard functions) gets confused / stuck and will not properly switch between the built in Basic / Missile Command settings not matter what you do.  There is a very simple way to rest the Atari XEGS MMU chip.  Put in a different (other than Atari Missile Command) Atari 8 bit game) Atari 8 bit game cartridge into the XEGS console and turn on the XEGS for a second or less (it can come up the new game 1st screen display or not).  The XEGS MMU chip should be reset now."

[+x=usr(1536)]

Is this a stock machine?  The symptoms you're describing can also happen on machines with memory upgrades.  I realise that this behaviour can be endemic to the XEGS, but knowing what you're working with would help.

 

Have you tried the fix from Best and confirmed that it clears the problem?

 

The XEGS MMU is unique to that machine, IIRC, and to the best of my knowledge there is no upgraded part.  You can try replacing the MMU with another one of the same type, but that doesn't necessarily guarantee that you won't see the problem again.  The Atari part number for it is C101686.

[andrew@meler.us]

Machine is stock.

Plugging the cartridge and removing it resets the MMU and solves the issue.

[invisible kid]

On my stock xegs it happens too, but not often. Like once every 20 to 100 boots I think.

[+x=usr(1536)]

Does booting to self-test have the same effect as booting with a cartridge inserted?  If so, that may be an easier workaround compared to fumbling for a cartridge every time you need to do an MMU reset.

 

Also, take a look at the following post:

 

 

You may want to do some asking around in that thread; you've got the right people there to give you a solid answer.

[Bee]

i bought a XEGS from B&C a while back and it had replaced the stock memory and this was described on a slip of paper in with the XEGS.

 

Thank you

[gilsaluki]

Yep.  Normal.  It takes a while (too long) for the RAM to "die" down.  I love the XEGS for its utility, but you do have to have patience on a Cold restart.  Hum a favorite 80s tune to pass the time.  Duran Duran comes to mind.

[Beeblebrox]

Glad there is a work around. I've not encountered this with my stock XEGS yet.

 

Ironic isn't it - BITD we were all quite content "most" of the time to wait for 10-15mins for a game to load from Cassette or a minute or so from a disk.  30seconds by old school terms is nothing. These days if a webpage on my mobile phone doesn't load in 5 seconds I have a meltdown!!!

[Peri Noid]

In XE computers suffering from such problem a solution was to replace one of the RAM chips with another, with different parameters (from a different vendor). I don't have an XEGS so I cannot try but I would do the same.