INTVCruise Posted December 9, 2023 Share Posted December 9, 2023 Hello everyone, I picked up a PEB about 1 month ago for super cheap. Well, I finally got around to trying it today but it doesn't seem to be working. Here is what happens. I plug the black card, foot part down, into the side of the TI-99, then power on the PEB, followed by the TI-99. I have Extended Basic already inserted btw. Anyways, when I power the TI-99 on, I can get the prompt that says 1 for Basic, 2 for Extended Basic, but after selecting 2 I get a blue screen every single time. Cart works fine without PEB plugged into it. The lights on the PEB do power on. Card 1 will light up one the TI-99 is turned on. Also, at the same time I can hear the disk drive spin (but not seek), but no red light ever comes on (only when you shut the TI-99/PEB off does it flicker for 1 second). When I enter the Extended Basic program, light on the flex card will turn off and the one on the disk drive controller will light up and stay lit. But again, blue screen forever basically. And yes, The flex cable card is in the left most slot, and the disk drive card is in the far right slot opposite. I also looked for bent pins on the card connector edges, didn't see anything. Cleaned the cards connectors as well, they were dirty but no change at all. What could be the problem causing the PEB not to work? Any insight would be appreciated! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RickyDean Posted December 9, 2023 Share Posted December 9, 2023 1 minute ago, INTVCruise said: Hello everyone, I picked up a PEB about 1 month ago for super cheap. Well, I finally got around to trying it today but it doesn't seem to be working. Here is what happens. I plug the black card, foot part down, into the side of the TI-99, then power on the PEB, followed by the TI-99. I have Extended Basic already inserted btw. Anyways, when I power the TI-99 on, I can get the prompt that says 1 for Basic, 2 for Extended Basic, but after selecting 2 I get a blue screen every single time. Cart works fine without PEB plugged into it. The lights on the PEB do power on. Card 1 will light up one the TI-99 is turned on. Also, at the same time I can hear the disk drive spin (but not seek), but no red light ever comes on (only when you shut the TI-99/PEB off does it flicker for 1 second). When I enter the Extended Basic program, light on the flex card will turn off and the one on the disk drive controller will light up and stay lit. But again, blue screen forever basically. And yes, The flex cable card is in the left most slot, and the disk drive card is in the far right slot opposite. I also looked for bent pins on the card connector edges, didn't see anything. Cleaned the cards connectors as well, they were dirty but no change at all. What could be the problem causing the PEB not to work? Any insight would be appreciated! Does this have a 32k card in it, if so that can cause lockups. Also the IC's in the Flex card and the black foot that plugs into the ti (yes IC's both ends). Pull all cards but the flex out then try booting the ti and selecting the XB cart. If it works then the problem is in one of those cards, most likely the 32k. If you only have the flex and Floppy controller, then the controller can be bad too. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
INTVCruise Posted December 9, 2023 Author Share Posted December 9, 2023 (edited) 6 minutes ago, RickyDean said: Does this have a 32k card in it, if so that can cause lockups. Also the IC's in the Flex card and the black foot that plugs into the ti (yes IC's both ends). Pull all cards but the flex out then try booting the ti and selecting the XB cart. If it works then the problem is in one of those cards, most likely the 32k. If you only have the flex and Floppy controller, then the controller can be bad too. Hi, no, no 32K card is in it currently. I tested it with it plugged in tho, same results no matter what I do. I'm thinking there is probably some problem with the flex card to be honest. When I first got it, the flex card was plugged int the wrong slot. I didn't turn the PEB on with it in the wrong slot, I did move it to the correct one before trying. I'm thinking whoever had it before me had a problem with the flex card and just never replaced it. Edited December 9, 2023 by INTVCruise Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RickyDean Posted December 9, 2023 Share Posted December 9, 2023 1 minute ago, INTVCruise said: Hi, no no 32K card is in it currently. I tested it with it plugged in, same results. Okay test as I stated then. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
INTVCruise Posted December 9, 2023 Author Share Posted December 9, 2023 3 minutes ago, RickyDean said: Okay test as I stated then. How would I remove the disk controller card? Do I have to unscrew the whole disk drive and take that apart? Theres only a few milimeters of seperation between the card and drive. It basically wont budge at all like the other cards. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RickyDean Posted December 9, 2023 Share Posted December 9, 2023 The card will slightly lift and pull out of the connector and then you can leave it in the box connected to the floppy cable. But before that try it with just the 32k pulled and see what happens. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
INTVCruise Posted December 9, 2023 Author Share Posted December 9, 2023 (edited) 25 minutes ago, RickyDean said: The card will slightly lift and pull out of the connector and then you can leave it in the box connected to the floppy cable. But before that try it with just the 32k pulled and see what happens. I think theres a 99.9% chance I found the problem, looks like a mouse chewed on all of the floppy cable wiring. Thankfully, just the cable from the card to the drive, everything else looks ok. Edited December 9, 2023 by INTVCruise Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
INTVCruise Posted December 9, 2023 Author Share Posted December 9, 2023 (edited) 33 minutes ago, RickyDean said: The card will slightly lift and pull out of the connector and then you can leave it in the box connected to the floppy cable. But before that try it with just the 32k pulled and see what happens. Yup, that was it, Extended Basic is reporting back about 24K memory from the PEB. Can I try the controller card in a different slot or does it have to be tried from the 8th slot next to the disk drive? Also, would it work if no disk drive is inserted, or is the machine hanging because no drive is in it right now? Edited December 9, 2023 by INTVCruise Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RickyDean Posted December 9, 2023 Share Posted December 9, 2023 (edited) The controller will work in whatever slot you want to place it, but the place next to the opening for the ribbon cable feeding to the floppy is the best location for obvious reasons. If the floppy controller is causing the lock up you'll need to pull it, but if it's just a bad ribbon cable disconnect it and leave the FDC and see if it still boots, if not then the fdc needs repaired or replaced. It will work if no disk is in the drive or if the drive is disconnected, as long as the FDC works. Also if it appears the FDC is causing the issue, try it in a different slot first. then if it works there, examine the slot it was in , for damage, debris, etc. Edited December 9, 2023 by RickyDean additional content 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
INTVCruise Posted December 9, 2023 Author Share Posted December 9, 2023 (edited) 4 minutes ago, RickyDean said: The controller will work in whatever slot you want to place it, but the place next to the opening for the ribbon cable feeding to the floppy is the best location for obvious reasons. If the floppy controller is causing the lock up you'll need to pull it, but if it's just a bad ribbon cable disconnect it and leave the FDC and see if it still boots, if not then the fdc needs repaired or replaced. It will work if no disk is in the drive or if the drive is disconnected, as long as the FDC works. Hi, thanks for the answer. I have disconnected the damaged cable from the drive and powered up with the card inserted but no cable. It is still locking up. When I turn on extended basic the card light on the FDC stays yellow. Edited December 9, 2023 by INTVCruise 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RickyDean Posted December 9, 2023 Share Posted December 9, 2023 When the card light comes on that means the system has activated the DSR-Device Service Routine for that device, It staying on, could mean a bad eprom, or another IC/electric component issue, or you may have damage in the slot, so as stated above, try it in a different slot. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
INTVCruise Posted December 9, 2023 Author Share Posted December 9, 2023 Just now, RickyDean said: When the card light comes on that means the system has activated the DSR-Device Service Routine for that device, It staying on, could mean a bad eprom, or another IC/electric component issue, or you may have damage in the slot, so as stated above, try it in a different slot. Hi, yes tried in different slot, same issue. What is the most common failure in these for when the light stays on? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HOME AUTOMATION Posted December 9, 2023 Share Posted December 9, 2023 Extended Basic searches DRIVE 1, for a program named "LOAD". 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RickyDean Posted December 9, 2023 Share Posted December 9, 2023 5 minutes ago, INTVCruise said: Hi, yes tried in different slot, same issue. What is the most common failure in these for when the light stays on? As @HOME AUTOMATION, just stated, when you go into XB with a FDC, it tries to look for a program called load on dsk1. That gives a screen that could appear locked up for a bit of time. then the light will go out and the XB screen appears. Is that what is happening to you? Are you giving it a about a minute to see if the XB screen comes up, it is not an instantaneous process. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RickyDean Posted December 9, 2023 Share Posted December 9, 2023 (edited) 1 hour ago, INTVCruise said: Hi, no, no 32K card is in it currently. I tested it with it plugged in tho, same results no matter what I do. I'm thinking there is probably some problem with the flex card to be honest. When I first got it, the flex card was plugged int the wrong slot. I didn't turn the PEB on with it in the wrong slot, I did move it to the correct one before trying. I'm thinking whoever had it before me had a problem with the flex card and just never replaced it. The flex card will work in any slot too, but is usually in slot 1, because the is a little tab on the card that can be attached to the case at a screw hole made for it there. Helping to keep it from being dislodged when the PEB is moved or the fire hose cable is bumped around. Edited December 9, 2023 by RickyDean spelling Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
INTVCruise Posted December 9, 2023 Author Share Posted December 9, 2023 9 minutes ago, RickyDean said: As @HOME AUTOMATION, just stated, when you go into XB with a FDC, it tries to look for a program called load on dsk1. That gives a screen that could appear locked up for a bit of time. then the light will go out and the XB screen appears. Is that what is happening to you? Are you giving it a about a minute to see if the XB screen comes up, it is not an instantaneous process. Just left it on for about 1.5 minutes, light never went out. Pretty sure the card is bad at this point. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RickyDean Posted December 9, 2023 Share Posted December 9, 2023 (edited) Probably so, It has a lot of IC's on it to include the two large ones (eproms) in the middle of the board if you were to pull the clamshell case apart. You can probably contact @arcadeshopper, to see about getting another FDC for yours. Unless you are handy with a soldering iron and other electrical repair, you should not try to repair it. You can go here and look up information that may help you to understand more about the TI99 http://www.mainbyte.com/ti99/ Here is the page on the FDC http://www.mainbyte.com/ti99/hardware/peb/disk_controller_card.html Edited December 9, 2023 by RickyDean spelling, added content 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+Ksarul Posted December 9, 2023 Share Posted December 9, 2023 It looks like the disk controller card is being successfully selected, but the follow-on activities are not registering. This could be a ROM issue, but there are a number of other chips involved in that power-up sequence as well. I personally usually start by looking at the 74LS244 (there are 3 of them) and 74LS245 (only one of these) chips, as they are integral to the buss communications, but this one could just as easily be a blown DSR EPROM. A lot of folks move the disk controller card into the seventh slot to get better access to the disk drive cable, which is a really good solution if you are not using all of the slots in the PEB. The card address is actually on the card in TI systems--the buss does not care where individual cards are inserted (unlike older Apple machines where the slot is critical for certain functions). 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
INTVCruise Posted December 9, 2023 Author Share Posted December 9, 2023 34 minutes ago, Ksarul said: It looks like the disk controller card is being successfully selected, but the follow-on activities are not registering. This could be a ROM issue, but there are a number of other chips involved in that power-up sequence as well. I personally usually start by looking at the 74LS244 (there are 3 of them) and 74LS245 (only one of these) chips, as they are integral to the buss communications, but this one could just as easily be a blown DSR EPROM. A lot of folks move the disk controller card into the seventh slot to get better access to the disk drive cable, which is a really good solution if you are not using all of the slots in the PEB. The card address is actually on the card in TI systems--the buss does not care where individual cards are inserted (unlike older Apple machines where the slot is critical for certain functions). Hi, thanks for the info, yes I think I eventually found a thread where someone had some success replacing the DSR Eprom. Where can I find one of those, is there someone that offers a service/replacement here on Atariage. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+Ksarul Posted December 9, 2023 Share Posted December 9, 2023 32 minutes ago, INTVCruise said: Hi, thanks for the info, yes I think I eventually found a thread where someone had some success replacing the DSR Eprom. Where can I find one of those, is there someone that offers a service/replacement here on Atariage. There are several answers to your question: @atrax27407 can provide a functional set of the EPROMs for a reasonable fee, there are appropriate BIN files out in the wild that you can burn into an EPROM yourself (assuming you have the equipment to burn TMS2532 chips), and I believe @arcadeshopper also has a service to replace them (also for a fee, but he is then doing the replacement for you if you don't do soldering yourself). In all cases, it is a really good idea to put the replacement chips in sockets, as that makes future troubleshooting a bit easier. 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
INTVCruise Posted December 12, 2023 Author Share Posted December 12, 2023 On 12/9/2023 at 1:46 PM, Ksarul said: There are several answers to your question: @atrax27407 can provide a functional set of the EPROMs for a reasonable fee, there are appropriate BIN files out in the wild that you can burn into an EPROM yourself (assuming you have the equipment to burn TMS2532 chips), and I believe @arcadeshopper also has a service to replace them (also for a fee, but he is then doing the replacement for you if you don't do soldering yourself). In all cases, it is a really good idea to put the replacement chips in sockets, as that makes future troubleshooting a bit easier. Thanks Ksarul, was able to contact Atrax and have a set on the way. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
INTVCruise Posted December 25, 2023 Author Share Posted December 25, 2023 Hey everyone just wanted to provide an update incase someone runs into the same problem in the future. So, replacing the 2 DSR chips seems to have solved the problem. I was able to get the machine to stop hanging, boot into disk manager 2, initialize a disk and successfully write and then read from it. Found a few Ti-99 disks in an old commodore disk box and those booted as well! My next question is, I have no idea really how to do anything in terms of getting software onto disk. When I bought the computer, it came with a lot of tapes, including some Scott Adams Adventure games. I was able to verify that the tapes work as I was able to get into the games using the Adventure cart. How can I copy those tapes to the disk? Is that possible or are they copy protected? I tried looking online but couldn't seem to find anything. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HOME AUTOMATION Posted December 25, 2023 Share Posted December 25, 2023 Got TUNNELS of DOOM? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
INTVCruise Posted December 25, 2023 Author Share Posted December 25, 2023 Just now, HOME AUTOMATION said: Got TUNNELS of DOOM? Yeah I got tunnels of doom on cassette tape and have the required cartridge as well. That is one I'm really hoping to get copied to disc if possible as well just to preserve the original. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HOME AUTOMATION Posted December 25, 2023 Share Posted December 25, 2023 If you LOAD a cassette/disk, using TUNNElS of Doom... Then, rather than setting-up a dungeon... PRESS, FCTN-9(BACK)... You should get the LOAD/SAVE screen again... From here you can SAVE to an alternate media format. ...Works on ADVENTURE disks/tapes too! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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