[vcf-midatlantic] Tarbell DD controller troubleshooting
Herb Johnson
hjohnson at retrotechnology.info
Fri Aug 11 13:16:16 EDT 2017
Rich Cini said "not letting it reset" means the S-100 system works
without the board, but doesn't work with the non-working board inserted.
Rich, I think that means the board crashes the bus, not necessarily that
it screws up reset.
On the "no data on select" board; I think you are telling me, you
confirmed chip-select on say the FDC chip is properly enabled. But you
say changing bus buffer chips and the FDC chip doesn't change your
results. It may be inconsistent bus timing.
S-100 bus timing depends on the specific CPU board (and front panel)
versus the board under test. If you've never used a Tarbell DD board in
that S-100 box, and two don't work, and the data you read is a
persistent incorrect value; mismatched timing is a possibility. S-100
control/status signals also depend on chip delays and even R/C circuits
which age poorly.
I see your point in using a bus analyzer, to look at all relevant
signals. I look at signals with a 2-channel oscope, one channel often on
the bus clock or other timing source.
For home-gamers reading this: note that I'm saying that S-100 is not a
single, consistent "standard". S-100 cards don't all play well with each
other. I claim three flavors of "S-100" bus, on my Web site; early
Altair, S-100 MITS/Altair/others, and IEEE-696.
"It worked previously" points to corrosion problems too. Look for TI
brand chips which have blackened pins; they seem to fail after a period
of recent use. I chased this down with my Ithaca Intersystems repair.
That happens across S-100 cards with socketed chips.
http://www.retrotechnology.com/restore/ith_feb16_repairs.html
Rich, contact me privately for further discussion. Chasing chips is
boring for many people; they can read your results on your Web pages.
herb
--
Herbert R. Johnson, New Jersey in the USA
http://www.retrotechnology.com OR .net
preserve, recover, restore 1970's computing
email: hjohnson AT retrotechnology DOT com
or try later herbjohnson AT retrotechnology DOT info
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