Date   : Tue, 20 Sep 2005 17:55:26 +0100
From   : "Adam D. Barratt" <lists+bbc-micro@...>
Subject: Re: Poorly Master?

[Thanks for all the replies and suggestions. I'm replying to one of them
in order to save repetition]

On Mon, 2005-09-19 at 20:07 +0100, Sprow wrote:
> In article <1127153758.5539.20.camel@...>,
>    Adam D. Barratt <lists+bbc-micro@...> wrote:
[...]
> > *TIME / TIME$ return gibberish, so my first thought was that the CMOS
> > battery was flat. However, as I understand it, setting TIME$ should give
> > a useful *TIME output, at least until the machine is powered off.
> >
> > Unfortunately, this is what happens:
> >
> >   > *TIME
> >       ,00 Xx 1922.23:12:06
> >   >TIME$="Mon,08 May 1900 12:00:00"
> 
> You missed the dot out ----^

Gah, so I did. I'd forgotten how picky^Wprecise the Beeb can be about
these things.

Once I use the correct format, it works fine. On the assumption that my
CMOS battery is faulty/flat/dead, any suggestions as to where to get a
new one? (bearing in my mind that I'm quite happy plugging, unplugging,
attacking stuff with tools, but generally not competent with a soldering
iron :-)

> > *HELP hangs, although not always.
[...]
> Otherwise, if it stops part way down the screen press SHIFT to release the
> lock.

Yes, as several people suggested it was in fact just waiting for me to
hit shift. It's been a while... *sigh*

> > The disc drive activity light is illuminated from power-up
> 
> Data cable plugged in upside down?

That was one of my first thoughts, as the symptoms are similar to those
you'd get from other systems (e.g. plugging floppy or IDE cables in
upside down in PCs).

However, at least the BBC end of the cable appears to be fine - it's
keyed, and the red stripe is aligned to pin one. It's possible that
something's wrong at the drive end, but I'm not really sure what I'm
looking for there.

Cheers,

Adam