Date   : Tue, 15 Oct 1985 06:00:00-PDT
From   : STANLEY@USC-ECLB.ARPA
Subject: Spurious Lockups

Netlandians:

I need some bright suggestions.  I have recently installed the
CDR Super-RAM in my Heath H89.  This gizmo contains a megabyte of
RAM (41256's) that can be accessed as a RAM disk, with 64K of the
1024K serving as the computer's main memory.  The RAM install
program allows you to boot from the RAM disk, by partitioning it
into two logical disks, A: and B:, and "sliding" the physical
disks up two logical slots.  So, when I turn on the H89, I boot
from physical and logical disk A:, but after I run the INSRAM
installation program, physical disk A: is now logical disk C:.

OK, that is how it is set up.  However, since the installation,
the system has had a large number of spurious responses.
Sometimes the keyboard will lock up for no apparent reason.
Sometimes, I will return to the H89 to find input showing on the
command line that I did not type.  Other times, the terminal will
just go crazy, ringing the bell and filling the screen with
garbage.  These responses also seem to have the effect of
inserting spurious characters into files on the RAM drives.

I have checked everything thoroughly, and all seems OK.  The
terminal section passes all the standard tests.  The response
seems independent of terminal speed, or whether I am running with
the RAM disk as A:, or as some higher disk.  It also happens when
running from floppies, without having installed the RAM disk!

The H89 is connected to a power conditioner, so I don't think
power glitches are a problem.  But when these gremlins take over,
the only way to recover is to reset and re-boot the H89.  The RAM
disk files are not lost, but as noted above, they are often
trashed.

I would welcome any suggestions to help solve this problem.

                                ...Dick Stanley

stanley@eclb