CLD200.THD --- Copyright 1987 by Phil Wheeler An original compilation of Compuserve Model 100 Forum messages for use by Forum members only. Here's as twist: A "how to" file on doing cold starts! In fact, it's a serious issue, related to selectively cleaning out a single bank in a three- bank Tandy 200. Also some tidbits on the TDD2, FLOPPY2 and its FREMEM utility sandwiched in this thread. And kudos to the winner of the "most cold starts on a 200" contest! Message range: 154812 to 155271 Dates: 8/14/87 to 8/20/87 Sb: #Cold Restart, T-200 bank Fm: LOUIS SELF 74076,1273 To: All Has anyone had trouble doing a cold restart on banks 2 and 3? I never had the trouble with my original (stolen) T-200. For some strange reason FLOPPY (TDD2) ate up most of the ram in bank 2. It was the only program in the bank and there were only about 550 bytes free, so I decided that a cold restart of bank 2 was in order. Cieerefully, mind you, following the Owner's Manual (p58), I pressed: while pressing reset. Low and behold I found myself in bank 1, which had just been wiped out (cold started). Going to bank 2, everything was still there (no cold start). I tried to cold start with both the reset button and the power switch in both banks 2 and 3. No co-operation from my machine though, as every time it would cold start bank one and leave my targeted bank untouched. I recently installed 2 of Purple Computing's 24K RAM chipps. My orriginal T-200 had genuine Shack RAM. What gives? Thanks for your ideas and help, cuz I searched the data libraries and found none. Fm: Phil Wheeler 71266,125 To: LOUIS SELF 74076,1273 With a Model 100, I've never seen the behavior you describe when reading TDD1 disks with the TDD2. Re FLOPPY2: should need only about 3K, not most of RAM. And the menu program is very short -- no replication of program in running area and on menu. But FLOPPY2 does reset MAXRAM. Maybe that has something to do with the behaviour you see. Gotta run FREMEM.BA (on util disk) to get rid of FLOPPY2. I don't have a 200, so I cannot help with the 200-peculiar problems. Cearly, something is amiss! Fm: Tony Anderson 76703,4062 To: LOUIS SELF 74076,1273 Unfortunately, it is not well documented, but in order to cold-start a bank in the 200, you have to issue the cold-start command in the preceeding bank. i.e. to cold-start #2, you start in #1. There is something in the proceedure that jumps to the next bank, as well as cold-starting it. This technique is described in the instructions that come with the bank expansion modules, nowhere in the original manuals. There is probably nothing wrong with the Purple Computing RAM bank chips... I have one installed myself with no problems. Fm: LOUIS SELF 74076,1273 To: Phil Wheeler 71266,125 Thanks for your ideas. When I was unable to reset bank 2 I used FREMEM.BA and that, for some strange reason, did return the full 19,590K memory to the bank. Fm: LOUIS SELF 74076,1273 To: Tony Anderson 76703,4062 I'll try your idea about restarting the previous bank when I get some of my files sent and shuffled so I won't lose important information (like this letter, Ahem). Thanks for your prompt help. You must stay up nights helping people! Fm: LOUIS SELF 74076,1273 To: Tony Anderson 76703,4062 I feel that I am one of the most experienced cold restarters in the country. I tried all combinations using both the reset and power buttons and still could only restart bank one. The only way to restart banks 2 & 3 is to do an arctic restart (shudder) by turning off the memory switch, which I tried a couple of times (shudder some more). The Arctic restart still did not cure the problem of being able to only cold restart bank #1. It almost seems that there is a jumper somewhere telling RESTART that there is only memory bank 1 on board. This is an unacceptable as you know. It would be criminal to say goodby to important files in all 3 banks just because you goofed in one of them. What should I do first? Contact Purple, Radio Shack or sit here and cogitate some more? Fm: DICK SPINDLER 76537,1623 To: LOUIS SELF 74076,1273 So, what's FREMEM.BA?? Fm: Tony Anderson 76703,4062 To: LOUIS SELF 74076,1273 I would contact Purple, and ask "How come? It doesn't work that way for other folks, why me?" Radio Shack is not likely to help you solve a problem with someone else's RAM chips installed. In fact, it used to be the policy to remove such "foreign objects" if a machine came in for repair. Some early users found the chips got lost somewhere along the line... but eventually, the Repair Center's got into the habit of returning the parts in a plastic bag. Fm: Mel Snyder 70136,1007 To: LOUIS SELF 74076,1273 That's what FREMEM is supposed to do. To cold start a specific bank on the M200, hold down control, shift and break, and turn the power on and off -- you'll cold start that bank. To cold start the NEXT bank in sequence, hold down control, shift and break, and push F1. Mel Fm: Mel Snyder 70136,1007 To: LOUIS SELF 74076,1273 Read 150000. And I KNOW I hold title to the Most Cold Starts for an M200. Because I OWNED A CHIPMUNK FOR THE M200 -- which required 30 cold starts to get 30 programs transferred from Chipmunk to TDD! The trick to cold starting banks 2 and 3 is to use control/shift/break/F1... you will cold start the NEXT bank that way! Fm: Phil Wheeler 71266,125 To: Mel Snyder 70136,1007 Mel, did I misunderstand you? TDD2's FREMEM does not clear the RAM. I just (It just) removes FLOPPY and resets maxram to 62960 (or m200 equiv). Fm: Mel Snyder 70136,1007 To: Phil Wheeler 71266,125 Sorry -- that's what I meant -- it gets rid of FROPPY 2. M200 equivalent is 61104. Fm: LOUIS SELF 74076,1273 To: Tony Anderson 76703,4062 I think I WILL contact the Purple people as you suggested, Tony. I'd better wait until tomorrow morning so I can use the time difference to get lower DX phone rates. Fm: Tony Anderson 76703,4062 To: LOUIS SELF 74076,1273 The PURPLE people??? I didn't know.... Fm: LOUIS SELF 74076,1273 To: Tony Anderson 76703,4062 ..and I won't tell... Fm: LOUIS SELF 74076,1273 To: Mel Snyder 70136,1007 Well well, guys, here the way things IS now. With all your help I have been able to do a cold restart of any of the three banks of my choice, but no thanks to the instruction manual. I swear, my old (stolen) T-200 didn't seem to work this way. It seems I could restart any bank I wanted to without all this bank jumping. Sometimes I had some difficulty restarting a bank though and that could be related to all this. Sometimes a bank would not restart with the reset key, but would if I would use the power button instead. Mel, I never did get the computer to restart in the same bank in which I initiated it. Using control/shift/break/power only succeeded in restarting bank 1 regardless of which bank I was in. The bottom line is: restart the NEXT bank with shift/control/break/F1 or shift/control/break/tab. Wiping out everything you've got is a piece of cake if you use the latter method, as TAB is a repeating key. Good computing to all... and thanks! Fm: Mel Snyder 70136,1007 To: LOUIS SELF 74076,1273 Would have told you about the Tab key, but it seemed confusing. Even confused ol' Tony the first time I told him... Fm: LOUIS SELF 74076,1273 To: Mel Snyder 70136,1007 Thought I had the cold restart of a bank all sewed up in my message #155051 but then discovered that it is not necessary to hold SHIFT for the cold restart. Twould be a shame if someone lost their data by experimenting without the SHIFT key. The procedure is: MAIN MENU in preceding bank then or Fm: DICK SPINDLER 76537,1623 To: LOUIS SELF 74076,1273 O.K. - Thanks for the info, Louis.