Subject: Re: TransWarp GS seems dead
From: supertimer@aol.com (Supertimer)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.apple2
Lines: 35
NNTP-Posting-Host: ladder07.news.aol.com
X-Admin: news@aol.com
Date: 02 Oct 1999 16:35:38 GMT
References: <7t15n1$j75@chronicle.concentric.net>
Organization: AOL http://www.aol.com
Message-ID: <19991002123538.12500.00000059@ng-bh1.aol.com>



ToasterKing <ToasterKing@SPLATmindless.com> wrote:

>Well, it seems my TransWarp GS card has died.  I power up my IIGS ROM 3
>and get nothing but a black checkered screen.  Pressing Command-Reset or
>Command-Control-Reset yields nothing.  I've had my TransWarp GS running
>with a 40 MHz oscillator (for 10 MHz processor speed) and one of the
>Sanyo-redesigned 14 MHz 65c816 chips.  The static-RAMs in the cache and
>the ROM chip are the original.  The GS runs fine with the original 65c816
>DIP chip in the CPU slot instead of the TransWarp GS card.  I've already
>tried reseating all the ICs on the TransWarp GS card and have tried
>swapping oscillators and PLCC 65c816 chip with their original
>counterparts, and still no luck.  Also tried cleaning connectors.  Before
>the card stopped working altogether, sometimes when I tried to reboot the
>computer, the border and background would stay black and it would not
>finish resetting, and I would have to power the machine off and back on. 
>I figured it was just being quirky due to the static-RAMs being
>overclocked, but returning to the TWGS's original clock speed did not
>help matters.

Sounds like bit-rot has compromised the TWGS ROM chip.
If this is indeed the problem, it can come back to life with a
new ROM chip.  ///SHH Systeme of Germany sells v1.8
ROMs for $15.  They have a web site that you can find with
a web search.  Good luck!

Here's a frightening thought: EPROM bit-rot will affect many
cards.  A whole lot of IIe mouse cards are dead because of
it.  Ohio Multicache cards are often dead because of it.
Since Apple HS SCSI and RamFAST cards use the same
type of erasable programmable ROM, they too will eventually
suffer this problem.

Eventually, to be a successful Apple II enthusiast will mean
owning an EPROM burner so that one can refresh the
EPROMs once a decade.