*** M E M O R U M ***

As some of you may know, I have a number of MTX computers. Some work, some kinda work and some just do not want to play

Today I found time to do some more work on MTX 512/18109, a 4000-05 board machine with 64k DRAM chips. This machine just produced a blank picture and a continuous tone on sound when powered.

With the aid of some bits from Andy Key (thanks Andy) I am now happy to tell you that the problem is what I suspected - one or more of the 64k bit DRAM chips are indeed faulty.

I disabled all the on board main DRAM, added Andy's MTX Memory Card, powered up, and there it was, the READY on the normal BASIC screen. A bit of typing and I had entered a simple BASIC test program. This ran okay and proved that the machine was working normally.

Some of the video DRAM chips run too hot for my liking, so I may change these at some point.

I will post further details and some pictures tomorrow .

Mark

Hi Mark,

that's good news - looks like another sick MTX is on the road to recovery.

Hiw did you manage to disable the on board RAM? A different PAL?

regards
Dave

All will be revealed when I get the pictures up...

Waiting . . . . .

Okay, as I said above, MTX 512/18109, a 4000-05 board machine with 64k DRAM chips did not work
This was bought from eBay as not working. Last year I checked the power supply section. All three regulated supplies were in spec (+5V, -5V and +12V). I also tested the Z80 address and data buses plus the Z80 control lines. This showed that the Z80 was doing something
Now, if you look in to eight bit micro computer failures, rather a lot of faults are due to DRAM chip failure. So I suspected that one (or more) failed DRAM chips was causing the fault.

One symptom of a failed integrated circuit (IC or chip) is excessive heat dissipation. So using the simple touch with finger test, I checked each DRAM chip in turn. The OKI M3764-20RS chips making up the main memory were not hot, but some of the ITT 4116 3N chips making up the video memory did run hot

Now if it was just the video DRAM that was faulty, I would have expected video problems, but no problem with the sound. This machine just produced a blank picture and a continuous tone on sound when powered.

So was the main memory faulty or was there a problem elsewhere?

A known working Z80 CPU made no difference to the symptoms (not that I expected it to...).

My next step was to develop a test ROM (as with the right program, a Z80 is happy to run a program from ROM and does not need any RAM). However, real life delayed this

Now in the MTX community, there is a very helpful person who goes by the name Andy Key. Since I started searching for MTX information on the web in 2011, a number of new web sites have appeared, and continue to grow with lots of interesting information.
Andy's site (http://www.nyangau.org/memotech/memotech.htm) gives details of a number of new products, one of which is a new design of memory card (MTX Memory Card) that uses one large SRAM (static RAM) chip and a GAL chip (for the decoding)

So I emailed Andy and ordered one. A short time later, it arrived.
Yesterday after doing some additional checks, I worked out how to disable the on board main DRAM (memory).

All DRAM chips use a multiplexed address bus. That is, you will find only half of the address pins are present compared to the number you expect. So for a 64 kbit DRAM chip, there is only 8 address pins (you need 16 address lines/bits to address the range zero to 64k).

Extra circuitry multiplexes the address lines from the Z80 CPU to the DRAM chips, so that the address is supplied in two lots. First the row address and then after a short pause, the column address.

On each DRAM chip there are control pins that tell the DRAM chip which address information is being supplied, these are called /RAS and /CAS.
As the /CAS signal is delayed, and the typical way to do this is with a resistor-capacitor-logic chip delay circuit, all that is required is to work out the logic, and force the input of the logic gate after the resistor to the correct logic level. Then the /CAS signal will never go to the active state, hence the on-board DRAM will never be selected. This then allows the Z80 CPU free access to the SRAM chip on the MTX Memory Card.

So having studied the circuit schematic, the simplest way of disabling the /CAS signal is to short out capacitor C6 with a wire. I used a test lead that I have that has small clip on probes – see pictures.

Part 2...
So I attached my “shorting strap”, connected the MTX to a display and powered up – with the on board DRAM disabled I had exactly the same symptoms as before (as expected).

I powered down. Plugged the correct GAL (for zero on-board main RAM) in to the MTX Memory Card, then connected it to the MTX.

Turned the power on and it worked. It displayed READY on the normal BASIC screen

Okay, time to connect the keyboard. A bit of typing and I had entered a simple BASIC test program. This ran okay and proved that the machine was working normally

Here is a picture of the MTX Memory Card fitted:- I hope you enjoyed this and I hope it is helpful.

Mark

Hi Mark,

Thanks a lot, that is very interesting.

I think I mentioned before that when Andy and myself had DRAM problems, we had the same symptoms, black screen and continuous tone.

Nice description of the fault finding process, can I pinch a copy for the website

Regards
Dave

Dave wrote:Nice description of the fault finding process, can I pinch a copy for the website

Yes, not a problem
Mark

Although its possible to disable the motherboard DRAM by a hardware mod like the one described earlier in the page above, it should also be possible to do the same by programming an address decoder PAL/GAL which never lowers the /RAM output signal.
No soldering iron required.

{{{ Andy

"No soldering iron required."

True - but a supply of GALs/PALs - and the ability to program them is

(Thats' what I thought Mark might have done at first, until he explaiined how he's done it)

regards
Dave