Message-ID: <608@ihuxi.UUCP>
Date: Mon, 24-Oct-83 11:27:59 EDT
Article-I.D.: ihuxi.608
Posted: Mon Oct 24 11:27:59 1983
Date-Received: Tue, 25-Oct-83 22:24:51 EDT
Organization: AT&T Bell Labs, Naperville, Il
Lines: 37


	I am experiencing a problem with BOOT type cassettes.
	(Atari 400, 810 recorder.)
	Seems that after an hour or so the game goes berserk!!!

	This has occured with two different machines and two
	different games....

	For instance, while playing Stellar Shuttle, the meteorites
	would suddenly appear as half-moons, the shuttle would
	travel at a slower speed, and subsequent restarts would
	not affect the game, thereby calling for a tape reload,
	which is a real pain...

	Eventually, all control of the game would cease.

	I feel that possibly I am experiencing flakey
	memory! Could even be a heat problem.

	Any comments? Anyone have a good memory test
	program to donate?


	P.S. I might add that this problem is very consistant.

	Also, anyone know of a disk available in the price
	range of the Comm. disk? I'm getting tired of the
	cassette, however I'll be darned if I'm gonna pay
	the price they're asking for Atari disks when
	Comm. is so cheap..
	(Seriously thinking of C64 if the price goes down to
	 the $125. range...)

				Thanks,

				Ray Jender
				ihuxi!rcj1

Message-ID: <392@aplvax.UUCP>
Date: Thu, 27-Oct-83 23:27:37 EST
Article-I.D.: aplvax.392
Posted: Thu Oct 27 23:27:37 1983
Date-Received: Mon, 31-Oct-83 07:44:27 EST
References: <608@ihuxi.UUCP>
Organization: JHU/Applied Physics Lab, Laurel, MD
Lines: 29

I haven't had the problem exactly like you described it,
but I did have a home-made (Atari) Basic program which
I wrote to monitor my air conditioner operation. (Yah,
it was in August; even we Italian's don't run our air
conditioners in November.)

After about 3 days, the program just died, and wouldn't
restart.  In fact, READY wouldn't come on, and it wouldn't
boot.

This (mad EE's) solution was to: 1) Open the cartridge
cover, 2) Jam a piece of paper in the interlock, so the
power was restored to the machine, 3) Removed the cover
from the Basic cartridge, so only the printed circuit
card and ROM where there, 4) Set the machine on a book
to encourage convection cooling.

They solved the problem.

I did not look for a minimal subset of all those tricks,
I just wanted to get back on the air.

The machine is a 400, purchased about 6/83.  The cartridge
was new in about '81.

Good luck,
Mars Gralia
Applied Physics Lab
Johns Hopkins University