Re: VSM troubleshooting, Asteroids

If we are talking of the vector generator area here, I did create a
signature map of it using the simple idea of turning on the TEST switch.
This creates a repeating pattern that you can then grab with the SA and use
for future troubleshooting. Works for me, and sooner or later I'll get
around to posting the list. It is a continuation of the short SA list on
Asteroids and does make it much easier to troubleshoot the vector generator.

John :-#)#

At 10:29 PM 12/02/2002 -0600, TomW wrote:
>Would it be possible to cause a reset the counter=0 at a specific point ?
>What I'm thinking is loading the vram with valid - no draws. Then Step one,
>let the counter point to the first address, and reset, we check that addr
>line for activity, any others should only pulse on reset. Then let it
>count/point to address 2, check the address line for activity, etc. Its not
>the cleanest but in theory it should allow us to verify the program counter
>is sequencing correctly. I've got a huntron tracker 2000 that helped me find
>one, but it seems to catch me off guard.
>
>If I can find the bottom of my workbench, I'm going to have to start working
>on this again.
>TomW
>
> > Vector Generator Program Counter
> >
> > Yes I had an issue with this on a board too, turned out to be a bad
>74LS367,
> > a logic comparator found this but I was trying to find the problem with
>the
> > 670s & 193s as I new the program counter wasn't working properly....
> >
> > Scale is an output of DDMA7-DDM4 clocked by !LATCH3 + !LATCH0 * !ALPHANUM
> >
> > So round & round we go, if the 74LS42 Decoder could be removed &
>controlled
> > then I could step thru various chips of the state machine one at a time?
> >
> > Kev
> >
> >
> >
> > > Not having any of that in front of me.. ;-) I should have said
> > > the vector
> > > state stack... Top left hand side of the schecmatic... Darn,
> > > can't remember
> > > what it was 'offically labeled'. Yeah thats it, loaded the ram ok
> > > and the stack had
> > > the offests into ram. If the pattern was all localized, the stack
> > > never got full enought
> > > to excersie it. So in game mode it would die, in test mode it was
> > > fine..
> > >
> > > Also the the whole thing needed to excersize the Scale0-3 as
> > > well.
> > >
> > > TomW
> > >
> > >
> > > >
> > > >
> > > > So the 9010A didn't catch the Vector Ram failure?
> > > >
> > > > Curiosity forced me to pull the schematics, the RAM
> > > > failure should be caught
> > > > by the 9010A, unless you have a problem with one of
> > > > the 273 latches
> > > > (right?).
> > > >
> > > > The 3 signals that didn't work properly for me using
> > > > the Flukescript were
> > > >
> > > > !OPTS
> > > > !SINP0
> > > > !SINP1
> > > >
> > > >
> > > > Kev
> > > >
> > > > > It puts a medium sized PLUS on the screen. I jumper
> > > > the watchdog
> > > > > and let if fly. I was going to put scope patterns in
> > > > a doc for
> > > > > the various test points during the draw but never
> > > > got around to
> > > > > it. What I'd like to do is increase the scaling, and
> > > > have the vsm
> > > > > code put in three different places in the vsm ram.
> > > > I've run into
> > > > > a few cases that it ran fine, but only because it
> > > > was located low
> > > > > in the vsm ram (its such a small pgm it does not
> > > > fully test the
> > > > > vsm address space). The game would die, but the vsm was fine.
> > > > > Turns out that one of the high order bits (I forget
> > > > the chip) was
> > > > > out in the vsm ram. So to make this run in low vsm
> > > > and then again
> > > > > in high vsm memory space would be nice. Did anyone
> > > > ever document
> > > > > the vsm command structure ? That would be helpfull,
> > > > this PLUS is
> > > > > from the atari catbox documentation and I just
> > > > adapted the tests
> > > > > to the 9010. On of these day's I'll make it pretty..
> > > > >
> > > > > TomW
> > > >
> > > >
> > > > -------------------------------------------------------
> > > > --------------------
> > > > ** To UNSUBSCRIBE from vectorlist, send a message with
> > > > "UNSUBSCRIBE" in the
> > > > ** message body to vectorlist-request@synthcom.com.
> > > > Please direct other
> > > > ** questions, comments, or problems to neil@synthcom.com.
> > > >
> > >
> >
> > --------------------------------------------------------------------------
> > -
> > > ** To UNSUBSCRIBE from vectorlist, send a message with "UNSUBSCRIBE" in
> > the
> > > ** message body to vectorlist-request@synthcom.com. Please direct other
> > > ** questions, comments, or problems to neil@synthcom.com.
> >
> > --------------------------------------------------------------------------
>-
> > ** To UNSUBSCRIBE from vectorlist, send a message with "UNSUBSCRIBE" in
>the
> > ** message body to vectorlist-request@synthcom.com. Please direct other
> > ** questions, comments, or problems to neil@synthcom.com.
> >
>
>---------------------------------------------------------------------------
>** To UNSUBSCRIBE from vectorlist, send a message with "UNSUBSCRIBE" in the
>** message body to vectorlist-request@synthcom.com. Please direct other
>** questions, comments, or problems to neil@synthcom.com.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------
** To UNSUBSCRIBE from vectorlist, send a message with "UNSUBSCRIBE" in the
** message body to vectorlist-request@synthcom.com. Please direct other
** questions, comments, or problems to neil@synthcom.com.
Received on Tue Feb 12 21:40:48 2002