diff --git a/_source/_posts/2025-05-18-ti99-4a-restoration-ep5.md b/_source/_posts/2025-05-18-ti99-4a-restoration-ep5.md new file mode 100644 index 0000000..9e7836b --- /dev/null +++ b/_source/_posts/2025-05-18-ti99-4a-restoration-ep5.md @@ -0,0 +1,66 @@ +--- +layout: post +title: "Restoring the TI 99/4A, ep. 5" +date: 2025-05-18 13:00:00 +0200 +comments: true +categories: +--- + +## Checking L600 + +Vcc (pin 2) of the CPU is oscillating wildly unless I shunt L600. With L600 shunted, the machine seems to start up just fine (nice beep, and title screen displays). + +Desoldering L600 and testing it off circuit is inconclusive: it seems to behave just fine. +Measuring its inductance with the oscilloscope (through the period of amortized oscillation with a known capacitor) as shown [here](https://0x9900.com/measure-an-inductance-or-capacitance-using-an-oscilloscope/) shows a consistent behaviour vs a new replacement part. + +{% figure caption:"Old L600 desoldered from board" %} +![general amortization shape](assets/TI-resto/20250517-old-L-waveform.png) +![period measurement](assets/TI-resto/20250517-old-L-meas.png) +{% endfigure %} + +{% figure caption:"New replacement L600" %} +![general amortization shape](assets/TI-resto/20250517-new-L-waveform.png) +![period measurement](assets/TI-resto/20250517-new-L-meas.png) +{% endfigure %} + +The old part's amortized oscillation damps down faster, which is consistent with a higher resistance (on the LCR-T7, the old part reads at 0.50 Ω, whereas the new one reads at 0.25 Ω), but both measure a period of 520 ns, which is ballpark-consistent with a 6.8 μH inductance. + +I soldered the new part instead of the old one, and I'm seeing a similar behaviour as before: failure when starting up (continuous tone, wild variations at TMS9900 Vcc), apparently working fine when shunting L600. + +Just to be sure, with L600 shunted I hooked up the display and confirmed that: +* the title screen displays fine; +* when pressing a key, I get the main menu; +* when pressing 1, I get the TI basic prompt, and key strokes appear on screen. + +**So L600 may not be the culprit, but some other connected part.** + +## Could it be C611? + +Another possible culprit nearby might be C611. Desoldering it and measuring it off-circuit, it reads just under 1000 pF on the LCR-T7, which is as expected, so I'm deciding it's good and soldering it back. + +## Something else near ~MEMEN~? + +Next hypothesis is a marginal component sinking too much current from Vcc: +* either R607, which looks like a pullup on ~MEMEN~ +* or U605 input pin 2? + +### A closer look at R607 + +In-circuit, R607 reads at 4.6 kΩ, which seems in a reasonable ballpark, so I'm disinclined to desolder it, which is fortunate because annonyingly, the new L600 is a bigger form factor than the original one, and so it's blocking access. I could desolder it and solder back the original one: since the original one measures fine, and replacing it didn't change the behaviour, I'm assuming that the problem was not there. But since the in-circuit reading looks within spec, that would really be a shot in the dark. + +### Vcc fighting ~MEMEN~? + +Next step is to look at Vcc and ~MEMEN~ simultaneously to see if there's a correlation between changes on MEMEN and Vcc variations. + +**Finging: The Vcc variations do *not* appear to be correlated with ~MEMEN~: there are big oscillations on Vcc even when ~MEMEN~ is stable (whether low or high).** + +{% figure caption:"Vcc vs ~MEMEN~ / no shunt on L600: KO" %} +![bad 1](assets/TI-resto/20250518-Vcc-MEMEN-bad1.png) +![bad 2](assets/TI-resto/20250518-Vcc-MEMEN-bad2.png) +{% endfigure %} + +{% figure caption:"Vcc vs ~MEMEN~ / shunt on L600: OK" %} +![ok 1](assets/TI-resto/20250518-Vcc-MEMEN-ok1.png) +![ok 2](assets/TI-resto/20250518-Vcc-MEMEN-ok2.png) +{% endfigure %} + diff --git a/_source/assets/TI-resto/20250517-new-L-meas.png b/_source/assets/TI-resto/20250517-new-L-meas.png new file mode 100644 index 0000000..691d7e9 Binary files /dev/null and b/_source/assets/TI-resto/20250517-new-L-meas.png differ diff --git a/_source/assets/TI-resto/20250517-new-L-waveform.png b/_source/assets/TI-resto/20250517-new-L-waveform.png new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6943d40 Binary files /dev/null and b/_source/assets/TI-resto/20250517-new-L-waveform.png differ diff --git a/_source/assets/TI-resto/20250517-old-L-meas.png b/_source/assets/TI-resto/20250517-old-L-meas.png new file mode 100644 index 0000000..ecc8e9d Binary files /dev/null and b/_source/assets/TI-resto/20250517-old-L-meas.png differ diff --git a/_source/assets/TI-resto/20250517-old-L-waveform.png b/_source/assets/TI-resto/20250517-old-L-waveform.png new file mode 100644 index 0000000..91dd352 Binary files /dev/null and b/_source/assets/TI-resto/20250517-old-L-waveform.png differ diff --git a/_source/assets/TI-resto/20250518-Vcc-MEMEN-bad1.png b/_source/assets/TI-resto/20250518-Vcc-MEMEN-bad1.png new file mode 100644 index 0000000..bc50f92 Binary files /dev/null and b/_source/assets/TI-resto/20250518-Vcc-MEMEN-bad1.png differ diff --git a/_source/assets/TI-resto/20250518-Vcc-MEMEN-bad2.png b/_source/assets/TI-resto/20250518-Vcc-MEMEN-bad2.png new file mode 100644 index 0000000..58fb646 Binary files /dev/null and b/_source/assets/TI-resto/20250518-Vcc-MEMEN-bad2.png differ diff --git a/_source/assets/TI-resto/20250518-Vcc-MEMEN-ok1.png b/_source/assets/TI-resto/20250518-Vcc-MEMEN-ok1.png new file mode 100644 index 0000000..1265c49 Binary files /dev/null and b/_source/assets/TI-resto/20250518-Vcc-MEMEN-ok1.png differ diff --git a/_source/assets/TI-resto/20250518-Vcc-MEMEN-ok2.png b/_source/assets/TI-resto/20250518-Vcc-MEMEN-ok2.png new file mode 100644 index 0000000..24502bf Binary files /dev/null and b/_source/assets/TI-resto/20250518-Vcc-MEMEN-ok2.png differ