IBM 5100 Serial Number Project (and a question or two)

From: ss_at_allegro.com <(ss_at_allegro.com)>
Date: Tue Aug 24 20:13:44 1999

Re:
> I just received a 5110 (BASIC-only, no tape drive) with serial number 30163.
>
> I've got a couple of quick questions for the experts.
>
> First off, I think I may be getting an error on startup. When I power the
> system up, the display shows
>
> AACCEEGG

When I do a "reset" on mine, I see "ABCDEFG" at the top left of the CRT.

> on the top line. After five seconds,
 
> AACCEEGGJJLLNN
> RRSS44

shortly after the "ABCDEFG", "ROS 01" appears, which gets replaced by
"ROS 02", ..., "ROS 09", "ROS 0a", ... (not sure about the leading 0, but it
appears to be a ROM selftest, counting up in hex).
 
> is displayed on the top two lines. After three seconds, the top two lines
> are erased and
>
> LLAA00
> _ _ (two flashing underscores)
> EEDD

Mine says "LOAD0",
then "__" (I think),
then " READY" (with some leading blanks)
 
BTW, "Inverse" switch is pressed towards top of case (so I get white on
black background), the L32/64/R32 switch is in the middle (64) position
(which means: display 64 chars per line)

> Actually, when the display switch is set to "64", the above strings appear
> on both the left side and center of the screen.

Aha...sounds like a video problem. What shows for L32 switch position?
(You should see: L O A D 0 and " R E A D Y" (note the blank between
each character!)
 
Stan
Received on Tue Aug 24 1999 - 20:13:44 BST