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Atari Mega ST 1 Rev 1 no boot

Problems with your machine in general.
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HigashiJun
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Re: Atari Mega ST 1 Rev 1 no boot

Post by HigashiJun »

May sound stupid, but do you have the correct cable ?
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rubber_jonnie
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Re: Atari Mega ST 1 Rev 1 no boot

Post by rubber_jonnie »

Dwh18 wrote: Fri Mar 07, 2025 12:20 pm Yes, all reverted ... but no onscreen duplicated on serial for sure
Is your cable a null modem cable? It needs to be.
Collector of many retro things!
800XL and 65XE both with Ultimate1MB,VBXL/XE & PokeyMax, SIDE3, SDrive Max, 2x 1010 cassette, 2x 1050 one with Happy mod, 3x 2600 Jr, 7800 and Lynx II
Approx 20 STs, including a 520 STM, 520 STFMs, 3x Mega ST, MSTE & 2x 32 Mhz boosted STEs
Plus the rest, totalling around 50 machines including a QL, 3x BBC Model B, Electron, Spectrums, ZX81 etc...
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Re: Atari Mega ST 1 Rev 1 no boot

Post by Dwh18 »

rubber_jonnie wrote: Fri Mar 07, 2025 1:05 pm
Dwh18 wrote: Fri Mar 07, 2025 12:20 pm Yes, all reverted ... but no onscreen duplicated on serial for sure
Is your cable a null modem cable? It needs to be.
Bought it as a null modem.... might try with another one
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rubber_jonnie
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Re: Atari Mega ST 1 Rev 1 no boot

Post by rubber_jonnie »

Can I suggest you get some photos of the areas you've repaired when removing the RAM expansion and also a video of what you see during the boot on your terminal.
Collector of many retro things!
800XL and 65XE both with Ultimate1MB,VBXL/XE & PokeyMax, SIDE3, SDrive Max, 2x 1010 cassette, 2x 1050 one with Happy mod, 3x 2600 Jr, 7800 and Lynx II
Approx 20 STs, including a 520 STM, 520 STFMs, 3x Mega ST, MSTE & 2x 32 Mhz boosted STEs
Plus the rest, totalling around 50 machines including a QL, 3x BBC Model B, Electron, Spectrums, ZX81 etc...
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olivier.jan
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Re: Atari Mega ST 1 Rev 1 no boot

Post by olivier.jan »

If you have a little serial to usb adapter (like ftdi232), you can connect RX and TX to pin 8 and 9 of the MFP (and GND anywhere on the motherboard’s ground), it will work directly at 9600 bauds.
Retro stuff
520 STF/ 1040 STE / Mega ST / 2 Mega STE / 2 H5
2 x 600XL with U1MB /SOFIA 2/ AVG CART / and a few 1050
Apple //c, Commodore 128, Mac Classic, SE/30, LC, IIvi and PB G3 (Clamshell)
Amiga 600 and a few 486 and 386.
Many Nintendo G&W and other electronic games from the late 70s/early 80s.
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PhilC
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Re: Atari Mega ST 1 Rev 1 no boot

Post by PhilC »

olivier.jan wrote: Fri Mar 07, 2025 6:43 pm If you have a little serial to usb adapter (like ftdi232), you can connect RX and TX to pin 8 and 9 of the MFP (and GND anywhere on the motherboard’s ground), it will work directly at 9600 bauds.
That's a great tip actually and helped me fix something totally unrelated and non Atari :D
If it ain't broke, test it to Destruction.
Dwh18
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Re: Atari Mega ST 1 Rev 1 no boot

Post by Dwh18 »

olivier.jan wrote: Fri Mar 07, 2025 6:43 pm If you have a little serial to usb adapter (like ftdi232), you can connect RX and TX to pin 8 and 9 of the MFP (and GND anywhere on the motherboard’s ground), it will work directly at 9600 bauds.
Ordered this one
IMG_4372.jpeg
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Dwh18
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Re: Atari Mega ST 1 Rev 1 no boot

Post by Dwh18 »

Did some more digging and noticed u35 and u32 are different than U36 and U33. Is this supposed to be like this?
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PhilC
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Re: Atari Mega ST 1 Rev 1 no boot

Post by PhilC »

Dwh18 wrote: Fri Mar 07, 2025 10:08 pm Did some more digging and noticed u35 and u32 are different than U36 and U33. Is this supposed to be like this?
Are they the 74LS244 & 74LS373 chips? If so you should have two of each.
If it ain't broke, test it to Destruction.
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olivier.jan
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Re: Atari Mega ST 1 Rev 1 no boot

Post by olivier.jan »

The adapter you have should work, what I was mentioning are the little usb to serial (not RS232) like this: https://amzn.eu/d/dCjUFvn.

Anyway, if you want to check : Pin 8 of the MFP is TX while pin 9 is RX. So, if the diag cart is sending dat, you should see activity on pin 8 when you start the ST. You can test also the other direction: if you type data in your serial terminal it should generate activity on pin 9 of the MFP.

If you have an oscilloscope, checking will be pretty easy. With a multimeter, set on DC, you should see some voltage variations when there is activity.
Retro stuff
520 STF/ 1040 STE / Mega ST / 2 Mega STE / 2 H5
2 x 600XL with U1MB /SOFIA 2/ AVG CART / and a few 1050
Apple //c, Commodore 128, Mac Classic, SE/30, LC, IIvi and PB G3 (Clamshell)
Amiga 600 and a few 486 and 386.
Many Nintendo G&W and other electronic games from the late 70s/early 80s.
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