Ultrasatan clock problems

[Darklord]

Okay, this started a few weeks ago on my STacy and I'm not sure what's going on.

Jookie's set clock program will no longer find the clock/ultrasatan.

So it boots up with an incorrect time and some date like 11/25/0000.

There's no way to set it since Jookie's software will no longer find it.

I tried swapping out the US from my Mega STe and it does the same thing,
as well as the old US I had in it and the brand new US I just got from
Lotharek.

All 3 of these devices are found and work if I plug them into the Mega STe,
showing the correct date and time.

With the get clock program disabled, I can set the STacy's clock from the
control panel and it will then (after shutting down) show the correct time
and date when I power back up.

I've not seen it do this before and will happily accept any suggestions as to
how to proceed.

Thanks all.

[BCst]

I have no direct knowledge of the problem, but it sounds like a variation of what may happen in (I think) 2032 when the Unix clocks run out of bits for the time, and it rolls over. Also kind of like Y2K.

You seemed to have covered the hardware, so the problem would likely be between the get clock program and how the STacy uses its hardware. Formerly unused bits that Atari repurposed for some Stacy specific function? (also a little bit why IBM went to 31bit memory addressing instead of 32. They had already used that last bit)

I'm just trying to generate food for thought. Like I said I have no direct knowledge.

[Darklord]

I didn't notice *exactly* when it started but you're saying it may have been about the time we
rolled over into 2025? I suppose that's a good a theory as anything else I have. :)

I have an internal Ultrasatan setup in my Mega STe as well and Jookie's clock programs still
work fine there, so I dunno.

The STacy is a little different but it's a lot like a Mega ST, with a Mega STe HD interface.

I didn't add any new software (except updating HDDriver to v12.51) but just in case I did
revert to the former version and that made no difference.

Ah, I'll keep playing around with it. It's not fatal, in that the original clock/battery RTC on
the STacy is working fine.

Just bothers me that it stopped working, for no discernible reason that I can find (yet).

Thanks.

[BCst]

Might be worth setting the time to some arbitrary time in the past to see if the symptoms change. Does STacy run a specific version of TOS?

[Darklord]

Stock STacy's come with TOS v1.4, although my STacy has 2 TOS versions.

The original and TOS v3.06, via the Pak 68/3 accelerator board I've been
using in it for years.

Thanks.

[Darklord]

Just for closure...as odd as it is...

I had keyboard problems with my STacy and I replaced the keyboard membrane/mylar.

After that, the clock started working again - no problems at all now.

Is there any possible correlation there? Is there a keyboard timer/chip that might
have been thrown off by the bad mylar and affecting the RTC?

Guess I'll file it under unsolved mysteries. :)