[Coco] Coco 3 with problems, can anyone help me troubleshoot?

[Bruce W. Calkins]

> I have a color computer 3 with some problems. I thought it was a cold 
> solder joint or something. Occasionally it would not boot right (I'd get a 
> garbage screen) The real problem however is that once its working, I can 
> save programs with csave to cassette, but when I try cload, I get an S on 
> the upper left corner of the screen and then it just hangs.
>
> Has anyone seen this before? Can anyone give me some trouble shooting 
> tips? Not being able to save programs (just bought a cassette for that 
> purpose) is driving me kind of nuts.
>
>
> Steven





Does it load a prerecorded tape?  Can you verify that the program was saved 
to tape?  And recorded at the proper levels?  You might not have the volume 
set at the sweet spot for the CLOAD function.  Non-Radio Shack cassette 
recorders are often much more finicky than the Radio shack computer labeled 
units.



Occasional garbage screen boots can occur if the start up timing is off in 
some manner that I have not been able to determine.  However if you are 
getting them more than 0.05% or the time then I would suspect a hardware 
fault.  Normally, you should wait more than 10 seconds after powering down 
before attempting to power up.  Less than 10 seconds might cause a garbage 
screen boot too.



Bruce W.