Technical questions for the MPC2000xl and the MPC2000
By blackberrygoose Wed Oct 19, 2022 7:50 am
G'day,

Probably made one post here... maybe I've been a jerk, maybe i havent. I have no idea.

So, in the past i have had issues with the gotwk conversion, as i had no idea how to config file on flash floppy, got confused aaaand then paid the hxc guy for a licence i will never use. Ha ha ha ha.

Now, i understand how to config the usb floppies and have the goteks working on 5 different akais, S series, and mpc's and a keyboard.

In more relevant topics, i have an mpc2000 in the lineup which was a "bargain" ha ha, with a busted screen. After replacing the screen with the new oled screen i went for the gotek drive replacement after the floppy drive died.

The mainboard has been de-tarred and de-furred and the gotek installed (and a new oled upgrade for the gotek) but then i left the unit on for a a couple of days... and i think i killed it.

After turning it back on it would no longer post, the disk bus seems to have forgottwn how to talk to any drive, new floppy drive, gotek, anything.

After some noodling and replacing the eprom, research seems to point to an error/malfunction of the mainboard.

Now in 2022, these parts are rare and expensive and with the coming apocalypse (you know, the further ramifications of the global chip shortage), why arent we looking at repairing parts like this?

Just wondering if anyone has ever error checked an entire motherboard for something as deep as a 32 bit p.c. motherboard?

I have seen come and go hackers copy and build flash rom cards for mpc2000xl and control programmers for roland alpha junos, why not self sufficiency in this community?
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By richie Wed Oct 19, 2022 10:18 am
If from what I've read from your posts your issue is directly relating to the floppy drive.

Consider attempting to load the OS from a SCSI device and see where that gets you.
By blackberrygoose Sun Jan 22, 2023 12:38 am
Yes, good idea.

I have seen a permanent hack using the scsi to sd drive and i have even installed a scsi2sd on an akai cd3000.

I do intend on making my external (japanese tofu and tobacco yellow) toshiba HDD into that external drive, but was looking for a more permanent solution that still allows me to use the flobby i/o bus.

I have managed to find one hardware repair workshop near me (a small hole in the wall operation) that quoted $200 AUD for a repair. I have never heard of them or of anyone who has used their services, a solid metric for which i rely on for trades humans.

There is definitely an issue on the motherboard, as after some inspection i have found a few points of oxidated solder and even rust...

If i cannot get a reliable motgerboard repairer, my next step is $400 AUD plus shipping for another motherboard from MPC STUFF plus freight (which in 10 years will seem like a bargain) or puchasing a whole another unit from japan for the current ebay price of an EB16.

I have no self control, so the latter will likely occur in the next 20 minutes as my credit rating takes a smack.

See you at the beach ⛱️
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By richie Sun Jan 22, 2023 9:19 pm
3 months ago you were given the best and cheapest solution to your problem.

If you'd rather spend more than $400 to purchase another motherboard overseas, then that is on you.

As I've stated earlier, Instead of doing that, you could just spend $100 (or even under depending on which one of these devices you (should) get) such as the SCSI2SD, ZuluSCSI (which also seems to work better with the MPC 2000's) or even a BlueSCSI (which you can find for around $40-60).

Connect it to the back of your MPC 2000 without requiring any modifications, boot off it it faster than a floppy drive and have many gigabytes of storage to a single micro sd card.

Or you could spend another 3 indecisive months not using your machine, ruminating over what wrong decision you have pondered or treat yourself nice and consider what I've suggested above.

Good luck