Thanks again, I'll pick up the keyboard issues again in the near future with this in mind. I'm suspecting IC5 could be the problem so I've ordered some replacements. In the meantime the CMOS/RTC replacement podule has arrived, and I'm pleased to report that after a reset of the CMOS, my A3000 is making it to the RISC OS desktop! Also managed to get my SCART working with a makeshift jumper on LK25 - proper one arriving tomorrow.The cables look fine, and I doubt there's a problem there, much more likely to be something on the board. I've just checked the resistance of one of the cable conductors here, and it's very variable depending on distance between the probes and the pressure applied. I'm seeing about 20 ohms/cm, but as I say it can be very variable.
For the intermittent keys, particularly ones that work but you have to hit them a few times, cleaning the membrane inside the keyboard is probably the cure. However, do NOT separate the the two membranes inside the keyboard. There are probably other guides to cleaning the keyboard on the forum.
I can't test it any further yet due to several mouse issues. Firstly, I got an ArcMouse USB which I only recently discovered doesn't fit through the recess in my early A3000 case, so I'll need a different plan there. Secondly, I gave it a go with the case open and motherboard raised enough to plug the ArcMouse in, and found that although the buttons and Y movement work, the X is stuck alternating between 2 pixels in the middle of the screen. I can't detect continuity either side of the L9 resistor and that seems to be one of the X-related traces, so I guess that'll need fixed too.
Sort-of back on topic with the keyboard issues - I've been able to *CAT a floppy disk after pressing F12 and that seems fine - disk drive apparently working. I have to admit at this point I haven't used an Archimedes since school and never did anything in the CLI except launch into BASIC. Is there anything I can type or press to try loading and running the first/only executable on a floppy? Most of the garbage I end up typing searches the disk and produces 'file not found' or something similar, so I assume at least some files can be loaded from the CLI.
For example, I have Zool here. The *CAT lists out the program as:
"!Zool <some number of spaces> /D"
Is it possible to run this from the CLI, and if so, is there a way to do it that avoids the keys I can't press? I can enter capitals with Caps Lock, but I've found the Shift key doesn't work so I can't produce an exclamation. If not I'll just need to wait until I can fix more of the issues.
Edit: I figured this out - I forgot I had the RISC OS user manual on hand. It seems I was already trying the right things (with wildcards), but Zool simply doesn't seem to be working or didn't like being loaded that way. Other games I've tried have loaded successfully, like E-Type.
Statistics: Posted by aqarius — Wed Jul 02, 2025 11:06 pm