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| Apple TechStep Overview Video |
Posted by: Crutch on 2019-11-20 21:31:13
Belated thanks for another great video James! I really think you should mail in that registration card .... 🙂
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Posted by: JDW on 2019-11-20 21:40:46
Belated thanks for another great video James! I really think you should mail in that registration card .... 🙂 Thank you, Crutch! I'm very tempted to fill it out and mail it!
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Posted by: Alex on 2019-11-21 06:02:58
https://archive.org/details/techstep
I want to know how to get the software into Software Library: Macintosh because that offers online emulation. I've asked several people, but so far no one has given me any kind of reply. Baffling! I have sent an email to info@archive.org to get an answer. I will update you once I have a reply. Thanks again for your very relevant contributions.
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Posted by: Alex on 2019-11-21 06:14:14
Thank you, Crutch! I'm very tempted to fill it out and mail it! I think it will amuse whomever opens up the mail but Apple's mailroom will probably not know who to send it to so if you are tempted then you should address it to another active department and insert a note that you would like to receive a reply. Otherwise the mailroom may trash it as the department that it is intended to reach is now out of commission. So it would be preferable that you keep it as a memento.
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Posted by: pcamen on 2019-11-26 12:45:06
@jeremywork and I spend some time with my IIci's and he also had a TechStep. His did the same thing as mine, which is that it has a hard time getting into test manager mode - it seems to wait and wait forever. At one point we just left it and when we came back it said success. I can only assume that means it finally got in and finished. But it is nice to see that they are both acting the same. It isn't an issue with my TechStep at least.
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Posted by: JDW on 2019-11-26 13:32:22
@jeremywork and I spend some time with my IIci's and he also had a TechStep. His did the same thing as mine, which is that it has a hard time getting into test manager mode - it seems to wait and wait forever. At one point we just left it and when we came back it said success. I can only assume that means it finally got in and finished. But it is nice to see that they are both acting the same. It isn't an issue with my TechStep at least. So you don’t get the Sad Mac and error code with your TechStep like shown in my video? (At first try, my SE/30 booted normally with the TechStep attached and powered and attempting to enter Test Mode; but after pressing the Programmer’s Switch, I got the sad Mac and then my TechStep showed it was finally connected. That is correct for the SE/30, but I don’t know if that holds true for the IIci.
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Posted by: pcamen on 2019-11-26 13:47:23
Well, we don't know. So far, out of three boards, only one would work at all. And that one apparently has issues with the on board video (doesn't work) and the soft power. So we can't see if there is a sad mac.
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Posted by: JDW on 2019-11-26 15:59:01
Will one of you TechStep owners please test your TechStep on a non-IIci Mac? For example, on a Mac II or IIx or Classic (with the correct TechStep ROM module, of course). I'm curious how many have trouble getting the TechStep to enter Test Mode. Thanks.
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Posted by: jeremywork on 2019-11-26 23:58:02
I just connected the TechStep to my SE, which I've considered reliable but has always had a couple quirks (always half-renders a bombshell the moment the cursor begins to move after being left alone for too long without interaction, occasionally just crashes with 'coprocessor not installed' while running software that otherwise ran fine.) The TechStep is unable to set the SE in test manager mode (issue with SCSI or serial it says), but pressing the interrupt switch and retrying allows the TechStep to talk to the SE.
My documentation only contains the manuals for CPU tests Vol 2-3, so I'm not sure if there's specific information in Vol one about testing an SE.
Few things awry here: all Logic tests pass except SCC (FAIL: IC/board,) SCSI (UUT Timed out,) and under Verify CPU ID I get CPU is: Unknown MISMATCH. Otherwise the machine appears to work normally. Will try the Classic next...
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Posted by: jeremywork on 2019-11-27 00:18:25
The Classic behaves better: I switch on the connected TechStep and select Classic, then Test Mode. It instructs me to turn CPU on, and then registers that the CPU is powering on (attempting to enter test manager mode via SCSI) the classic appears to boot normally at first, then the sad mac screen appears, as though I had hit interrupt. (This took about as long as it would take to begin booting from a floppy.) The TechStep then momentarily says Communications Established: CPU is in Test Manager Mode. I'm then able to run tests. The Classic passes all tests except Clock and Sound, but this may be because the PSU is registering LO (4.56v when >4.80 is expected). This might also be why the hard drive seems to pick when to turn on and off on this one...
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Posted by: JDW on 2019-11-27 00:24:51
Thank you for making time to do those tests and for sharing, Jeremy! Does the SE and/or Classic have any non-Apple upgrades (upgrades other than memory)? The presence of such could explain the TechStep errors, and that is why I covered that in my video. Most tests pass on my SE/30 with upgrades but not all.
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Posted by: jeremywork on 2019-11-27 00:40:41
Gladly! You know, I've always assumed both were stock, but I'll definitely check as soon as I can locate my Mac Cracker torx tool (MIA after a recent move.) I've been meaning to double check to see if the SE's got a Maxell too... It was still keeping factory time until recently
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Posted by: pcamen on 2019-11-27 04:16:09
@jeremywork when you pressed the interrupt on the SE and it entered Test Manager mode, how long after pressing the interrupt did that happen?
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Posted by: jeremywork on 2019-11-27 12:10:20
It seems to only take 3-4 seconds, but I have to have hit Interrupt pretty early in the TechStep's attempt to connect (or ideally before hitting test mode on the TechStep.) I suspect this is the same situation with the IIci we tried. If interrupt is pressed too late, the TechStep continues to attempt to connect and eventually times out (20-30 sec). If test mode is then pressed again, the TechStep immediately recognizes the machine is connected (which is what I saw on the IIci.)
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Posted by: ajacocks on 2021-08-26 19:14:22
Sorry for the thread necromancy, but I just pulled out my TechStep, and I can't find any of my ROM modules, other than CPU #1 and SCSI HDD #1. Sigh.
Has anyone dumped the ROMs for the other module? I'd like to recreate the ones that I am missing, since I originally had all but 2 of them.
- Alex |
Posted by: olePigeon on 2021-08-27 11:24:33
@ajacocks I don't think anyone has dumped the ROMs yet. Would be nice. Would also be cool to make new ROM carts. |
Posted by: ajacocks on 2021-08-27 14:42:58
@olePigeon Someone has dumped CPU tests #1, #2, and #3 here. However, there’s also a suggestion that the different ROM modules use differently sized ROM ICs.
- Alex |
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