From: Frank Gruendel (newtontalk_at_pda-soft.de)
Date: Fri Oct 15 2004 - 18:15:37 PDT
This answers several posts to save bandwidth.
Huxley Dunsany said:
> My Newton 120 has suddenly stopped responding to screen input
...snip...
> and this problem only started after I tried swapping the ROM
> chip for one with OS 2.0
It is unlikely that you did this for a mere ROM swap, but
you wouldn't have unscrewed screws 13 and 14 (shown here)?
http://www.pda-soft.de/130_disassembly02.jpg
If you have, fasten them. Not too much, though.
> when that chip is installed, the Newton is totally dead,
> and will only start up with the 1.3 chip installed.
After an upgrade to a 2.0 ROM it is often necessary to do
a hard reset. How to do this is outlined here:
http://www.pda-soft.de/130_disassemble.html
> Did I somehow kill my trusty Newton?!
Unlikely, but not impossible. Make sure you follow the reset
sequence outlined on the page mentioned above literally.
Literally as in "DON'T CHANGE ANYTHING".
David Everitt answered:
> So are you saying that 'upgrading' a 120
> from 1.3 to 2.0 by changing the ROM doesn't
> seem to work?
> (Sorry to ask trivial questions in your hour of
> panic, but I was intending to try this myself).
It does work. Provided both the ROM and the Newton don't have
a hardware problem.
Laurent chimed in:
> Where are the ROMs coming from? A 2.0 MP120 or an MP130?
> If they were in an MP130, maybe that's why they don't work.
That doesn't matter. MP130 ROMs will work fine in a MP120. The
120 will claim to be a 130 henceforth, but that isn't a problem
because the OS checks hardware-specific issues like amount of
memory available, backlight availability etc. at startup.
A MP120 ROM will, kind of, work in a 130, too. But you won't
be able to turn the 130's backlight off.
Huxley Dunsany said:
> That's a great question! I've just searched through the
> old emails with the guy I got the card from, and according
> to him, it came out of an Australian MP120... Would the
> fact that it was the Aus. Version have any effect?
No. Not after a hard reset. Apart from that, there is no
Australian 2.0 OS for the 120. There's just one English,
one German and one French one, as you will find in the
FAQ here:
http://www.pda-soft.de/newton-faq-nos.html
The english 1.3 OS only came as "US" and "International",
there wasn't a specific Australian one, either.
If the hard reset doesn't fix things, I can have a look at
your Newton if you want. I'm in Germany, so shipping will be about
12/15 Euros surface/air.
How many ROM chips are on your 2.0 ROM board? Two on each
side, or two on one side and none on the other side?
Frank
-- Newton Software and Hardware at http://www.pda-soft.de
-- This is the NewtonTalk list - http://www.newtontalk.net/ for all inquiries Official Newton FAQ: http://www.chuma.org/newton/faq/ WikiWikiNewt for all kinds of articles: http://tools.unna.org/wikiwikinewt/
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