Re: No Slot Clock - Damaged?

[Rubywand <rubywand@swbell.net>]

Gus Vilomar writes ...
> 
> Tried this and it didn't work.  When the computer boots up I get the
> following two messages
> 
> No Slot Clock not found
> Clock not installed
> 
> So, when I try to use the NSC utility to set the time, I get an error
> stating, "Faulty time, or No clock found!"  It's like a catch 22 - I can't
> reset the clock because the software doesn't "see" the chip.

     Could be like a Catch-22.

     It sounds like something may have turned OFF your NSC's oscillator. (This
is an option to conserve power-- mainly so that the chip can be stored prior to
sale.)  The oscillator can be turned back ON by accessing an NSC register.

     Since, according to the manual, the chip is noramlly shipped with the osc
OFF, something you did earlier must have turned it ON. The obvious candidate
would seeme to be whatever sequence of programs you tried (at whatever speed
the IIc+ was set) when you first got the NSC working.

    (A slightly weird possibility is that inserting the NSC chip managed to
toggle the oscillator ON; but, this does not seem very likely.)

     In any case, it really is hard to believe the NSC is damaged. As to
whether the battery cratered and this is affecting operation? Hard to say. You
might contact Dallas Semiconductor and ask about the freshness of lithium cells
in their 1216E chips. 

> 
> Is there any other software out there that can reset the chip?
 ....

     There may be. I'll check through one or two disassembly listings. Maybe a
simple mod will work.

     The source code (.S files) for the binary programs on the NSC utils disk
you uploaded is easy to look at using Merlin. I've done a listing of
Get.Nsc.Time. (It includes the machine code to make it easier to figure out
what's going on.)

     Anyone interested can find the listing (GetNscTimeListing.txt) in the
October issue preview of GS WorldView at ...

http://www.grin.net/~cturley/gsezine/GS.WorldView/******Oct99/MISC/ .




Rubywand