Hey all, this is my first "working" vintage machine. Long story short, but I'm the local junk guy. I was driving a back road and found a hoarder-style junk shop run by a little old man since the 70s. Over a few weeks I kept finding bits and pieces of old machines like a 128k macintosh (no keyboard or mouse, and needs the PS rebuilt), 2 Vic-20's + 1541 floppy drive, and other bits. I kept finding Tandy bits until I found a hidden room that was hidden due to junk. Inside I found this Tandy trs-80 color computer 2 all set up with a jcp tv, two fd-501 drives (one with card one without) all under a mountain of junk and animal feces.
So I have cleaned up the Machine itself and it has its quirks with the keyboard, but has gotten better. I have been working through the booklet online that teaches basic programming and introducing you to how to use the machine.
So here is the problem. The machine works and can do basic stuff, but it freaks out when I connect the FD501. The screen goes into a bunch of colors and patterns that don't make sense, like how a nintendo game would mess up. I have cleaned all contacts and have checked for cold joints, with no luck. My drive was running every time I turned on the machine but then stopped, but did run again when the machine was on and I pushed the card in to ensure contact (it did not like this, and probably isn't good for the machine).
Are there any troubleshooting things I should be doing or common issues like bad components I should look out for? I used to work on vintage stereo gear and older CRT TV's so it shouldn't be too bad. It seems something is missing.
So I have cleaned up the Machine itself and it has its quirks with the keyboard, but has gotten better. I have been working through the booklet online that teaches basic programming and introducing you to how to use the machine.
So here is the problem. The machine works and can do basic stuff, but it freaks out when I connect the FD501. The screen goes into a bunch of colors and patterns that don't make sense, like how a nintendo game would mess up. I have cleaned all contacts and have checked for cold joints, with no luck. My drive was running every time I turned on the machine but then stopped, but did run again when the machine was on and I pushed the card in to ensure contact (it did not like this, and probably isn't good for the machine).
Are there any troubleshooting things I should be doing or common issues like bad components I should look out for? I used to work on vintage stereo gear and older CRT TV's so it shouldn't be too bad. It seems something is missing.