anyone know anything about ZX Spectrum 128+ ?

[roop]

well it did say discuss "anything" in this section!

i have the above computer but really don't now much about these things

i'm having trouble loading games to it

i have a couple of auto run games i'm trying to load from cassette but all i get is a blank screen

can anyone advise me on the exact procedure to make this work? i've been following the instructions in the book exactly.....

[insanity]

Select "Tape Loader" from the menu,
Put tap in tape player, hook up to speccy, ear to ear...
press play on tape... border should flash constant blue then red then blue/red & yellow/blue whilst loading data...

[roop]

hi insanity

yep done all that

all i get is the white screen that you get when you press RETURN on TAPE LOADER from the main menu

just stays like that when tape loading, no flashing screen or borders

what's the best tape player to use?

ear to ear cable is ok, so is tape player

[PaulB]

Maybe check the motherboard where the 3.5" socket is connected. All those years of plugging in and out may have done something to the soldered joints. Same as Atari joystick ports.

[insanity]

just stays like that when tape loading, no flashing screen or borders

Nothing at all!? Strange... can you hear sound through the TV?

Volume may require adjustment, start at low volume working up...

The tape recorders' head may need adjustment? This is done via a little screw hole usually found above the buttons.

The tape recorders' head could also be dirty, you can clean it with soft wood (at your own risk) such as a matchstick (not the end you strike!!:))

However, still concerned that there are no border colour changes - PaulB could be right with a bad connection!

[aktiv8]

try selecting 128k or 48 k basic and typing load"" and then playing the tape...

(above will be for 128k basic other wise from mrmory LOAD is ont eh J key and the " is SYMSHIF+P)

[roop]

thanks for your replies guys

ok there is NO sound from the TV when trying to load, the tape player i'm using has a volume and speaker and i can hear beep sounds (almost like a modem connecting to the internet) when playing the tape

i have tried in 48k mode then J the LOAD "" and playing the tape (says this in the manual too)

the same nothing

i have it bits now, the EAR port is fine, there are no bad solders and the EAR/MIC cable is fine too

so i'm guessing possible buggered speccy! such a shame, it's MINT too!

any other suggestions greatly appreciated...

[insanity]

ok there is NO sound from the TV when trying to load, the tape player i'm using has a volume and speaker and i can hear beep sounds (almost like a modem connecting to the internet) when playing the tape

Hmmmm... that's the correct sound... however, not sure you should be able to hear this from the tape recorder, since the EAR lead should be in the headphone socket and usually when that happens, sound ONLY goes through that (to headphones or in your case the speccy!)

A rubbish way to test to see whether the speccy EAR socket is working would be to select tape loader and plug a microphone in and make some noise and the border should flash indicating it's heard something...

Try another tape player/hi fi... any with a headphone socket (3.5mm) will do...

[ppera]

I have one Spectrum 128 and couple 48K ones. Using them not much in last time, as am Atari oriented at moment.
I did some interfaces for floppy and hard disk for those machines, so not much tape usage.
In any case, solution was in early days: tape player head adjusting, for instance. And volume, tone adjusting.
It is very unlikely that there is some hardware failure, at least not at tape input.

For some better advices you should visit http://www.worldofspectrum.org

[roop]

ok now i am trying my 3rd tape player! i've used a walkman, an old 70's style tape player! and a modern radio/cassette

3rd time kind of lucky it seems as now i have a red border SOMETIMES when loading games which occasionally changes to light blue and i can hear beeps through the TV speaker, but when the tape has finished loading there is no "prompt" or text on screen and no game!

no scrolling borders either which it states in the manual

no bad solders inside the spectrum, no bad leads

have tried "tape loader" mode

and 48k mode (load "")

same, just random red/blue border never any text or scrolling

would volume and tone have an effect on loading a game then?

[simonsunnyboy]

Yes, iirc all Spectrum instructions tell you to adjust tone and volume....

[Grunaki]

Yes, iirc all Spectrum instructions tell you to adjust tone and volume....

Turn the bass all the way down and the treble all the way up. Adjust volume - louder is better, but too loud causes distortion and therefore 'R-Tape Loading Error'.

If the computer is 'hearing' anything after you type ' Load "" <enter>' then the border should flash between red and cyan, regardless of whether it's data or not. If you play a music tape it'll still do this.

When loading, the first thing you encounter is a header block.
The noise will be something like "dooooooooooo dit!" (with a scrolling cyan and red border) and the ident will appear on the 'dit!' part.(Program: HORACE) - something like that. If you get that far it's working.

Get a multimeter with a continuity tester. Test continuity on the data leads - on both of the tips on a single lead after the black spacer, then on the body of the plugs before the black spacer. If you get a good continuity reading you can discount the leads as the problem. If they're knackered (and you have any small electronic skills) then you could buy a couple of mono jack plugs, a soldering iron and a length of mono wire from Maplins for peanuts. (I'm assuming you're in the UK.)

To load software you only need the 'ear' lead connected ('ear' to 'ear' on the spectrum and tape recorder if I remember correctly) therefore if it doesn't work on one side of the lead, try the other.

If this still doesn't work (and you're not adverse to cracking the speccy open) continuity test from the 'ear' socket along the copper track on the motherboard to see if the signal is getting to where it should be. There could be protective paint or resin over the top of the track, so you might have to give it a little dig with the pointy end of the probe to get a signal (if you're sure you wouldn't break the track doing it of course.)

[ppera]

No, tone and volume has no influence

Simptoms are that your audio volume is too low.
Btw, much better is to using some old, mono tape recorder. Stereo sucks (in this case) .

[Grunaki]

Btw, much better is to using some old, mono tape recorder. Stereo sucks (in this case) .

You can put the balance all over to one side too - that sometimes helps with stereo.

[roop]

SORTED!

i simply turned up the volume! this is so wierd to me as i'm new to all this

anyway i've just loaded 3 games successfully

so a BIG thankyou to all who have helped

i still prefer Atari's though!

[Grunaki]

Glad you got it working!

Although it's good to get the 'genuine Speccy experience', these days I use ZX SPIN on the PC to play Speccy games - no messing about waiting for games to load, no R-Tape Loading Error and no annoying keyboard!

http://www.worldofspectrum.org is a good resource for games and hardware alike.

[ppera]

G... no messing about waiting for games to load, no R-Tape Loading Error and no annoying keyboard!

What I hated by 128 is exactly keyboard and case which is to high on user side. Very unergonomic. 48K Speccy with it's rubber KB is much better, especially for gaming.

[Grunaki]

G... no messing about waiting for games to load, no R-Tape Loading Error and no annoying keyboard!

What I hated by 128 is exactly keyboard and case which is to high on user side. Very unergonomic. 48K Speccy with it's rubber KB is much better, especially for gaming.

And that Datacorder (built-in tape deck) was pure crap - always breaking and then you're pretty much stuck with it as there's no alternative.
I preferred the original Sinclair 128 machines and the +3 as they had external jacks for tape input which meant you could install a tape recorder with adjustable volume and tone to get finicky games to load. The azimuth screw on the +2 and +2a helped, but usually just ended up breaking the tape deck as it got too loose if you made too many adjustments and the tape head flopped about everywhere.

[charles]

i could just be crazy but in those 4000 atari disks
rich at lgd had last year
i think one had a
zx emulator on it?

i don't know which one though i know for sure i recognized a amiga emulator and a synclair
i'm sure there was a zx too .

sorry if its not in front of me i can not do ant thing . just tech not zx -able

charles

[Grunaki]

There is a speccy emulator for the ST - I've never used it though. There's a ZX81 emulator too.

I think the Pompeys did something with it on that Krappy Kompact disk they released..