Tel-BBS RS232 trouble.. please help

[David Murray]

Okay.. Here is the scoop.. I downloaded BBS Server last night and set it up.. Hooked my up a 10 feet serial cable with null modem. Before ever even dragging out the C64, I took a laptop computer running Windows XP and connected it to the other end of the serial cable and opened hyperterminal. I was able to type AT commands and even connect to a BBS (albeit in ASCII)

So, I setup my trusty old 64C and an Aprotek RS232 converter I've had for ages. Loaded up CCGMS, but nothing. Eventually I closed BBS Server and opened hyperterminal. What I found is that I could type on the PC and it would show up on the 64C, but not vice-versa. I played with the cables and switches on the RS232 converter, to no avail.

So, I dug out an old breadbox C64 that I've never even tested. Somebody gave it to me a few months ago. I had other ones in the attic, but it would take some time to retrieve them. So anyway, I hooked up the breadbox and the good news is, it wasn't dead. However, it had the same problem as the 64C. But then I noticed the SID isn't working in the breadbox unit.

This morning I was kind of thinking.. I heard once that the SID in the 64C runs on 5V and the SID in the breadbox unit runs on 9V. I had used the same power supply on both the breadbox and 64C. Is it possible this could be a power-supply issue? I know the user-port also outputs 9V. I do not have a real Commodore modem to try. I did check with a voltmeter on the power supply and it read 8.75 V/AC on that line.. don't know if that is good or bad, and don't know what the amps are.

I have some other Commodore systems, including a 128D up in the attic I could test on. But what does it sound like to you guys?

Also, has anyone ever used a Plus/4 for Tel-BBS'ing? I think I had a copy of higgyterm for the Plus/4 somewhere.

[expertsetup]

Well I was having a bit of trouble today with my old rs232 adapter and home made null modem. As soon as I disabled hardware flow control it was golden. Before that I could only type from the commie to the PC.

[Jeff Ledger]

I have experience similar issues with a couple interfaces I use here.

Jeff

[expertsetup]

David any progress with the connection so far?

[David Murray]

David any progress with the connection so far?

No. I looked up the schematics to all the chips used inside. One thing I thought might be a problem was one of the chips shows inputs of 12V and -12V yet when I measured those with my voltmeter at the input, I got 8.25V and 0.25V, respectivly. However, none of the chips appear to be voltage regulators or charge-pumps or anything like that, so I'm not sure where those voltages are expected to come from since the C64 only outputs 5V and 9V to the userport. I replaced all the electrolytic capacitors on the PCB, but still no good. I got a different C64 power supply too, and tried that. still nothing. I also tried connecting the C64 to a totally different PC, but that didn't help. Same problem, the PC sends data to the C64, but nothing from the C64 to the PC.

However, on the bright side.. I was digging through boxes of Commodore stuff and unearthed something I didn't even know I had. I found a 1670 modem. Beats me where I got it as I can't remember ever aquiring it. (shows how much Commodore stuff I have in storage) So I decided to plug it up and it works. I called Cottonwood BBS, which is appearently the only dial-up Commodore BBS left in existence. So I got my BBS fix from that. But I'd still like to get the RS232 thing working as it costs about $1 everytime I call and connect. So checking a bulletin board once a day would generate me a $30 bill every month in long distance connection charges.

[cube]

I had a similar problem when using vice <-> tcpser under linux, but it seemed to happen sporatically - that is, the communication worked in both directions at first, and then all of a sudden it would drop one direction of data flow. Usually it was the (emulated) C64 that could still send to the PC terminal, but the PC terminal could not send to the (emulated) C64.

This might sound overly simple, but have you checked your Rx and Tx lines in your connection? If communication is only travelling in one direction, perhaps one of them is bad? Try rotating the Null Modem cable 180 degrees and see if the problem follows the cable. (IE: Now only the 64 can send to the PC, but not vice versa.) You could also plug both ends of the null modem cable into the two serial ports on your PC and set up terminals to use both COM1 and COM2 (or ttyS0 and ttyS1 for Linux) - It's an easy way to diagnose a serial cable... Yet another approach might be to try a [different] null modem cable...

John

[David Murray]

Try rotating the Null Modem cable 180 degrees and see if the problem follows the cable

Yep tried that. As I said in the earlier post, I have tried this with two PCs and it works fine. In fact, I even used BBS Server on one end and called a BBS from my laptop with the serial cable and it all worked. I am pretty sure it is just the RS232 adapter.

[wiskow]

I was having endless headaches trying to get a connection between my PC and C64 as well... I tried with two different PC's with BBS server, using an Omnitronix Deluxe RS-232 interface connected to the PC's serial port, and I just couldn't get anything to transfer between the PC and the C64. FINALLY, last night, I got a working connection! What ended up working for me in the end, and this is thanks to a tip from Snogpitch, was a USB-to-serial adapter, which I used on my laptop running Windows XP with BBS Server (I wanted to use the laptop initially, but couldn't since there was no serial port). The USB adapter set itself for COM 4, so I set BBS Server for COM 4, and like magic, I was able to type between CCGMS on the C64 and HyperTerminal on the PC! Then I tried connecting to a BBS, and it worked! I was so happy... ;D

-Andrew

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