The Sinclair QL Forum

Oh dear. I mentioned elsewhere about a QL related 'haul' of goodies. Included was an original Gold Card 2.

It looked in great condition so I fished it out of it's PC style setup and was keen to try it in my BBQL. I was careful to plug it in etc (not powered up or anything silly!)

And nothing with it plugged in, no sign of any signal going to the TV I use and nothing in the way of the usual initial multi-coloured screen.

I unplugged it and the QL started as normal. Checked the pins on the expansion connector, tried a few times plugging it in and out etc.

And now the QL won't boot even without the old Gold Card! Same as before, no sign of life on the TV and no multicoloured screen. Re-setting has no effect (the yellow power light is on).

What can I check/do? This is my daily BBQL here!

Have you checked it over for 5 volt mods?

The chips on the BBQL you mean? Is there handy list of which pins and other locations?

What was the gold card used in? If it was a PC, it’s been modified for 5 volts not 9! What is on the back?

No it was a normal QL board in a PC housing. Looks like a normal unmodded GC.

How was it powered in the case?

I just powered it up again and can verify that at the GC regulator there is 9.65v in and just over 5v out, so it's getting power.

Has anyone got the rom/bin file for the GC2.2.27 ROM? I just pulled that out and checked it and the last part of the data is all FF, then right at the end there is a weird looking C9 22 36 DD, but even if that's corrupted I don't suppose it would kill it like this.

vanpeebles wrote:How was it powered in the case?

It was plugged into an expansion bus-doubler thing, along with a HDD interface thingy. Just that, nothing else going to it (apart from the FDD cable).

I got it working!

Somehow the old Gold had killed my ZX8301 Chip! Swapped it for the one in the Spanish QL and now the main BBQL is up and running.

And also the main power connector had gone totally loose.

I'd be interested to try to understand what caused a GC to do that. Or could it also be due to the loose power connector on the PCB?

Don’t try that gold card until you have some other thoughts on it!