Help with 41CL and printer

[twoweims]

I have just completed an installation of a 41CL board.
Everything seems to work fine so far.
I am able to plug and unplug modules and they work OK.

I have YFNZ plugged into port 1L per the instructions.

My 82143A Printer only works when plugged into port 2.
It prints garbage when plugged into port 3 or 4.

I am just getting started with the CL so it must be operator error.
Any troubleshooting wisdom would be appreciated.

Thanks

[BobVA]

Well, it "should work" - I just tried mine on Port 3. In case it's of any use in your trouble-shooting:

Here's my startup sequence from MEMORY LOST - the plain vanilla 41CL setup:

XEQ ALPHA MMUCLR ALPHA
ALPHA YFNZ ALPHA XEQ ALPHA PLUG1L ALPHA
XEQ ALPHA MMUEN ALPHA

I have nothing in port 1 (serial connector on that cover) and a Time Module in port 2.

Maybe some areas to consider:

Have you tried any other modules in the ports that don't work with the printer? If they act weird it may be a hardware / connection issue.

Does the printer cable seem to seat properly in the other ports? Can you see the printer in the CAT 2 listing when it's plugged into the other ports?

If you have any other modules plugged in it might be useful to remove them and see what happens.

[twoweims]

I think you are right about it being a connection or hardware issue. I plugged in the card reader from my 41CV and it does not show up in cat 2. It seems to be something in common with port 3 and 4. The printer works fine in port 1 and 2.

I really hate to disassemble it again for fear of stripping the posts.

[BobVA]

You might try gently squeezing the calculator halves together in the area over the upper / battery block connector and see if that makes port 3 and 4 start behaving.
If so, you can try cleaning that connector, or just gently tightening the upper screws, but yeah, there's always the risk of damaging the posts.

There's a variety of techniques for repairing the screw posts if it comes to that. I had luck with this approach with some cautions here.

[twoweims]

I have ordered upper and lower post repair kits from the calculator store.
I'm not going to take it apart until I get the parts. I'm fairly certain you are right about the upper flexible connector being loose.

Since this is a 41CL, I am not actually using the physical ports for anything. The printer works in port 2 just fine. I have ROM images plugged into ports 3 and 4 and they are working just fine.

[BobVA]

(10-21-2019 12:39 AM)twoweims Wrote:  ...Since this is a 41CL, I am not actually using the physical ports for anything. The printer works in port 2 just fine. I have ROM images plugged into ports 3 and 4 and they are working just fine.

AFAIK that should work. I think if you had some kind of conflict with page 6 the printer wouldn't work in *any* physical port, so it does sound like hardware.

Before you take it apart you might try a hard reset (to MEMORY LOST) then try the printer with just the YFNZ module loaded, as you described in your first post, and no other ROMs (if you haven't tried this already). I'd be surprised if that fixed it, but it's worth a try.

Do post and let us know how the repair goes and what you think of that approach!