Help with a spectrum ZX+2 NOT LOADING TAPES

[catheras]

Can any one help me please.

I recently bought a Spectrum ZX+2 which appears to be working to some degree in that the menu comes up as it should, but when I have tried to load the software cassette tapes for some reason they are not loading.

When I put them through the tape machine on the console there is no white noise, I have tried it via the loader screen I have also tried it via the 48k screen using L"", no joy. I also connected my old tape cassette Hi fi and plug my audio splitter into the back using the red and white connector and a 3.5mm jack into the spectrum sound inlet. When I did this I could here the white noise but the machine just stayed idle and nothing loaded.

Can anyone help me? I am not a technical type person so please any advice in very simple terms would be great. I am desperate to get this sorted as it was a present for my other half. I had looked online to get it repaired and the costs are looking at approx £40.00 including postage and I paid about that for the machine.

So any suggestions would be gratefully received. The person I bought it off has offered me a partial refund but it won't cover my costs so am a bit stuck as what to do. I just want the machine to work.

Please can you help

Catherine

[julie_m]

These computers were designed to work from the earphone output of a portable mono cassette player of the kind that were very commonly seen in the 1970s and 80s. Most of these required four "C" cells, giving a theoretical maximum output of 6V peak-to-peak. The Spectrum isn't fussy about distortion -- it just requires a good, strong signal to get it to work.

In 48K mode, LOAD is on the J key, and the double speech marks are symbol shift + P.

You should see alternate red and cyan in the border for silence or power hum; broad red and cyan stripes for the low-pitched pilot tones; and narrow yellow and blue stripes for the higher-pitched data. A file on cassette is built up as follows:

pilot tone -- header burst -- pilot tone -- data -- pilot tone

and a game will usually consist of three files; a short BASIC program, a picture screen which displays while the final section loads, and the machine code game proper.

Note that some games had "speed loaders" which bypassed the Spectrum's built-in tape handling routines and may have used different colours, but the stripe width is always inversely proportional to the pitch (since one colour actually represents a crest and the other represents a trough).

[Telleadict]

Hello Catherine

It's a long time since I used my Specy and I never progressed beond the model that needed an external tape player so don't know much about the internal tape deck but you could have a look here http://www.worldofspectrum.org/ There are collections of manuals and a forum just of speky fans so someone might be able to help.

Hope this is of some use.

Will

[catheras]

Hi.

When I have tried to load the tape no colours are showing. Do you think that buying a new cassette deck might just do the trick? do you think that there was not enough pitch coming from my hi fi stereo and thats why they did not load?

We tried the Load "" but still nothing, so I might see if I can get a cassette deck and try that. Worse ways I could take it back to the shop if no joy, what do you think? I am a complete spectrum novice my first computer was an Atari. I personally never had a spectrum so am a bit clueless.

Cath

[julie_m]

You probably need a bit more gain. The Spectrum is expecting a mono, speaker-level signal, not a line-level signal (but don't go crazy; half a watt is plenty). The best thing to use would be one of those 1980s-style, mono cassette recorders. You should feed the signal into the socket marked EAR; the one marked MIC is the output for SAVEing.

Is the LOAD "" command being accepted? You should get a blank screen, with a border which alternates slowly between red and cyan, and no prompt or error message (unless you press BREAK = caps shift + space).

Do you hear the sound from the tape coming through the Spectrum's internal speaker?

[catheras]

Brilliant thanks you have been really helpful would you happen to know if the following tape deck would be compatable with the spectrum it's just they appear to be quite easy to come by Sony TCM-939.

Thanks Again

Catherine

[Zelandeth]

Just a thought here - the ear and mic sockets on my Spectrum are very poorly labelled, generally resulting in trial-and-error being the only method to tell which was which - until I eventually stuck a bit of masking tape over the mic socket as I never used it.

Just a thought though - the tape deck's not plugged into the mic port on the spectrum is it - as that would definitely give a no-input condition.

Never seen a +2 though, so don't know if things are maybe better labelled than mine.

[ben]

I think there is some confusion here- the OP is referring to a model +2 which has an inbuilt cassette deck and no MIC & EAR jacks. AFAIK you cannot plug in an external cassette player.

First thing to do is to check the internal tape deck:
-do the spools turn in play, rewid and wind?
-play a known well-recorded music tape and turn up the tv volume. do you hear any sound?
-try a game cassette (test on a stereo first to check it is a good clear sound) and see what happens.

post back after those little tests and we'll take it from there,

[Dave Moll]

In case it helps at all, here is a picture of as much of the rear of my ZX Spectrum+2 as I could fit on my scanner (the only bit chopped off the end is the remainder of the printer connector).

The end socket (marked "tape/sound") would appear to be simply an output so that sound (either generated by the computer or from the internal cassette unit) can be fed into an external sound system, rather than through the TV displaying the video. There does not appear to be any way of feeding external sound into the computer.

[catheras]

Hi Ben,

The tape deck is spinning. Unfortunately I do not have an old music tape to test via the ZX+2, but I have played the game tapes on my old technics stereo and the white noise plays nice and clear off of that.

[Dave Moll]

Just to clarify - you're getting sound out of the "tape/sound" socket OK? If so, the tape deck is working.

One thought - does the sound from the internal deck sound badly distorted compared with that from the technics? I appreciate that it may be difficult to tell if you only have the sound of a data tape to go on, but there may be detectable audio artifacts.

[catheras]

Hi Dave

No I am only getting sound through the computer when I play the tape on my stereo. I attached an audio cable from my stereo with a red and a white prong one end and placed the 3.5mm jack into the sound/tape socket. Only then can you hear the white noise.

If I try and play the tape in the casette deck the tape spins and feeds as it should right till the end and will rewind or fast forward but will not load tapes either via the loader screen or the 48k screen. With the L"" option the tape will spin but there is no white noise and the screen does not flash or change colour.

Any thoughs on what I can do to resolve the problem? is it something that I myself can easily try and resolve or should I find someone to fix it with it? being Christmas I don't really want to post it off anywhere in case it goes astray. I was hoping to have it fixed so my other half could relive his youth at Christmas.

Kind Regards,

Catherine.

[ben]

hmm, sounds like there may be some problem here with the internal wiring.
before that, I would like to check one thing. you say you use L"", that is not a recognized command. ISTR that you can load software by pressing enter on the 'tape loader' option or going to 48 basic , pressing enter then pressing the J key (so you get LOAD on-scren) then "" (two quotes) then enter then press play. if these fail then we need to check inside. but try the above first

[catheras]

Hi Ben
sorry I meant the J key I put L for Load. Just a question the connection where you put the Tv aerial seems a bit iffy could this cause a problem with the computer loading and if so I have seen scart ended cables which plug into the PGB socket at the back do you think this may rectify the problem

Kind Regards

Catherine

[YT2095UK]

no, it would have no effect on it unless it was making a Lot of electrical noise (which won`t be the case), have you tried writing a simple program on it, and then Saving it to a blank tape (you may have to wind the tape on a little to get past the leader).
and then try loading this tape back into the computer again, you should do a reset before loading it back in to lose the original prog stored in mem.

[ben]

Originally Posted by catheras

the connection where you put the Tv aerial seems a bit iffy could this cause a problem with the computer loading and if so I have seen scart ended cables which plug into the PGB socket at the back do you think this may rectify the problem

nothing to do with the initial problem i'm afraid. try opening the case and see if the cables from the tape deck heads reach the main pcb ok. there may be a little plug you can disconnect and reconnect - cant recall, been decades since i've opened one..

also, one more thing....check the tape head is not loose. open the cassette deck, press play and see if the metal head comes forward Ok. I suppose someone could have twiddled its screws and loosened it too much...just a thought.

[catheras]

Would just like to thank everyone for your help I will try your last suggestion Ben and if it doesn't work will find a Spectrum Guy who can fix it.

Thanks again and I wish you all a merry christmas

Catherine