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1000TL Help

E

Eagle Kammback

Member
Joined
Feb 18, 2009
Messages
19
Location
Pennsville, NJ
I can't get past the startup screen
it starts off showing A:
I type in C: which gets me to the C drive, but I need to get to the main DOS screen, and I can't figgure it out, I type in DOS and it says it isn't a valid file/command or something like that
001-6.jpg

002-9.jpg
 
See my above comment about poping out the floppy. I think you and I were posting about the same time.
 
Does this computer have a hard drive?

If not, then A: is the floppy drive, and C: is the ROM drive containing the startup files for DOS and DeskMate. The contents of the ROM drive cannot be changed or deleted.

If it does have a hard drive, then C: is the hard drive's contents, and the ROM drive is the D: drive. However I believe if you install a non-Tandy version of DOS on the hard drive, then the ROM drive disappears.

To configure your 1000TL's startup options, download and run the Tandy 1000TL setup program from the following web page:

http://www.oldskool.org/guides/tvdog/setups.html

It will allow you to choose to boot either from the floppy drive, ROM drive, or hard drive (if equipped), and to boot to the DOS prompt or to the DeskMate graphical interface (the "blue screen" that you might be referring to). When in doubt, choose the option to restore all the setting to the factory defaults. The factory default is to boot from the ROM drive and to start up in DeskMate.

Note that when a Tandy 1000RL/SL/TL-series is configured to boot from the ROM drive or hard drive, then it does not check the floppy drive for a boot disk at all -- therefore Chuck's suggestion does not apply (sorry!).

To get to DeskMate from the DOS prompt, type DESK and hit Enter.
 
So much to know, so little time!! <bow> yep, I had forgotten about the ROM being the C drive. The fact that typing c: worked threw me off. I had originally posted "type desk instead of dos" but went back and edited my entire post, thinking he had a C: drive. I have enough Tandy 1100FDs, 1400s, and 1500HDs sitting around to know better.

(too bad a working 1500HD battery is so tough to find :( or so expensive )
 
vwestlife said:
Does this computer have a hard drive?

If not, then A: is the floppy drive, and C: is the ROM drive containing the startup files for DOS and DeskMate. The contents of the ROM drive cannot be changed or deleted.

If it does have a hard drive, then C: is the hard drive's contents, and the ROM drive is the D: drive. However I believe if you install a non-Tandy version of DOS on the hard drive, then the ROM drive disappears.

To configure your 1000TL's startup options, download and run the Tandy 1000TL setup program from the following web page:

http://www.oldskool.org/guides/tvdog/setups.html

It will allow you to choose to boot either from the floppy drive, ROM drive, or hard drive (if equipped), and to boot to the DOS prompt or to the DeskMate graphical interface (the "blue screen" that you might be referring to). When in doubt, choose the option to restore all the setting to the factory defaults. The factory default is to boot from the ROM drive and to start up in DeskMate.

Note that when a Tandy 1000RL/SL/TL-series is configured to boot from the ROM drive or hard drive, then it does not check the floppy drive for a boot disk at all -- therefore Chuck's suggestion does not apply (sorry!).

To get to DeskMate from the DOS prompt, type DESK and hit Enter.
Click to expand...

Not quite. Even when booted from non-Tandy DOS, the ROMdrive still appears at C: or D:. The floppy is also always available as a boot device, no matter which way it's set up.

OP: When at the DOS prompt, type C:\Desk<enter> and you should see the familiar screen.

--T
 
Terry Yager said:
Not quite. Even when booted from non-Tandy DOS, the ROMdrive still appears at C: or D:.
Click to expand...
From what I've heard, if you upgrade to non-Tandy DOS 5.0 or any DOS 6.0 or higher, the ROM drive will become inaccessible. I haven't tried that to confirm.

The floppy is also always available as a boot device, no matter which way it's set up.
Click to expand...
At least on my 1000RL, the boot device that you choose in the Tandy setup program is the one it will use... period. If I set it to boot from either the hard drive or ROM drive, it will not check the A: floppy drive for a boot disk.

However, you can set it to check for CONFIG.SYS and/or AUTOEXEC.BAT on either the A: or C: (hard) drive, even when booting from the ROM drive (D:). I have mine set to boot from ROM but check the hard drive for AUTOEXEC.BAT. That's faster than booting completely off the hard drive. DeskMate is especially faster when initially loading off of the RAM drive instead of the hard drive.
 
Eagle Kammback said:
I guess so then, I remember it was a blue screen with a bunch of selections, that , if I recall correctly, were numbered and got highlighted in gray
Click to expand...

That kinda sounds like the startup screen you got on the HX. There were four options if I remember right. I don't think the the later xL models have that menu.
 
vwestlife said:
At least on my 1000RL, the boot device that you choose in the Tandy setup program is the one it will use... period. If I set it to boot from either the hard drive or ROM drive, it will not check the A: floppy drive for a boot disk.
Click to expand...

OK, so now you have me questioning my notoriously questionable memory. And since I'm fresh out of Tandys to check...:confused:

--T
 
I have a TL/2 coming, real soon now. If I remember, which is highly unlikely, I will look into the setup stuff re: flop A:
 
here is a video of her starting
going to C: and typing desk worked
I get to this
S7300020.jpg

I remember this screen, but I remember there was a whole selection of things to use on there
now, whenever I try to do anything, I get a message similar to this
S7300021.jpg
 
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To supplement to Terry's suggestion, try typing CD\DESKMATE first before typing DESK. If that gets everything back to normal, then you just need to double-check your settings in the TL Setup program and in AUTOEXEC.BAT.

If that doesn't work, and you know that your Tandy has a hard drive installed, then it may have lost the ability to access the hard drive, and it is just showing the ROM drive as C: (normally with a hard drive, the hard drive would be C: and the ROM drive would be D: ).

The ROM drive just contains the core files needed to start DOS and DeskMate; it does not contain the full installation of either, therefore attempting to access any of the applications, such as TEXT, will result in that message you photographed.

If you have a copy of Tandy DOS on a floppy disk, pop it in and type A:FDISK. If it reports "No fixed disks present" when you're supposed to have a hard drive, then you have some further diagnosis ahead of you to get it working again. If FDISK comes up with a menu, choose "Display partition information" and tell us what it shows.

If you don't have a copy of DOS, download the Tandy 1000TL disk images from this site:

http://www.oldskool.org/guides/tvdog/system.html

Now find three double-density (720K) disks to copy the disk images onto. If you don't have any 720K disks, you can make some out of 1.44MB high density disks by covering up the hole on the opposite side of the write protect tab with a piece of opaque tape, then reformatting them as 720K.
 
Last edited:
search

search

This might be a dumb comment, but have you let it search the entire system, or dropped to dos to do a dir /s to see if the file is actually there ?
patscc
 
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