Issues after taking RC2014 out of storage

[Joseph Robles Jr.]

I purchased and built a rc2014 classic 2 in 2019. I built it more to say that I could do it than to use it. I am now a computer science student and wanted to try messing around with programing for it. The computer has been in storage for 2 years, but I believe that it worked when I packed it. 

When I try to connect to the rc2018 over the provided serial to USB interface, I get garbled text. Is my rom corrupted? What should I do differently? 

I would appreciate any help or suggestions.

I have it in the stock configuration, but I do have the CPM upgrades to add on to it. 

[Mark T]

You might have the terminal emulator set to the wrong baud rate, check you have 115200 baude, 8 bits, no parity, in the serial settings of your terminal emulator.

[Joseph Robles Jr.]

After making sure that the emulator was indeed set this way, there was no change. 

[Phil G]

Joseph,  does the terminal show the exact same 'garbage' message every time you press 'reset'?  

and after the garbage does it print nothing until the next reset?   Are you using the same FTDI adapter as you did 2 years ago?

Have you tried re-seating the chips, the pins can oxidise in storage.  

If you hold it very close, can you detect a harmonic of the 7.3728 clock at 95.85 on a domestic FM radio?

The Classic 2 is a really simple design, so whatever the problem it cant be much.  How has it been stored, 

could it have been squashed under something heavy, maybe bending pins?

[Robert Price]

I had something similar when I got my RC2014 Classic ][ out again after not using it for a year or so. In my case, I found I had some solder joints that had failed. The RC2014 had been my first big soldering project and it showed. Reflowing the solder with a hot iron brought the RC2014 back to life. It also looks a lot neater now.