Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!cs.utexas.edu!usc!zaphod.mps.ohio-state.edu!caen!news.cs.indiana.edu!msi.umn.edu!noc.MR.NET!gacvx2.gac.edu!hhdist From: TNAN0@CCVAX.IASTATE.EDU Newsgroups: comp.sys.handhelds Subject: RE: Battery test. Message-ID: Date: 21 Feb 91 02:44:00 GMT Lines: 41 Return-path: To: handhelds@gac.edu X-VMS-To: IN%"handhelds@gac.edu" When my calculator (ver. D) was new, I had two bars (one under each 210V). When my calculator's batteries got low, I had the following: ESD 210V 210V | | | | ~~~ This bar flashed sporadically, then stayed on... With new batteries, I get NO bars... I can only assume this means that the bars indicate varying levels of... Hold on, I just figured it out! Ok, the: 210 represents ports 2, 1, and 0 (system). If NO cards are present, port 2 always gets bars under it (under both 2's) -- Why? I dunno... See if this happens on yours... (If not, perhaps there is something wrong with my port 2). Rom cards always return good voltage (or so it seems). RAM cards will show bars if their batteries are low and port 0 will show bars if the AAA batteries are low. Apparently, the bar on the left is a real-time display of the test (for example, if the batteries are semi-low, these bars may flash as the test passes and fails). The bars on the right latch a failed test on the left. In other words, if at any time during the test, a port fails, the bar on the left will flash and the bar on the right will stay on. Can someone confirm these results? (Whether or not bars ever appear under the ESD or Vs I cannot tell... Does Jim's book mention what these represent?) So, basically, the 2 is P2, the 1 is P1, and the 0 is S in the LowBat(S,P1,P2) message... Apparently, the readings you get without cards in the ports are not reliable. They change from "bar" to "nobar" to "flashing bar" depending on the level of the batteries in the 48sx and some function of cosmic ray intensity... ---Xeno P.S. My Smith-Corona 32K card is still running GREAT, with no errors of any type. I've tried it with weak and strong batteries (and with no backup battery in the card) and it still has its memory intact... However, I have NOT performed a great number of WRITE operations to it... I think I'm going to create a program to hit it with thousands of write/reads and see if the data stays intact... I'll report my results as soon as I can... Oh yeah, and mine has the sticker with the instructions on the back.