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Urban Speccy Myth

stupidgetstupidget
edited May 2003 in Games
I remember many moons ago my mate telling me that there was some RANDOMIZE USR command that would destroy your speccy!!!!

Is there any truth in this is, or is it as about as believable as there being a new Sinclair system being released!!!!!
Post edited by stupidget on
Sausages is more important

Comments

  • thx1138thx1138
    edited May 2003
    It's bollocks.

    There is a one line routine which turns all the text to gobbledegook, but of course as soon as you switch the machine off and on again, it stops it.
  • ArjunArjun
    edited May 2003
    And plug and play doesn't work in Speccy! As many specchums would attest, plugging in ur joystick interface into the speccy while it's on is defintely a BAD thing!
    Zero - A modern Spectrum emulator for Windows.
    Bytes:Chuntey - Spectrum tech blog.
  • LCDLCD
    edited May 2003
    I heard that there are also POKEs that could send a Spectrum into grave, but the RANDOMIZE and POKEs of death are completly untrue urban legends. It is only possible to crash the Spectrum with them.
  • Javier Alca?izJavier Alca?iz
    edited May 2003
    I remember to quit the interface to my old 48k+ by accident.. I thought computer was turned off when was on.

    fortunately nothing bad hapenned (or happent?) but I was very worried.
  • Alessandro TommasiAlessandro Tommasi
    edited May 2003
    Yes, I also removed a kempston interface by mistake. Nothing at all happened, leading me to the sadly untrue opinion that plugging it in while the computer was on was harmless as well... Damned the day I tried for the simple sake of experimentation...
  • Neil^PNeil^P
    edited May 2003
    According to an article in a computer magazine, there were a few very early computers that could be damaged by typing the wrong commands.
    It said that one early PET machine could go up in smoke if you poked above a certain address.
    Don't know if it's true, but it was in a "serious" computer mag, so maybe.
  • Alessandro TommasiAlessandro Tommasi
    edited May 2003
    Wasn't the Amiga known to be vulnerable to viruses which could cause hardwar damage? (might as well be a myth, but if I'm not mistaken some friend had to send his away for repairs after such an event).

    I was young and anti-commodore, though, at the time. :)
  • thezxfilesthezxfiles
    edited May 2003
    I did hear that in the 80's there were viruses which would destroy monitors. A program was written so that pixels were displayed on the screen brighter that is usually allowed by the machine. Fill the whole screen with these pixels would cause permanent phosphor burn, resulting in an unusable monitor. Monitors thesedays are far more robust, and I doubt they is any virus available nowadays that could damage hardware.
  • DominoDave1DominoDave1
    edited May 2003
    Here's a true blast from the past.

    Wasn't it the Camputers(sp?) Lynx that you could seriously damage by poking an address. For some reason the number 700 is floating about my head, but it was 20 years ago.

    DaveG
  • thx1138thx1138
    edited May 2003
    I dont really have anything earlier than a Commodore PEt - and mines super expanded.


    For those that really, really want to dig around for examples of this - myth/reality you could try looking here.

    http://www.old-computers.com/news/default.asp

    but I am off down the pub. Bye :)

  • ADJBADJB
    edited May 2003
    There are a small number of viruses on the PC platform which try and inflict physical damage. There payloads vary but include overwriting the bios, using rapid disc access to try and kill the drive and constant changing of screen resolution to try and screw the monitor. None of these really worked except the bios killer but this was extreamly limited as it was only applicable to a very small number of motherboards and they all had coding errors.


  • Dynamite DanDynamite Dan
    edited May 2003
    As far as I know it was not possible to destroy Speccy by typing a program.

    Commodore Amiga can be sent to grave this way, but I have never tried it. :) Any volunteers?
  • thx1138thx1138
    edited May 2003
    Yes. Oooh me, me.

    I have a couple of spare ones kicking about underneath my pinball table.

    What do I have to do? :)
  • SharopolisSharopolis
    edited May 2003
    On 2003-05-08 13:28, thx1138 wrote:
    Yes. Oooh me, me.

    I have a couple of spare ones kicking about underneath my pinball table.

    What do I have to do? :)
    THIS should be interesting. I wanna see pictures.
    If anyone knows how to destroy a C64 in the same way, I'll give it a bash.
  • stevensteven
    edited May 2003
    thx1138,

    If you do manage to nuke one and it's a 1200, can I have the bottom part of its case? Mine has a hole drilled in it :)

    Steve.
  • na_th_anna_th_an
    edited May 2003
    You could break your Inves Spectrum + poking somewhere a certain value. It killed the ULA. I'll do some research and post here the evil POKE :)
  • ArjunArjun
    edited May 2003
    Kill a speccy with a poke? U can't be serious nathan!
    Zero - A modern Spectrum emulator for Windows.
    Bytes:Chuntey - Spectrum tech blog.
  • na_th_anna_th_an
    edited May 2003
    I read about that in an old Spanish Magazine (Microhobby) that was very serious. It was some kind of early bug. A design bug made that putting a certain value in _that_ memory address caused the ULA to perform some kind of action which made burn itself. Inves Spectrums where far from perfect clones, and they were built using cheap components and stuff.

    I still have to find the magazine and post here the text. :)
  • TygerBCTygerBC
    edited May 2003
    I know earlier Speccies without heat sinks used to overheat and crash, usually if left on too long...did anyone's ever burn out completely? Usually it would just lock with usual random graphics, colours and flashes. Occasionally this would be accompanied by something like a low-frequency beep which used to scare me...i'd reach for the plug so fast thinking the damn thing was about to explode.
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