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Tape problems

andrewhandrewh
edited September 2012 in Sinclair Miscellaneous
I have finally got round to resurrecting my 16K Spectrum, but cannot get any success in loading software.

I am plugging it into the headphone port on my PC and playing a .wav, which I converted from a .tap downloaded from WoS. It goes through the process, loads the screen, gets to the end, and the dreaded "Tape loading error" appears. The same .wav works fine loaded into Fuse.

Any suggestions for what I've missed?
Post edited by andrewh on

Comments

  • LCDLCD
    edited September 2012
    andrewh wrote: »
    I have finally got round to resurrecting my 16K Spectrum, but cannot get any success in loading software.

    I am plugging it into the headphone port on my PC and playing a .wav, which I converted from a .tap downloaded from WoS. It goes through the process, loads the screen, gets to the end, and the dreaded "Tape loading error" appears. The same .wav works fine loaded into Fuse.

    Any suggestions for what I've missed?

    Maybe the signal is too weak? Or you had your mobile phone near the audio cable? Or another PC program made output to audio port (error message with beep)?
    By the way, you can use "Tapir" to play the TAP or TZX directly to headphone/Speaker output without need to convert it to WAV first.
    16K? Is it possible that the Program was nut supposed to run with 16K only?
  • Battle BunnyBattle Bunny
    edited September 2012
    That was my first thought as well. "Will the program run in 16k?" If you haven't done so already, select the 16k option in Fuse and check that the program still works. If the SCREEN$ gives strong & constant loading bars then the level should be OK.

    --

    16k programs can be found by using the Infoseek "Advanced Search" page and selecting the appropriate Memory option.
  • fogfog
    edited September 2012
    remember the spectrum ear is mono... your pc out is stereo so that might cause issue

    also anything that enhances the sound on the pc will / may cause issue .. even a thing to stop the headphone volume deafening you that more new devices have installed.

    my old pc is fine to preserve tapes from, but my new one is a proper mare :)

    or on the spectrum itself the springy connector for the ear not being tight , I've have had a few speccy's with iffy ear connectors AND iffy leads also.
  • guesserguesser
    edited September 2012
    EDIT: misread, yes it sounds rather like it's not a 16k title
    My rubbish website including the redrawn Amstrad schematics and the Sinclair Wiki.
  • Battle BunnyBattle Bunny
    edited September 2012
    One other possibility is a memory fault, so that the available RAM is less than 16k. The ROM startup routine sets P_RAMT to the address of the last good byte, so on a 16k Spectrum PEEK 23732 + 256*PEEK 23733 should give 32767.
  • andrewhandrewh
    edited September 2012
    I suppose the level could have been too low, but the loading bars look fine.

    I am definintely running 16K software (proven with Fuse). Also using a mono cable (made the stereo cable mistake last week).

    PRINT PEEK 23732 + 256*PEEK 23733 gives 32767, so memory looks good.

    On another note, I remember in my dim and distant memory that I used to be able to hear the tape load. Did the sound come from the cassette player, or did it come from the Spectrum speaker?
  • djgarfdjgarf
    edited September 2012
    most if not all cassette players disable the loud speaker when you plug a cable into the headphone socket
  • SaltorSaltor
    edited September 2012
    Try also to disable microphone in PC audio card.
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