Reading HP-67 cards...

[gr8patra]

Hi there,
I just purchased an HP-67 and I cannot get it read any cards. It looks like its card reader might not be calibrated correctly. I am not too familiar with the whole process so I would appreciate any input.
I set the calculator to RUN mode and slide the card. The card goes through and I don't see 'Crd' on the display so I don't pass the second track through. The display shows '0.00'. I then press any of the top keys 'A'-'E' and the display shows 'Error'.
I try the above procedure a few times, and after I also do a 'CL PRGM', but without any luck. I also went in to W/PRGM mode and deleted all '84' instructions from the calculator's memory manually (total newbie??? - sorry).
Any thoughts on what might be wrong?
Thanks,
Gr8Patra

[Vassilis Prevelakis]

1) get the HP-67 manual, its available on the MoHPC DVD collection

2) your card reader may need repair unless the person you bought it from has already fixed an age related problem. See this link http://www.rskey.org/hp67reader.htm

**vp

[David Smith]

Do you know what program is on the card? Sounds like the reader may be working properly and you are not giving the program the input that it wants.

[David Ramsey]

As another reply noted, it sounds as if your card reader might be working fine, and you're just using a blank card or a card with a program you don't understand on it.

Try this: enter a small program, record it to the card, then turn the calculator off and on and try to read the program back in. Here's how:

1. Turn calculator off, then on.

2. Slide upper right switch to "W/PGRM" position.

3. Type [f] SST A (that's the yellow "f" key, the key labelled "SST", then the key labelled "A")

4. Type ENTER 2 X R/S (4 keys total).

5. Slide the switch back to "RUN", enter any number, and press the "A" key.

If you've entered the program correctly, pressing the A key will double the number.

Now slide the switch back to "W/PRGM" and feed the card through. This will overwrite any program on the card, by the way!

If no error occurs, turn the calculator off, then back on. Enter a number and press the "A" key and notice that you now get the reciprocal of the number-- this is the default function.

Insert the card into the reader. When it's done, enter a number and press "A". If the number on the display is doubled, congratulation! Your card reader works perfectly.

[Vassilis Prevelakis]

David Ramsey wrote:

> it sounds as if your card reader might be working fine, and you're just

> using a blank card or a card with a program you don't understand on it.

If the card was blank, he'd get an Error. But more importantly if Gr8Patra cannot understand the meaning of the R/S instructions, telling him to "enter a program" is not exactly helpful.

This is why I told him to read the manual. At least this will prevent him for destroying things out of ignorance (e.g. reading a card while in W/PGRM mode and erasing it).

Please this is not intended as a critique on what David said. I just believe that while
the HP-67 is a great machine,
but you have to read the manual if you want to use it.

Its as simple as that.

Now the card reader repair site I added in my earlier posting is also giving info (and pictures) on how to determine if your card reader needs repair. Again this is something important as you can do even more damage to the machine and cards if you try to use a card reader with a degraded roller.

This is all part of the fun of using an antique.

**vp

[gr8patra]

Vassili,
This is a good suggestion. I think I'll get Dave's DVD with the manuals. This HP was from an auction I won on eBay and no manual came with it. Unfortunately, I wish I had posted the message earlier. It would have saved me from erasing a few cards in W/PRGM mode!!! But I still get the 'Error' message in RUN mode. It looks like the cards have lost their magnetic charge as they are so old. They are HP cards from official solution pacs but who know where the previous owner had them and how he took care of them. Oh well, that's what happens when one buys HP stuff on eBay. Live and learn.
Thanks for your input,
Patra

[Klaus_at_work]

Suerte! The cards from the solution Pacs have the corners removed, therefore they are write-protected. A Card reader with all switches working cannot overwrite those cards! So there is still hope....

[David Smith]

The cards will NOT erase themselves over time. If they did, all the appliction packs would be bad by now... and they are not.

[Jan]

Hi, The '84' instruction is in fact an R/S instruction which 'occupies' the program steps by default. If you switch on the calculator, put it in W/PRGM mode and press SST repeatedly you see 84 in every (numbered) program line: it simply has no meaning and is not part of some program whatsoever. It is also overwritten automatically when a program is loaded, either via the card reader or via the keyboard.
Your problem sounds more like a card problem. Magnetic storage media do not maintain the information stored on them indefinitely. Sooner or later information is lost. Exposure to temperatures higher than room-temperature speeds up this data loss process, (unintended) exposure to magnetic fields (transformers, permanent magnets etc) is sometimes instantly fatal. This has nothing to do (that means not necessarely) with a degradation of the card's materials but rather with a change of the magnetic structure of the actual storage material: the card is probably still writable and (of course) after rewriting also readible. It is possibly just the case that a program-code written on the card in "19 who nows when" has degraded below a level the 67 can handle.