Pictures:

http://i54.tinypic.com/2w3dljc.jpg
http://i51.tinypic.com/2n8x0ll.jpg
http://i52.tinypic.com/1zqbvco.jpg
http://i54.tinypic.com/inuama.jpg
http://i51.tinypic.com/k51kxv.jpg
http://i53.tinypic.com/xlc8sg.jpg
http://i55.tinypic.com/scwd50.jpg
http://i55.tinypic.com/34gvj2u.jpg
http://i54.tinypic.com/118kv43.jpg

The "Syntax Error" part is if you hit Enter and you have numbers mixed with letters. Otherwise, it does the memclear like alberthrocks said. If it comes up with Syntax Error, it doesn't auto-clear the memory.

*Sorry for poor picture quality - these were taken during a car ride.

Did you type any of those? If not, those might be a clue for me! In fact, that's giving me some ideas already... Also, did you see my explanation of what that DCS warning screen means?

I only typed the 9's and onward - everything else before the 9's was NOT me (don't even know HOW to type them ).

*Yeah, saw that - but went ahead and just posted every picture I had. Better to have excess that isn't needed then not have enough and not know how to fix the bug.

Hey Kerm, what does Doors use prgmecas for, when does it get deleted, and did you encounter a Syntax (I think) Error upon hitting the Up arrow sometime when running prgmCave?

OK, you didn't type the S, then? Here's what that text before the 9999s equates to in hex:

05 1F 1F 1F 1F 1F 1F 1F 1F 01 51 AB 01 52 AC 01 53

Just for fun, I checked my disassembly tables, since I find that 51/52/53 progression very suspicious, and that's:


Code:


That doesn't make too much sense code-wise, but 51/AB, 62/AC, and 53(AD?) stinks of organized data that's partially being kept somewhere or partially being overwritten somewhere. Interestingly enough, MOS and DCS and others keeps a few random trinkets of data on the homescreen text backup RAM area, but as far as I know in every case either it gets cleaned up or the TI-OS doesn't care. Could be something new in 2.53MP that suddenly cares.

Doors CS needs to store programs it copies from Archive to RAM in some temporary programs. They get named as follows:
Code:
The former name is for normal programs; the latter is for AP files that get copied to RAM. The 'z' gets replaced with 'z'+(progchain index) in case multiple AP files are open at the same time. Similarly, the 'd' gets replaced with 'd'+(progchain index). Since the index is 1 for a single standalone program, that gives us prgmecsa, since for book-keeping purposes DCS makes sure the Archive and RAM copies have the same name length, even if the names are not identical. I have not encountered a Syntax Error, but if you have, that could also be a definite hint towards tracking this down!

Edit: Bad news slash frustrating news. Couldn't replicate the Syntax Error thing, and neither Doors CS nor Double Dragon contain hex that matches that particular sequence. Ztrumpet, can you give me more details?

Is there anything I should do to try and turn up more "clues"?

You ran DDRAGON from the homescreen as an archived program, then pressed Apps, 2, and ran AAAA from Doors CS as an unarchived program?

Yes (well, pressed 3 on Apps screen....... ). But to get it work I had to RAM clear, make prgmAAAA, then start DCS7, run DDRAGON from homescreen, then get back into DCS and run AAAA from there.

Other combinations of the order of things didn't work for some reason.

And it is replicable over and over with the same steps? :S What hardware revision is your calculator? Your program AAAA is just:


Code:
?

Yes, it's replicable whenever I do those 6 steps in that order.

I don't know how to check that.

Yes, that is all AAAA is.

Just take a look at the engraving on the back of your calculator. The number is divided into two parts; tell me about the second piece. Mine is 0206F, for instance.

Edit: Crosspost from the Suggestions topic:

Probably something like dithering. At a cost of 49 bytes on Page 0, leaving the following margins, I added this feature:


Code:

P-0310P

Ah, so you have one of the latest revisions. I'm wondering if because MP uses one of the extra RAM page (?) for its annoying manipulations of the homescreen, programs that happen to use that cause problems, but I don't know what DDRAGON does, and in fact I'd be surprised if it used any extra RAM.

Is there anything else I can do (regarding using DDRAGON or something) t help advance an understanding of this problem?

And yes, I'm currently on a 20-min break for band, so I'm not skipping. (*no sarcasm/disgust there*)

Could you try other ASM programs and let us no what chars are on the homescreen if they are different?

Using "AXEMAZE" (from Cemetech Archives), some of the letters are different.

Everything is the same as before, except that:

- Q is now H
- ù (forward hash) is now ó (backward hash)
- R is now I
- û (^) is now ò (forward hash)
- S is now J

*EDIT* I will keep trying other ASM programs later (get to eat Mac&Cheese now ) and edit if there are any other changes in the characters (ad well as note which program it was ).

05 1F 1F 1F 1F 1F 1F 1F 1F 01 48 A2 01 49 A3 01 4A

So those five hex groupings each increased by nine, while the 01s, the 1Fs, and the 05 stayed the same. I am mystiflabbered. I wish I could reproduce this on an emulator.

What else can I do? Should I run through all the ASM games in the archives and post what each one does?

I hate that I've helped make the problem worse/more confusing.

On the contrary, you've made the problem better/less confusing! In the short run I am confused what this evidence indicates, but every bit of additional information will help me in the long run, and I find the pattern that's getting generated here very interesting. I suspect that if I could track down what's generating these, I would be much closer to the solution, and I have several possible methodologies in mind for doing so. If you could try another program or two, I would be interested in any possible meta-pattern that might emerge.

Etch-a-sketch
Killed RAM (didn't give weird symbol output)

PONG
J ô K ö L

RushHour
U ù V û W

FONT
W ü X (ʕ or ҁ or something like that, couldn't find it on MS Word's Symbol insertion thing) Y

GrayMine
H ó I ò J

mt3
6 Ë 7 é 8

PI
L ó M ò N

Velox
Calc froze up, had to take out batteries, RAM cleared