Hmm interesting.

Btw this is shocking how the TI presenter costed like $300 when Casio now offers a similar tool for the Prizm for free...

Dumping the flash drive only extracts the upper 16 mb of the flash chip. If the FAT table was reformatted it could be possible though to use the extra 4 mb that the OS doesn't use, but that could cause incompatibility issues in the future. I think the best bet is to either wait for Casio to make an SD card version of the Prizm or we make a usb flash drive application.

Hey, I just found out how to enter the test mode without using an add-in (that is, no syscall interface needed):

1) Turn on your calculator by pressing [OPTN]+[EXP]+[AC/ON]
2) As soon as the popup window appears*, quickly type in: 5963
3) Et Voilà, the test mode shows up

And this doesn't reboot the calculator when leaving.

*) Press [F1] for the diagnostic mode.

Hey, I just found out how to enter the test mode without using an add-in (that is, no syscall interface needed):

1) Turn on your calculator by pressing [OPTN]+[EXP]+[AC/ON]
2) As soon as the popup window appears*, quickly type in: 5963
3) Et Voilà, the test mode shows up

And this doesn't reboot the calculator when leaving.

*) Press [F1] for the diagnostic mode.

I guess the question we all have to ask is how did you figure this out?

2) As soon as the popup window appears*, quickly type in: 5963

There's not much point in doing it, but this is also reproducible when calling the diagnostics mode from Insight. After answering F1 on Insight's prompt, quickly press 5963 (if using the emulator, you should use the mouse to click on the keys). Note how it has a timeout, if you don't press another key in the sequence quickly, it reboots. Verified on the 1.02 emulator.

Now, more importantly... are there any differences between this test mode and the one available through the syscall? The syscall takes a parameter; has its meaning been revealed yet? And something that has kept me wondering for months and may be related to the high number of Prizms dying: is there something that permanently changes in the system as soon as the test or diagnostic modes are accessed (like, some bit set in flash)?

I had a look at a few things. Here's a small summary.

fx-9860G/GII:
The test mode is syscall 0x0924 and there is no parameter.
The diagnostic mode is syscall 0x0176 and there is no parameter.

In OS 2.02.0200, syscall 0x0176 is no longer available and returns immediately.
However, this function can be found at address 0x8002F0C4. It takes one argument R4 that skips the initial "factory use only" window and enters the diagnostic mode if it is set to zero.


fx-CG10/20:
The test mode is syscall 0x0EA7 and there is one parameter.
If the argument R4 is set to zero, the VRAM is overwritten and not restored.

The diagnostic mode is not available as a syscall.
However, in OS 2.00.0200 this function can be found at address 0x8011D054. It takes one argument R4 that skips the initial "factory use only" window and enters the diagnostic mode if it is set to zero.

Now, more importantly... are there any differences between this test mode and the one available through the syscall?

There is one branch from the "factory use only" window into the test mode with R4 set to zero. Obviously, this is what happens when you type in 5963.

And something that has kept me wondering for months and may be related to the high number of Prizms dying: is there something that permanently changes in the system as soon as the test or diagnostic modes are accessed (like, some bit set in flash)?

I did not check on this, but the test and diagnostic main menus do not seem to do any flash writing. However, there are quite a few RAM values that are read and written and I can't say if these values will be reset when leaving those menus or when rebooting the calculator.

Holy necropost, Batman!

Sounds like a bad habit... but if a topic still provides accurate information that is neither wrong nor outdated, I don't see any reason why someone should open a new topic.

Here are a few more key combos:

[1]+[3]+[AC/ON] -> Reset OK? Initialize all.
- Also works under fx-9860GII OS 2.02 and 2.04 (SH-4A)

[F2]+[Up]+[AC/ON], then [9] -> User name will be deleted. OK?
- Writes an empty password file to 0x80BE0000
- Keys [F1] and [F6] are not checked
- Available since Prizm OS 1.04

[OPTN]+[EXP]+[AC/ON], then [F1] followed by [9] -> Invokes the diagnostic mode.
[OPTN]+[EXP]+[AC/ON], then 5963 or 5964 -> Invokes the test mode.
- 5963 works in all non-ClassPad OSes
- 5964 creates an SD card file containing all ROM data, then invokes the test mode
- 5964 first appeared in fx-9860G OS 1.02 and has been removed in OS 2.02 and 2.04 (SH-4A)
- As of Prizm OS 1.02, 5963 is identical to 5964
- Earlier Prizm OSes include a similar SD card routine, but it has no effect

The routine processing these key combinations also checks that the [EXE] key is not pressed.

I checked the entire thread and there is still one known key combo missing:

- Press [F2]+[4]+[AC/ON]+RESTART at the same time
- Release RESTART and continue pressing the remaining keys for a few seconds
- Press [9] for a second
- Press [X] (multiplication) for a second

This will display the message "OS ERROR" which activates the boot code's emergency OS updater.

---

When you press [OPTN]+[EXP]+[AC/ON]+RESTART on an fx-9860GII/fx-9750GII/fx-7400GII with SH-4A architecture, then it will display the message "OS ERROR" as well.