Hello!
I would offer an opinion!
From your statements;
<1>we cannot get the START.com or INIT.com programs to work. START returns "RTX not ready", but then says the library has been installed permanently(?). <2>INIT returns "RTX Cannot be initialized" with an error code of $11 (COMMS_NOT_READY) but we did see $20 (NO_RESPONSE) at one point. We have tried running the programs under Win XP command window, and also from a DOS boot disk with the same result.I would address the communication error,<2>, because, if your can not communicate, no file will help you<1>, and it may appear that the program running under the windows or dos is not working.
The only alternative I see, is that, find a similar program on the internet as work form that information; or,
take out the ROM, read it, and try to debug/analyze the program to find the problem. If the ROM has
been corrupted, no amount of work on the system will help. If you could obtain a master ROM file from
somewhere, reprogram one, then put that into your system board, that may work. The last ditch effort is
to "
hyjack" the ROM slot with your own program, and force the robot to run your dedicated program.
Alot of work, either way, good luck. Keep me posted...............