Wait a second .... now F1 stopped working, I still think it was an accidental error. When the Fdd PCB is disconnected from the motherboard then HitBit Art starts. When connected it loads straight to the basic. So most likely, unfortunately, you need an original disk for the HB701FD ..
It says above the table in the scan, that there are 2 versions, version that uses the disk and a rom version.
Which one gets launched depends on whether the floppy drive is connected.
It looks like they just took hb701 and added fdd but there were problems and they had to add a floppy disc to boot the firmware. (This is my theory) In fact, after disconnecting the fdd driver from the motherboard in the 701FD we have 701 ...
"The built-in firmware HitBit Art is a graphic and title editor. A version with extra options is provided on a floppy disk.
When the drive is disabled (by pressing on Shift when booting), the ROM version will be automatically launched.
When the drive is not disabled, you need to put the provided disk in the drive and press the F1 key once when booting. Without the F1 key, you will go directly to BASIC."
If you connect up your fdd like a normal 701fd the first row is applicable to you. So, to launch basic just press return when asked for date. To launch hitbit art, put the art disk in and switch on. So this implies the rom version is not possible for 701fd (obviously without disconnecting, which sony is not going to ask customer to do).
The second row, is for 701 (non fd machine). To get to basic, press f1 when msx is displayed in pink. To launch hitbit art, select the desired feature in pink by selecting with cursor key and press f1.
The last row is for 701 with external fdd. Similar instruction to above.
So, Sony was so lazy to keep in place a ROM version that can't be used!!!! Very bad work .... and it confirms your theory: they have probably tried to build a new ROM with extra options, but got some problems to manage all with the drive...
