maybe you already know it...

but Sam and Minh showed me a way to get into TRAnsparent mode on an AMS that
is hooked to a board that's been powered down.  It's always been frustrating
to need to use a terminal and be faced with > NO TARGET VCC
So all you need to do is
1) take the terminal off-line with NO SCROLL
2) enter the AMS-specific reset keystroke (usually CTL-X or CTL-Z)
3) type TRA and follow it with a couple of  keystrokes
4) put the terminal back on-line with 
5) and VIOLET! it's connected!