diff --git a/src/emu/netlist/nl_base.c b/src/emu/netlist/nl_base.c
index 6a33a6e40b8..5660803d6f8 100644
--- a/src/emu/netlist/nl_base.c
+++ b/src/emu/netlist/nl_base.c
@@ -552,9 +552,9 @@ ATTR_COLD void netlist_logic_output_t::set_levels(const double low, const double
 
 ATTR_COLD double netlist_param_multi_t::dValue(const pstring &entity, const double defval) const
 {
-    pstring tmp = this->Value(); //.ucase();
+    pstring tmp = this->Value().ucase();
     // .model 1N914 D(Is=2.52n Rs=.568 N=1.752 Cjo=4p M=.4 tt=20n Iave=200m Vpk=75 mfg=OnSemi type=silicon)
-    int p = tmp.find(entity + "=");
+    int p = tmp.find(entity.ucase() + "=");
     if (p>=0)
     {
         int pblank = tmp.find(" ", p);
diff --git a/src/emu/netlist/pstring.c b/src/emu/netlist/pstring.c
index 7b0f3127a3f..4e984cb1359 100644
--- a/src/emu/netlist/pstring.c
+++ b/src/emu/netlist/pstring.c
@@ -59,6 +59,15 @@ pstring pstring::substr(unsigned int start, int count) const
     return ret;
 }
 
+pstring pstring::ucase() const
+{
+    pstring ret = *this;
+    ret.pcopy(cstr(), len());
+    for (int i=0; i<ret.len(); i++)
+        ret.m_ptr->m_str[i] = toupper((unsigned) ret.m_ptr->m_str[i]);
+    return ret;
+}
+
 //-------------------------------------------------
 //  pcmpi - compare a character array to an nstring
 //-------------------------------------------------
@@ -101,7 +110,7 @@ void pstring::sfree(str_t *s)
 
 pstring::str_t *pstring::salloc(int n)
 {
-    str_t *ret = new(m_pool, n) str_t(n);
+    str_t *ret = new(m_pool, n+1) str_t(n);
     return ret;
 }
 
diff --git a/src/emu/netlist/pstring.h b/src/emu/netlist/pstring.h
index 5d8c157b36e..f00c44d3c28 100644
--- a/src/emu/netlist/pstring.h
+++ b/src/emu/netlist/pstring.h
@@ -8,6 +8,7 @@
 #define _PSTRING_H_
 
 #include "nl_config.h"
+#include <cstdio>
 
 // ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
 // pblockbool: allocate small memory more efficiently at the expense of some overhead
@@ -50,6 +51,7 @@ struct pblockpool {
 inline void *operator new(std::size_t size, pblockpool &pool, int extra = 0) throw (std::bad_alloc)
 {
     void *result = pool.alloc(size + extra);
+    //std::printf("allocating %ld + %d\n", size, extra);
     if (result == NULL)
         throw std::bad_alloc();
     return result;
@@ -133,6 +135,7 @@ public:
 
     pstring left(unsigned int count) const { return substr(0, count); }
     pstring right(unsigned int count) const  { return substr(len() - count, count); }
+    pstring ucase() const;
 
     // printf using string as format ...
 
@@ -164,7 +167,9 @@ private:
     inline void init()
     {
         if (m_zero == NULL)
+        {
             m_zero = new(pstring::m_pool, 0) pstring::str_t(0);
+        }
         m_ptr = m_zero;
         m_ptr->m_ref_count++;
     }