Answers to questions about: Help!! My Apple //e is crashing!

["NFreak" <browport@asde.com>]

To start,  it is actually the school's computer, and not mine...
All it has in it is an 80-column card and a disk drive card.  It is an
original Apple //e, (not //e+ or platinum or anything else), and has an
green-screen apple tilt monitor attached to it.
When the thing starts up, even with a verified bootable disk in the drive,
it spews gibberish onscreen, including the words Apple //e at least twice.
The disk drive spins and spins but does not load anything that I can see.

I did not know the Apple //e had a self test that could be run.  I will try
running it.

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Hot damn, I think I figured it out!! When the thing starts up, the letters
Apple //e are spaced apart and too wide to be the normal 80 column display,
which is what it displays the title in if you have it enabled.  The
gibberish reminds me of running a program in 80-column mode, then holding
down open apple-control-reset.  If you just hold these keys, the system
reverts back to 40 column mode, and you can see all sorts of 80-column
characters as junk on the screen.
Now I am pretty sure it is a problem with the 80-column card!!  I will try
vaccuming it and reseating the card, but I do not think cleaning the
contacts with alcohol is a good idea.

Email me:  browport@asde.net