Re: //GS suddenly won't boot

[Rubywand <rubywand@swbell.net>]

mehenn writes ...
> 
> I gave an old //GS Woz LE to a friend of mine who's never owned a computer.
> Heck, it was 11 years old but still worked fine and ran everything he
> needed.  After he received it, he got it up and running and all systems were
> go.
> ....
> 
> He called me this afternoon in a panic because he can't get the machine to
> boot. ....


     First, don't worry too much about old Nathan. He's just kind of
chapped because  1. he's been getting bounced around pretty badly by
Scott G. on various GS hardware issues  and  2. the csa2
(comp.sys.apple2) FAQs are now maintained on Ground,


ftp://ground.isca.uiowa.edu/2/apple2/Faqs
http://ground.isca.uiowa.edu/2/apple2/Faqs


where they are freely available to _all_ Apple II users, and may be
placed on any other A2 site  and  3. Dr. Tom is back, thereby ridiculing
Nathan's "conditions" for allowing access by all users to the Nathan
Faqs on the Nathan Site. 


     Regarding your friend's difficulties with getting the hard disk
working: if, as Nathan says, it is an internal drive powered from the
computer, then powering-ON the drive before powering-up the computer is
not a viable option.

     Nevertheless, if everything worked okay when you used the same
system and if everything worked okay when your friend first used it,
then, we could well be dealing with the same basic problem. That is,
your HD is not ready to correctly respond to the its interface.

     There are a couple things your friend can try. One is to hold down
CTRL-RESET (both the CONTROL & RESET keys), turn ON the computer,
continue holding CTRL-RESET down for 5-10 seconds, and, then, release.
This _may_ prevent the interface and GS from trying to set up things too
early.

Note: This also works as a way to let a Zip drive get ready to work with
a RamFAST when the Zip and GS are powered-ON at the same time.  An
equivalent hardware mod would be to change the time constant for
Power-ON RESET; but, probably, your friend would prefer not to mess with
the motherboard.

     Something else to try is removing the internal HD interface,
unplugging any HD cables, and cleaning all contacts with alcohol. Then,
put everything back making sure that board(s), cables, are securely
plugged-in and connected. Since other boards, especially the
accelerator, can affect HD operation, it is a good idea to pull, clean
contacts, and re-insert other boards, too. The rationale here is that a
poor connection may be introducing a delay, acting as a power
bottleneck, etc.. There may even be an intermittant connection on some
important line.

     Problems are not uncommon after shipping. The computer gets knocked
around, boards and cables loosen, and dust settles-in between contacts.
Cleaning and reconnecting is often the cure.



Rubywand