Re: Apple//c boot problems

[Joseph Turner <jturner@tartarus.uwa.edu.au>]

Sergej <kars@xs4all.nl> wrote:
: Hi,

: I recently got my hands on an Apple //c. It came with a load of
: diskettes, some of them "original" Apple ones (introducing the Apple //c
: , System Utilities, etc).

: When I switch it on (mostly) the text "Apple //c" appears on the screen.
: Sometimes a lot of garbage appears, but on  Oa/CTRL/Reset it mostly
: turns into "Aplle //c". So far so good. When I put a disk in the drive,
: for example "System Utilities", and reboot, the drive becomes active,
: makes some noise, and stays active, and nothing happens. I opened the
: thingie up to check out the drive. When I positition the head to the
: innermost (?) tracks of the floppy, the drive head automatically
: repositions itself on boot, i.e. it goes back to the outer tracks. Then
: it seems like it wants to start reading the disk, but can't. It seems
: like it is obstructed by something: It rocks back and forth (1 mm or so)
: whilst making a "ticking" sound (caused by the "obstructor" on the belt
: motor that prevents it from going back too far?).

: I opend up the external floppy drive that came with it, took it out of
: its casing and swapped it with the other one. Took out the LED wire so
: that the LED on the keyboard  was visible. This one showed exactly the
: same behavior.

: What can be the problem?

:  thanx,

:  Sergej   - kars@xs4all.nl

that noise is quite characteristic. I had the problem that the head got
dirty. I often had to clean my Dish head to make it work. I don't know why
it was such a problem. Try doing that and see what happens. Use a tissue,
just _SLIGHTLY_ damp, and then dry....or if oyu have one..use a disk
cleaing unit. Note how I say SLightly damp *grin*.

Cheers

Joe