Re: Sick Apple ][e.....Help please!

[dalloff@freenet.columbus.oh.us (Dave Althoff)]

RUBYWAND (rubywand@aol.com) wrote:
: In article <4tbrd7$bbm@balsam.unca.edu>, RKFAIRCLOTH@unca.edu (Rhonda K.
: Faircloth) writes:

: >....
: >Long ago, Apple recomended that you actually drop your computer from the
: >height
: >of one foot. With the rubber feet on the bottom, and the durability of
: the ][
: >series in general, I suppose it's ok to do. Let inertia seat the chips in
: the
: >sockets properly. Still damn hard to do without gritting my teeth and
: sweat
: >on
: >my brow. :)
: >

:      Actually, Apple's advice was that you drop your IIe from a height of
: _ten_ feet ... then go out and buy a Mac.
:  

True story time:

Years ago (ca. 1986ish) I was on the equipment crew for a community
computer education program put on by the Columbus Public Schools...using
mostly Apple ][e's.  We would go around to all of the schools in the
district, pick up selected computer equipment, haul it to the central
program site for the summer, then truck it all back to the schools at the
end of summer.  In the intervening time, we'd set up a whole bunch of
classrooms, and we'd repair (or send out for repair) all of the broken
equipment.  Most common problems were broken keyswitches (they would
usually come to us with broken keys since we always sent them back to the
schools fixed) and blown fuses in the nice Apple color composite monitors.

Anyway, one day we were loading equipment for the run to the computer
hospital.  I had stacked five or six "sick" ][e CPU's on a 5' tall cart. 
Each machine contained a UniDisk 5.25 controller and an 80-column board. 
Without warning, the top machine went flying, hitting the floor from a
height of about 6'6".  The energy of the fall was dissapated as every
keycap popped off of the keyboard, the lid flew off, and the 80-column
board went flying.  The disk controller would also have gone flying,
except that it had that little DB-19 connector holding it in place.

I checked the repair tag.  "TWO BROKEN (SNAPPED OFF) KEYSWITCHES".

I collected the pieces and reassembled the machine, and wrote, "DROPPED -
CHECK FOR GWO" on the repair tag.

When the machine came back later in the week, I checked the list of
repairs performed.

"REPL. 2 KEYSW., CHECK FOR GWO"

No additional problems at all whatsoever.  I think that machine is still
in the district somewhere.

Please note this was a ][e CPU box.  When The Boss dropped an ImageWriter II
from a 2' cart onto a concrete floor, it was destroyed.

--Dave Althoff, ][.
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