Re: Bizarre GS hardware problem?

[fmlin@netcom.com (Fist of Fury)]

>    I have a problem with the usergroup's Apple IIGS and I hope someone
>here has a solution (hope this is the right category and topic).  First,
>the hardware:
>
>Apple IIGS ROM 01
>RamFAST rev. D, 256K cache, 3.01b ROM's
>Conner 120-meg hard drive
>PLI Infinity (InSite) floptical
>Chinook RAM4000 4-meg RAM card
>
>    Everything except the GS itself is mine.  I moved them over from my
>computer to the club GS.  Everything checks out in my system.  But when
>I plug the cards into the club GS, it won't boot GS/OS!

Have you run the self test on the //gs?

>    The details:  I have not been able to get GS/OS to boot.  Usually
>one of four things happen:
>
>1. The GS/OS boot thermometer comes up, but after travelling about 6
>pixels, it stops and hangs.  No beep, nothing.  It just freezes.  This
>happens about 60% of the time.

Sounds like the //gs is screwed.  You might want to open it, clean up
the dust, and wiggle all the chips that are on a socket.

>2. Sliding Apple fatal error screen saying "Unable to load GS.OS file,
>error $002D/$0045" (error code varies).  If I boot into ProDOS 8 and
>fire up Cat Doctor, the file is there and it verifies properly.  Again,
>there is nothing wrong with my System folder since it boots without fail
>on my own GS.

These are pretty bad errors, 2D = GS/OS: invalid block address.  And
45 = GS/OS: block not found.  Could be SCSI cabling problem though;
since RamFAST would work erractically if that's true.

>3. Text dialog saying "Error $110A occured while trying load startup
>FST".  Restarting is the only option.

$110A is something liker bad loader record.

>4.  Sliding Apple fatal error screen $0308.

This is more likely heat, or serious hardware problem.

>    It boots fine from a 3.5" floppy, but it hangs at the Finder before
>it draws the hard drive icons.  I can boot into ProDOS 8 from the hard
>drive, but mysterious crashes still occur (although less frequently). 
>For example, it took me three tries to run ANSIterm before it made it
>all the way to the terminal screen.  It has never crashed on startup
>before.

Sounds a lot like RF termination/termator power/cabling problem.

>    The GS passes the power-up self test.  I've tried swapping ROM chips
>from two other computers, without success.  At an earlier UG meeting,
>some combination of CPU/ROM chip swapping allowed it to boot System
>6.01, but I cannot reproduce that result now.  Neither System 5.04 nor
>System 6.0 work from the hard drive.

Uhh, so I did test it.

>    When I OA-Control-Reset to reboot, a pattern appears on the text
>screen which isn't present on my GS.  It looks like this (only bigger,
>at full screen):
>
>@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@
>@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@
>@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@
>@@@@@@@@@@@@@@**************
>@@@@@@@@@@@@@@**************
>@@@@@@@@@@@@@@**************
>****************************
>****************************
>****************************

I've seen stuff like this occasionally on my //gs.  I guess that's when
memory is toally screwed.

>    The @'s are printed in inverse and the *'s are actually the Delete
>key checkerboard character.  This flashes on the screen on powerup, just
>before the Apple IIGS copyright screen takes over.
>
>    The random nature of these errors makes it difficult to pinpoint a
>single bad component.  Normally I would immediately suspect the hard
>drive and/or RamFAST, but they both work perfectly if I replace them in
>my GS (also a ROM 01).  I've tried changing the TWGS and DMA options on
>the RF, but nothing works.

IMO, it something with the RF.

>    Booting from the 3.5" drive works like it should.  All the FTA demos
>I have ran perfectly.  No crashes, no stray pixels on the screen, etc. 
>So at least *those* work.  Nothing involving the SCSI card seems to work
>properly, even though it works great on my own GS.  Ideas or comments?

Yeah, mess with the cabling.  

-- 
frank m. lin
fmlin@netcom.com