Re: My Apple ][+ is now very, very sad...

["jsnospam@cimmeri.com" <js@cimmeri.com>]

> This is such a disappointment. After putting in all that time to get
> my ][+ nice and clean and looking new, and having spent hours
> disassembling and reassembling the keyboard to get it working just
> right, it dies on me, mostly dead anyway. At least I got a few days of
> fun with it after I cleaned it up.

Assuming it's not a monitor problem, get used to it.  Stuff like that
happens all the time.  My II+ always did it back in 1980's, and the
ones I have now still misbehave quite frequently.

Good news is that it's rarely a serious failure.   When I get a new
Apple II, I test each individual IC to make sure they're good..
Sometimes 1 or 2 are blown. .. and plug the chips back in with careful
alignment in 3 dimensions (roll, longitudinal, latitudinal).  It's
easy to get them in cockeyed.   After that, failures are typically
from chips not making good contact with sockets... especially the
ROMs.

Usually giving all the chips on the mobo a massage (press each one
firmly with the machine on, followed by reset) will get the machine to
clear up.   If that doesn't do it, I turn machine off, and reseat
about 10 at a time between power ons.   Machines always come back to
life.  After awhile, you get a feel for which areas are more
persnickety.

Reseating all chips once in awhile helps clean sockets.

Severely tarnished IC pins can be treated with Tarn-X per directions
on bottle.

~ J