Re: Apple II+ won't boot when both drives connected

["Michael J. Mahon" <mjmahon@aol.com>]

mario wrote:
> Hello all,
>
>
> I acquired an apple II+,  and noticed that, when both drives are connected
> to the controller card, I can not boot. Drive 1 spins, but it doesn't seem
> to "notice" when a diskette is inserted.
>
> I tried connected both drives as Disk 1, and I could boot from each, as long
> as it was the only drive connected.
>
> There is a parallel printer card and a Videx Videoterm, but the
> abovementioned happens regardless whether I have these cards plugged in or
> not.
>
> Does anyone have a clue about what I could do to try troubleshooting this
> computer? I appreciate any hint, thank you in advance.

The fact that just connecting a working drive to port 2 prevents a
disk on port 1 from working is curious.  All signals ar the two ports
are in parallel except the disk select signal wire.

It sounds like your controller (?) cannot handle the load of two
drives--wierd.

I have to ask:  are you sure that your connection to port 2 is
properly aligned, i.e., just like port 1?  (I ask because it is
on the bottom and harder to see clearly.)

-michael

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