//e with ZIP Chip not booting

[sean@macassist.com.au (Sean McNamara)]

Hi there,

I'm having trouble getting a recently acquired //e to boot.

I've read the Power Supplies and Cooling section of the FAQ (and quickly
scanned over the other sections), and have been able to determine that the
power supply is behaving as expected (+12, -12, +5 and -5 VDC as specified
in the FAQ).

The machine's power LED on the motherboard comes on, and there's a low
volume, high pitched squeal while the power is switched on. Three of the
LEDs (the three front ones) on the 128k card flash when the power is
switched on. The monochrome screen I got with the machine shows large
black and white horizontal bars (about 8) with some gobbledygook-like
characters in those bars.

I've tried removing all the cards, same thing. I've looked over the
motherboard and can't see any obviously blown components. The 6502 has
been replaced/modified with a ZIPCHIP (Model 8000).

I was given this machine by an 85+ year old who's just gone into a hospice
because of recent health problems. He's still with it mentally, and I'd
love to be able to tell him I got his old machine up and running. It would
also be a blast from the past for me, as the first computer my family
owned was a ][+ (I still have all my disks!). The previous owner hasn't
had the machine running for quite some time, and was quite reluctant to
part with it (only did so at the insistence of family), so I don't want to
just give up on it and "rely" on my GS for my nostalgia kicks.

The one thing I haven't been able to do is put back in is a card-based HD
which used to be in the machine - I had taken it out a while back to put
into my GS to transfer some files to Mac format for the chap who ended up
giving me the //e. But I'm assuming that the machine is not "remembering"
that hard drive with a view to booting off it, because I'm not even
getting the "Apple II" on the screen or the beep I seem to recall should
be happening.

Any thoughts would be very much appreciated, via e-mail or in the group.
If anyone knows of any Sydney-based hobbyists who can lend a hand, that'd
be great, too :)

Thanks in advance

Sean

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Sean McNamara                            mailto:sean@macassist.com.au
MacAssist                                 http://www.macassist.com.au
Ph: (02) 8920 0866      Fax: (02) 8920 0877      Mobile: 0414 270 132