Re: Broken Disk II

[eelcovanvugt@home.nl]

Op donderdag 10 januari 2013 16:30:01 UTC+1 schreef BLuRry het volgende:
> On Thursday, January 10, 2013 4:06:02 AM UTC-6, eelcov...@home.nl wrote:
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> > Hello everyone!
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> > I've recently signed up for this list. I live in the Netherlands and own, besides several classic Macintoshes, an Apple IIe (US model, 120V) in a custom built desk (AppleWrap) and an Apple IIc, with an additional Disk II unit.
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> > I've had a look for a previous post describing my problem, but haven't found (a recent) one.
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> > My question is about the Disk II units that came with the Apple IIe. The machine, the monitor and the Disk II drives have worked perfectly in the past. However, after installing the machine inside the desk, I had to reconnect the drives. You've guessed it: I misaligned the top Disk II connector and, without realising this, powered on the machine. I heard the sound of shortcircuiting and immediately switched it off. After realigning the connector and powering the Apple IIe up again, the Disk II initializes (with its typical sound) but stays spinning (disk or no disk) with the light on. The Apple IIe does not report anything (like the IIc which says 'Check disk drive'). It does, however, load ProDOS and ADTPro via the audio client.
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> > First of all I Googled the problem and found multiple people saying a chip on the Disk II needed replacing. I ordered two, replaced it in one Disk II but the symptoms didn't change (or disappear). Today I installed an aftermarket Disk II Interface card, as it was the only item I had left to swap for a working one. The behaviour of the Disk II is still the same.
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> > What could possibly be wrong? Something deeper inside the Disk II? Or something failed inside the IIe? I've tried the Disk II Interface card in both slot 5 and 6, but it made no difference.
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> > Many thanks in advance for any help I might be given!
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> > Greetings,
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> > Eelco.
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> There is the possibility that you fried the controller card.  Fortunately most of the chips on that card are standard TTL logic chips and can be serviced.  Or you can get another card and try that.  I've killed a couple drives before.  It's no fun.  :-(  One of them was a Rana systems drive and it blew a capacitor (sounded like a shotgun shell going off!)  I was a teenager at the time though, so I can plead ignorance.
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> In the meantime, if you have a serial null modem cable you can try using Apple Game Server to transfer games.  If you do not have a null modem cable (making one for the //c isn't that hard) then you can use Apple Game Server Online and hook your computer, tablet, or MP3 player up to the casette port on the //e and load games that way.  Of course, if you do have a //c null modem cable, ADT Pro is also a fantastic option!
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> Apple Game Server
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> https://sourceforge.net/projects/a2gameserver/
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> Game server online (for cassette ports, won't work on //c)
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> http://asciiexpress.net/gameserver/
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> Best of luck to you!

I take it that by controller card you mean the analog board of the Disk II? I've not yet looked into it any further than the single IC that I swapped. I'll open one up later this week to see if I can trace any damage. 

Thanks for the tip about the Game Server. I've already made a nullmodem cable for my IIc, because it came without software. So I should be good to go.

I'll report back when I've opened up the Disk II.


Greetings,

Eelco.