Apple ][ Plus problem

["Peter R. Bernhardt" <parasang@yahoo.com>]

Help anyone!

I have just been given an old Apple Plus computer and single floppy that
is in very good cosmetic condition. The trouble is that it won�t boot
from the floppy and if anyone can give some direction where to look for
the problem I would appreciate the help. It also has a pair of hand
controllers, but they are made by "The Keyboard Company" and are not
Apple.  A Koala pad (that replaces the paddles) and printer interface
(Wesper Microsystems) complete the package. Neither of the two last
items are installed. From what I understand, the motherboard is the
newer "Plus" revision and has 48K of memory (I think).

Since my computing expertise extends basically as far as the pc and its
clones (with some electronics and repair experience), I am having
trouble tracing this problem. If I put the DOS 3.3 diskette (I have two
and both behave the same) in the drive, turn on the monitor and power up
the computer I get the "Apple ][" message at the top of the screen, the
disk drive sounds as though it does a few seeks, a beep and the drive
light stays on as does the drive motor. Nothing else. The floppy
interface card is in slot 6 as I understand that it should be, but
trying it in others does little (I get the * prompt and the drive light
stays on").

After a normal boot and failure, and I press reset I get into "]" mode.
Entering "PR#6" causes drive to seek (entering a different value has
same effect except for 7 and it does nothing).

If I try using the BASICS diskette (I know it won�t boot using this
diskette) I get the message "Insert your 13 sector diskette and press
return". The diskette motor starts after the boot and stays on. Other
program diskettes put the system into "*" mode.

I am not familiar with the way a working Apple performs at boot, so I do
not know if any of the above is normal or not (except for the failure to
boot, which I know is not normal). I have been tempted to buy another
disk interface and floppy, but if this is not a possible cause then it
is a waste. What I need is some direction on what to expect and where to
look for the problem. I am a little hesitant to put much money into this
system, but would like to see it working. I have always been curious
about the Apple and it�s many supporters and am interested to see what
it is about. The machine would become part of my (purposely) small
collection of old working computers and I hope to learn more about it as
time goes on.

One other small item � the personality rom in the printer interface is
for an Epson 610X. Does anyone know if this rom will operate other Epson
printers?

For anyone who has suggestions and takes the time to help me, I would
like to thank you in advance. Replies could come to this newsgroup (if
it is the right one for this type of message) or to my e-mail
"parasang@yahoo.com".

Peter Bernhardt