Technical question ...

[eib <eib@club-internet.fr>]

I have had an Apple IIe for more than ten years, but since four years it
does not work anymore and I haven't been able to repair it, or find
someone who can. Nowadays I have an Internet access so I come here to
see if someone has already encountered the same problem and can throw
some light in this dark enigma...
The problem is the following:
When I boot my apple IIe, the disk drive 1 activates but does not read
the diskette inside. I tried many bootable diskette but none worked. The
computer did not even read the diskette, because the "disk reading"
noise was not coming out of the drives. Also, the logo changed, and from
"Apple ][" became "Apple //". As if this was not enough, some characters
appear randomly on the boot screen, and the computer freezes there.
I live in Paris and found one of the only Apple IIe repairman left, in
Lyon, about 500 km from my home. I cannot go over there (lack of time
and money as I'm just a student :-) ), so I phoned him. He was very
comprehensive and partly answered to my question: he made me remove all
the extension boards and boot the machine to see what happens. It did
exactly the same think ( with or without the disk controller ). So he
concluded that the motherboard was out of order. However he said he was
not sure because he had to actually see the machine to try to repair it
( what is normal ). Since then my Apple IIe is put away as I try to find
an answer... is it the motherboard that's screwed up ? Is it the RAM
that's not functional ? Is there a way to repair it ? Or should I try to
get a new Apple II ( hard, but i'm on it :) ) ?
Thank for reading until here, and eventually for answering. :-)
Read ya,
Gerard.