Re: Odd problem with an Apple II GS.

[dalloff@freenet.columbus.oh.us (Dave Althoff)]

Patrick Tillman (loki@nmt.edu) wrote:
: I posted a week or so ago about bad system disks.  It turns out that
: the disks and the 3.5 inch drive are fine.  The computer boots to the
: blue screen that says it is and Apple II GS and a ROM 01 machine, but
: does nothing else.  The 3.5 inch drive spins and the light comes on and
: stays on.  I let it sit about five minutes.  I tested the drive on and
: older Mac and it formats, reads, and writes fine.  There is an Apple 1
: Meg memory card in it and I tried to boot with and without it.  Looking
: at the mother board there is one socket in the center labled game that
: has no chip.  Anyone have any idea what I might try, I don't have any
: manuals so it could be something very simple that I am missing.  Thanks
: much.

That socket isn't a missing chip; that is a connector for an 'old-style'
Apple ][ game device (paddles, tablet, joystick, science fair project,
whatever).  So that isn't your problem.

Is the suspect drive the only one in the system?  If not, try
disconnecting all of the other drives.  Do you ever get the 'bouncing
apple' with the "Check startup device!" message?  

My suspicion is a bad startup disk or a bad drive controller.  Hmmm...Try
this:  Power up the machine and hit Control-RESET.  (RESET is the key with
the triangle on it).  Then hit OpenApple-Control-Escape and choose
'Control Panel'.  Check the following in the SLOTS control panel:

Slot 5:  Built-in SmartPort
Startup Slot:  5 or 'Scan'

If that is set correctly, then you need to also make sure you do in fact
have a working boot disk...preferrably just a ProDOS disk, rather than a
GS/OS disk, so that you can tell *quickly* if it is working.

Good luck; let us know what you find out and we'll troubleshoot some more.

-Dave Althoff, ][.
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