Strange Apple //c problem

[magnusfalkirk <dean.phares@gmail.com>]

Last week my Apple //c decided to develop a strange problem. It was
working fine Wed night. When I was done using it I put it away like
normal. Thurs night when I set it up and turned it on the power light
came on but the drive didn't start up and there was no video, in fact
it didn't beep either. I got a screwdriver out and decided to open it
up, I'm not a hardware guy and really don't have a clue about
electronics but figured if it was something glaringly obvious even I
could see it. I didn't have time to take out the disk drive so I just
took a quick look, but didn't see anything. Plugging it in with the
case apart didn't make any difference, so I put it back together and
put it away until I had more time to look at it.

Tues night I had more time to devote to the problem so I pulled out
the screwdriver and removed the screws holding the case together and
the screws holding the disk drive in place. I took the case apart
again and this time removed the disk drive, leaving it plugged in I
simply turned it upside down behind the computer. Looking at the
motherboard I couldn't see anything that looked fried or glaringly
wrong. So I plugged in the power supply and turned it on. This time it
started up like normal.

So I decided to put it back together and see what happened. I also
decided to leave the screws out of the disk drive, figuring the case
would hold it in place as it was. After getting all the case screws
back in and turning it right side up I plugged in the power supply and
turned it on. It started right up. I switched it off and decided to
try putting some of the screws in that held the disk drive in place. I
put the rear two in first and turned on the computer, it worked. So
then I put the front two in, turned it on and - nothing. I took both
front ones out, turned it on and it worked. So I put the right front
screw in, turned it on and it worked. At first I thought I'd leave the
left front screw out, but decided I didn't like that idea. So I put it
in, tightened it all the way, turned on the computer and - nothing. I
loosened the screw a little, just a couple turns, since I didn't want
it to drop out, turned on the computer and it worked.

So My question is: Does anyone have any idea why the //c should
suddenly quit working when the left front screw that holds the disk
drive in place is tightened all the down, as it was originally? In the
long run I'm happy that all it took was loosening the screw, I really
don't understand it, and it bugs me, but at least I don't have to buy
a replacement //c off ePay, or somewhere else.

Thanks for listening,
Dean