Disk II interface Card

4 posts / 0 new
Last post
Offline
Last seen: 8 years 6 months ago
Joined: Jul 24 2015 - 22:22
Posts: 2
Disk II interface Card

Picked up my first Apple IIplus on the weekend. Everything except the disk drives is working. When I plug in the Disk II interface card and power on the computer, I get a screen full of garbage. Anyone know where I can find a troubleshooting doc to try and fix it?

1978AppleII's picture
Offline
Last seen: 2 years 1 week ago
Joined: Jul 5 2015 - 16:54
Posts: 223
Re: Disk II interface Card

Picked up my first Apple IIplus on the weekend. Everything except the disk drives is working. When I plug in the Disk II interface card and power on the computer, I get a screen full of garbage. Anyone know where I can find a troubleshooting doc to try and fix it?

If you unplug the disk card (with the power off of course) and then try to boot do you get the same thing? If you do then it's not the disk card causing the problem.

Another thing I've noticed that sometimes chips work their way loose when shipped, you should (very carefully) make sure the Apple is turned off and touch the metal power supply to dissipate any static charge you might have, and then carefully press down on each chip to ensure they are all seated.

My guess (based on advice I've gotten here) that the next step after that is to boot it again and see if there is any improvement. If not, then you may need to remove the 2nd and 3rd banks of RAM. Make sure it's powered off again, and then remove banks 2 and 3. Those are the two closest to the expansion slots and try rebooting again. If it boots ok then you have bad ram. If it doesn't improve, take the RAM from the 3rd bank and carefully insert them into the 1st bank which is closest to the keyboard. Make sure to align the chips properly and be very careful to not miss the socket by 1 or bend any of the legs on the chips.

If that doesn't help, post again and I'm sure one of the folks here can offer suggestions!

Jennifer

Offline
Last seen: 8 years 6 months ago
Joined: Jul 24 2015 - 22:22
Posts: 2
Re: Disk II interface Card

I get the garbage on the screen only with the card installed. With or without the disk cables attached.

With the card removed, everything works fine. I am able to load games through the tape port and everything seems fine.

Could it not be a short on the disk card? Not sure why it would be a memory issue if it only affects the system with that particular card installed.

1978AppleII's picture
Offline
Last seen: 2 years 1 week ago
Joined: Jul 5 2015 - 16:54
Posts: 223
Re: Disk II interface Card

I get the garbage on the screen only with the card installed. With or without the disk cables attached.

With the card removed, everything works fine. I am able to load games through the tape port and everything seems fine.

Could it not be a short on the disk card? Not sure why it would be a memory issue if it only affects the system with that particular card installed.

So the disk controller cards are pretty cheap and readily available - I would spring for another known good (or so the seller says) and give it a shot.

Jennifer

Log in or register to post comments