As the subject states - I 'm troubleshooting a IIC - ROM 3.
The machine will boot disks fine and allows me to save, delete and load files. However if I try to init/format or do any track based function it fails. I've replaced the drive with known working drives so I'm fairly confident this is not a drive issue.
However I'm not used to seeing the IWM present in this fashion -
Of note, I've tested RAM and ROM - all chips are good.
Am I missing something that could cause an issue on the IIC like this other than the IWM?
Thanks!
In post #1, 'schafferm' wrote:
" The machine will boot disks fine and allows me to save, delete and load files. However if I try to init/format or do any track based function it fails. "
Uncle Bernie comments:
If you can save a file, then the IWM certainly is OK - any disk write operations exercise all the functions of the IWM and the disk drive: its has to be able to position the head properly to the catalog tracks, read the catalog, write the file to other tracks, and write the catalog to update it, and if the file then is really there, the IWM and the disk drive works !reads
So the most likely reason for failing of format operations is a bad diskette ... or a wrong type of diskette, maybe you try to use high density ones ? These are meant for the PC and require a different write current even if erased with a bulk eraser, and the Apple II floppy disk drives can't do that.
But with 40 year old hardware, anything else can be wrong, too. This is why we see "weirdness" in some of these old machines.
- Uncle Bernie