Hello,
After several moves and many years without using it, I decided some months ago I would put again my venerable Apple ][ (I got it in December 1979) back on my desk. At first I've had difficulties to start it, it didn't even beep, until I changed the original PSU for a new one sold by ReactiveMicro (I had checked the original PSU output voltages and noticed they were too weak). After removing the dirt, cleaning the keyboard, pressing the chips firmly into their sockets, it finally booted, and I was quite surprised to see how good the original floppies are still after more than 3 decades in the attic (I've even successfully booted an Apple original 13 sectors DOS 3.2 disk dated 1979!).
Although it runs correctly most of the time, it is still very unstable, and (quite often) randomly fails into the monitor, or refuses to boot, or displays bad characters or error messages. Generally, I switch off the power, open the lid, gently press some chips (some are not firmly held into their socket), power on, and voilà it works properly again.
Some chips have rust on their pins, that can be an issue, but I clearly remember having already experienced the same instability with that same machine back in the 80s, when there was no rust (this is one reason I stopped using it, the other being I had changed for a IIgs).
Is it possible to fix the socket issue, and have a usable and working Apple II/II+?
Thanks for your feedback!
Yes, yes and yes. I had four issues with mine I just purchased back in july. One was a bad video chip causing the display to display wrong. In fact when I purchased it. I know it already had the video problem. The next issue was the keys on the keyboard. I tried to fix it a few times. But I opted for a apple II to ps/2 board. I had to clean and lube the floppy drive. Mine wouldn't boot at all. Found a good cleaning and some bad disks. The final was I had to reseat a memory chip. I ran the apple II dealer diag program on it. Worked like a champ finding the chip. Now this is after cleaning the system and reseating the chips. One strang thing I did notice on the original memory chips was tarnish? or what not on the upper part of the chips. The farther down the pins went into the socket. The cleaner it was. So I took a blade sharpening stone and every so lightly scraped off the tarnish. Oh and one more thing. I used eletro wash cleaner to clean out the memory chip sockets. Since I had all the memory chips out. I'm thinking if you had problem back when you put it away. I'm hoping one of this chips is failing or needs to be resated again. Also pictuers of the comptuer / problem would help.
Thanks,
Josh