Weird issue: closing disk drive door crashes Apple IIe

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Weird issue: closing disk drive door crashes Apple IIe

I got an Apple IIe enhanced with a 5.25" disk II drive. The weird issue is that after I boot a DOS or Pro DOS disk, it works fine until I open or close the door of the disk drive! When that happens, the computer crashes with adding a few random characters on the screen and entering the monitor. At the meantime, the disk drive light is on and the disk drive keeps spinning the disk. I've run a couple of diagnostics utilities like APTEST and Cillin II, all RAM tests passed without errors. What do you think causes the issue? The disk drive?

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You shouldn't open the drive

You shouldn't open the drive door while the disk is spinning (and the drive LED is enabled). It can corrupt the data on the disk as well as in memory.

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robespierre wrote:You shouldn
robespierre wrote:

You shouldn't open the drive door while the disk is spinning (and the drive LED is enabled). It can corrupt the data on the disk as well as in memory.

   I didn't open or touch the drive door when the LED was on. When I opened the drive door, the drive LED was off and the disk had stopped spinning for a while.

 

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Check the drive

The Apple II has no way of even knowing if the drive door was open or closed. So, normally this cannot even influence anything - unless the Apple II was already accessing the drive.

Your issue sounds like you have a problem with a loose contact or failed insulation inside the drive. The wires to the drive LED and those to the read/write head can get jammed - and their insulation may have worn off. You may be creating a short every time you open the door.

Check the wires to the LED and to the drive head. Also make sure the top drive assembly does not touch the analog board above, when it is in the upper position. The top spindle does not have much clearance to the analog board when in the open position. Of course, the metal axle must not make contact with the PCB:

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