Apple IIe/Disk II trouble

[BassGuitari]

I'm sure where the best place for this sort of thread is, but I suppose this is as good a place as any!

 

So I've got an Apple IIe, which seems to be working fine (boots up fine, seems to be identifying disk/printer/80 Column cards, etc.). Some of the disks loaded up fine for a while, but they no longer do so. Other disks that I didn't use as much ran like champs each and every time. But now, no disks will load. I don't even get error messages anymore...I get the Apple II boot screen, and the disk drive looks for a disk, but it's like it can't find it. It just sits at the "Apple II" boot screen, the disk drive just whirring quietly into infinity.

 

Are my floppies somehow corrupted, or are the disk drives the root of the problem (I suspect they are)? How do I diagnose and solve the problem?

 

Thanks in advance!

[Christophero Sly]

Sounds like a drive problem to me. Perhaps some internal connector has wiggled loose. It could also be out of alignment/adjustment. Which model disk drive are you using?

[BassGuitari]

I'm using Disk II units. Model No. A2M0003.

 

I took them apart and checked the connections and the alignment of the drive belt. There weren't any obvious problems there.

 

How do I tell if it's out of adjustment?

[JamesD]

Over time those old floppies degrade a little and when you used them I'm sure they get the drive heads dirty much faster than they used to.

If you have a head cleaner diskette, try that. If that fails, get a new drive. It's not like there aren't millions of used ones still around.

[Christophero Sly]

I'm using Disk II units. Model No. A2M0003.

 

I took them apart and checked the connections and the alignment of the drive belt. There weren't any obvious problems there.

 

How do I tell if it's out of adjustment?

Here is a link to the Disk Drive section of the Apple II FAQ. It should have information on adjusting the drive speed.

 

http://home.swbell.net/rubywand/Csa2FDRIVE.html

Edited July 24, 2008 by Christophero Sly

[Christophero Sly]

It could also be a problem with the controller card. Can you stop the drive from spinning by pressing CNTRL-Reset?

[BassGuitari]

It could also be a problem with the controller card. Can you stop the drive from spinning by pressing CNTRL-Reset?

 

Yep, no problem there.

 

Everything seems to be essentially working fine, but for some reason the disks aren't being read properly, if at all. Although it's possible, I seriously doubt the disks themselves are bad, seeing as they worked perfectly three days ago.

 

Thanks for the link to the FAQ, I'll check it out tomorrow when it's not almost midnight and I'm about to fall asleep.

 

 

 

(Also, if it's relevant, I just got the system a couple weeks ago. I've been using it fairly regularly since. I'm unsure how long it's been since it was used before that, though (it was an estate sale score).)

[Christophero Sly]

If it was booting disks just fine and then suddenly stopped working, I doubt it's a drive speed problem. I suspect a problem with some aspect of the hardware. Maybe a blown cap or something in the drive.

 

Another thing to try would be to take out all the other cards in the computer, leaving just the disk controller, and try to boot a disk. That would at least rule out some sort of card conflict. Maybe even try the disk controller in a different slot.

[2600Lives]

Have you tried moving the controller card to another slot? I had the exact same problem, and I moved the card to an adjacent slot, and they now work fine. Good luck!

[darthkur]

....Some of the disks loaded up fine for a while, but they no longer do so. Other disks that I didn't use as much ran like champs each and every time. But now, no disks will load. I don't even get error messages anymore...I get the Apple II boot screen, and the disk drive looks for a disk, but it's like it can't find it. It just sits at the "Apple II" boot screen, the disk drive just whirring quietly into infinity....

 

 

Not to alarm you but it sounds like there's a possibility that your FDD could be damaging your floppies. For example, you said that the ones you used regularly stopped working first. It would be logical to deduce that, if in fact your FDD is causing damage to the floppies, the ones you usually use would be the first to go. This damage could be gradual, which would explain why using other floppies that were seldom utilized worked for a while until they reached a point were they were exposed to the processes, long enough, which would eventually render them useless. This very well could be the case or, equally, not be at all. I sadly do not possess the knowledge to perform any sort of diagnostics on electronic equipment. In fact I had a very similar problem just a few weeks back. The difference being that my FDD would not read any disk at all. Like yours, it would spin continuously. I tried to swap Drive 1 with Drive 2 and, thanks to my inadequacies, I ended up frying Drive 2. In the end I just purchased a small lot on Ebay that contained both Drive 1 and 2 plus a disk controller card. I changed out all three items and now everything works fine. So in the end I can't say for certain whether it was the fault of the original Drive 1, the controller card or a combination of the two. One place where you would get much more technical and accurate advice is the Vintage Computer Forums:

 

http://www.vintage-computer.com/vcforum/

[BassGuitari]

Well after a day of tinkering, I've got to admit I'm stumped. I've tried everything I can think of, but the problem persists. I've swapped ribbon cables, futzed with the two little trim pots on the Disk II boards, moved the Controller Card to different slots, and used a different Card I luckily(?) had around, used every combinations of my cards, drives (I have two), and using the cards in different slots. I don't have a cleaner disk, but I cleaned the heads with a little bit of alcohol and cotton (they didn't seem very dirty). But in spite of everything, it's the same effect...with both cards, both drives, and any slot I use the cards in.

 

I'm not totally clear on how to adjust the drive speed. I understand there's software that can do it, but I don't seem to have it. Even if I did, it wouldn't load anyway.

 

As far as the disk drives damaging my disks, I fear that may be a possiblilty. I noticed some grooves in a few of my disks (including Wolfenstein) that I don't remember seeing before, but wasn't really looking for either. They may have been there before, I dunno. But they kind of look like the grooves in a vinyl LP. Not as deep, of course, but little rings in the disk. I hope I don't have to track down another copy of Wolfenstein!

 

Just to note though, I've only had this stuff for a few weeks, and the disk problem wasn't really a gradual thing. A few disks stopped working, and then all of a sudden a few days ago, nothing works. And I've got dozens.

 

But yeah, apart from using a cleaning disk and changing the drive speed, I'm out of ideas.

Edited July 25, 2008 by BassGuitari

[2600Lives]

Got a flea market near you? You might look there for some new drives, or check online. They exist, and aren't very expensive.

[BassGuitari]

I figured out how to adjust the drive speed. Yay!

 

And it turns out I do have a copy of Copy II. But since the drives are being stupid, it's useless, and there's no way to tell exactly what RPM the drive is running at. Crap!

 

Does the Apple read changes in drive speed in real time, or do I have to do a reboot every time I adjust the speed?

[Christophero Sly]

I figured out how to adjust the drive speed. Yay!

 

And it turns out I do have a copy of Copy II. But since the drives are being stupid, it's useless, and there's no way to tell exactly what RPM the drive is running at. Crap!

 

Does the Apple read changes in drive speed in real time, or do I have to do a reboot every time I adjust the speed?

IIRC, Copy II+ reads the drive speed in real time and you just dial it in to spec. Although I've only ever adjusted the drive speed on a IIc.