Tempest Posted August 2, 2011 Share Posted August 2, 2011 I posted this in the Apple newsgroup, but the posts seem to take days to show up, so in the mean time I thought someone here might know the answer. My Apple IIgs (ROM 3) is acting up and I have no idea what the problem is. When I attempt to start System 6 from either the hard drive or a disk it shows the Welcome to System 6 screen for a second or two but before the load bar even starts to move it crashes to a screen full of little squares. Some times the squares are solid green and sometimes they're half pink and half green, but they're always in a little 10 x 24 grid and look sort of like the old Apple II low-res pixels. At first I thought it might be my Transwarp but I had it run through all its tests and everything comes back as working. I fired up Transylvania 3 to see if the system itself was working (cool game BTW) and everything worked just fine (it didn't think it was funny when I tried to kill death). I even tried setting the Transwarp speed to normal, but no change. I'm at a loss as to what the problem could be. If it was hardware related you'd think that nothing would work. I'm going to try and hook everything back up to my ROM 01 and see if the problem fixes itself, but I really don't like to move the Transwarp around so much. Any ideas? Tempest Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jamesk Posted August 2, 2011 Share Posted August 2, 2011 From your description it sounds RAM related. I would do a thorough RAM test, both with Software and an Oscope on on-board and aux memory. Check for any ICs that are burning hot to the touch. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rockin' Kat Posted August 2, 2011 Share Posted August 2, 2011 I got a black and white checker board pattern on my IIgs once because the TWGS wasn't getting a good connection to the mobo... had to replace the processor socket on the IIgs... If it isn't that, do avoid disconnecting and reconnecting the twgs ribbon cable from the mobo while trouble shooting if at all possible, the socket on the mobo doesn't take much to wear it out... Also a note on RAM testing... if you've got card which can accommodate more than 4MB, some test programs will fail them falsely. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tempest Posted August 2, 2011 Author Share Posted August 2, 2011 Ok I'll try unplugging everything except the Transwarp. Maybe my RAM card (4GB) isn't plugged in all the way or something stupid like that. You wouldn't think that games would work though if that were the case, but maybe they're just using the onboard memory and skipping the card? One thing I noticed when I put the Transwarp in my ROM 03 is that one of the pins on the socket are missing. I think it was the back left or right one. At the time I couldn't tell if it was something that happened when I unplugged it from my ROM 01 machine or if it was always like that. IIRC nothing bent or broke when I removed it and it doesn't look like anything was ever there (no broken leg piece). Also the Transwarp passes all of its tests flawlessly and as I said programs are working so I'm guessing that this is nothing, but I thought I'd throw it out there. Tempest Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JamesD Posted August 2, 2011 Share Posted August 2, 2011 Are you booting from floppy or a hard drive of some sort? Did you create the boot disk yourself of get it pre-configured from someone else? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tempest Posted August 2, 2011 Author Share Posted August 2, 2011 Are you booting from floppy or a hard drive of some sort? Did you create the boot disk yourself of get it pre-configured from someone else? I've tried both the load on my HD and a boot disk. I downloaded the disk images directly from Apple and made them on my G3 Tower (OS 9.1). Tempest Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JamesD Posted August 2, 2011 Share Posted August 2, 2011 I've tried both the load on my HD and a boot disk. I downloaded the disk images directly from Apple and made them on my G3 Tower (OS 9.1). Tempest Then it's gotta be hardware. That would probably mean bad RAM. Can you remove RAM and see if it boots? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tempest Posted August 4, 2011 Author Share Posted August 4, 2011 Ok it's the Transwarp. I took out all the cards and still had the problem. Then I took out the memory card, still no luck. Finally I put the Transwarp into my ROM 01 machine and got the exact same problem. However once I put the regular ROM back in everything fired right up. So I'm guessing the problem is that broken pin. If you're looking straight on from the front of the IIgs it's the back left pin on the adapter than plugs into the socket. I think you can get new ones from ReactiveMicro.com, I'll have to check. I wonder why the games all work and the self test reports no problem? What the heck does that pin control anyway that gives GS/OS fits? Tempest Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JamesD Posted August 4, 2011 Share Posted August 4, 2011 I have an EPROM burner. If you can't get a ROM somewhere else I can see if I have a pin compatible EPROM. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tempest Posted August 4, 2011 Author Share Posted August 4, 2011 It's not the rom, it's the thing that goes into the socket that's attached to the ribbon cable. They do sell them online, but I want to verify that this is indeed the problem and not something else on the Transwarp. Tempest Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rockin' Kat Posted August 4, 2011 Share Posted August 4, 2011 He's speaking of the cable which plugs the TWGS into the IIGS mobo's CPU socket. Not ROM anything. And it can be a source of headaches because the CPU socket is cheap and not very reliable for multiple insertions/removals. If I personally find myself with issues with it again I'll take the IIGS' mobo and the cable to a tv repair shop and pay them to remove the CPU socket and solder the cable connector directly to the mobo in place of the socket. I would say get a new cable. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tempest Posted August 4, 2011 Author Share Posted August 4, 2011 I would say get a new cable. Yeah I think I'm going to do that. I wanted to get feedback from the Apple II newsgroup just to make sure that it's the pin, but posts don't seem to be showing up there again. I assume your Transwarp has a full set of pins on the cable? The last pin isn't supposed to be missing right? I wonder why it seems to work with self booting games and passes all the internal tests though. That seems really odd if I've broken it. Tempest Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
magnusfalkirk Posted August 4, 2011 Share Posted August 4, 2011 I would say get a new cable. Yeah I think I'm going to do that. I wanted to get feedback from the Apple II newsgroup just to make sure that it's the pin, but posts don't seem to be showing up there again. I assume your Transwarp has a full set of pins on the cable? The last pin isn't supposed to be missing right? I wonder why it seems to work with self booting games and passes all the internal tests though. That seems really odd if I've broken it. Tempest I take it, like me, you usually read comp.sys.apple2 through Google Groups? I've noticed that new posts haven't been showing up there but if you can find another place to read them, such as Mac GUI City http://www.macgui.com , you'll find people have replied to your posts. Dean Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tempest Posted August 4, 2011 Author Share Posted August 4, 2011 Well crap. Looks like I can't order a replacement cable after all: We wanted to let everyone know that the Store is going on hiatus and will not be accepting new orders for the time being Guess I'll have to wait and see if it comes back up (I have no idea when it shut down). I don't suppose there's any way to actually solder a new pin to the broken one? It's snapped clean off, there's no piece of the pin protruding at all. Tempest Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tempest Posted August 4, 2011 Author Share Posted August 4, 2011 I take it, like me, you usually read comp.sys.apple2 through Google Groups? I've noticed that new posts haven't been showing up there but if you can find another place to read them, such as Mac GUI City http://www.macgui.com , you'll find people have replied to your posts. Dean Cool, thanks for the tip. Looks like people are saying that I should try and remove all the cards except for the Transwarp which I already did. I guess it's possible that the socket isn't making contact correctly, but I'm betting it's that damn snapped pin. Tempest Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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