Another IIe brought to life...

[cbmeeks]

Another Phoenix rises from the ashes.  ?

 

Well, maybe not that dramatic.  But I'm so pleased with this restoration that it has actually replaced my normal "daily Apple IIe".  First, a little background.  I own several Apple II's (II+, IIe, IIgs and IIc).  About 10+ years ago, I bought two IIe's from eBay for very little money.  One had missing keys (the one I just restored) and one had all of the keys, but was yellowed.  At the time I bought these, I had already had another IIe that was in pretty good shape and I just used it as my go-to, every day IIe.

 

I then put the two purchased IIe's in a plastic box and out in the storage building for literally 10+ years.  This building was not climate controlled and I always felt bad about that.  Last September (2019), I moved into a new house that has a garage.  While the garage is not climate controlled, it doesn't suffer the same heat temperatures that other building did.  So now my entire collection is under the same roof.

 

Friday I was going through some of my boxes when I came across these two IIe's.  I knew they were bad but I didn't have a full idea how bad they were.  In fact, the rubber feet of one melted over the years and actually ran down the side of it and the other one.  The amount of dirt and grime was terrible.

 

So, I thought to myself...why not pick one of them and restore it?  Since we're all home-bound anyway, it might turn into a fun weekend project.  So that's what I did.  I picked the better one of the two and focused on it.

 

 

 

Now I must admit, this isn't the worst computer I've ever seen or restored.  But this is the worst one that I've owned and knowingly let sit in that condition for so long.  But since I had so many other Apple II's, I just didn't bother taking the time.

 

First thing I did was take everything apart so that I could test the PSU.

 

   

 

I forgot to take pictures of the PSU separated but before I put power to the board, I tested all of the voltage.  Fortunately, everything tested out great.  Also, I actually have a new ReactiveMicro PSU that I eventually swap out to put in this one.

 

 

On power up, I get an error.  A ROM: E10 error.  Apple makes this easy to figure out.  But I checked my handy-dandy repair guide and sure enough, the ROM appears to be bad. 

 

 

So I went to my other IIe (that is really yellowed) and pulled that ROM out and put it in this computer.

 

     

 

SUCCESS!

 

Feeling good about this unit, I went into cleaning mode.  I also replaced the rubber feet.  I only had clear feet but at least they were new.

 

     

 

   

 

The keyboard is not fully working.  Plus, it's missing keys.  So I decided to swap the other keyboard from my yellowed Apple (which is slowly becoming my "parts Apple").  However, I like the large Apple keys of this keyboard so I brought them back.  ?

 

 

 

I have many more pics but here are some finishing shots.

 

   

 

 

 

Finally, here's a side-by-side comparison of my previous "daily Apple IIe" next to my fully restored one.  Guess which one is my new fav? 

 

 

Also, I can't believe how white it is.  I should mention that I did NOT retro-bright any of this.  It's still that white.  I'm really thinking that's the original color but I'm not sure.  Also, I believe this is an older unit than my other one.  The case is slightly different in design and has the plastic "velcro" for the lid.

 

Also, every one of my IIe's have a massively yellowed space bar.  In fact, my older space bar is slightly less yellow so I might swap it out.

 

Comments welcomed!

 

 

 

[GameGeezer]

Is there any chance that you'd sell that broken keyboard? I have some of the keys that it needs and can rebuild it for my non-enhanced //e. 

[cbmeeks]

Thanks for asking.  I'm going to hang on to it for a while and see if I can fix it myself.  I have some other A2 equipment (such as loose boards and broken cases) that I would eventually like to restore to a working unit.

[Papalapa]

Glad to see another Apple IIe coming back to life. If do you not opened before the PSU I advise to check inside. Most probaly there's a capacitor (at least one but most probably two) damaged. See my post if do you want:

 

It seems that these "RIFA" capacitors become damaged after only some years of use. It is a good idea also to check the electrolytic capacitors as well...

 

Congratulations for the refurbishing ?

Edited April 8, 2020 by Papalapa

[Byte Knight]

Nice job with the restoration - that's quite the transformation!

[GameGeezer]

On 4/8/2020 at 1:58 PM, cbmeeks said:

Thanks for asking.  I'm going to hang on to it for a while and see if I can fix it myself.  I have some other A2 equipment (such as loose boards and broken cases) that I would eventually like to restore to a working unit.

 

Just noting that I ultimately want that specific style, as my system originally had that, and now it does not, for my tall switch KB has several broken switches. Those white switches were used in 82-83, and my non-enhanced model originally used it, and the earlier mounting plates. I would happily swap a decent mechanism if you want, in the future. I'm restoring a few this week, but I have zero of that tall switch type switches to repair one of that style.