In order to fix my ailing Apple //cs, I had to order some replacement RAM chips and sockets. I may not be able to use sockets for all the replacements due to clearance issues, but I am planning using them where I can.
While watching some of the repair videos, they used a Solder Sucker to help in desoldering the RAM chips. I hope they are easy to use as I ordered one.
It’s going to be a couple of weeks before I get everything together so I can repair these //cs. I miss having a local Radio Shack
In addition to my working Apple //c and //e I have two Apple //c’s that don’t work well.
The first is my original Apple //c that I bought in 1984. The other //c was one I bought on eBay. The rear corner of the case was broken in shipping. The seller replaced it with what is now my working Apple //c.
My working //c is a ROM 3 and the two non working Apple //cs are ROM 255. I want to repair them, if possible. I have narrowed down the initial problems to something with the RAM.
Apple released several versions of the //c, with different ROMs. The original ROM is 255, also the smallest. The next version is ROM 0 which added support for the 3 1/2″ diskette drives and a self test of the //c. Later versions 3 and 4 are for memory expansion.
In order to assist with fixing them, I ordered a new version of ROM 0 for one of the machines. It came with very good instructions, but in a abundance of caution, I still resorted to YouTube to watch videos of the upgrade. Specifically, opening the case and the actual ROM upgrade.
The motherboard of the Apple //c ROM 255 is designed to be upgradable to the bigger ROMs. You need to a cut a trace on the motherboard and put a drop of solder between two pads to make a jumper. Once that is done you just switch out the old ROM 255 with the new ROM 0.
That sounds easy, right? The big draw back for me was the whole soldering thing. I learned a few basics about soldering in high school, I believe the year was 1978. That was also the last time I tried it.
I did a quick test of both machines to see what I had to work with. My original //c didn’t even try to boot the diskette drive, which was odd because I remember it working the last time I tried it. The other one attempted to boot, but just grinded away with out stopping. I decided to go with my original machine.
I opened it up and found the ribbon cable on the internal drive was loose. I tightened it up and went on with my upgrade. I cut the trace and fired up my new soldering iron and managed to get a drop in the right place. After swapping the ROM I put it all together again and fired up the Apple //c and ran the self test.
RAM 00100000
was the message returned by the self test. That tells me one of the ram chips may be faulty which will be another project. The disk drive appears to be alright after tightening up the cable.
Since this ROM upgrade showed positive results, I ordered and received another of the ROMs for the other //c.
What I didn’t say in my last post, was I had planned to start posting again earlier in the weekend, but couldn’t find my password to sign in. It took me three nights of intensive searching to find a way to retrieve my password. It turned out I had to sign into my web hosting site, go into the WordPress database and manually change it.
I proceeded to sign in and started typing up a post, but before I published it, I went back over my past posts. Practically word for word, it was a duplicate of my very first post. So much for that, I rewrote the post and here we are.
I last posted six years ago today. I was having trouble with my working Apple //c. It turned out I was having media problems with the diskettes.
Since then I have attached my Floppy EMU and use it as a hard disk emulator on the smartport. It is an older model of the Floppy EMU with the SD card rather than the newer micro SD cards used on the newer Floppy EMU. This is setting right on my desk using a 20″ Dell monitor, next to the 28″ monitor my more modern gaming computer uses.
I still haven’t gotten a real working relationship with assembly, through no fault of Assembly Lines. It is a great book, but life intrudes sometimes and my attention was drawn elsewhere.
One of the nice things about these older computers is you can switch a disk and reboot the computer for a totally different setup. This is true with the Floppy EMU as well. I have three SD cards that I can switch around and reboot into a different setup. One has a Total Replay image on it for a great selection of games, one has Pitch Dark text adventures and my own disk image containing an assortment of programs including ProDOS and utilities, Merlin, Kyan Pascal, ZBasic, some terminal programs and ADTPro.
I’ve been having doubts about my Apple //c for months now. After doing diagnostics on my system, I’ve come to realize that my problems were based on bad diskette media.
Back in March, when Assembly Lines became available, I downloaded a copy and was working though it using AppleWin and Merlin 8. I wanted to create a diskette in order to work on my Apple //c, but when I attempted it I could not get all the files copied over to a working diskette.
Now that I’ve narrowed my problems down to bad diskette media, I tried again today. The diskette I was using last time was not DS/DD, it was DS/HD which can cause problems. I spent a couple of hours tonight and set up a working 800k diskette. I started up the Systems Utilities diskette copied the PRODOS and the BASIC.SYSTEM files and then ran the NO SLOT CLOCK utilities to setup the working diskette to work with the clock. I then went back to the System Utilities disk and copied its files to a separate directory on the working directory. Finally, I created a directory for Merlin and copied the two diskettes full of files for merlin into it.
Finally, once the diskette was complete, I made an image with ADTPro to use as a backup.
As a final note, I ordered a hard cover edition of Assembly Lines from LULU.com while waiting for files to be copied. The PDF version was really nice to have available, but there is nothing like having a book in hand.
Earlier this year, I lost the directory where I kept my downloadable diskette images. These images were ones I created for this blog.
I had no direct backup for this directory so I spent some time going over my computers, looking for copies of these images. I found copies for four of the five diskette images. I’ve created a new directory and placed the copies in it. The links have been repaired, although I removed the link for the missing image and when I find that, I will add the link back in.
I had a package of 25 diskettes I bought last July. They sat for a long time without me checking them out. When I finally got around to trying them I had several of them that I couldn’t use. I set them all aside until yesterday, when I opened the package again. I went through them and fifteen of them would not move inside their black case. Even though they came in a sealed plastic bag with a label on it, they showed signs of having something spilled on them. The tyvek sleeves were wrinkled like something had gotten on them and the sheets of labels that came with them had obviously been wet.
There were ten diskettes that didn’t seem to have anything on them. I booted up a copy of Diversi Copy by Bill Basham and formatted these remaining diskettes. I don’t know if it does anything different from the ProDos System Utilities, but it feels like it. Diversi Copy shows writing and verifing as it formats. As it works, Diversi Copy shows the drive speed, a little slow.
Normally, when I buy something like these diskettes, I check them out thoroughly when they come in. If there are any problems, I can address them with the vendor. In this case I didn’t, so I not only can’t address the problem with the vendor, but I wouldn’t even try. As far as I’m concerned, they sold me good merchandise.
I’ve downloaded several programs for my Apple II’s and had problems with them. They seem to run fine on AppleWin, but when I try to run them on the Apple II’s I have problems.
I figured it was time to troubleshoot the problem. I started with the //c, since I’m more familiar with it. As I had it set up, there were too many variables. I disconnected everything except the TV which I use as a monitor.
Diagnostics for the //c seemed like a good place to start.
I booted it up and the first menu choice is Rom Test, which again seemed like a good place to start. Rom’s D0, D8, E0, E8, F0, and F8 all checked out.
The next logical test looked like the Ram Tests. Motherboard Ram Auto First, 800.FFF, 1000.1FFF, 2000.3FFF, 3000.4FFF, 4000.7FFF, 7000.7FFF, D000.DFFF, E000.EFFF, and F000.F800, which is where the program appears to stop.
After rebooting, Auxiliary Ram Auto was next, 800.FFF, 1000.1FFF, 2000.3FFF, 3000.4FFF, 4000.7FFF, 7000.7FFF, D000.DFFF, E000.EFFF, and F000.F800, also appears to stop here.
YoYo Duck Diagnostics Version 2.5
14) Memory Test for a //c 128k. This test tells you to use the on board software to test the memory. It says to press and hold the Solid Apple-Control-Reset and release the reset key first. This had no result and after several tries, I added the Open Apple to the mix (Open Apple-Solid Apple-Control-Reset) and the screen changed to a grid that looked like a patch work quilt and after a bit flickered and said System OK
Computer Inspector from MECC
1) Machine Identification notes that this is an: Apple //c version 3 with 128K of memory.
5) RAM Memory Test tested both the Main and Auxiliary memory and said OK.
4) Disk Drive Test
1) Drive Speed for Slot 6 Drive 1 reports a drive speed of 299 RPM which is within the range of 296 to 302 the program says is satisfactory.
2) General Operation indicates the diskette drive seems to be functioning properly.
Computer Checkup by Power Up Version A:01
A) Main Memory ran more than 126 passes without finding any errors.
B System Roms failed completely, my thinking is this program proceeds these roms, as Version 3 Roms were a later version.
C) CPU test ran more than 16,000 passes without finding an error.
L) Drive Speed says correct speed is 299.0 to 301.0 and shows it testing between 299.6 and 300.3.
D) Disk System Tests ran for 64 passes with no Speed, Seek, Read or Write errors.
H) Auxiliary Memory, I let run for over 118 passes with no errors.
At this point I can not find anything wrong with the basic system. I’ve hooked up the external drives and see about checking it out.
I worked on my challenge for a short time while watching a movie, The Prince of Persia. I thought it was fitting to be working on an Apple II game while watching a movie inspired by iconic Apple II game.
It’s funny, I have looked at the code for Eamon several times over the years, but never tried creating one of the games. I was going to create a large game, but having started reading the documentation, I decided to start with a smaller game of just a few rooms to get a feel for the system and then move on to the larger game.
What I have learned so far is that the system is designed for the adventures to be created after careful planning. That’s the reason I switched down to a smaller adventure to start. I can plan and work on a smaller adventure to learn as I plan the larger adventure for the finish. Additionally I can discuss features of Eamon used in the smaller game without giving away surprises from the larger game.
In order to play Eamon you need at least one diskette from the Eamon Library. The Main Hall and Beginners Cave (EAMON001.DSK) is where everything starts, and hopefully ends.
In order to create more adventures a second diskette, the Dungeon Designer Disk (EAMOND71.DSK) is very helpful. Something to remember is neither disk is a bootable, so if you are going to run them you need to boot with another diskette or make them bootable.
I downloaded disk images of both of those and another of ProDos 4.0.2. After trying to boot both of the Eamon diskettes and getting “*** UNABLE TO LOAD PRODOS ***”, I booted the ProDos 4.0.2 diskette and looked at the EAMON001 disk with the System Utilities. Although there was no ProDos or Basic.system, there was Startup, so I exited the system utilities to basic and ran Startup.
The first thing that comes up is instructions on making the Eamon Main Hall diskette bootable. Simple instructions to make a copy of the diskette, delete the file PLAYER.MANUAL, and copy both PRODOS and BASIC.SYSTEM onto the diskette. Make sure to use a copy of the original diskette so you can keep the PLAYER.MANUAL around for possible use.
This gives me a bootable copy of the Eamon Main Hall diskette to work with.
EDIT: 1/8/15
As with any project like this where you will be making changes to an existing work, you should make copies of the diskettes involved and use to the copies to work with. If you have a problem, at least you can fall back to the original.
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