brent.k

Q: Apple IIe won't read floppy disks

A few months ago, I had gotten an Apple IIe from a garage sale, but it turns out it doesn't read any disks. I'm not super familiar with Apple II hardware, so I'm not sure if it is the Disk Interface Card, or the Disk II drive (there's only one drive). There seems to be power going to the drive, but it does not read the disks. All that is displayed on the screen is Apple II at the top. Iremoved all other cards (Super Serial card and memory expansion card) and put the interface card in every slot, with no luck.

 

Thank You,

Brent

Apple IIe, Other OS

Posted on Jun 19, 2012 4:07 PM

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Q: Apple IIe won't read floppy disks

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  • by JustSomeGuy,Helpful

    JustSomeGuy JustSomeGuy Jun 20, 2012 8:53 AM in response to brent.k
    Level 3 (586 points)
    Jun 20, 2012 8:53 AM in response to brent.k

    Welcome to the Apple II world.  You'll find there is a vibrant user community that is actively developing new hardware and software for it.

     

    The behavior you're seeing is pretty typical of the startup when there's no (readable) disk in the drive.  It'll spin forever until it's able to read something, or you hold down the Control key and hit Reset.  It sounds like the interface card and the drive are probably healthy, since it starts up when you turn on the power.

     

    As you suggest, there are several things that can be at fault here:

    1. The disks may be bad, or not formatted, or not formatted for Apple IIs.

    2. The drive may need to have its head cleaned.  See: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CMF3PL17kqg

     

    If you put the Super Serial card back in, you can try bootstrapping via serial port - and then formatting one of those disks to see if you can get any farther.  See:

    http://adtpro.sourceforge.net/bootstrap.html

  • by brent.k,

    brent.k brent.k Jun 20, 2012 6:04 PM in response to JustSomeGuy
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Jun 20, 2012 6:04 PM in response to JustSomeGuy

    Thank You, I had taken apart the drive to see that everything was working, but found that the stepper motor that moves the head was dead . So there was sadly nothing that I could do. But hopefully I'll find a drive at another garage sale. Good thing the guy gave me the Apple II for free

     

    Brent

  • by JustSomeGuy,

    JustSomeGuy JustSomeGuy Jun 20, 2012 7:31 PM in response to brent.k
    Level 3 (586 points)
    Jun 20, 2012 7:31 PM in response to brent.k

    That's the best price to get an old Apple for!  But now you're spoiled - you'll want them all to come that way.

  • by brent.k,

    brent.k brent.k Jun 20, 2012 7:56 PM in response to JustSomeGuy
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Jun 20, 2012 7:56 PM in response to JustSomeGuy

    Indeed, a free Power Mac G4 Cube would be awesome

  • by kengagne,

    kengagne kengagne Jun 21, 2012 12:41 PM in response to brent.k
    Level 1 (5 points)
    Jun 21, 2012 12:41 PM in response to brent.k

    Come to KansasFest!  We always have plenty of Apple II hardware looking for a good home, and experts who are able to fix what once went wrong. :-)