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Apple II GS in trouble

P

Pikkey

Member
Joined
Jun 3, 2009
Messages
33
Location
Treviso, Italy, Italy
Hello everybody,
please forgive me for my poor english.

I've just saved a complete Apple II GS (rev. 01) from flooding.
https://plus.google.com/photos/1014...s/5810025726339113409?authkey=CMm4qvSfo6SsjAE

even if the computer seems to be gone, I succeed to clean it up sand and rust, and make it run again! :satisfie:

The external drive is far to be working again because one of the heads is gone.
The Apple and the keyboard seems to be working except for a message that appear on monitor:

"Fatal system error-> 0911"
https://plus.google.com/photos/101473927066969461358/albums/5809710449897340001

I can't exit from this. Not any pressed key seem to change this, nor Option+Reset.
On the net there aren't clear explanations...somewhere they say to warm up the chips, somewhere else to change the ADB IC (but which one???)
No one here has ever come out from this trap? How?

Apple have 1mb ram board and the battery removed.
Thanks in advance for helping me,

Francesco
 
Pikkey said:
Hello everybody,
please forgive me for my poor english.

I've just saved a complete Apple II GS (rev. 01) from flooding.
https://plus.google.com/photos/1014...s/5810025726339113409?authkey=CMm4qvSfo6SsjAE

even if the computer seems to be gone, I succeed to clean it up sand and rust, and make it run again! :satisfie:

The external drive is far to be working again because one of the heads is gone.
The Apple and the keyboard seems to be working except for a message that appear on monitor:

"Fatal system error-> 0911"
https://plus.google.com/photos/101473927066969461358/albums/5809710449897340001

I can't exit from this. Not any pressed key seem to change this, nor Option+Reset.
On the net there aren't clear explanations...somewhere they say to warm up the chips, somewhere else to change the ADB IC (but which one???)
No one here has ever come out from this trap? How?

Apple have 1mb ram board and the battery removed.
Thanks in advance for helping me,

Francesco
Click to expand...

Hello Francesco - Welcome to the forum.

I'm not an Apple person so I won't be of much help. However, I did a little 'googling' and found the following:

0911 and 09010001 (FATAL SYSTEM ERROR 0911); was error number 0400
on ROM-00 machines. Fatal System Error 0911 and Diagnostic Self-Test error
code 09010001 mean the same thing: You are experiencing an ADB "can't sync"
problem which, usually, seems to relate to a hardware malfunction.

P.S. Don't give up and visit often as this forum abounds with Apple fans.
 
Agent Orange said:
Hello Francesco - Welcome to the forum.

I'm not an Apple person so I won't be of much help. However, I did a little 'googling' and found the following:

0911 and 09010001 (FATAL SYSTEM ERROR 0911); was error number 0400
on ROM-00 machines. Fatal System Error 0911 and Diagnostic Self-Test error
code 09010001 mean the same thing: You are experiencing an ADB "can't sync"
problem which, usually, seems to relate to a hardware malfunction.

P.S. Don't give up and visit often as this forum abounds with Apple fans.
Click to expand...


Yes, I already found that kind of answer, and some others too, but they all are quite generic answer. I can't translate "can't sync ADB"...what does it mean exactly? how can I debug it?
I'm looking for someone who solved the same problem..
And no, I'll not give up so easily after all the time lost cleaning my Apple.. ;)

Thanks for the reply, ciao

Francesco
 
ADB = Apple Desktop Bus, the serial connection that drives the keyboard (among other things).

First, let me say that it is miraculous that you were able to make this thing work AT ALL. That's amazing. It's also not surprising that there are a lot of smaller things that are still wrong. It sounds like the keyboard isn't working, or maybe the ADB driver IC is dead. Do you have another keyboard (they call them ADB keyboards!) to test with? Does the error still happen with the existing keyboard unplugged?
 
Last edited:
The goal is to make it 100% working again! :)
If I succeed I'll post a complete photo-story about this rescue.
Yes, I've tested with other 3 keyboards, with the same (negative) results.
If no keyboard is connected, nothing change.
Is the ADB IC a custom chip or is it something I could buy somewhere else? I have no problem with SMD items..
 
I think 911 error was a fairly common problem for IIGS. Solution in the past was a logic board swap.
Considering the amount of mud in the units, I am incline to think that anything that isn't sealed is a total loss. That keyboard isn't going to cough up all the silt in the key switches. The floppy r/w heads are probably shot too.
 
Pikkey said:
Yes, I've tested with other 3 keyboards, with the same (negative) results.
If no keyboard is connected, nothing change.
Is the ADB IC a custom chip or is it something I could buy somewhere else? I have no problem with SMD items..
Click to expand...
It's a custom chip. Dorkbert is right - you can either swap the board or the ADB chip. Either way, you need a new motherboard.
 
Pikkey said:
:sad:


...i want to die :sad:

Really this is the only chance I have? :tantrum:
Someone have idea where I could retrieve another motherboard? :cloudmad:
Click to expand...

They come up occasionally on eBay, that's where I picked up my spare Rom 01 motherboard.

On the Apple Desktop Bus is a series of four RFI filters, if the filters are bad / shorted, they might be the cause of your problem, if I remember correctly.
 
dorkbert said:
I think 911 error was a fairly common problem for IIGS. Solution in the past was a logic board swap.
Considering the amount of mud in the units, I am incline to think that anything that isn't sealed is a total loss. That keyboard isn't going to cough up all the silt in the key switches. The floppy r/w heads are probably shot too.
Click to expand...


Then again, I wouldn't want to bet against a fellow who was able to get a machine that was apparently completely filled with silt to boot...


To the OP, consider looking for a GS board that is already "bad" to harvest ICs off of. Perhaps you can put two bad ones together and make 1 good.
 
dpatten said:
... consider looking for a GS board that is already "bad" to harvest ICs off of.
Perhaps you can put two bad ones together and make 1 good.
Click to expand...

I have a IIGS ROM 01 motherboard that reports some memory problems, and displays two of every line of video, but the keyboard input seems to be running just fine.

I would be happy to find out what it would cost to send it to you. I live in New Hampshire, USA - if you send me a PM with your complete mail address in Italy, I'll find out what the cost would be and respond. Then, if it's worth it to you, I'll send it to you for the cost of shipping.

Otherwise, eBay may be your best alternative. Let me know what you think.

smp
 
smp said:
I have a IIGS ROM 01 motherboard that reports some memory problems, and displays two of every line of video, but the keyboard input seems to be running just fine.

I would be happy to find out what it would cost to send it to you. I live in New Hampshire, USA - if you send me a PM with your complete mail address in Italy, I'll find out what the cost would be and respond. Then, if it's worth it to you, I'll send it to you for the cost of shipping.

Otherwise, eBay may be your best alternative. Let me know what you think.

smp
Click to expand...

So GREAT!

pm incoming..
 
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