Recently I acquired a non-functional Apple II Plus computer (which I've posted about in other threads). The initial problem was that it would not power on. After inspecting the power supple (but not doing anything more than blowing the dust out with compressed air) the system suddenly powered on. The screen was garbled and I identified the issues as a bad memory chip in the first bank of memory (where the zero page and stack are located). Replacing this chip and I was able to bring the computer up to a BASIC prompt and run some simple programs.
When attempting to run commercial software there were a number of issues with doing so. Suspecting more bad memory I was able to write a short assembly language program which I had typed into the computer using the monitor. This program identified two bad memory chips in the second bank and one in the third. Installing new chips and now I can run commercial software (such as Castle Wolfenstein).
I do have a software hardware test program which runs and hasn't reported any problems. Great I say. However, I have observed that the keyboard begins to act wonky after a period of time. I have not yet isolated a pattern (i.e. time, particular software, etc) but I have to power off the computer and leave it off for a period of time (i.e. a quick power cycle, even after waiting 30 seconds, does not fix it). When I eventually power it on (10 - 15 minutes later) all is well. Has anyone experienced this issue before?
Also, and the question from the title: What is the normal Apple II Plus boot behavior when a Disk II drive is connected. Without the Disk II the system immediately goes into BASIC. With the Disk II it starts the drive (with the normal clunking) and then continues to spin until I press the reset key or insert a bootable disk. It's been so long since I've worked with an actual Apple II Plus I can't recall if this was the normal behavior. I believe my Apple //c attempts to boot off the floppy and, not finding one, times out with a message.
So oh wise forum...what is the normal boot behavior of an Apple II Plus with a Disk II drive attached and no disk in the drive?
When attempting to run commercial software there were a number of issues with doing so. Suspecting more bad memory I was able to write a short assembly language program which I had typed into the computer using the monitor. This program identified two bad memory chips in the second bank and one in the third. Installing new chips and now I can run commercial software (such as Castle Wolfenstein).
I do have a software hardware test program which runs and hasn't reported any problems. Great I say. However, I have observed that the keyboard begins to act wonky after a period of time. I have not yet isolated a pattern (i.e. time, particular software, etc) but I have to power off the computer and leave it off for a period of time (i.e. a quick power cycle, even after waiting 30 seconds, does not fix it). When I eventually power it on (10 - 15 minutes later) all is well. Has anyone experienced this issue before?
Also, and the question from the title: What is the normal Apple II Plus boot behavior when a Disk II drive is connected. Without the Disk II the system immediately goes into BASIC. With the Disk II it starts the drive (with the normal clunking) and then continues to spin until I press the reset key or insert a bootable disk. It's been so long since I've worked with an actual Apple II Plus I can't recall if this was the normal behavior. I believe my Apple //c attempts to boot off the floppy and, not finding one, times out with a message.
So oh wise forum...what is the normal boot behavior of an Apple II Plus with a Disk II drive attached and no disk in the drive?