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Apple IIe Continuous Beeping


kichigaisensei

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I'm new here. I haven't touched an Apple II since about 1985. I don't remember much about using them other than they were fun and accessible. I was 14 years old. My kids are getting close to that age and I'm hoping to give them the same experience I had.
 

I acquired two IIe computers for free and I'm hoping to get at least one working. I have an electrical engineering background. So, how hard can it be? Haha.

 

Well, I fired up the first one today. I get the "Apple IIe"  at the top then a bunch of scrolling jibberish and a continuous beeping (very loud and annoying).

I removed all the cards (memory and super serial) and tried again. Same result. I don't have any floppy disc drive or disc drive interface card at this time.

 

I then held down the closed apple button while starting up and I see a bunch of raster graphic blocks and then I get "System OK".

Any clues where my problem(s) might be? I searched for this topic and didn't find anything. I'm sure this is a common problem. Any help would be appreciated! Thank you.

 

 

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Hmm.  I know on some revisions of the IIe (and different ROMS) not having the keyboard in it will cause a continuous beeping and garbage on the screen.  But that doesn't seem to be the case for you.

 

I'd suggest swapping out some of the ROM chips from the different boards.  Also, have you confirmed the four voltages from the PSU?  You should have a +5, -5, +12 and -12.

 

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Hi and thanks for the reply. I did verify PSU voltage outputs. They look good. But, the on/off switch seems iffy. So, I have a new one on order. In the meantime, I replaced all the capacitors (including the safety cap) in the PSU. I got the entire set from console5.com. It was only $11. When the switch arrives, I'll give it another try. I'll make sure the keyboard is plugged in. I don't remember if it was plugged in last time.

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On 3/31/2020 at 11:02 PM, kichigaisensei said:

I'm new here. I haven't touched an Apple II since about 1985. I don't remember much about using them other than they were fun and accessible. I was 14 years old. My kids are getting close to that age and I'm hoping to give them the same experience I had.
 

I acquired two IIe computers for free and I'm hoping to get at least one working. I have an electrical engineering background. So, how hard can it be? Haha.

 

Well, I fired up the first one today. I get the "Apple IIe"  at the top then a bunch of scrolling jibberish and a continuous beeping (very loud and annoying).

I removed all the cards (memory and super serial) and tried again. Same result. I don't have any floppy disc drive or disc drive interface card at this time.

 

I then held down the closed apple button while starting up and I see a bunch of raster graphic blocks and then I get "System OK".

Any clues where my problem(s) might be? I searched for this topic and didn't find anything. I'm sure this is a common problem. Any help would be appreciated! Thank you.

 

 

What happens if you unplug the keyboard? It could have a bad matrix controller.

 

Failing that possibility, did you re-seat all of the ICs?

 

 

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9 hours ago, GameGeezer said:

What happens if you unplug the keyboard? It could have a bad matrix controller.

 

Failing that possibility, did you re-seat all of the ICs?

 

 

 

Well...I got my power supply switch in! I looked at both motherboards and I noticed two chips are missing on one! And one happens to be the keyboard ROM!

I plugged the PSU into the computer with the keyboard ROM and it works perfectly. I was able to enter Applesoft BASIC and write some rudimentary programs. It works! I guess the other one needs the  missing ROM chip...

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1 hour ago, kichigaisensei said:

 

Well...I got my power supply switch in! I looked at both motherboards and I noticed two chips are missing on one! And one happens to be the keyboard ROM!

I plugged the PSU into the computer with the keyboard ROM and it works perfectly. I was able to enter Applesoft BASIC and write some rudimentary programs. It works! I guess the other one needs the  missing ROM chip...

Ah-ha. KB was my prime suspect. 

 

I should have one spare KB ROM, although I haven't tested it at all. Here are the various KB dumps if you have an encoder. 

APPLE_IIe_Keyboard.zip

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On 4/9/2020 at 8:22 PM, GameGeezer said:

Ah-ha. KB was my prime suspect. 

 

I should have one spare KB ROM, although I haven't tested it at all. Here are the various KB dumps if you have an encoder. 

APPLE_IIe_Keyboard.zip 3.07 kB · 1 download

Hi and thanks! Unfortunately, I don't have any way to burn a new ROM. I'd need to find someone to do that. I'll take the spare off you. What do you want for it?

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On 4/12/2020 at 9:22 PM, kichigaisensei said:

Hi and thanks! Unfortunately, I don't have any way to burn a new ROM. I'd need to find someone to do that. I'll take the spare off you. What do you want for it?

 

I'll test it and verify that it is good. As for price, USD10 plus postage seems right? In any case, that's what I typically pay for EPROMs.

 

Feel free to send a PM with your address so that I can find out what the postage will be. 

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