Apple Disk ii Woes

jajan547

Active Tinkerer
Mar 25, 2022
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I understand learning how to use an oscilloscope can be a learning curve. It is a beautiful tool to see more about how electronics behave. It shows you by the graph more information and illustration than a multimeter. I found the above guide that I thought could help you to get started.

Cheers!
Thank you I'll definitely study this, as far as the Disk ii goes I've checked the solder joints and all look good Should I upload a video of my issues and if so what specifically?
 

jajan547

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Mar 25, 2022
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Drive spins until I hold ctrl and reset then activity light goes off and it stops spinning. When I put in a disk in and type PR#6 it spins but I get the weird issues I've specified.
 

retr01

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Jun 6, 2022
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Drive spins until I hold ctrl and reset then activity light goes off and it stops spinning. When I put in a disk in and type PR#6 it spins but I get the weird issues I've specified.
That is why your Apple Disk ][ drive needs calibration. If calibration does not resolve, checking the chips and other parts would be next. The calibration process gives more information if there are issues other than being out of calibration.
 

retr01

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Hey @jajan547, I saw this video on YouTube "How Old School Floppy Drives Worked." In this video, 8-bit Guy shows how the 5.25" drives work. Excellent illustrations! :)

 
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retr01

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Another good video of recalibrating the Apple Disk ][ via testing and adjustments. The first part shows the replacement of the belt. The second part shows the recalibration process.

 
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retr01

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jajan547

Active Tinkerer
Mar 25, 2022
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Well Disk ii lives I assume the only two floppies I have were strange one definitely doesn't work right the other is just one disk from the DOS 3.3 Program and it asks for the other disks like it should but I don't have them, gonna say it works. The speed looks perfect and it reads and stops fine. Thank You @retr01