I just got a IIc yesterday, and it came with a disk that has "The Apple at Work" on it. At first, it loaded but I got some corruption at places. I then patially disassembled the whole computer, cleaned the disk head and put it mostly back together. Disk worked perfectly after that. I took it out, tossed it onto my desk and fully disassembled the computer and REALLY cleaned everything, but didn't touch the disk drive since it was working fine. Put it back together again, and the computer works fine, but the disk just spins and the access light stays on forever. I get the normal clack's on power on, too, but after that it just spins, and I don't hear anything moving back and fort, just the rotational motor.
Is this indicative of anything? Expected behavior on a bad disk? It goes on forever and never errors out. If I hit Control-Reset, it drops me to the BASIC prompt and everything works there as expected, too. If I open the door and pull the disk out, the motor stays spinning. I don't want to replace the drive if the disk is bad, and it looks like trash, the label fell off of it, when i got it there was a 2nd label stuck haphazardly to the back side of it. I have a BMOW Floppy Emu in the mail, but I'd like this to work properly. I have no other disks to test, though. Thanks in advance.
Buy some 5-1/4" blank floppies and follow the instructions to copy from a file on the Floppy EMU
i suggest the ProDos Utility disk and version 2.4.2 if it is there
then try to boot from your ProDos disk
hopefully your //c has ROM 0 or newer so that the Floppy EMU will work
It's 255 currently, but it'll work assuming I plug it into the onboard port, and only use floppy images and not an HD image, right?
But yeah, I'll pick up some blank floppies and a ROM 0 or 3 upgrade to go with it. Thanks!
Yes, It should work as a floppy only.
If you're going to use your Floppy EMU as a disk drive often, purchase their A-B adapter, so that you do not have to keep opening up the case.
I purchased a couple of ROM 0's from Prof Buggie and now all 3 of my Apple //c's work, even the one I purchased with a bad keyboard for parts!
Sounds as if you damaged part of one of the logic gates. Sigh.
I seem to answer these questions rather commonly....
Common issues for drive analogue breakout:
Bad cable or connection.
Bad 74LS125.
Bad 3146.
Bad 3470.
Bad 2003.
Incorrect timing.
I feel that with the frequency of this issue, these should be pinned as a FAQ on the forum.
Thanks. I reseated the cable and now it does the normal clack and just says 'Check Disk Drive'. I have some new blank disks on the way, so I'll see if its the drive or the disk. I'm having a hard time thinking it's the drive since it worked fine and then wasn't touched, and the disk itself was put on to my desk without an envelope (and may have been sitting on a 2.5" HDD, so magnet sorta?) Either way, Floppy EMU and the disk and new ROM get here Monday if USPS is to be believed.
I had this issue, also. It turned out to be a very dirty disk. In fact, I have to clean the drive heads afterwards every time I try to use this disk.
So, before you use the "new" disks, do yourself a favour and clean the head again.
At this point, I'm pretty sure it's the disk itself, and the drive is fine. I got some new blank disks and when I attempt to boot off of these, I get the message that there's not DOS on them and they can't be booted. If I put the 'bad' disk back in, it just says 'Check Disk Drive'. Now... to figure out how to get a disk utility to work and write to the internal drive from the Emu.
Have a lot of fun with the addition of the Floppy EMU on your Apple //c! It has really expanded my enjoyment of my original //c; including "Sneaker Net" of its 2GB micro-SD card back and forth from my Apple //c and my modern day Mac Mini. This eliminates my need to use ADTPro to create actual floppy disks from floppy files.
Be sure you carefully follow the instructions to modify your motherboard in the two spots where indicated.
Ironically, I purchased an Apple //c "for parts only" some years ago on eBay and noticed that although it had the original ROM "255" installed, the motherboard had been modified for the upgraded 32 bit ROMs.
So I popped in an upgraded ROM "0" and sure enough it works perfectly other than some keyboard problems, which may only need a simple cleaning and a new RESET keyboard cap:
IMG_2095.jpg
If you want to make real floppies using images on the Floppy Emu, you can use a program like Copy II+ to copy them. If they are pre-cracked images (or not protected at all), then you can just use the regular 5.25" copy with format function. If it is a WOZ image that has protections in place, then you can try using the 5.25 bit copy function to copy the image.
Alternatively, if the program is crackable by 4am's Passport program, you can use Passport to copy the image and crack the program on the physical disk.
Thanks! I got the ROM done already. I'm fairly proficient at soldering and have a full station. Got a ROM4 dropped in from Apple2Online and it works great.
I guess my question is really "How do I get CopyII+ to work and write an image to the floppy?" I can only boot off of either the emu plugged into the mainboard and disconnect the internal floppy, or as a SmartPort HD that I can load up CopyII+, but then I have no way of choosing an image to write to the floppy. Am I missing something? Thanks!
Either buy the little adapter from BOMW that allows the Floppy Emy to be device 2, or add an external UniDisk 5.25 as device 2; then using Coppy ][+, copy from the Floppy Emy to a real diskette. I suggest the latter for your initial ProDOS 2.4.2/2.5a and DOS 3.3, disk mastering.
Timelord's advice is sound.
Is your main desktop computer a Mac or Windows?
My main is windows but I have access to Macs of multiple generations. System 9 imac G3, Snow Leopard intel iMac and Big Sur MBP 2017. I've confirmed that the drive does, in fact, work. I was able to save an AppleWorks file to a disk and then open it later on.
Oh, you had access to another disk, good!
Check out CiderPress on Windows:
https://a2ciderpress.com
It can read from and save to Apple ][ floppy disk files.
So when you want to save or read floppy files from the micro-SD card on your new Floppy EMU, you can do so in Windows.
The image in the post above is the standard db19 connector. With that connector on a //c, you can't boot off the floppy emu. The "proper" way to connect to the //c is to get the optional drive switcher. It includes a small board you install inside the computer that sits between the internal drive cable and the motherboard. Then you run two small wires out the back that connect to a different db19 adapter tht has a switch on it. That allows you to set the floppy emu as the internal drive so you can boot off it. The internal drive then acts like a 2nd external drive.
02805E6B-9561-451D-99F0-72433F93DDB1.jpeg
Yes, very nice, but I do not use my Floppy EMU as a floppy drive; I use it as two 32MB "smartport" hard drives, so I do not need that extra conrtraption
But it looks nice and surely helps if you are using Floppy mode.