What could be wrong with my Apple ii? When I turn it on, I only see gibberish video output. No speaker beep sound.
Am not sure if 1) am not using the right display - just attached it to a video grabber USB dongle. 2) my keyboard is not working hence the reset signal is not being sent to the computer for it to boot properly. 3) something else is wrong.
I had already replaced the power supply with a new one from Reactive Micro.
Depends on the exact Rev of the motherboard.
If it is a Rev 0 motherboard and still has the original Integer ROMs, it is normal for them to boot to gibberish - you just need to press the RESET key to get it to a prompt.
If its a later revision of the motherboard, could be lots of possible causes. Can you post a pic of what you are seeing on the screen?
Jennifer
Ebay item
It's actually on auction now but you can see pictures of the computer here. If I don't get to sell it, maybe I should give it one more go to try to fix it.
I think my keyboard has a problem and it is not recognizing the reset signal. How do I check if keyboard is functioning?
It wont be the keyboard, the motherboard has its own power on reset circuit. The symptom you describe can be caused by almost every chip on the board. It could be a faulty chip or a bad socket and on boards that old it might even be a fractured trace but that is less likely.
Did you have a chance to post a screenshot picture?
Yeah, it could be a number of different chips. Btw your eBay listing says its a Rev 3 motherboard, however if the 4 digit serial number written on the left rear corner is correct this should be a Rev 0 board. There were 2 iterations to the Rev 0 motherboards, the first 3000 or so had light green slots, the later 3000 or so had darker green slots which yours appears to have.
If you carefully remove the CPU chip and look beneath it - it will confirm once and for all what Rev motherboard you have.
Alternately if you look beneath the keyboard on the right hand side of the motherboard, you should see a large prototyping area on the motherboard if this is a Rev 0 - which isn't present on any other Rev motherboards.
Unfortunately in this condition my guess is you are looking at between $2000 and $4000 (tops) in this condition. You would almost certainly get more if you could get it fully working.
Jennifer
If you visit this site, the very first pictures are of the Rev 0 motherboards...
Apple II Rev 0 Motherboard
If you look along the bottom most row of chips, the large "open" prototyping area can be seen on the bottom right hand side of the motherboard. Later motherboards had a much smaller area.
Jennifer
The original Rev 0’s had turquoise edge connector slots...
I was there and have two of them that have been in my possession since they were manufactured...
Yeah sorry, that's just how I describe them. (I am also slightly color blind)
I have 1 early Apple II, A2S1-1491 which has those lighter color expansion slots.
Can you confirm when abouts they changed to the darker color slots? I think from the ones I've seen that its around the 3000 mark.
Jennifer
I finally found the time to take high-resolution photos and a video. You can read about this machine here: My Vintage Apple II.
Please see pictures in my blog... I don't see any number on the board under the CPU chip. Why?
Blog post
I believe that the Rev 0 motherboards didn't have a number - only the later iterations.
Jennifer