Apple II Service Notes

LEVEL 2 SERVICE NOTES

Motherboard Page 1

A no reset condition when there is no cursor, no prompt, and no speaker beep as obvious symptoms. Check pin 40 of the
6502 for a high to low transition when the reset key is pressed. If no transition occurs check the following: Q5 (2N3904
near A13), 555 timer at A13, and the capacitor below Q5 (.1 microfarad). Usually, if Q5 is bad the APPLE will keyboard
reset (but will not power on reset). If a transition occurs check the following points with an oscilloscope: Data Lines D0-
D7 (pins 49-42 on I/O slots), Address Lines A0 to A15 (pins 2-17 on I/O slots), Read/Write (the write signal is active low)
at pin 34 of the 6502, pin 5 of H5 (8T97), pin 9 (R/W in) of C14, pin 8 (R/W out) at C14. Look for low logic levels and
missing (except AD7 and AD9 which are normally low) signals. The following IC’s could be at fault.

Symptoms Probable Cause

Low Data levels B6,7-74LS257
H10,11-8T28
Bad ROM’s

Bad Address levels H3,4,5-8T97

Bad ROM’s
6502

No R/W signal H5-8T97

C14-74LS32
A2-74LS00
6502

With an oscilloscope check for the 1 MHz clock on pin 37 of the 6502. Also check B11 pin 1 (74LS08) for the 1 MHz
clock. Check B11 pin 1 for a +5 volt level, C11 pin 13 (74LS04) for a +5 volt level, and C11 pin 12 for a low level. See
schematic for further details. Check the following IC’s.

Symptoms Cause
No 1 MHz at 6502 C11-74LS04
B11-74LS08
RA01 (resistor pak)
Motherboard Page 2

Check the following signals to make sure there is proper RAM addressing. Check the CAS bar signals at pin 15 of the
RAM. The CAS bar signal at pins 4 ($0-$3FFF), 5 ($4000-$7FFF), 6 ($8000-$BFFF) from F2 (74LS139). Check the CS
bar signal at pins 13 of the RAM and pin 7 of C1 (74LS153). Check the RAM SEL bar at pin 4 of the RAM, pin 6 of A2
(74LS00). Check inputs and outputs of D2 (74LS20) and pins 10 ($8000-$BFFF), 11 ($4000-$7FFF), and pin 12 ($0-
$3FFF). See the schematic for complete detail and check the inputs and out puts of the following IC’s.

J1-74LS257 H1-74LS08 F2-74LS139

C1-74LS153 C12-74LS257 D2-74LS20

C11-74LS04 C14-74LS32 A2-74LS00

Also check the Memory Select headers for continuity (except REV. 7 and above boards)

Check RAM pins 5, 6, 7 and 10, 11, 12 for RA0 (pin 10), RA1 (pin 11), RA2 (pin 12), RA3 (pin 7), RA4 (pin 6), and RA5
(pin 5) These are the RAM refresh, video addressing signals. Also check pins 7 and 9 of E11, 12, and 13 (74LS153’s).
Check the address and sync inputs to the 74LS153’s (see schematic for pinouts).

If the system works with 16K RAM but not with 32K or 48K check RA02 and RA03 resistor paks. These located between
E10 and E11 and D10 and D11. Check these with an ohm meter from pins 7 and 9 of E11, 12, 14 between ground and +5
volts. There should be a reading of about 500 ohms between pin 7 of E11 and ground, also, it should read the same for pin
7 of E11 and +5 volt buss (about 500 ohms). The readings should be the same for each of them (see schematic for more
details).
Motherboard Page 3

The following are some miscellaneous reset and reset related failures and probably causes.

Symptom Failure
Intermittent Reset C14-74LS32
A2-74LS00
E8 ROM

Random characters at keybd reset--

B11-74LS08
F1-jumper block

Chars. moving, appearing randomly on screen--

C11-74LS04

Continuous reset
B7-74LS257

Works w/16K RAM but not with 32K or 48K-

F2-74LS139
RA02, RA03

No speaker output
J13-74LS74

Beep, no prompt or cursor

E11-74LS153
E14-74LS283
F14-9334

No prompt/cursor
B3-555 timer

Split location cursor/prompt

C11-74LS04

No reset w/ROM card SW down

RA01

No reset with Disk Cd.

H2,H12-74LS138
Motherboard Page 4

No video, no reset- check 14MHz. output from crystal (B2-74S86 pins 8 and 10). Replace crystal if no signal. If replacing
crystal doesn’t help change Q1 and Q2 (2N4258’s) below crystal. If that does not solve the problem try the following IC’s.

A2-74LS00 A10-74LS194 A9-74LS151

B1-74LS175 B2-74S86 B10-74LS74
B11-74LS08 C1-74LS153 C2-74LS195
C13-74LS51 C14-74LS32 D2-74LS20

C11-74LS04 D11, 12, 13, 14-74LS161

Symptoms Cause
Blank white screen- A3-74166
B5,8-74LS174
F14,9334
6502
Blank dark grey screen B10-74LS74
Screen goes blank when disk boots B9-74LS194
Video goes blank during RAM test B2-74S86
Videos wavers C11-74LS04
Pulsating data, speaker clicks H1-74LS08
Video distorted, reset OK D2-74LS20
Top of video missing/distorted B14-74LS02
Video pushed down/to right C13-74LS02
Can’t write to upper left screen A9-74LS151
Top 3 lines HIRES gone A11-74LS74
Rolling video B14-74LS32, C11-LS04
Video all ????, scrolls E11-74LS153
Inverse video, cursor not flash B2-74S86
Inverse/incorrect prompt F8 ROM
Split video 4 corners B1-74LS175, C1-74LS153
Split location prompt C11-74LS04, E14-74LS283
No prompt/cursor B3-555 timer
Horizontal lines/junk chars. B5-74LS174
Distorted color bars A12-74LS02
Vertical bars/cold start C12-74LS257
D12-74LS161
F14-9334
2513(char gen)
Vertical bars HIRES B4-74LS194
Left magin vertical white bar A3-74166
Graphics/color bars broken up B4,9-74LS194
No page 2 HIRES open trace B11-6 to R1-10
Black squares w/left to right moving chars. B12,13-74LS11, 74LS02
No cursor .1uf above 555 B8
Inverse flashes instead of steady inverse B11-74LS08
Motherboard Page 5

Smallers chars./vertical bars B2-74S86

Moving chars C11-74LS04
Random chars at reset B11-74LS08
Part graphics/part text chars. A11-74LS74
Entire screen !!!!! 2513
Junk chars/ after warmup 27 microhenry choke
Video shows only top halves of letters, you get 2 tops instead of a top and a bottom
H1-74LS08, char gen 2513(VC line to pin 13 2513 held low)

Motherboard Page 6

Miscellaneous Failures
Symptom Cause
Unable to access disk LED on B5-74LS174
Unable to boot disk H2-74LS138, H3 8T97, H12-74LS138, C1-74LS153
Prompt/no cursor B3-555 timer
Disk boots, screen goes blank B9-74LS194
Goes into monitor, program dies after warm E0 ROM, ROM card, I/O slot 0, H2,12-74LS138
Keyboard failures (keybd. OK) B6,7-74LS257 B10-74LS74 C11-74LS04
Row D RAM bad, noisy speaker H1-74LS08, J1-74LS257,
D2-74LS20, Jumper blocks (except Rev. 7)
_ Row RAM bad- same as above
Adds chars, and scrolls from bottom B6,7 74LS257, F12-74LS138, B10-74LS74
Peripherals Page 1

ROM CARDS

This will cover both Applesoft and Integer ROM Cards.

Symptoms Cause
Apple won’t reset 74LS09 INH bar line held low
74LS11 R/W being held
74S74
74LS244 Data lines being held

Won’t go into FP 74S74

D0 ROM
74LS138

Wom’t go into INT. see above

ROM fails test even when replaced w/good

74LS09, 74LS138

Apple resets with switch down but not up

Bad Switch
Peripherals Page 2

Serial Card

Symptoms Cause
Apple won’t power up 74LS109
74LS365
P8 Prom
P7 Prom

Proms test bad after replaced

Q1,Q2-2N3906 & Q6-MPSU51

Switches test bad 74LS365

Not receiving 74LS125, Q7-2N3904

Not transmitting 74LS109, Q3-2N3906, Q4-2N3904

Peripherals Page 3

Communications Card

Symptoms Cause
Apple won’t reset Prom P2
DP8304

Prom tests bad when changed

Q1,Q2-2N3906
Q3-MPSU51

Card will not respond to PR#/IN# command

MC6850
74C161 (A1 and A2)
74LS74
No RS-232 Output signal
Q4,Q5

No RS-232 Input signal

Q6
Peripherals Page 4

Parallel Card

Symptoms Cause
Apple won’t reset 74LS74
P1 or P9 Prom

Drive won’t boot 74LS74

After PR#n command prompt doesn’t return

Q2-MPSU51

Prom tests bad after replacement

Q1-2N3906, Q2-MPSU51

Wrong data being printed

74LS174
74LS298

Not acknowledging data received

74LS74 at B2

Not generating Data ready strobe

74LS74 at B2
Peripherals Page 5

KEYBOARD

Old Style-single board model

Symptoms Cause
Key doesn’t work (example-no A)
Keyswitch bad

Series of letters don’t work (for example “9”, “6”, “5” or “Q”, “ESC”, “A”, “Z”, “1”)
Encoder (331-5740)
bad traces or feed throughs

No control function Keyswitch

U1 (7400)
R1 (4.7K Ohm)

No shift chars. U4 (7400)

No output at all Cable bad

5740 (encoder)

No keyboard strobe encoder

U1 (7400) check pin 3

No output/wrong output U2 (7404)

encoder

Encoder not being clocked

U4 (7400) pin 3 on encoder

Repeat key does not work

U3 (555 timer)

Characters repeat Encoder

Wrong characters Encoder

Characters repeat after unit warm

Encoder
New style keyboard (two part)

Symptoms Cause
No keyboard output Encoder (331-0931)

No Data Strobe (no keybd output)

B3 (74LS00)
B4 (74LS00)
C6 (.1 microfarad cap)

Incorrect data out Encoder

B5 (74LS04)
B3 (74LS00)

No output Cable

P, Return, and : keys repeat

Change R10 to 3.0K ohm 1/4 watt resistor. See Apple Service Bulletin #15
Peripherals Page 7

Language Card

Symptoms Cause
Apple won’t reset 74LS09 --> D0 ROM fails

Works w/Pascal but won’t load Basics correctly

74LS09 --> will run Integer, but not Applesoft

No reset 74LS175
74LS08
Autostart ROM
RAM Bad

RAM tests bad RAM

Bad cable

74LS09

Not bank switching 74LS86

74LS00
74LS09
74LS08
74LS74
74LS175
74LS20

When repairing Language Cards the most common failure is it just won’t work, won’t load Pascal or Basics. It is difficult
to give symptom “X” and say that IC “Z” is the cause. Each IC has more than one function and all are interrelated.
Disks Page 1

Disk Drive

Symptom Cause
Apple won’t power up (dc)
74LS259
74LS323
74LS05

Drive motor on 74LS125 (analog)

74LS174 (controller)

Won’t boot P5 (controller)

Q1 (analog)
P6 (controller)
74LS125 (analog)
Q2 (controller)
74LS132 (controller)
74LS259 (controller)

Write current on CA3146 (analog)

74LS125 (analog)
CR3 (IN4148-analog)
74LS05 (controller)
ULN2003 (analog)
P6 (controller)

No drive motor motion motor control bd. (10K pot)

No stepper motion ULN2003 (analog)

cable

No motor speed displayed by test

MC3470 (analog)
74LS125 (analog)
74LS174 (controller)
74LS132 (controller)

Motor speed OK, displayed speed high (+1200)

74LS05 (controller)
CA3146 (analog)

Write protect always on Cable

74LS323 (controller)
P6 (controller)

Unable to test (Rd/Wr error)

74LS05 (controller)
ULN2003 (analog)
P5 or P6 (controller)
Disks Page 2

Symptom Cause
Diskette not initialized (test#4)
P5 (controller)
CA3146 (analog)
Adjust comparator (TP7)
Load button

Data error (checksum) P6 (controller)

Adjust TP7 (comparator)
74LS132 (controller)

Motor spins on pwr. up 74LS125 (analog)

Won’t boot (diskette OK) P5 (controller)

Alignment
74LS259 (controller)

Won’t boot (wipes diskettes)

74LS125 (analog)
CA3146 (analog)
74LS05 (controller)

Drive does not run at all

Q1 (analog)
P5 (controller)
74LS259 (controller)
74LS132 (controller)

Apple does not reset P5 (controller)

74LS259 (controller)
74LS05 (controller)
74LS323 (controller)
NE556 (controller)

Boots, gives I/O error for inside tracks/unable to read/unable towrite when copying
Head alignment

The unchangeable chip on the drive board is an MC3470