David Schmidt

I have a PCPI Applicard in the form of a Franklin Ace 80. I found boot
disk images here: http://www.mylinuxisp.com/~jdbaker/oldsite/binaries/
and reconstituted pcpiboot.sdk and pcpiutil.sdk. Both disks look normal
in CiderPress, and transfer without error to real disks.

With the Ace 80 in slot 4 in my platinum IIe, booting pcpiboot.sdk
clears the screen, I get a couple of odd half-track sounding kinds of
disk head movements, and then everything locks up with a blank screen.
If I remove the Ace 80, I get those same half-track chunk sounds - but
the machine then reboots and repeats the process forever.

It seems like something's wrong with my card. Is that a reasonable
place to start? Is there a different boot disk out there I should be
trying? Any hints as to typically failing components?

A2CPM

Hi!

On Jul 7, 1:26*pm, David wrote:
<--- snip --->
> It seems like something's wrong with my card. *Is that a reasonable
> place to start? *Is there a different boot disk out there I should be
> trying? *Any hints as to typically failing components?

I downloaded the compressed image of the boot disk from the site
you mentioned and converted it to a real disk then used it to boot an
Applicard card. It worked just fine. So no sense in trying a
different boot disk. So it's likely your card is bad. If you're in
the U. S. and you're willing to ship me the card I can do a chip swap
to see if your problem is a bad chip.

Willi

Steven Hirsch

On 07/07/2011 01:26 PM, David Schmidt wrote:
> I have a PCPI Applicard in the form of a Franklin Ace 80. I found boot disk
> images here: http://www.mylinuxisp.com/~jdbaker/oldsite/binaries/
> and reconstituted pcpiboot.sdk and pcpiutil.sdk. Both disks look normal in
> CiderPress, and transfer without error to real disks.

IIRC, the Franklin Ace 80 was a very early revision of the Applicard. There
may have been timing / compatibility issues when running on newer or
non-Franklin systems.

Does the EPROM have a revision marked on it?

David Schmidt

On 7/8/2011 7:57 AM, Steven Hirsch wrote:
> IIRC, the Franklin Ace 80 was a very early revision of the Applicard.
> There may have been timing / compatibility issues when running on newer
> or non-Franklin systems.

That would make sense. It didn't work in the Ace 1000 it came in
either, though. :-)

> Does the EPROM have a revision marked on it?

Will check that and other markings and get back to you.

schmidtd

On Jul 8, 8:38*am, David Schmidt <schmi...@my-deja.com> wrote:
> On 7/8/2011 7:57 AM, Steven Hirsch wrote:
>
> > IIRC, the Franklin Ace 80 was a very early revision of the Applicard.
> > There may have been timing / compatibility issues when running on newer
> > or non-Franklin systems.
>
> That would make sense. *It didn't work in the Ace 1000 it came in
> either, though. :-)
>
> > Does the EPROM have a revision marked on it?
>
> Will check that and other markings and get back to you.

ACE 80 FRANKLIN COMPUTER FCC#4039012
COPYRIGHT 1982 by CPI

The EPROM says U12.

Robert Justice

Hi,

I had some trouble getting boot disks to work on my pcpi applicard. I
found these, i think from memory from the apple ii clone website. I
did a google but could not seem to find them currently on the web. I
think they are Franklin disks. They are able to boot up ok on my card.
The ones in the link above do not work on mine, the boot disk crashs
to the monitor.

my applicard has on the eprom: S/N 33911 BOOTSTRAP V9.0 PCPI 1982.

So give these a try: (boot dsk and utility dsk)
http://users.on.net/~rjustice/FCPM2.DSK
http://users.on.net/~rjustice/FCPMU.DSK

let us know how they go.

/Rob

David Schmidt

On 7/17/2011 1:47 AM, Robert Justice wrote:
> So give these a try: (boot dsk and utility dsk)
> http://users.on.net/~rjustice/FCPM2.DSK
> http://users.on.net/~rjustice/FCPMU.DSK
>
> let us know how they go.

Thanks, Rob -

In an emulator and in a Darth Vader II without the Applicard installed,
both disks continuously reboot the machine. With the Applicard
installed in the Darth Vader II with the Applicard installed, it boots
once and hangs on a black screen, same as before. So I may ultimately
have a bad board on my hands. I'll be taking up Willi on his offer to
help troubleshoot further.