Apple//e Computers

The Apple//e computer was developed around 1982 by Jobs and Wozniak and the rest of the Apple team, and was widely marketed to educators as an inexpensive way to bring schools into the computer age. Long-since out of production, there are millions of //e's in classrooms all over the nation still introducing little fingers to the QWERTY keyboard, and running prepared programs on reading, geography, math, and a host of other good stuff.

Maintaining these computers is not difficult, due to the abundance of parts available from garage sales, auctions, and trade-ins, and the fact that the computer itself is very durable and easy to work on. Most of the servicing techniques listed below are applicable to other computers also, but please be advised that I am not responsible if you damage something by following them.

I generally clean the grime off the outside of the cases before opening them. If they are relatively clean, a little Pledge sprayed on an old handkerchief will do the trick. Rubbing alcohol is also useful, but use it carefully, it will dissolve a lot of things. Try not to spatter solvents on the clear plastic covers on printers, they may be permanently etched, but you can clean them with Pledge. To remove gummed labels, soak them in WD-40 and wait a half-hour or so for the glue to soften, then scrape them off with an old credit card. (The card is soft enough to not scratch the surface of the case.) If the case is really grungy, start with a damp rag and some Soft-Scrub. The gritty stuff that remains can be removed with Pledge. Don't get Pledge on the desktop or the mouse pads, however. It makes things slide around too much.

One very common problem inside the //e is the monitor jack. If it has become loose and the display flickers because of it, use a medium sized soldering iron to solder the rim of the jack to the frame that supports it.

There is a self-test of the computer itself. While holding the control, solid-apple, and open apple keys down, press and release the reset key. The test requires a few seconds and will display a screen of colored garbage. At the end of the test there will be an OK message if the computer is operating normally. If there is a memory error the screen will display something like 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0. This indicates that one memory chip is bad, and it is the third one from the end. To discourage amateurs from repairing these (evidently), the error display is backwards! The bad chip is the third one from the right end in the computer. The same principle is true of extra-memory cards in slot #0. The easiest way to repair a bad chip is to carefully cut all of its legs, and solder the legs of a new one to the old stubs remaining in the motherboard.

Several times people have brought in printers with gummed labels stuck way down inside the rollers where they are next to impossible to get to. I learned I could soak the labels with WD-40, wait a half hour, and push the label out with a piece of file folder or a 3x5 card. Wash off the rubber platen with trichloroethane afterwards, though, because the WD-40 will cause the rubber to soften and swell. And don't get the TCE on the clear plastic. It makes spots. (TCE comes in a spray can as gun cleaner.)

Cleaning electrical contacts is necessary sometimes. The gold contacts on plug-in component boards can be cleaned with a pink pearl eraser. Avoid the white ink erasers, they are too abrasive. Radio Shack sells contact cleaner in a spray can as TV Tuner Cleaner. This is good for switch contacts that you can't easily get to. We sometimes remove bad key switches and trade them with the tilde key, which is seldom used anyway. If you service many old computers you will soon have junked keyboards with most of the switch types anyway.

I hope you will email me your favorite hints, or questions if you need help. I have spare parts available also, if you need them.