The Apple II RoundTables especially want to welcome
former America On-Line (AOL) members who have become
A2 patrons as Apple II AOL access winds down there.
  
A2 Libraries have the best, most complete collection
of Apple files available anywhere, and you will find
that our Bulletin Board is an informational gold
mine.
  
Mining the Bulletin Board
  
Typical of new A2 members are Dave Taylor and Collin
Douglas. As you can see from the abbreviations they
use below, they've already figured out lots of
terminology. For the uninitated, CAT stands for
CATegory and TOP for TOPic; both are A2 Bulletin
Board commands. Here's what they recently had to say.
  
Dave Taylor: Hi All! I finally made it back here. :)
Nice to see all the welcomes -- I am starting to feel
more at home on GEnie. Trying now to sort out CAT and
TOP to work my way through the messages. I'm just so
used to ADV, Read New, AHW, etc. Now I've got to
learn what CAT is where, and what TOP I want to read.
As you can see, though, I learned my way back here!
  
Collin Douglas: Thanks everyone for the warm welcome.
My transition from AOL was probably aided by the fact
that I've long used text-based BBSs (local and L.D.)
so GEnie wasn't really a new experience. I do have
Copilot and am impressed.
  
Getting Help
  
When an A2 member needs help with something, the
Bulletin Board discussion usually proceeds in a
predictable manner. A member posts a message about a
problem and that problem is narrowed down and details
are added, if necessary. Then, possible solutions are
offered from other A2 members and staff. The member
usually gets enough answers to solve the problem.
  
Recently, Dave Huggins received help from an A2 staff
member on how to fix his Apple IIc monitor.
  
Dave Huggins: I've a IIc color composite monitor that
apparently worked fine before shipping to me, but now
warms up for 5-10 seconds, then creates a major short
which trips a breaker. I'm not crazy enough to poke
DEEPLY in a CRT, but I can do minor work safely with
the case apart. Any guess about an "easy" fix --
something that might create this symptom? (My TV
repairman is my next call.)
  
Harold Hislop (A2's resident solder slinger) replied:
Let me guess... this monitor was in storage for quite
some time, and was then dragged out, tested, and
shipped to you. From what you're describing, I'd bet
on one or more defective (very leaky) electrolytic
capacitors in the power supply. You could probably
track these down fairly simply...
  
 1) Remove the case, but leave the case on
 2) Operate the monitor till the breaker blows
 3) Quickly pop open the case and place 1 finger on
    the top of each electrolytic capacitor in the
    power supply (actually all eletrolytics)
  
Harold continued: Any that you find to be warm or hot
should be replaced. (The real way to track these down
is by removal and testing, but that's a pain, and the
above procedure will usually find all the defective
ones anyway. :)
  
Dave Huggins responded: And just when you appear to
return to human form, you pull one of these
cross-country mind reading things. :) That is
_exactly_ the history of this monitor. Okay, I'll
sneak a peak and see if I can spot the power supply.
I don't mind working with them, it's the CRT stuff I
avoid.
  
Thanks to Harold, Dave's monitor was working properly
soon thereafter.
  
Getting Live Assistance
  
Don't forget to stop by the A2 Real-Time Conference
area. You'll find quick assistance and friendly
conversations most every evening there. And the
Library contains archives of back messages from the
Bulletin Board and lots of "How To" files for
software work-arounds and hardware fixes.
  
Just remember this: If you use an Apple II computer,
the A2 RoundTable is the place to come for help as
well as fun. Happy holidays!