Apple TechStep User Guide
The Apple TechStep User's Guide is Apple's manual for Apple TechStep, a hand-held diagnostic tool used by Apple service providers. It is 77 pages and is copyright 1992 Apple Computer, Inc.[1]
What TechStep is
[edit | edit source]TechStep tests Apple products through their external ports. It is built around a Motorola MC68HC11 8-bit microcontroller, with a four-line, 16-character LCD and a 15-key keypad, and runs from an AC adapter or a 9 V battery. Slide-in ROM packs hold the tests for particular products, and a detachable port pack carries the connectors: the standard pack has two ADB ports, two mini-DIN-8 serial ports, a SCSI port and a stereo audio port, enough for most Macintosh computers and Apple SCSI hard disks. It can test DRAM SIMMs without opening the case and isolate a failure to one SIMM, loop tests to catch intermittent faults, and save test logs in the ROM pack or send them to a Macintosh.[2]
The box contained the unit with the standard port pack, the CPU Tests Volume 1 and SCSI HD Tests ROM packs, an AC adapter (shipped separately with international units), and cables: two ADB, two mini-DIN-8 serial, one DB-25 to DB-25 SCSI and one stereo audio.[2]
Contents
[edit | edit source]From the guide's contents page:[1]
- 1 Getting Started (p. 1): introduction, what's in the box, documentation, cautions, registering and backing up the software
- 2 Getting Acquainted (p. 11): hardware tour (power switch, AC adapter, battery, low-battery LED, LCD, keypad, ROM packs, port pack, built-in serial port), sleep mode, test logs, self-tests, keypad and menus, LCD screens
- 3 Setting Up (p. 29): installing and removing ROM packs and port packs, port pack cable connections, battery replacement, AC adapter
- 4 Test Logs and Reports (p. 39): displaying, saving and sending test logs; the Report Generator application on a Macintosh
- 5 Troubleshooting & Testing Apple TechStep (p. 51): power-on self-test, extended self-test, the Apple TechStep Test, problems with the unit
- Appendix (p. 65): specifications (p. 66), glossary (p. 68)
What this document does not contain
[edit | edit source]It is a user guide for the tool, not a service manual for any computer. It has no repair procedures, parts lists, schematics or component values for Apple hardware, and it does not describe the individual tests on each product's ROM pack.[1]
Pages that cite this document
[edit | edit source]
Download: Apple TechStep Users Guide.pdf