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Apple 2e serial number

a2s2064 is the model number, that's a given.

I'm guessing, Oct/Nov of '88. This is just a guess, as I do not have the serial number list or formula to determine that.

You opened her up and checked the Chip Date Codes and see if it a 6502 or 65C02 in it?

 
Look at the computer chips on the board and you will find 2 sets of numbers on it. 1 number is the Chip Family - like 6502 (for the CPU). Then there is a 4 digit number, something like 2283. in this example - 2283 is the date code which reads as "The 22nd week of the year 1983." this would make it around June 1983.

Look around for several date codes and see an average. Due to time some chips may have been replaced with newer chips or older chips that were lying around. And check on the CPU. If it is a 65C02, that means that he ROMs may have been changed as well as the CPU but not always. The original Apple upgrade includes the ROMs and the CPU, but many went out and just bought a 65C02 (the used to go for $35 in 1982; I know I bought 4 for my Vic 20, Atari and CBM 1540 & 1541... Boy did they ram cooler after that!). If the CPU and ROMs were upgraded, then they are newer then the rest of the system.

Apple IIe and IIc were made until the mid 1990s, making it one of Apple's longest running devices ever made.

 
The 6502 CPU (An 8Bit CPU) is the biggest (longest) chip on the board. Should be right under the slots.

 
My mistake - its on the bottom of the board on the left, in section area D/E/F - 1. I was thinking of II+:

2ecarte2.jpg.0a585d7a2cd37988088021ba0ebda17a.jpg


 
7th week in 1984. Depending on how the other chips average out, you're looking at a machine that is made somewhere between Feb. and March of 1984.

Which Apple IIe is this since I notice you posted a couple of them up.

EDIT:

Not all Apples have this but above the power jack/port of the motherboard, along the edge, there is a white square with rounded corners (see the pic I posted above). Sometimes They stamp a date code on it, in the case of this pic above it is 4383 or the 43rd week of 1983, which would make it October of 1983.

Thing is this - a lot of times the date codes on the chips may not match the date code on the mother board. This is because Apple bought the chips in bulk and the boards were not prepared at the time, so the chips can be older than the board itself. Most of the time they average out to the same time area, but the board posted in the pic has older chips (early 1983) compared to the board (later 1983).

And Apple did not post a date on all their board. I'm thinking that this might be a diagnostic test date - an Apple pulled out of assembly line and then tested before being put back on the pile to sell. This would make more sense as it explains why not every board is dated and this one was dated.

But why such a huge gap in the dates? One of the tests I remember was the 1000 hour burn test. 1000 hours is about a month and a 1/2. And other tests (like the slot/disk drives) are 100 hour tests, which is about 4 days. But again, this would explain why there is a huge gap between the dates on the chips and the board.

 
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So your machine was taken off the assembly line and tested. 8431 would make it around Sept. 1984. Big difference from 8407 on the 6502 CPU, which would make it in March.

When it was actually built who knows, but this gives you a date as to when it was on the assembly line and taken off to be one of the few that was tested and dated when it passed all those tests. So I'm guessing that your Apple was made in June/July, taken off the assembly line to be tested and then dated when it passed all those tests.

Consider yourself lucky that your board was tested and dated, as this gives a fuzzy area of its creation time. So many Apple II's do not have this board date information and forces one to go by the chip's date code.

This answers your questions?

 
NTSC Apple //e has the CPU below slot 3 (B4).

If it has white lettering on the keyboard, that usually means it's an earlier revision Apple //e (1983-84). A hand-written serial number with white keys likely means it's a Rev A or Rev B //e, (early to late 1983).  Now if I remember this correctly, if the CF ROM (D8) has actually separate ROM chips (AF, BF, CF, DF), and it has a white keyboard, and it has a hand-written serial number, then it is likely a Revision A Apple //e and was made in early 1983.

The problem with chip date codes is that you can even find Platinum //es with 1983 dated chips.  It's an OK indicator, but not great, especially when a machine is using off the shelf parts that are manufactured in such large quantities, and can be used for many, many years after they were initially manufactured.

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