SE/30 issues - simasimac or not so bad?

Question

SE/30 issues - simasimac or not so bad?

Hi All,

I got the crazy idea a few weeks ago that I wanted an old Mac like I used in college. Ended up with two from Craigslist, a nice SE with an external SCSI drive and carry case and an SE/30 in it's original box!

The SE is working great and I'm having a blast playing with it. But the SE/30 (that I got for very little money) isn't quite as happy. It booted up at first and worked great. Kind of surprised me. I played with it for a bit and then thought I'd try to attach the SCSI drive I got with the SE. It booted up fine, but the SCSI didn't show up. We played for a while, then I thought I'd try a reboot and see if I could find that drive. Well, I got the dreaded screen. The one that looks like this:

http://www.applefritter.com/files/SE30_screen_garbage.JPG

Exactly like that, actually. Here's the thing- I've read a lot about simasimac and they always say no chime. Mine makes the normal chime, then a two note chime, then the chime of death.

I'll dig into it and check the caps. I work on old stereo gear from time to time and can solder pretty well, so if it needs caps, I'm not *too* scared. But I wondered if anyone had run into that screen with those chimes before.

Oh, also- can I take the drive from the SE/30 and mount it in the SE? The SE is an early, two floppy version. No super drive and no internal hard drive. The SE/30 drive had some great software on it that I'd like to get at.

Thanks,

Ed

Posted on May 19, 2011 2:54 PM

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Answer 1

Best reply

Appaloosa mac man

Level 5

4,330 points

May 19, 2011 11:48 PM in response to fast_eddie_72

Ed,

First thing is to take advantage of the external SCSI drive. That is a nice tool for booting and repairing drives. As for the SE/30, you can pull that drive and put it into the external hard drive case. Be sure and change the SCSI ID from 0 to 1 or 2.

Watch out for the high voltage wire going from the tube to the motherboard.

I will look up some old diagnostic software. Meanwhile, pull the drive and back it up. Leave the one SE alone so you have a machine to test with. Since it is a dual floppy, find an old SCSI CD ROM drive, pull the optical drive out and use it as a second hard drive enclosure. Then you can copy files from the SE/30 drive to your other drive.

If you need help with SCSI ID information, look here:

https://discussions.apple.com/thread/3055732?answerId=15208125022#15208125022

Jim~

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Answer 2

May 20, 2011 7:53 AM in response to Appaloosa mac man

Thank you for the great information. Gives me enough to move forward.

Thanks!

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Answer 3

May 22, 2011 2:40 PM in response to fast_eddie_72

Just an update- I cleaned the capicitor residue off the logic board and replaced the PRAM battery. The SE/30 is up and running and it sees the external SCSI drive now as well. Thanks for the help! One more old Mac returned to the world of the living!

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Answer 4

Shreve19

Level 1

0 points

Jul 24, 2011 4:25 AM in response to fast_eddie_72

How exactly did you clean off the residue? I read that I should wash the logic board, but I'm a little hesitant.

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Answer 5

Jul 25, 2011 10:27 AM in response to Shreve19

I took the board out of the Mac, laid it on a pad of paper towels and sprayed the caps with brake cleaner. Then I scrubbed with an old, soft toothbrush. Put it all back together and it was great! Brake cleaner, as I understand it, is pretty much the same stuff as "electronics cleaner". Dunno if that's a fact, but it worked for me and didn't discolor anything or leave any obvious sign that it had been there.

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Answer 6

Shreve19

Level 1

0 points

Jul 27, 2011 3:04 AM in response to fast_eddie_72

Thanks. I'll give that a try.

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