Table of Contents for this issue:
Re: SE/30 shrinking screen
Re: Mac Portable Power Brick
Mac Plus Display Q
PPP Problem on Classic II
Re: Problem with Mac IIcx....
Re: Mac Portable Power Brick
OS8 on an 040 Upgrade?
Classic Logic Upgrade
Floppy Disk problems on Powerbook 100
My Plus blinks ?, too!
Hard disk light
Re: 7.1 on low density disks?
Re: Color card for SE/30
Long Live Little Macs
Re: Mac Plus Help
floppy drives, monitors
TORX T15
Re: Booting from a Syquest SCSI drive on a Mac
Re: Motherboards and Chips
MacLynx screen...

It's the incredible shrinking SE/30! What started out to be a nine-inch
display has now shrunk to about a seven-inch display. No other problems
with the unit... it runs great and does everything that we want it to,
but our eyes are getting tired out by the shrinkies. Any suggestions
will be gratefully received.

The cause is simple: ageing components.

Pop the case and adjust the screws on the side upright board.
This is called the analog board.
CAUTION: use plastic adjustiment tools available at Radio Shack.
CAUTION: metal tools can ruin the board and get hot.

You can also kill yourself using metal tools on the analogue board, and the
screen width adjustment on a Mac Plus is a variable inductor, so bunging a
metal tool in it shrinks the screen quite a lot. The SE is probably
similar.

I used an Allan key with great caution, thick gloves, and PVC tape wrapped
around the bits you grab hold of.

Rowland.

[snip]

Date: Thu, 9 Oct 1997 08:55:08 -0400
To: Classic Posts
From: Mark Pearrow
Subject: Mac Portable Power Brick

Greetings,

I have had a Mac Portable for some time. I have an original power supply
for it, but it went south some time ago. The power supply I use now is the
same one I use for my PowerBook 170: Output 2.0A, DC 7.5V, center positive.
The Apple model number for the part is M5140.

I have had no luck at all in recharging either of the batteries I have for
the Portable, and as far as I know there was no external recharger for
these batteries.

Mac Portables use lead-acid batteries. The cells are quite robust, and you
can recharge them using a low-power 6V motorcycle battery recharger.

If you've not got one of them, you could try a constant-voltage power
supply set to 6.6V and current limit at under 0.5A.

Do make sure you do this in a well-ventilated area, because the cells will
give off a little hydrogen, which'll explode if you're very, very, very
unlucky.

Rowland.

I have a Mac Plus and a HD20. Recently, after trying to hook up the HD20
with the HD20 extension on a system tool 6.0.8 disk, the happy mac sign
comes on with about 4 pixels to the left and right.

that's it... The floppy will appear to boot up, <click click whirr> but I
never get a full screen to appear!

(1) what caused the screen to be only (32x32 pixels?) one icon size big?

(2) the 6.0.8 disk is too full to also have HD20 extension installed
unless I trash teachtext. Any alternatives?

(3) I've tried a 1MB ans 2.5MB config, but neither produces a full screen.
Just the happy mac

Another question: what's the best place you have found in purchasing 4MB
SIMMS for an se30. I need a set of four which causes a minor fit to
consider spending $70 on my "hobby" mac if I can find it cheaper.

Yours in Liberty

Michael Bellman
Macintosh Tutor;
441B Cabo Lane, Columbia, MO 65202
573-443-2814 pager: 999-8601

I have recently purchased a Classic II. I am trying to get
connected to the internet by following all the instructions my
ISP gives me to configure PPP and MacTCP. I press OPEN to make
the connection (dial, call setup, etc.) but I never get a login
screen for username and password after I have a connection. I
also tried putting in the script the username and password but
still it doesn't recognize this. I am finally automatically
bumped off since it times out when no password or username is
inputted.

The ISP has no idea what to do...I am thinking maybe there is an
Extension conflict. Does anyone know what extensions may be
problematic with PPP or MacTCP besides the Fax Controller? Or
have you heard of the above problem before and know how to fix
it?

Regards,
--vince

B.J. Major wrote:

My Mac IIcx has developed a "fatal" problem; it will not boot up from
anything but a floppy disk. No SCSI recognition, no hard drive
recognition. Anyone care to guess what's the problem--a dead hard drive
or something else, since it also will not mount a good System Folder
that's on a removeable cartridge???

Time for SCSI voodoo! I have run into this problem numerous times, with
Macs ranging all the way from my hacked-up Mac II to a PowerComputing
clone. What has most likely happened is that the driver partition on
your internal hard drive has been corrupted. When you power on the
computer and the SCSI controller scans the bus, it finds the internal
drive at ID 0; but when the Mac tries to mount this drive or start up
from it, the corrupted driver causes the entire SCSI chain to freeze up
and the notorious flashing question mark icon appears. Even if you boot
from floppy and run Apple's HD SC setup or a third-party hard drive
utility, you probably won't be able to mount anything on the SCSI chain
and may get a cryptic message like "Bus not terminated," even when you
know the bus *IS* properly terminated, thankyouverymuch...

First try zapping the PRAM just in case - probably no help, but try
anyway.

Then, diagnose the problem by disconnecting the internal hard drive cable.
On a IIcx, this is easy - just pop the lid off the case and disconnect
the gray 50-wire ribbon cable from the drive. Since you have already
have a known-good system folder on a removable drive, connect the drive and try
booting from the cartridge. If that works, then you're in business -
designate the cartridge as your startup disk, then shut down. Make sure
the removable media's SCSI ID has not been accidentally changed to 0 - that
may have caused the problem to begin with! Reconnect the internal drive
and try booting from the cartridge. If you can boot succesfully now,
regardless of whether the internal drive appears on the desktop, use a disk
formatting utility to re-install or update the SCSI driver on the internal
disk. If you have backed up your files, you may even want to reformat the
drive and test it for bad blocks. If you can't boot off the removable
drive even with the internal disk disconnected, try booting from a floppy
that has SCSI Probe or something similar on it and see if you can at least
find the removable drive on the SCSI chain. If only the controller at
ID 7 shows up, or nothing at all shows up, or the computer hangs, then
suspect the hardware - if the removable drive works OK with other Macs, it
may be the motherboard... If you can at least see the removable drive
on the SCSI chain, try finding a way to boot from it or from another SCSI
device.

A d a m P o w e r s

Mark Pearrow writes:

I have had a Mac Portable for some time. I have an original power supply
for it, but it went south some time ago. The power supply I use now is the
same one I use for my PowerBook 170: Output 2.0A, DC 7.5V, center positive.
The Apple model number for the part is M5140.

I have had no luck at all in recharging either of the batteries I have for
the Portable, and as far as I know there was no external recharger for
these batteries.

I bought an old Macintosh Portable. It looks to be a pretty nice setup, but
doesn't have a powerbrick. Can someone tell me what the voltage should be
going into the little power connector? Will this recharge the battery, or
is an external charger required?

Bryan Walls

The external charger is Apple model number M0715 - I'm pretty sure that
Dynamic Engineering http://www.dyneng.com/ still sells them (and the power
bricks). The power adapter for both the Portbale and the recharger is
model number M5136, and its output is 7.5 V, 1.5 A.

That said, the biggest problem with the big old lead acid batteries in the
Portable is that if they ever get completely discharged, they're junk and
will not recharge ever again. Just leaving them in the Portable for a few
months without charging is probably enough to do it. I bought an old Portable
that supposedly had a bad logic board, but all it needed was a new battery.

One of the (many) strange things about the Portable is that it will not
operate properly from the power adapter alone! Test the battery with a
voltmeter - it may be dead or too weak to use. The aforementioned Dynamic
Engineering still sells the lead-acid batteries, and I had mine rebuilt by
a company called 1-800-Batteries (guess what their phone number is). Also,
I remember seeing a thread on one of the comp.sys.mac.hardware groups earlier
this year about intrepid folks who had cracked open the batteries and rebuilt
them by hand! Try searching http://www.dejanews.com/ for that.

A d a m P o w e r s

Is there anyway to get OS8 to work on my LC II which I upgraded
with Sonnet's 040 card? I would really like to get it!

--vince

I have a Color Classic and an 8500, and my favorite is? The classic.
But I can't get enough ram in it. I have installed a Micromac
Thundercache so the speed is OK. But I am locked in at 10 megs o'ram.
The Arc <www.thearc.com> says it is possible to switch logic boards
from the Performa/LC 520,550 and 575 with the CClassic. Is it worth
looking for a 550 or 575 board? I would get up to 36 megs of ram. A
faster data bus? Anyone had any experiences?

Thanks in Advance,
Ryan

You motherboard is probably ok. I had a similar problem with my PowerBook
145. I am afriead that your problem is with the floppy drive itself. A
bit of dirt may have ground itself into the the floppy head and is causing
the problem. I had to have a new floppy drive installed--$60 American +
$60.00 labor. I recommend that an expert repair the PowerBook--Those
machines are not very repair friendly. Good luck.

I couldn't find quite this problem in the archives:

I have a Plus which was given to me by a colleague. It won't boot. I've
given it every type of disk I can find (single-sided, double-sided, 1.4,
formatted from my Performa and Mom's SE), and labeled these disks
everything I can think of (System Disk, System Tools, and more - I even
tried calling one 'Gus,' figuring I had nothing to lose), and every last
one was spit back out. When I try to feed it a disk, it does take the time
to inspect it, but no matter what I've given it, it gets rejected. I've
tried feeding the disks into the external floppy drive and the internal
drive. Nothing seems to work! I tried booting off my Performa, but the
Plus ignored it. Can anyone help my Plus? I've become rather attached to
the little guy, and from what I read here at Classic Macs, there's not a
lot it can't do - if only I can convince it to boot!

Thanks in advance for any help!
Jake

[MODERATOR]

You need an 800K disk with system software on it. You can get
something like system 6.0.8 at (ftp.apple.com).

[END MODERATOR]

I recently upgraded the hard disk in my SE from the original 20MB to an
80MB. With the 80MB drive I no longer see the hard disk access light
when the disk is being accessed. I did install the light that came with
the 80MB drive. Any ideas? TIA

Paul

[MODERATOR]

Hmm...try reversing the light connector. It's possible
that the polarity is different on the new drive, and LED's will
only light in one direction of current flow.

[END MODERATOR]

What you should really do is get yourself one of AE's drives that allows
the old machines to read and write high density disks without replacing the
motherboard. I have one on my Mac Plus. I bought another for my old SE. You
need a machine that allows you to plug in an external disk drive. Did you
see my SEVERAL postings on Classic Mac? The drive is great!!! Then you can
read and write ANYTHING in the way of system or programs on the high
density disks. I DO have both the system and the update, but I really think
you should invest in the drive.I hope you can still get one. If not, get
back to me. Best of luck. Donna Pointer

Hello Donna -- I saw your response in Classic Macs, and noted
that you actually HAD a copy of the (quite ephemeral, or at least I was
beginning to think so) LOW density, 800K System 7.1 install disks. If I
send you the requisite number of blank 800K's and return postage, could
you make me a copy too? I have the high density install disks for System
7.1 (purchased from Galaxy in Oregon), but I'm always doing stuff on Macs
that only have the 800K drives, and I've only got System 7.01 Install on
800K. Do you have the 7.1 Update 3 on 800K also? Thanks for taking the
time to read this post.

Regards,
Brandon Davis
707-269-0953

The UserGroupStore is at http://www.ugstore.com Since you are out of the
country ask them what the membership requirements are. In the USA you need
to belong to ANY Macintosh User Group anywhere in the country. The card is
$69 US plus shipping of course. The LapisColor PDS/30 24-bit card
partnumber in their catalog is #10402. Their US order phone number (
toll-free in the US) is 800-350-4842. It is compatible with the Mac se/30
via the PDS. It offers 24-bit color at 640x480 on 13 and 14 inch screens,
and at 832x624 on 16 and 17 inch screens. I have not had mine installed yet
but the low cost is amazing. It says it has 1.5MB VideoRAM, so at 24 bits
this will give you "millions of colors" capability.Good luck, Donna Pointer

Hello,

I read your Classic Mac posting about the color card for the SE/30 and I
immediately sat upright in my chair. I've been looking for a color card
(any card, cheap or expensive) for a couple of months now, but they're soo
hard to find. You wrote you have to be a member of this group b4 you can
buy things. How do I do this? Or a you a member and are you willing to buy
a card for me and send it to me?
Any which way, I'm *very* interested, so please let me know how, what and
where to buy :-)

Cheers,

Hans Cannegieter,
Amsterdam, The Netherlands

Thanks to all of you that helped me realize on of my recent and important
dreams.

I got a mint condition 128K Mac working and running System 1.0

I appreciate the hints, pointers and disks mailed to me.

Y'all are wonderful people and are helping keep these beautiful machines
alive.

Long Live the Little Macs.

-- daniel ray norris

I've got a Mac Plus flea market find that has me stumped.

When I first brought it home I was able to boot it from the floppy, but
couldn't get it to recognize the 20 meg (Apple) external HD. After
reinitializing the plus external on my Quadra and repeatedly attempting to
mount or boot from the external (with proper termination) with no success,
I began to suspect a scsi problem. So I attached a syquest to the external
20 meg and terminated the syquest. Voila, the 20 meg drive mounted and
after disconnecting the syquest I could boot from the external. This part
of the story was included in case it sheds light on my present problem.
After letting the machine run for a while, I came back to find the cursor
had locked down "selected" on the menu (as if the mouse button was
depressed) and would not release. So I shut the machine down and did a
complete continuity check on all the mouse compoents (switch, port, cable,
etc.). Rebooted and got to the disk ? at startup. It wouldn't recognize the
external startup. I pop in the system floppy, it spits it out and continues
to look for the startup volume. This goes on for a few tries and I shut
down and do a voltage check and tuneup and check continuity on the rest of
the external ports. I start up again, same thing, doesn't recognize the
external or the system floppy, try another system floppy, ?, ?, ?, so I
walk away in disgust leaving it to ?,?,? for a while. Come back 30 min.
later and it's booted from the external, begin to use it and the curser
locks up in the "select" mode again. Shut down, same scenerio again. Change
the ram, no change. Use the programmers key at startup and get a 0F00D,
wait for the bits beneath to cycle but they never quit cycling and never
generate a final sub code, so I can only guess at the component failure.
I've got another logic board coming, but I'd really like to know what's
happing here.

I suspect one of the rom chips or the scsi or floppy controller. I will
never be satisfied with just swapping out the boards.

Any suggestions would be appreciated.

Dennis Fletcher

A couple of quick questions.

Can a floppy drive from a Mac Plus be put into a Mac SE?

Can a Radius 2-page display be attached to a Quadra 660 or a Centris 650
without using the Radius card?

Thanks
Bill

I just bought a TORX T15 screwdriver with 6" shaft at Sears. Reaches the
screws on my SE30 and only $5.00(Craftsman Professional). It is much less
complicated and cheaper than Pena's suggestions for narrow shaft multibit
screwdrivers with extensions.

By the way my SE30 has TORX head screws, not Allen head screws.

Winsor Crosby
Long Beach, California

Regarding your question about booting a Mac Plus using an external
Syquest drive, I recently had similar problems with a Syquest 88c drive.
The problem is more than likely termination.

I solved my problem by getting a pass-through terminator from
MacConnection and attaching it to the SCSI port on the back of the
drive, and then attaching the SCSI cable from the terminator to the back
of the Plus. A regular passive terminator would probably do the job too,
if attached to the second SCSI port on the drive.

BTW, I set the SCSI ID on the drive to zero (0) on the drive, but I
don't think that makes any difference. My Plus has a Micromac Performer
accelerator (16 mhz 68030) and I'm using System 7.1.

I have had a lot of difficulty using a Zip drive on the Plus, and I
think termination is the problem there too, although I haven't tried it
out, since I just got the terminator today. The Zip works intermittently
and is supposed to have internal termination, but as I understand it,
the Plus is an early and only partial implementation of the SCSI
protocol and can be flaky used with newer SCSI devices.

Hope this helps.

Sam M. Hunter

You should be able to get the motherboards you need from Lance Timco at:

Timco Computers

They have a monthly mailing list that you can subscribe to which carries
a fairly complete list of all kinds of Mac equipment and parts.

And don't mess around with chip sets, etc. I recently upgraded an SE
from a stock 800k to a Superdrive configuration by buying a Superdrive
motherboard ($25) and a FDHD drive ($45) from the above vendor, and it
works fine. It saved a lot of soldering and anguish and only took about
15 minutes to swap out the board and drive.

Hope this helps.

Sam M. Hunter

The MacLynx screen size can be adjusted in the text file that sets
preferences and parameters, lynx.cfg. Find the line that sets the height
in lines, and readjust to 24 lines or whatever fits.

John Seboldt