Macintosh Color Classic

[macosten]

Got this cute little computer on LetGo for around $150 shipped. Bad floppy inject, bad HDD (I was able to boot from it precisely once; I assume it's because the disk parked itself and now can't get un-stuck because I hear it spinning up and then spinning down), and very dusty internals... but repairs like these are like rites of passage, I suppose.

It has the full 10MB of RAM, so that's nice. I'll just have to wait until I can get it a new drive/swap out the drive from my SE/30 to test it with.

Perhaps someone has helpful comments about what I can do, but for now, I'm just gonna leave you with pictures. It's a dirty machine and certainly needs some cleaning, but it works (mostly)!





edit: sorry about the images being rotated, I'm not sure why that is :O

 

[EvilCapitalist]

Nice conquest! 

First things first, you'll want to get the motherboard recapped as that's a notable failure point.  Given that the machine is working, now's the time to have it done (or to do it yourself if you're handy with soldering).  Once you repair/replace the floppy drive and HD you'll have a nice little CC.

 

[macosten]

Nice conquest! 

First things first, you'll want to get the motherboard recapped as that's a notable failure point.  Given that the machine is working, now's the time to have it done (or to do it yourself if you're handy with soldering).  Once you repair/replace the floppy drive and HD you'll have a nice little CC.

I've lurked around here long enough to know about the capacitor problem I still need to learn how to solder/get around to shipping the board off. I have a spare SE/30 board that I can eventually test my recapping skills on after I get some practice, so that's nice.

I'll ask for recapping pointers and tips at some point.

But yeah, that's the gist of it all. I'm wondering if it's worth keeping my eyes out for an LC5xx board to upgrade it with; perhaps a 550 or 575 board.

 

[Johnnya101]

Check out the threads I started about recapping.lots of folks posted useful info!

 

[EvilCapitalist]

Between the 550 and 575 boards I'd go for the 550 just because it's a drop in upgrade (essentially a CCII without the front badge) and you don't have to muck about with ResEdit.  With that being said though any LC5xx board is going to set you back nearly as much as the machine itself, unless you luck out twice.

If you don't want to recap the board yourself there are folks on here and elsewhere who can do it for you.

 

[EvieSigma]

I'd sell you a 5xx board but the only one I have is a 580 board...sorry.

 

[macosten]

Check out the threads I started about recapping.lots of folks posted useful info!

...I'm surprised I haven't already, to be honest. I'll do that! :O

Between the 550 and 575 boards I'd go for the 550 just because it's a drop in upgrade (essentially a CCII without the front badge) and you don't have to muck about with ResEdit.  With that being said though any LC5xx board is going to set you back nearly as much as the machine itself, unless you luck out twice.

If you don't want to recap the board yourself there are folks on here and elsewhere who can do it for you.

...I suppose you could indeed say I lucked out. I lucked out in getting the deal, in the seller being willing to ship it, in the computer being (mostly) working, in the battery not having exploded, in the caps still (barely) holding out (though they obviously need replacement sooner rather than later)... The shipping, believe it or not, cost me more than the computer itself; it was 2-day shipping from California to New York.

Though I do understand that; I'll have to be patient and/or vigilant. There was a thread about someone selling Performa 550 parts but they discarded the logic board so I was a bit bummed; partially for me, and partially for the board (perhaps it had a battery bomb?).

I'd say the moral of the story is to check out LetGo. I got the idea after seeing someone picked up a G4 Cube for a good price on some subreddit somewhere... LetGo is kinda like Craigslist, but much more pleasant to browse. Might be worth posting any LetGo finds in the Craigslist thread, given their similarities. You might luck out too, someday.

For background: this will be my second complete 68k Macintosh when I get it fully operational; I have an SE-Upgraded-to-SE/30 (if you search my post history, it's the system I posted about way back when). I also have the SE/30 I took the board out of (its case is ugly); it has the SE board in it. I figure I'll keep it around for parts; it also has a gummed up floppy drive but last I checked that drive still read disks, so I could cannibalize that drive if worse comes to worse.

...I also have a Digital Audio G4 with dual 1.33 GHz processors, but that's a story for a different section of the forum