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Macintosh SE analog board clicking

mrojas36

Member
i went to use my Mac SE today and heard the exact same sound. Pulled the logic board, analog board, noticed some cap leakage from the power supply. The power supply was only putting out about 40% of the required voltage. The leaking caps caused corrosion in that corner of the power supply PCB. I removed the solder mask with a fiberglass pen to get to actual copper and inspect the trace damage. Fortunately no damage. I coated the exposed copper with some solder and now I await my new caps.

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Yanisssch

Member
i went to use my Mac SE today and heard the exact same sound. Pulled the logic board, analog board, noticed some cap leakage from the power supply. The power supply was only putting out about 40% of the required voltage. The leaking caps caused corrosion in that corner of the power supply PCB. I removed the solder mask with a fiberglass pen to get to actual copper and inspect the trace damage. Fortunately no damage. I coated the exposed copper with some solder and now I await my new caps.

View attachment 51530
I changed every caps I had it’s the same thing but I had the same leaks as yours image.jpg
But it’s not that much like you I think, I can’t measure the voltage out because my multimeter is dead and I need to take one when I got my pay 😅
 

mrojas36

Member
Yes your corrosion is not as bad as mine. The multimeter will tell us a lot. Thanks for the picture. Can flip the power supply board over so I could see the top of it?
 

mrojas36

Member
Thank you so much! You have the exact same power supply I do. And apparently the same issue. I stupidly started removing caps thinking I could just buy a recap pack. No schematics, no recap guide, not much on the internet. So I reverse engineered what cap goes where. This is what I came up with. I should have marked them down first.

Do these values match your cap values in these locations?

We will get our dead Mac SEs working!

image.jpg
 

Yanisssch

Member
Thank you so much! You have the exact same power supply I do. And apparently the same issue. I stupidly started removing caps thinking I could just buy a recap pack. No schematics, no recap guide, not much on the internet. So I reverse engineered what cap goes where. This is what I came up with. I should have marked them down first.

Do these values match your cap values in these locations?

We will get our dead Mac SEs working!

View attachment 51544
Okay I checked it’s the same power supply! If you want you can add me on discord if you want to speak easier
 

mrojas36

Member
So here is what the service manual says about our symptoms.

Check Cable at J12.
Power Supply.
Analog Board.
Logic Board.

Like we have a lot of spare parts lying around. My bet is on the Power Supply. We get that working our machines will work.

AC390495-6B3A-4DA9-8BE1-3C0435B64C48.png
 

Yanisssch

Member
So here is what the service manual says about our symptoms.

Check Cable at J12.
Power Supply.
Analog Board.
Logic Board.

Like we have a lot of spare parts lying around. My bet is on the Power Supply. We get that working our machines will work.

View attachment 51558
That’s pretty good thanks for the page, btw I tested the power supply with any new multimeter I got the right 12v and 5v but for the -12v I got -9v idk if it’s normal. Today (Paris time) I will receive the last caps I needed on the analog board (film cap 3.9v 450v it will replace the 3.9v 35v) and we will see if the Mac SE will revive, if not i need to think how can I fix xD, I will keep you informed during the day
 

mrojas36

Member
Ok a received my caps and recapped the power supply. 5v rail is now good, 12v is now good, but -12v is low. When I power on same results. Ok so more issues. Since I want to add more mods to this Mac SE I am exploring doing the power supply upgrade. Other people have given up trying to keep these old supplies alive - especially these non-Sony supplies like you and I have. They remove the old circuit board from the supply, leaving the plug, switch, and case. They find a modern FlexATX PSU and pack that into the now gutted case. This gives you a much more reliable, more efficient supply in the same factor needed for a compact Mac.
 

mrojas36

Member
Ok swapped my bad supply with a good supply and voila!
 

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