David Cook
Well-known member
I recently purchased my first Macintosh 128K. Unfortunately, the motherboard is actually a 512Ke. So, TLDR... direct message me if you have a working original 128K motherboard you are willing to sell to me.
Things started out well, as the Macintosh arrived safely and indeed is the original "Macintosh" badge, rather than "Macintosh 128K". I was surprised by the size of the original mouse's thumbscrews.

I recognize that each vintage machine comes with the potential for missing or mismatched parts. It has a history with previous owners. However, it can sometimes be disappointing.
I knew someone had opened this Mac before, as two of the three large silver screws were missing from the case. Once inside, I noticed that four of the smaller M2.9 screws were missing, including the one that grounds the analog board to the chassis. I have ordered near-enough replacements from McMaster. If they fit, I'll post the part numbers.

Next, I noticed the metal shield beneath the motherboard is missing, along with the cardboard shield on the analog board. This is irritating. Who closes up the case and then sees leftover parts and thinks "meh?".
I have purchased a spare metal shield on eBay. For now, I've fashioned a temporary cardboard shield from thick paper. I just want to ensure that the conductive shielding on the inside of the case doesn't make contact with the analog board.

Although the battery holder is fairly clean, the inside of the case tells a story of a disaster. I guess this is why the motherboard was changed out.

Surprisingly, the analog board is clean. Maybe it came from another Mac but from the correct time period? I believe that is a date code of 1984-39th week. Also noteworthy in this photograph, an axial capacitor shows sign of leakage. In his recap video, @JDW was right to warn people to replace the axials as well.

Inspecting the analog board, someone already replaced C3. They left the leads a little long and didn't clean off the flux.

Someone replaced the X-class capacitor C38, but not the other RIFAs? (I have now done so)

Looking underneath that capacitor, does the soldering on the right side look suspicious to you?

The pad is missing! (Repaired by scraping the mask off the nearby trace and looping wire from the trace to the component lead.)

C2 is missing the top of its label. Yet, it appears to be factory. Maybe part of the label covered the relief slits on the top so they removed it at Apple?

Ha. I also have the factory bodge resistor.

C1 is a film capacitor. Huh. So, they started with film capacitors and got cheap with later builds?

When I first took the Mac apart, I noticed the floppy drive cable was disconnected. After recapping and reassembly, I discovered why the drive had been left disconnected: it makes noise repeatedly. I will need to take it apart and lubricate it. I suspect that (or a broken switch) is the cause.
For all my complaining, the Macintosh works. It's just that I wanted a 128K to be able to run and test my own applications for compatibility.
I guess I can burn old ROMs. Maybe there is a way to configure the resistors to only indicate 128K or memory?
If you have a spare original 128K board you'd be willing to sell to me, please let me know.
- David
Things started out well, as the Macintosh arrived safely and indeed is the original "Macintosh" badge, rather than "Macintosh 128K". I was surprised by the size of the original mouse's thumbscrews.

I recognize that each vintage machine comes with the potential for missing or mismatched parts. It has a history with previous owners. However, it can sometimes be disappointing.
I knew someone had opened this Mac before, as two of the three large silver screws were missing from the case. Once inside, I noticed that four of the smaller M2.9 screws were missing, including the one that grounds the analog board to the chassis. I have ordered near-enough replacements from McMaster. If they fit, I'll post the part numbers.

Next, I noticed the metal shield beneath the motherboard is missing, along with the cardboard shield on the analog board. This is irritating. Who closes up the case and then sees leftover parts and thinks "meh?".
I have purchased a spare metal shield on eBay. For now, I've fashioned a temporary cardboard shield from thick paper. I just want to ensure that the conductive shielding on the inside of the case doesn't make contact with the analog board.

Although the battery holder is fairly clean, the inside of the case tells a story of a disaster. I guess this is why the motherboard was changed out.

Surprisingly, the analog board is clean. Maybe it came from another Mac but from the correct time period? I believe that is a date code of 1984-39th week. Also noteworthy in this photograph, an axial capacitor shows sign of leakage. In his recap video, @JDW was right to warn people to replace the axials as well.

Inspecting the analog board, someone already replaced C3. They left the leads a little long and didn't clean off the flux.

Someone replaced the X-class capacitor C38, but not the other RIFAs? (I have now done so)

Looking underneath that capacitor, does the soldering on the right side look suspicious to you?

The pad is missing! (Repaired by scraping the mask off the nearby trace and looping wire from the trace to the component lead.)

C2 is missing the top of its label. Yet, it appears to be factory. Maybe part of the label covered the relief slits on the top so they removed it at Apple?

Ha. I also have the factory bodge resistor.

C1 is a film capacitor. Huh. So, they started with film capacitors and got cheap with later builds?

When I first took the Mac apart, I noticed the floppy drive cable was disconnected. After recapping and reassembly, I discovered why the drive had been left disconnected: it makes noise repeatedly. I will need to take it apart and lubricate it. I suspect that (or a broken switch) is the cause.
For all my complaining, the Macintosh works. It's just that I wanted a 128K to be able to run and test my own applications for compatibility.
I guess I can burn old ROMs. Maybe there is a way to configure the resistors to only indicate 128K or memory?
If you have a spare original 128K board you'd be willing to sell to me, please let me know.
- David