3400c issues

[imactheknife]

So i decided to grab another 3400c that was listed as non working. Screen looks good as well. Decided to plug in and power on and see what happens. It chimed but no display came up. Heard hard drive spin, but not sure it booted. I didnt see any flashing question mark, or mouse with light close to screen so dont think its the back light.

I recapped my other 3400c and no issues. Does this new 3400c have symptoms of cap issues? Or what other issues would cause no display. Pram hadnt leaked on logic board, but inside plastic case it had. The main battery was clean as well

 

[GRudolf94]

You should recap this one as well, it probably needs it.

 

[imactheknife]

All good, recapped logic board, 3 caps no change. Hit reset on back on computer and all is good now this beauty came with original box etc.

 

[GRudolf94]

Nice.

 

[3lectr1cPPC]

Seeing a 3400 saved from VARTA doom always brings a smile to my face

 

[imactheknife]

Seeing a 3400 saved from VARTA doom always brings a smile to my face

Yeah, if that green plastic would have leaked, might have been a different story

 

[GRudolf94]

Usually they kill by capillary effect - the electrolyte wicks up along the wire, and starts eating away at the board, connector-first.

 

[3lectr1cPPC]

Usually they're recoverable when it's that sort of issue, the worst ones are when the stick it right over the board and then get the cells leak directly. That's usually the difference between me being able to find a laptop working and not. Like the WinBook XP, the Toshiba Satellite Pro 430CDT, and some other laptops on my list of wanted stuff. They're just all dying.

The wire wick effect will usually cause some damage in one localized area, but the cells? They're gonna really screw stuff up in a wide area.

 

[imactheknife]

Just realized this came with a whopping 81 megs ram.. nice

 

[geerlingguy]

Just realized this came with a whopping 81 megs ram.. nice

Wow, that's a rare capacity, I've been snooping around for another RAM expansion card for my machine after running into some memory quirks, and people are asking $80+ for just the 16MB module on eBay!

Nice work on the recaps—if you don't mind my asking, do you remember what caps you used? I'm considering recalling mine since it's currently splayed out on the bench, but I've not done a classic Mac before.

I know the cap values but didn't know if there's a guide for figuring out what size tantalum caps to buy to replace the electrolytics.

 

[imactheknife]

Wow, that's a rare capacity, I've been snooping around for another RAM expansion card for my machine after running into some memory quirks, and people are asking $80+ for just the 16MB module on eBay!

Nice work on the recaps—if you don't mind my asking, do you remember what caps you used? I'm considering recalling mine since it's currently splayed out on the bench, but I've not done a classic Mac before.

I know the cap values but didn't know if there's a guide for figuring out what size tantalum caps to buy to replace the electrolytics.

Check https://macdat.net/ He has a wonderful capacitor reference page. I used organic polymer but tantalums are fine. Will see what size would be good. To big sucks and hard to solder down, especially on laptops as your working around many other things too.

 

[geerlingguy]

True; I've also emailed Console5, and they may put together a kit for the 3400c, like they have for a number of other old Macs: https://console5.com/store/computer-cap-kits/mac-68k-cap-kits/mac-laptop-cap-kits.html

Also, just as an update—I wanted to test out another RAM expansion card in my 3400c since I was getting weird errors at random times, and I suspected memory. Well... I bought an 'as-is' 3400c with no specs listed on eBay, and it arrived with just a melted part of the case up top (not sure why, nothing inside was melted)... but it's a 240 MHz 603ev, with the full 128 MB of RAM! I tested swapping the motherboard and RAM both, and they are working quite reliably in my system now.

Pretty lucky for first time buying an old Mac 'parts only'. The trackpad button is broken on it (might 3D print a fix), and there was no hard drive or CD-ROM included, but otherwise that's a pretty good find, no leakage from any caps either.

 

[imactheknife]

True; I've also emailed Console5, and they may put together a kit for the 3400c, like they have for a number of other old Macs: https://console5.com/store/computer-cap-kits/mac-68k-cap-kits/mac-laptop-cap-kits.html

Also, just as an update—I wanted to test out another RAM expansion card in my 3400c since I was getting weird errors at random times, and I suspected memory. Well... I bought an 'as-is' 3400c with no specs listed on eBay, and it arrived with just a melted part of the case up top (not sure why, nothing inside was melted)... but it's a 240 MHz 603ev, with the full 128 MB of RAM! I tested swapping the motherboard and RAM both, and they are working quite reliably in my system now.

Pretty lucky for first time buying an old Mac 'parts only'. The trackpad button is broken on it (might 3D print a fix), and there was no hard drive or CD-ROM included, but otherwise that's a pretty good find, no leakage from any caps either.

Nice i would suggest recapping at some point with organic polymer caps. The pram battery has to go asap.

 

[geerlingguy]

Definitely! I pulled the PRAM battery immediately—luckily there was zero residue except inside the little connector, which I pulled out since I won't be installing another battery in here.

 

[MacUp72]

True; I've also emailed Console5, and they may put together a kit for the 3400c, like they have for a number of other old Macs: https://console5.com/store/computer-cap-kits/mac-68k-cap-kits/mac-laptop-cap-kits.html

Also, just as an update—I wanted to test out another RAM expansion card in my 3400c since I was getting weird errors at random times, and I suspected memory. Well... I bought an 'as-is' 3400c with no specs listed on eBay, and it arrived with just a melted part of the case up top (not sure why, nothing inside was melted)... but it's a 240 MHz 603ev, with the full 128 MB of RAM! I tested swapping the motherboard and RAM both, and they are working quite reliably in my system now.

Pretty lucky for first time buying an old Mac 'parts only'. The trackpad button is broken on it (might 3D print a fix), and there was no hard drive or CD-ROM included, but otherwise that's a pretty good find, no leakage from any caps either.

yeah, thats are find, 240Mhz plus a 128MB card..I was searching for a 128MB card over a year and just by pure luck scored one listed as 16MB.
do you have a photo of the leakage on the inside plastic case?

 

[Zed]

Glad you got it fixed. I have a 240 with 84mb Ram with a crappy screen artefacts issue. Thought it might be vram but might recap first and hopefully fixes the issue.

 

[geerlingguy]

Glad you got it fixed. I have a 240 with 84mb Ram with a crappy screen artefacts issue. Thought it might be vram but might recap first and hopefully fixes the issue.

Yikes! Hope that'll fix it. Console5 now has a kit available if you don't have the spare caps laying around and want the set. I just received two sets, one for the main 240 MHz one that I'm putting all my efforts into, and another for the 180 MHz spare part machine in case I want to dig in and try to fix up whatever little issues remain on the motherboard.