• Updated 2023-07-12: Hello, Guest! Welcome back, and be sure to check out this follow-up post about our outage a week or so ago.

Any hope for this SE/30 mb?

Aeroform

Well-known member
Hi!

I recently bought a SE/30. Unfortunately it had been battery bombed, on what I believe to be two different occasions 😆.
The previous owner had replaced the battery and hot glued a new one in place, which also failed. It now displays simasimac.

See images 1&2 of what it looked like before cleaning.
I've cleaned it up best I could (a few different passes starting out with IPA but soon also doing a vinegar/baking powder pass to try and remove some corrosion, followed by another ipa bath).

Checking closely (and with multimeter) I can tell a few traces (min. 7) are destroyed.

I have no real experience with these kind of repairs, but am fairly confident in soldering (have been building drones for a few years). Would you say this is a doomed project and I should be looking around for a new SE/30 (what to do with the otherwise pristine parts?) or should I give it a go? If highly difficult, is there anyone in Europe who might be willing to give it a go (with compensation ofc.)?.

If you think there's hope, a question. For example the traces circled in image 3, these seem to have corresponding "starts" on the otherside of the MB. Could I simply solder a wire to these corresponding points and route them through the hole conveniently placed nearby, and then solder them on to the traces a bit further up where do look OK?

Thank you so much for any input, would love to get this dream machine running!


1.jpeg2.jpeg3.jpg4.jpg
 

max1zzz

Well-known member
The board doesn't look *that* bad as battery bombed boards go (I certainly think it would be repairable) however the damage to that ROM SIMM slot might be a showstopper as those things are next to impossible to source.
 

Aeroform

Well-known member
Thanks! So would it make sense to run wires from the bottom of the pcb to the broken traces? As for the rom slot, I think the contacts etc cleaned up pretty well. Would it help to measure each pin for continuity and try to see where it goes? Or in worst case desolder and reuse it? Pins and plastic look ok to me.
 

trag

Well-known member

max1zzz

Well-known member
Is there something about the SE/30 ROM socket that's unique?

The connector people have thousands of the 64 pin SIMM socket in stock. $1.59 each.

https://www.connectorpeople.com/Connector/TYCO-AMP-TE_CONNECTIVITY/8/822019-2
I have been looking for those bloody things for about two years! I do hope they ship to the UK :) I would really like to not have to bodge the simm into my IIx anymore.....

Thanks! So would it make sense to run wires from the bottom of the pcb to the broken traces? As for the rom slot, I think the contacts etc cleaned up pretty well. Would it help to measure each pin for continuity and try to see where it goes? Or in worst case desolder and reuse it? Pins and plastic look ok to me.
Yep, just start running wires for the broken traces
Schematics for the SE/30 are available here: https://museo.freaknet.org/gallery/apple/stuff/mac/andreas.kann/schemat.html
If the contacts on the socket look OK after cleaning hopefully you can get away without haveing to replace it. It's also worth checking the ROM simmm too as they often get damaged
 

trag

Well-known member
I have been looking for those bloody things for about two years! I do hope they ship to the UK :) I would really like to not have to bodge the simm into my IIx anymore.....

We must not have crossed threads often enough. I've posted the link a number of times over the last couple of years.
 

craig1410

Well-known member
Hi, I'm in the (hopefully) final stages of repairing a much worse battery-bombed SE/30 which another member described as "battery-nuked"! o_O

Have a look here and see what you think.

Don't get me wrong, I had to spend many hours tracing out the destroyed vias and replacing them with "bodge wires" (I don't like that term to be honest as it can be done well). I also completely removed my ROM SIMM connector and cleaned up the contacts before soldering it back in. I would have replaced it but I couldn't find a source at that time. I also removed the RTC chip and cleaned and soldered all the connections back in because solder turns to an obnoxious, powdery substance which is mechanically easy to remove because it is soft but won't melt at normal soldering temperatures and doesn't seem to dissolve in IPA/vinegar/baking soda. I also reflowed the solder on a number of SMD components and ultimately replaced my ROM SIMM with a ROM-inator Atom.

I think your board can be saved but I'm clearly a bit of an optimist so maybe you should just ignore me... 🤪
 
Top