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Apple TechStep Overview Video

Crutch

Well-known member
Belated thanks for another great video James! I really think you should mail in that registration card .... :)  

 

Alex

Well-known member
Thank you, Crutch!  I'm very tempted to fill it out and mail it!
I think it will amuse whomever opens up the mail but Apple's mailroom will probably not know who to send it to so if you are tempted then you should address it to another active department and insert a note that you would like to receive a reply. Otherwise the mailroom may trash it as the department that it is intended to reach is now out of commission. So it would be preferable that you keep it as a memento.

 

pcamen

Well-known member
@jeremywork and I spend some time with my IIci's and he also had a TechStep.  His did the same thing as mine, which is that it has a hard time getting into test manager mode - it seems to wait and wait forever.  At one point we just left it and when we came back it said success.  I can only assume that means it finally got in and finished.  But it is nice to see that they are both acting the same.  It isn't an issue with my TechStep at least. 

 

JDW

Well-known member
@jeremywork and I spend some time with my IIci's and he also had a TechStep.  His did the same thing as mine, which is that it has a hard time getting into test manager mode - it seems to wait and wait forever.  At one point we just left it and when we came back it said success.  I can only assume that means it finally got in and finished.  But it is nice to see that they are both acting the same.  It isn't an issue with my TechStep at least. 
So you don’t get the Sad Mac and error code with your TechStep like shown in my video? (At first try, my SE/30 booted normally with the TechStep attached and powered and attempting to enter Test Mode; but after pressing the Programmer’s Switch, I got the sad Mac and then my TechStep showed it was finally connected. That is correct for the SE/30, but I don’t know if that holds true for the IIci. 

 

pcamen

Well-known member
Well, we don't know.  So far, out of three boards, only one would work at all.  And that one apparently has issues with the on board video (doesn't work) and the soft power.  So we can't see if there is a sad mac. 

 

JDW

Well-known member
Will one of you TechStep owners please test your TechStep on a non-IIci Mac?  For example, on a Mac II or IIx or Classic (with the correct TechStep ROM module, of course).  I'm curious how many have trouble getting the TechStep to enter Test Mode.  Thanks.

 

jeremywork

Well-known member
I just connected the TechStep to my SE, which I've considered reliable but has always had a couple quirks (always half-renders a bombshell the moment the cursor begins to move after being left alone for too long without interaction, occasionally just crashes with 'coprocessor not installed' while running software that otherwise ran fine.) The TechStep is unable to set the SE in test manager mode (issue with SCSI or serial it says), but pressing the interrupt switch and retrying allows the TechStep to talk to the SE.

My documentation only contains the manuals for CPU tests Vol 2-3, so I'm not sure if there's specific information in Vol one about testing an SE.

Few things awry here: all Logic tests pass except SCC (FAIL: IC/board,) SCSI (UUT Timed out,) and under Verify CPU ID I get CPU is: Unknown MISMATCH. Otherwise the machine appears to work normally. Will try the Classic next...

 

jeremywork

Well-known member
The Classic behaves better: I switch on the connected TechStep and select Classic, then Test Mode. It instructs me to turn CPU on, and then registers that the CPU is powering on (attempting to enter test manager mode via SCSI) the classic appears to boot normally at first, then the sad mac screen appears, as though I had hit interrupt. (This took about as long as it would take to begin booting from a floppy.) The TechStep then momentarily says Communications Established: CPU is in Test Manager Mode. I'm then able to run tests. The Classic passes all tests except Clock and Sound, but this may be because the PSU is registering LO (4.56v when >4.80 is expected). This might also be why the hard drive seems to pick when to turn on and off on this one...

 

JDW

Well-known member
Thank you for making time to do those tests and for sharing, Jeremy!  Does the SE and/or Classic have any non-Apple upgrades (upgrades other than memory)?  The presence of such could explain the TechStep errors, and that is why I covered that in my video.  Most tests pass on my SE/30 with upgrades but not all.

 

jeremywork

Well-known member
Gladly! You know, I've always assumed both were stock, but I'll definitely check as soon as I can locate my Mac Cracker torx tool (MIA after a recent move.) I've been meaning to double check to see if the SE's got a Maxell too... It was still keeping factory time until recently

 

pcamen

Well-known member
@jeremywork when you pressed the interrupt on the SE and it entered Test Manager mode, how long after pressing the interrupt did that happen? 

 

jeremywork

Well-known member
It seems to only take 3-4 seconds, but I have to have hit Interrupt pretty early in the TechStep's attempt to connect (or ideally before hitting test mode on the TechStep.) I suspect this is the same situation with the IIci we tried. If interrupt is pressed too late, the TechStep continues to attempt to connect and eventually times out (20-30 sec). If test mode is then pressed again, the TechStep immediately recognizes the machine is connected (which is what I saw on the IIci.)

 
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ajacocks

Well-known member
Sorry for the thread necromancy, but I just pulled out my TechStep, and I can't find any of my ROM modules, other than CPU #1 and SCSI HDD #1. Sigh.

Has anyone dumped the ROMs for the other module? I'd like to recreate the ones that I am missing, since I originally had all but 2 of them.

- Alex
 

ajacocks

Well-known member
@olePigeon Someone has dumped CPU tests #1, #2, and #3 here. However, there’s also a suggestion that the different ROM modules use differently sized ROM ICs.

- Alex
 
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