Awful Macintosh SE FDHD Revival

[dochilli]

Wow! Nice restoration!

 

[Online persona]

It's amazing what you accomplished! No way did I think that computer would ever work again. And the case looks fantastic. How did you get the rust stains off the plastic?

 

[PotatoFi]

I wouldn't say CNC, the control terms looks more like MIDI control to me. It has buttons like Play, Stop, Re-Play, Preview, All Stop, as well as three sections with In, Out, DT (double time?), and 8X buttons. No idea what the software is though.

Ah, good eye! I didn't notice the playback controls on my own.

What a wonderful adventure. Thank you for sharing.

Thanks for coming along for the ride!

Wow! Nice restoration!

Thank you!

It's amazing what you accomplished! No way did I think that computer would ever work again. And the case looks fantastic. How did you get the rust stains off the plastic?

Thank you! I didn't think it would work again either. As for the rust stains - I think I just used a lot of elbow grease. I usually use Dawn dishwasher detergent and a toothbrush. For more stubborn stuff, I use baking soda on a wet paper towel. You just have to be careful with the baking soda, as it works as a mild abrasive.

---

You might remember from earlier that this machine came equipped with 2 MB of RAM. On seeing that, @slipperygrey donated a 4 MB RAM upgrade for the machine! Of course, I took a photo of the wrong side of the new modules - they all have a super cool Motorola logo on the back.



I scrubbed all of the contacts with Isopropyl alcohol, and installed them in the machine. The tabs on the slots are all plastic, and one is broken, so I really wanted to only install the RAM once time to avoid breaking things.

As for telling the Mac how much RAM to look for, this Macintosh SE FDHD is of the jumper variety. There is a 1 MB position, and a 2/4 MB position. Some Mac SE's (probably older non-SuperDrive and non-FDHD versions) use resistors that you have to remove.

When I booted it up, I was very confused to find that only 2 MB of RAM was detected.



I consulted the Low End Mac Macintosh SE RAM Upgrade guide, and immediately found my mistake.

To upgrade to 4 MB, remove all four 256 KB SIMMs and replace them with 1 MB SIMMs, being careful not to damage the SIMM sockets. If you have the resistor motherboard, remove R35 and R36. If you have the jumper motherboard, remove the jumper. (Oddly, you do not set it to the 2/4M setting.)

Of course, removing the jumper entirely did the trick:



And with that nice RAM upgrade, this Macintosh SE FDHD is "maxed out"! Sure, I could find a Shiva Ethernet PDS card for it, or one of those neat accellerator PDS cards, or maybe even install a RaSCSI! But with a 1.4 MB floppy drive, solid-state storage with the BlueSCSI, and 4 MB of RAM, this little Macintosh SE has become quite the capable little machine.

Thanks again to @slipperygrey for the upgrade!

 

[PotatoFi]

There is one little thing left to do on the machine: the lower two screws for the case (that go into the back of the case, through the shield on the logic board, and into the chassis) were in pretty bad shape. I am pretty sure that I discarded them. If anyone knows what size they are, please let me know - I'd like to replace them with something new (even if they're just Phillips head screws).

 

[slipperygrey]

Glad to see those RAM sticks being put to good use! Great job giving this SE a new lease on life!

 

[LaPorta]

I might have some of those black screws from SE cases I discarded if you still need them