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BGE's take on the Quadra 900/950 ATX PSU Mod

BadGoldEagle

Well-known member
Update: Load resistors installed and booting for the first time since the explosion.




I used Mpegdec (https://macintoshgarden.org/apps/mpegdec) to benchmark the system: 040s weren't really meant for decoding mp3s... Loading the Apple System Profiler caused it to hang for a second. That being said, the CPU doesn't seem to consume that much more power and seems stable for the time being.

Also, I think my homemade harness can definitely be replaced by one of those ATX extension cables. They're a bit smaller (30cm max) but that should be plenty enough. No crimping required!

The microcode for the fan controller also needs to be updated as the fan fails to start sometimes. A 500ms delay before the initialization should fix that.

 

Compgeke

Well-known member
Also, I have been trying to calculate the LB power consumption... I'll probably create a new thread about this but here's where I'm at:


I'll see if I can dig up testing I did as part of my project later. I did some tests as part of current draw/voltage drop across my board by making a harness to go between the motherboard and PSU with breaks in the voltage lines. Hooked up my bench PSU as the power source to get a fairly accurate idea of current draw on 5V and 12V, as well as a measurement of input voltage vs output voltage (aka, does my board need thicker copper and/or thicker traces/more plane area?). I mostly just shat pictures into a group chat instead of actually documenting anything, which makes it difficult. Go me? I should be able to find stuff on the IIcx, IIci, IIsi, Quadra 650 and LC 3. Having charts of the various Apple machines and real world power draw would be nice. 

 
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BadGoldEagle

Well-known member
Sorry for the lack of updates, I've had stuff to do at work and my 950's system folder got corrupted. I only now realized that I had a spare HD with 7.6 on hand... So I was able to re-bless my 8.1 Folder using 7.6. 

I'm currently imaging that hard drive. It has some pretty rare programs and extensions.

This also gives me the opportunity to test the QuadrATX. So far, everything works, the system is stable. I'd like to test some Nubus/PDS cards but for that I need a working FDD (I have a second Floppy EMU on the way as my original one is in a different country).

Also, in my last post, I had noticed that the fan controller was acting up sometimes. If you didn't give it enough time in the ACC position (key to I), the fan would only start 30% of the time. After a simulated power outage (and the key in the lock position), it wouldn't start up at all. Well today I tried another bootloader, and my Attiny85 quit working altogether. So I used one of the ATtiny25s I ordered for you guys and flashed it with my code. Now the fan works correctly 100% of the time. I got the Attiny85 on eBay (I bought the 25s on Arrow), so that may be why it died...

 

BadGoldEagle

Well-known member
On the menu today: Endurance tests with PDS/Nubus cards.

I don't have that many (1x Supermac PDQ, 1x Ethernet and 1x Houdini II DOS Compatibility PDS card, currently testing the latter).

Apparently PC Setup 1.0.3 works fine under 8.1... It shouldn't but it clearly does. I've never been able to load the control panel let alone start the PC using 1.5.4/2.1.7.

 dos Kopie.jpg

It's slow as hell (according to my calculations, preparing that 2GB drive file should take about 76 minutes...) but it's working!

Edit: It took one hour and 28 minutes. My estimation wasn't that bad after all.

 
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OVa

Member
Hi, I´m from argentina, i´m trying to use my Quadra 900 but I want to know if you can help me or not.

I have my Quadra 900 with Spectrum 8 SIII video card, but i cant make it work. My monitor is a Supermac 20"

If I plug or not the video card, my computer doesnt work. It turns on, chime sound sounds ok but no image.

I tried resetting PRAM (Zap RAM) and nothing happened.

I Tried with a tv with video mode, the on board video out or the videocard............is the same

I can see the hard drive blinking for a while, and then if you press Ctrl + Alt + Supr you can hear a sound from the speaker. It is obviously the system is working.

For a while "it worked" but like the monitor out of frequency, showing lines and differents "grey scale" colours. No chime at start up but that was because i was holding the buttom that is close the reset. 

I dissasembled everything. Nothing looks burned or any blowed capacitor. Even inside the PSU

Can anyone hlp me? thanks and sorry bout my english

 

BadGoldEagle

Well-known member
Hi @OVa

Your PSU is fine. The Spectrum/8 has a "round robin" type of synchronisation sequence (it cycles through all possible modes when it forgets its config). 

1/ Turn on the Quadra and hold the Option key on your keyboard until you start to see things (even gibberish) on the display.

2/ Have a finger on the spacebar ready

3/ As soon as something "good" appears on the display (in other words as soon as the monitor syncs to it, greyscale and overblown blacks with bad centering is ok), hit the spacebar. 

It should stay in that mode and stop rolling. When you zapped the PRAM, it deleted the original setting. Keep in mind that this will reset if you place the card in another slot. 

Check the manual (especially page 23) for more info.

That card also needs some drivers (SuperVideo 3.1 should work even with cards with an old ROM):

https://vintageapple.org/macdrivers/video/knighttech/index.html

If you still can't get it to work (and if your monitor has a DB-15 connector), then I'd give internal video a try (it's the upmost port on the Quadra). It usually works better. 

Once booted you can probably configure the card using SuperVideo (the driver linked above). 

If nothing of the above works, then I'd create a new thread about this issue...

QuadrATX news report:

The SWIM on the 950's logicboard is fine (my floppy drive isn't though) but at least I can start working on the AC part. 

I have selected a drill (a Bosch UniversalImpact 800 for those interested, along with some HSS-G bits) and will be smoke testing the AC board next weekend. 

 

OVa

Member
thanks for answer, 

I´ve been holding option key for almost 20 seconds and nothing happened. Do i have to wait for more? It could be better if i try to hold option key without the video card? how much time?

I tried even without the video card. Only ram, PSU and ADB (keyboard) I cleaned every ram module, and the video ram too.

is the same. You can hear the chime but nothing happend. 

 

ktkm

Well-known member
QuadrATX news report:

The SWIM on the 950's logicboard is fine (my floppy drive isn't though) but at least I can start working on the AC part. 

I have selected a drill (a Bosch UniversalImpact 800 for those interested, along with some HSS-G bits) and will be smoke testing the AC board next weekend. 


How did the smoke test go?

My Bicker-630 arrived today! Talk about heavy duty PSU. I can’t wait to get started.

d8y2Zhf.jpg


 

BadGoldEagle

Well-known member
Great to hear and what a setup! 

I've had to modify the AC board and I'm letting it dry at the moment. I forgot to remove the middle plated hole for the monitor plug and this voids my clearance goal (a short could have happened with board degradation/age). So I removed it the hard way (ie with my iron set way too high and by poking around the pad). 

Once the header is installed, you can't see anything so another run isn't really needed. 

I did update the files and I'm confident enough to put them "out there".

-> https://github.com/L-Delorme/QuadrATX

I'm not an expert when it comes to licensing. So I went with CC-BY-NC-SA-4.0

In other news, the standoffs I've found are a bit on the expensive side but should be more than enough to prop up the PSU:

M2143-3005-ss


 

ktkm

Well-known member
Great to hear and what a setup! 
Thanks!

In other news, the standoffs I've found are a bit on the expensive side but should be more than enough to prop up the PSU:
Have you started the drilling as of yet? Which wall of the old unit will carry the ATX? Maybe it’s obvious once I start gutting the Bicker? The standoffs look proper, will they be part of the finished kit? Sorry about all the questions, I’m getting ahead of my self. ;-)  

Each day my old PSU is getting one step closer to death.

 

BadGoldEagle

Well-known member
Have you started the drilling as of yet?
The drill bits arrived today and the standoffs are still in the post. I'll do the drilling and the installation this week-end. 

The standoffs look proper, will they be part of the finished kit?
I will only be shipping boards with a few hard to find (or specific) components (live wire connector, µ-controller...). The rest will have to be bought separately (e.g. on Arrow) using the BOM I'm still concocting. 

Which wall of the old unit will carry the ATX? Maybe it’s obvious once I start gutting the Bicker?
It will be mounted vertically, on the wall closest to the logicboard.

 

BadGoldEagle

Well-known member
The original housing now has four extra holes and the ATX PSU was successfully installed last Sunday. 

IMG_6408.jpg

I ended up using the largest standoffs (I still need to make sure they’re not shorting against anything) and some nuts on the logicboard side. Tapping the holes won’t work here as the metal sheet is too thin (plus standoffs always have a collar). So the holes have to be 3mm wide (i.e. M3 not M2.5) to install the Bicker BEA-630. If you’re using a different PSU, YMMV. 

IMG_6411.jpg

Rough measurements for the space constraints:

IMG_6401.jpg

NB: The original standoffs for the tiny board (with the massive capacitors) interfere ever so slightly, that's where the "10"  and the "31mm" in the picture above come from. Always position the board and close the enclosure before you decide on the final location! 11mm is for the fan bracket/screws and 15mm is to account for the height of those pesky standoffs. 

Unfortunately I coulnd’t find additional info about the processor upgrades (Newer Tech Quadra Overdrive, Sonnet Quaddoubler...) to take into account some clearance for their fans or for the 9150/120’s fan (it has one stock). Thankfully, the nuts only add 3mm and there’s still about 2cm play to position the board and the holes (before drilling of course). So that should be all right, just think about it before you drill your holes!

I did take a few temperature measurements when the PSU still was in the Bicker housing and I’ll compare those once the QuadrATX passes the pre-flight checks. I need to add another extension cable to the BOM as the Bicker’s fan cable is too short (and I plan on installing it using some velcro at the back near the power inlets, as an outlet). 

Also, if you upgrade the original fan, you definitely cannot use the original screws as they’ll short the PSU!!! More on that later. 

I’ll try to order everything I need today and will resume work next Thursday. 

 

Renegade

Well-known member
Hi @BadGoldEagle ,

Has there been any progress since February?
I admit I haven't looked at the topic a lot rencetly.
With the recent loss of the forum database, I may have missed some of the progress... :)
 

BadGoldEagle

Well-known member
I've had to put the project on hold for a few months because life got in the way of things... so the good news is that I didn't lose any content with the recent crash. Unfortunately it means that I don't have any more updates for you guys. In a few months I'll be able to get back to it, hopefully things will have quietened out a bit.
 

Johnnya101

Well-known member
Sorry to bump a kind of old thread, and kind of off topic, I see you had a post detailing a bit about this replacing a Quadra 700 PSU. So would your "kit" be able to work in a 700 as well? I would for sure have interest in a new PSU for my 700.
 

BadGoldEagle

Well-known member
Hi @Johnnya101 Unfortunately this mod only targets the Delta PSU found in the Quadra 900/950 and in the Workgroup Server 95/9150.

In other news, I may have found a power switch that almost fits the C13 "Monitor Output" opening at the back. I wasn't comfortable with DC being on the AC board (even though I tripple insulated everything, I still had cold feet about it), so I redesigned both PCBs. The molex connectors on the DC board were every so slightly interfering with the EFI Filter and the 24 pin output was too close to AC for my liking. In my defense, I placed the output exactly where Delta placed it originally. The AC board was simplified (the relay and the fuse used for the monitor are gone).

Screenshots will follow.
 
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