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CC's Latest...

CC_333

Well-known member
I ordered the floppy bezel and cable, so they should arrive in a few days.

Also, although it isn't Mac related, I finally got a new stereo for our pickup truck. The original still works okay, but the power switch doesn't work (therefore it's stuck on; the knob also likes to fall out, and since it's also the volume control, it's somewhat problematic) and the tape player's broken, two things I really wish it had. All that's left now is to replace the driver's side speaker (I replaced the passenger side one, which was terribly decayed); I have it, I just need to find some time :) .

c

 

CC_333

Well-known member
Well, I'm digging into the Quadra 840av, and so far, I don't even know where to start.

Does anyone have schematics/tech manuals/service manuals for this thing?

Better yet, would anybody be willing to take a look at it for me? Uniserver pretty much threw all he had at it to no avail, and I'm not even going to try unless I get some guidance or something.

I don't really need help taking it apart; I figured that out easily enough.

Thanks,

c

 

CC_333

Well-known member
I looked at the Plus today.

What I found is graphic in nature, and I will censor photos of it for now :lol:

There is some serious corrosion, particularly on J4, a nearby IC (U2?), and various resistors and diodes. It would seem that something bad happened at one point.

I've already replaced J4 and the IC, and I'm working on replacing the other damaged components. For simplicity, I am transferring these from my other bad board with the assumption of the parts in question being OK.

Once I'm certain everything's OK, I will replace some of the capacitors, just to be safe.

It's amazing it worked at all!

c

 

CC_333

Well-known member
Success!

Plus Alive.jpg

I had to replace W4 (little more than a jumper), R23 and R24, U2, J4, and carefully redo a pad which lifted. I then touched up a few solder joints to ensure that they don't fail.

So far, it's working, although there's still a fair amount of rust and corrosion on a few components (including the flyback), so they'll have to be replaced sooner or later I think.

The Power circuit appears to be quite healthy; I can get it to crowbar at 5.50 volts, so that's good (it probably means the capacitors and other key components are healthy). There's no weirdness in the display, aside from the height adjustment being out of whack (probably my fault, since I fiddled with the pots while working on the board), and the alignment being slightly low.

Now all I need is a boot disk (I have those), an keyboard and a mouse.

So far, I estimate I've spent about $80 on this thing ($40 for the original unit, plus ~$35 to buy TMG's for extra parts).

I figure I could probably get about $10,000 for it on eBay :lol: :lol: :lol:

c

 

TheMacGuy

Well-known member
So you are using the analog board out of the one I sent you? If so very impressive! I thought out of all of the components in that computer, the analog board would be the 1 thing that would not be salvageable at all.

If you don't mind me asking, how many working Pluses do you have now?

 

CC_333

Well-known member
I now have three fully operational Pluses :)

I was thinking of selling the one I just repaired, though.

So you are using the analog board out of the one I sent you? If so very impressive! I thought out of all of the components in that computer, the analog board would be the 1 thing that would not be salvageable at all.
Yes, I am. I looked at it, and it seemed that it was essentially intact (and I checked a few traces which *looked* damaged to make certain, and they checked out OK), so I took a leap of faith and figured I'd try replacing a few components which seemed particularly damaged looking and see what would happen. I also figured that since the worst that could happen is nothing at all, I thought I had little to lose (also, it seemed that, since it *was* bonging, the circuitry was essentially OK, and that something minor was interfering somehow.)
As for the rest of your Plus, I used the rear case for mine (since it seemed to be slightly less yellow, although now it doesn't match the front :/ ), set aside the logic board, and I will remove the CRT and drive bracket. The chassis seems to have taken the brunt of whatever it was which damaged the analog board, so I'm reluctant to use it for anything until I wire brush the rust off and paint it with a rust inhibiting paint. It's otherwise intact, and I do intend to keep it.

Did you get it with a keyboard/mouse? I don't remember...

I'd like to find a cheap set for it somewhere, so it will be complete.

c

 

TheMacGuy

Well-known member
Did you get it with a keyboard/mouse? I don't remember...
I'd like to find a cheap set for it somewhere, so it will be complete.
Sadly, no I did not. That was another one of the drawbacks to my purchase of this Plus.

Finding a keyboard and mouse in platinum will be easier then finding a pair in beige. I'd ask in the trading post. I'm sure someone has a spare.

I also remember someone posting in the Trading Post that they had posted a pair on eBay and the price wasn't bad. I forget who it was and if it was beige or platinum.

 

uniserver

Well-known member
Uniserver pretty much threw all he had at it to no avail
Not really, I just did a re-cap, (de-cap/clean pads/re-cap) and swapped out the sound chip.

Acutely I didn't even wash it… maybe you should give it a good wash?

From my experience, the sound came from the Headphone jack just fine.

But no sound from the internal speaker,

and SCSI wasn't responding,

Floppy drive was not responding.

I have a hunch you could plug in some speakers.

Slap a Nubus scsi card in there

and a Nubus Video card,

It should be good to go.

Or just do what you have been doing, look for a replacement q840av mobo.

 

CC_333

Well-known member
Oh, OK,

Well, since I'm not one to give up on these things, I'd like to try to fix it.

I will try washing it to see what that does.

c

 

CC_333

Well-known member
I did some more work on the Plus!

I replaced a couple more components, cleaned up the heat sinks to make them look nice, and tried to clean up the rear case.

My soldering iron broke while I was in the middle of soldering something, so I had to use my old pencil-style 30w, and I feel I did a very sloppy job with it because of a blunt tip :( .

The vinyl cover hides a multitude of sins, however }:)

Also adjusted the display a bit, so the dimensions are approximately correct, and it's reasonably centered. The brightness is OK, but I think I need to run TPG and fine tune the focus a little more.

Once I've done that, it should be ready to go.

And I'd like to thank TMG once again for making it possible (by sending me his reject-Plus).

c

 

CC_333

Well-known member
I have tested the Plus by letting it sit for a few hours, and I found that the screen grew wider as it warmed up.

Time for a recap, I think.

Also, I was offhandedly looking at the partially disassembled Quadra 840av this evening, and I think I know why the internal speaker wasn't sounding- the surround is crumbling. I don't know if that would cause it to fail altogether, but it seems at least plausible that it could.

I have also made some progress with the G5. I put the stock 320 GB hard drive from my Mac Pro in it, and it worked fine. It runs quite Tiger well, but the fans keep ramping up when I do anything. It probably needs a) a good cleaning of the fans and heat sinks, B) new thermal paste, and c) recalibration of the temp sensors and other things which determine fan speed (how do I do this, I wonder?).

It's fine for now, though, and I'll probably do a and b when I swap to the new case (which should arrive this week). I need to do more research regarding c, though (which I will probably do first, or should I do it last?)

I don't know... these G5s are new to me (though conceptually they are very similar to most other computers out there, I believe).

Also, I got the Q950 floppy bezel and cable! Now all I need is a CD-ROM bezel...

I was going to get olePigeon's 950, but now I'm not so sure.

We'll see...

c

 

Macdrone

Well-known member
Calibration of the fans on the G5 is done with ASD (apple service disk) . I have a copy of 2.5.8, I think that covers them all the way to dual 2.0's.

 

CC_333

Well-known member
More stuff:

  • 20" ADC Apple Cinema Display - Seems to work, except the power indicator will flash and the upper part of the screen get's dim
  • Performa 650 - The "Spindler" plastics are all broken up, but I suppose it's otherwise intact
  • Power Mac 7100 - This fared better
  • PowerBook 165c - Haven't gotten to it yet, but I intend to use it's hard drive in my 140
  • 8 GB (4x2 GB) RAM for my Mac Pro


Combined with the 4 GB I already had, I now have 12 GB! Sometime soon, I hope to push that to 20, and eventually, I'll max it out at 32.

The P650 I'll have to find new plastics for, but I can still at least see if it works. The 7100 is fine, it probably just needs some TLC.

Nothing new yet on the G5 case swap; I have yet to receive the case. It now has a nice widescreen, though :D .

Thank you all for allowing an open and receptive environment!

c

 

Macdrone

Well-known member
Performa 650? I've see from 630 to 640 but not a 650, post some pictures and list some specs if you could. Thanks.

 

CC_333

Well-known member
Yeah, I noticed that. It acted up, and unplugging and replugging seemed to help. It seems like maybe the backlight controller might be failing intermittently, because I noticed that as the light flashed, the top half of the display seemed unusually dim. It seems fine once I reset it, though.

c

 

volvo242gt

Well-known member
With respect to the G5, It might be time to see if using CHUD 3.5.2 will help. I know that oneboyarmy said his power supply chirped on his G5 when he engaged nap mode, but maybe you'll have better luck. On the 840av, if I remember correctly, the motherboard uses the normal two pin header that Apple used since the original Apple II. Could always try the speaker from your IIcx in there and see if it gives you the startup chime.

-J

 

CC_333

Well-known member
Latest finds:

From my recent trade with JRL:

  • Power Mac G3 AIO
  • Several SCSI enclosures
  • Mac IIsi + extra case
  • PowerBook 520(c?)
  • PowerBook 170 with 14x LCD installed and 1 GB SCSI Hard Disk
  • 3 GB external SCSI hard disk


From Weird Stuff:

  • Apple hockey puck mice (one purple (Grape), the other bright green (Lime))
  • 8x 3.7V Li-Ion battery cells
  • Adobe CS1 and CS2 upgrades (for Windows, unfortunately :/ )
  • Some DVD-RW drives for my Mac Pro (I have a temporary one in there now, but it's not quite perfect because the tray tends to get stuck).


I'm sure there's more, but I can't remember right now.

c

EDIT: I remembered one other thing from JRL: A parts PowerBook G3 Wallstreet.

 
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