Classic II died last nite ... this sucks :(

[Pinstripes]

I went to start up my Classic II last nite and it came up with a checkerboard pattern on the screen. A bit of Googling and it looks as though it's a hardware problem, which means I'm screwed > Even if I could even find some long torq screw drivers, a set would probably cost me $40 over here. I don't even know about replacing parts and I'm not at all good with soldering.

Perusing the auctions over here shows the going price for a compact Mac is about $50 or more (SEs for $80 and up - some are $200!!) [!] !]'>

*sigh* Being a Mac collector in Japan can really suck sometimes ...

 

[macintoshman]

Let us morn the loss of a classic II, the 2nd best compact mac. :'(

 

[iMac600]

Needs new capacitors, really not too hard to do if you find the right parts, but if you're not the most experienced at soldering then it can be quite daunting.

I wouldn't call it dead though, it can very easily be fixed by an electronics service/repair centre or rather, just tell them it needs new capacitors on the board and they'll work out the ratings, replace as necessary.

Depends how far you want to go though... who knows how much they'll charge. May only be a small fee, may be a bit extra. Depends on the store really.

 

[LCGuy]

Mine did that. What you need to do is to fill the laundry with warm water, put in some dishwashing liquid, and wash the motherboard. Yes, I am serious. Let it sit in the water completely submersed over night, and then let it dry for about 2 weeks. Do not blast it with a hairdryer or anything, let it air-dry. This fixed my Classic II (which had the exact same problem) for about a year before the analog board went out on it.

 

[funkytoad]

I can't imagine losing my Classic II's. I hope you can fix it. Good Luck!

 

[Pinstripes]

At the moment it sits in the hallway near the front door. I wasn't about to throw it away.

Can I use my bathtub? Could I fill that up with soapy water and soak it there? Does it have to be dish soap?

I still need to find some long torx screw drivers though. That could be a b*tch :x

 

[Pinstripes]

Oh yeah, how long before the CRT looses its charge? I've heard/read that touch the flyback (?) could be potentially fatal. After a while it looses its charge and is safe to touch. Am I right? More info would be appreciated

 

[tomlee59]

Yes, touching it can cause oceans to boil, add pounds to your waistline, and make your skin break out.

More seriously, there is no real danger. You can read more about it here: http://lowendmac.com/tech/crt_danger.html

I mostly agree with what the article says. The most relevant part for you is: If you don't need to work on the HV circuitry, then you won't be exposing yourself to anything that could even give you an unpleasant zork. To work on the logic board, you do not need to do anything with the flyback, so don't.

 

[Quadraman]

Let us morn the loss of a classic II, the 2nd best compact mac. :'(

Huh? I know you are referring to the SE/30 as the best, but what happened to the Color Classic? I would much rather have one of those because at least you can do a Mystic or Takky upgrade to it and it has a bigger screen and in color and the resolution can be boosted with a relatively easy hack. The SE/30 was considered so good because of it's expandability and that it could be made 32 bit clean to run newer versions of the Mac OS. The Classic II has almost no options for upgrades.

 

[MultiFinder]

Let us morn the loss of a classic II, the 2nd best compact mac. :'(

Huh? I know you are referring to the SE/30 as the best, but what happened to the Color Classic? I would much rather have one of those because at least you can do a Mystic or Takky upgrade to it and it has a bigger screen and in color and the resolution can be boosted with a relatively easy hack. The SE/30 was considered so good because of it's expandability and that it could be made 32 bit clean to run newer versions of the Mac OS. The Classic II has almost no options for upgrades.

I think he forgot to specify "best of the B&W compact Macs"

Some of us here (like me) don't consider the CC and CCII "true" compacts. However, let this not degrade into a battle of what is and what isn't a compact...

 

[Mac128]

This seems best relocated to the Compact Macs section. Either way since it is in "The Lounge" note the following regarding the "best" of the compact Macs and what constitutes a "compact":

Classic discussion: http://68kmla.org/forums/viewtopic.php?t=44

Best Compact: http://68kmla.org/forums/viewtopic.php?t=29

Colour Classic: http://68kmla.org/forums/viewtopic.php?t=334 in which this appears:

http://developer.apple.com/documentation/Hardware/Developer_Notes/Macintosh_CPUs-68K_Desktop/Mac_Color_Classic.pdf

I also offer this: http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=11437 &

http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=11431

AND Finally: http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=17055

http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=14112

http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=6914

http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=6784

http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=267

http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=18127

In every case Apple defines the Colour Classic as a Compact Macintosh. There is NO DEBATE HERE. Opinion has no bearing here. The Colour Classic is a Compact Macintosh. To say otherwise would be like saying the Susan B. Anthony US dollar coin isn't really a silver dollar because it looks like a quarter or contains no silver.

I do agree with Multifinder17, that should this cause the discussion concerning the Colour Classic be reopened, a new thread should be opened.

AS FOR THIS THREAD: I would seriously encourage Pinstripes to offer up a Compact Mac he cant repair himself for shipping costs only on eBay so that someone capable of repairing it, or salvaging parts will make use of it and procure for himself a new one that has been restored by someone. The price of owning Compact Macs is maintenance, true of owning any vintage product. If one does not take steps to learn the skills to repair them, one pays the price: either for expensive repairmen (if you can even find one who knows how), or loss of the investment. More than selling a dead Mac, I would encourage anyone involved in this hobby to pick up a copy of Larry Pina's books or other DIY Macintosh repair books and teach yourself the basic skills needed to maintain your investments. Besides, it's half the fun!

 

[Pinstripes]

Do you know how much it would cost to ship a compact Mac overseas from Japan? [xx(] ]'>

I may auction it off, but I'm not sure yet. It depends on if I can get a set of long Torx drivers or not.

 

[Quadraman]

Check here

http://www.post.japanpost.jp/int/ems/index_en.html

Everyone I've ever bought from in Japan has used EMS shipping and it was fast enough and cheap enough for me.

 

[nahuelmarisi]

You should replace the capacitors. At the very worse you loose some pennies....

You should be able to get at torx t15 on ebay if you can't find it on a local store.e

 

[JDW]

Pinstripes, I too live in Japan (Not far from Nagoya, in Aichi-ken). I can attest to the fact that even though shipping from Japan is usually higher than shipping the same item to Japan (from the US or another country), surface (ocean) shipping is now the big exception. Now that USPS is literally raping people who live overseas by killing off Surface this past May, you have no choice but to use wickedly expensive Airmail (i.e., something like "EMS").

I am so very thankful I purchased the bulk of my hardware BEFORE that nightmare happened. I bought a 512k, 512k with Hyperdrive, SE/30, 20" ADC Cinema display, G4 Cube system, Apple HD20 hard drive, Apple HD20SC hard drive, and many other big-and-heavy items via EBAY and had them all economically shipped to me here in Japan from the US via USPS Surface. It took a month for each item to arrive, but boy did I save a bundle with ocean shipping! I would have never ever bid for those items, no matter how badly I wanted them, if I had been forced by high-handed USPS to use Airmail instead of Ocean. So in a small way, you can say that USPS Surface Mail is indirectly what brought me to this site! I wouldn't be the classic Mac nut I am today without good old Surface mail.

I say all this because, despite Japan Posts many faults, they have not yet gone the unruly way of USPS. That's right, you can still ship from Japan via Surface. Here are the rates:

http://www.post.japanpost.jp/english/fee/intel/parcel.html#parcel_03

Some people may try to scare you with Surface mail horror stories, but I would take those stories with a hefty bucket of salt. Those of us who live in Japan also must consider that such bad stories mainly come from people outside Japan -- which I think says a lot. Just put the item in a sturdy box surrounded by lots of bubble wrap (and I mean a lot), and it will be fine. I am by no means "lucky" and I've used Surface many, many times (to ship to Japan and from Japan) without a single bad incident. And yes, I've shipped items from my company here in Japan via Japan Post Surface, all over the world -- to tiny islands you'd never even heard of! Just pack the item well and it will get through unscathed. Then pay a couple hundred Yen to insure the package to soothe your conscience. It's really that simple. But again, sadly, you won't get this benefit anymore when shipping items to you here in Japan from the US.

Now, if you find someone INSIDE Japan to take your hardware, the shipping cost is even cheaper (of course). Japan Post is the cheapest, followed by Sagawa. Yamato service is great, but they are expensive. But selling on Yahoo Auctions Japan is not the most enjoyable experience in the world, language barrier aside, so I'm guessing you probably won't be shipping anything within Japan.

Hope this helps.

 

[equill]

The moderator of the CC (hosted) Forum at Applefritter used to make available a long (12") Torx-15 driver. He's in GB. It is/was just one of the many services he rendered to the Mac community, and CC-ism specifically, although no-one who is seriously into Classic AIOs should dream of life without a long Torx-15. His eBay monicker is stuartsmacs.

His current offerings lean towards photographic gear, but that doesn't necessarily exclude Torx drivers on the side, as it were. Having overcome that hurdle, it will be as child's play for you to avoid self-immolation by keeping your cotton-picking fingers off what you don't need to touch, which is rather the PSU's filter capacitors than the CRT's high tension. tomlee59's neat and painless method of disposal of the CRT's charge is worth the effort of your trawling for it. Though the Classic II has software control of brightness, the principle remains true even when you can't see a conventional display. The CRT just needs to be active at even conventional brightness.

Don't be in any hurry to knife your board's capacitors. The checkerboard pattern has as much chance of being the result of the 1-bit (monochrome) AIO's use of system RAM as VRAM: 'vampire video'. Removal, cleaning and reseating of your DRAM is a good first response to your problem.

de

 

[equill]

Try this for light reading. Note the checkerboard fault section and its remedies, but bone up on the capacitor story also so that you can distinguish between different hardware faults. The ostensible subject is an SE/30, yes, but the SE/30 is of its family, and shares its ills with them.

The Classic II doesn't have a ROM SIMM, so you can overlook that cause and concentrate on your DRAM SIMMs. Nor does the Classic II have RAM banks of four slots each. Its expansion RAM cards must be paired (two of equal size) up to 10MB total, in just two slots.

de