Cross Compatible CRT?

[tomlee59]

Thanks for all the offers, guys. I appreciate it!

It's not a very big file -- it's mainly text, with a half dozen pics or so. I don't have it before me at the moment, but I doubt that it's bigger than a couple of megs. If hosting it here is possible, then that would be great. Tom -- let me know how to upload it, and I'll get this puppy out of here.

Thanks again!

 

[equill]

Yes. Please do. I just threatened some of the more timorous in the ranks with your charge computation and risk analysis for AIO Compact Macs. It will be good for them to read it for themselves.

de

 

[The Macster]

the more timorous in the ranks

I suppose I count as one of those then Even though I know that you both know your stuff and are therefore likely to be right that a compact Mac won't kill you, I would still be too scared to see the insides of one - I don't know what it is, but these things just scare me somehow :I There'd be no point me opening one up anyway as I wouldn't be able to fix a dead one, nor do have any of the special tools required, so I don't suppose it'll be happening any time soon regardless!

 

[tomlee59]

Hi Macster,

It's all right to be a bit frightened -- it just means that you have good self-preservation instincts. But even if you don't think you could fix these things, I'm sure that you could. And an AIO compact is a great vehicle for learning how to troubleshoot and repair simple problems. You don't need any special or expensive tools in most cases -- aside from the longggg Torx driver needed to open them up. A cheapo soldering iron will go a long ways toward repairing the most commonly encountered problems.

Dan Knight at LEM was kind enough to reprint an updated version of an old applefritter article I wrote on the CRT discharge question. If you're interested, you can find it at http://lowendmac.com/tech/crt_danger.html. But the short version is:

1) A zap from an AIO won't kill you, but it can hurt, just as any other static zap on a dry day.

2) It's easy to avoid even that unpleasant zap.

3) Most repairs don't require touching the HV bits, so don't touch them, and you can sidestep the whole zappage issue.

The AIOs are really as harmless as they are cute. Just let them sit unpowered for a day or two, and the biggest danger they'll present is allergic reactions from the dust that's inside.

 

[The Macster]

It's all right to be a bit frightened -- it just means that you have good self-preservation instincts. But even if you don't think you could fix these things, I'm sure that you could. And an AIO compact is a great vehicle for learning how to troubleshoot and repair simple problems. You don't need any special or expensive tools in most cases -- aside from the longggg Torx driver needed to open them up. A cheapo soldering iron will go a long ways toward repairing the most commonly encountered problems.

I don't know, I'm just not an open-it-up kind of person when it comes to Macs and the like - I would only open something up if there was a good chance that I could fix it and no chance of making it worse by opening it. Neither of those are true, given that I'm not a hardware guy! Usually you would need a replacement part that I wouldn't have lying around anyway, as well as knowledge of soldering etc to fit it, which I could never do. Like with the Duo 230, I would only make it worse by opening it up and probably couldn't even get it to go back together (and don't have these weird "Torx" screwdrivers that you seem to need for the screws on these things anyway), and don't have any parts for them, so I will probably just leave it languishing in a drawer somewhere, dead

I'll leave the hardcore Mac-opening that I'm always hearing tales of to you guys!

 

[LCGuy]

Tom Lee is right...a lot of people are a lot more scared of the innards of comapct Macs than they should be....you really don't have to be scared. But then again, my basic rule regarding these sorts of things is, "The thing is broken, so why not OPEN it? Grab a screwdriver, you've got nothing to lose". [}] ]'>

 

[The Macster]

"The thing is broken, so why not OPEN it? Grab a screwdriver, you've got nothing to lose". [}] ]'>

Except that you do have a lot to lose and not a lot to gain, at least if you're like me ie not a hardware wizard - if I opened my Duo 230 I would just make things worse by breaking more of it, not being able to get it back together etc!

 

[tomlee59]

LCguy is right -- if it's already broken, then it's hard to make things that much worse.

And that's what you need for your first repair experience -- a junker already destined for the scrap heap. I'm willing to bet that the satisfaction you'll feel from bringing the dead back to life will encourage you to do more. Then you'll eventually get to the point where you'll feel confident about opening up a still-working machine to do upgrades and light maintenance. But first things first: Find a DOA Mac (there are so many!), and revive it.

 

[LCGuy]

Tom Lee is right....the best way to get good and improve your confidence with hardware repair is to repair a broken one. A lot of the best computer techs got their start with old broken/dying equipment and then moved onto better stuff once they felt they were up to it.

 

[The Macster]

Well the Duo 230 is in very good condition cosmetically so it's too good to be classified as a junk machine for ripping in to, I would feel bad about completely breaking it. And seeing as we think it has no hard drive, there's no way I could get it working anyway (and the fact that the screen is probably dead or it needs a new capacitor or something like that, neither of which I could possibly deal with either). The only machine I would be happy to rip into as a training machine would be something that really was scrap, like a 286 laptop with a caved-in screen or something like that which (1) has any chance whatsoever of working again, (2) is not a machine that you feel has some sort of "character" (like the Macs always seem to) and (3) is not something that has any value that you could realise by selling it as a parts/repair machine.

I'll test the Zip drive when I have the chance, to see if that has come back from the land of the dead or not. Best to start small eh? (of course that fulfilled the 3 criteria above, so I didn't feel bad about opening it up as I was only going to throw it away anyway)

I am now just about confident enough to do light upgrading of a working desktop Mac (I did some stuff in the G3 for instance), but never a laptop.

 

[LCGuy]

It may be in good condition cosmetically, but even so, if it doesn't work, what value does it have to you? All it does is take up space...so really, you may as well have a look at getting it to go...otherwise its just a paperweight.

 

[The Macster]

It would just be such a waste to use something so good as a training machine that you're probably going to wreck - I'd rather send it to one of you guys who would be able to fix it properly and enjoy it than have to live with the fact that I killed it. At least if I keep it then one day I can hope I might be able to get it going And as I said, I don't have the parts it would need so opening it up wouldn't fix it anyway. At least it's a pretty paperweight though

 

[Quadraman]

"The thing is broken, so why not OPEN it? Grab a screwdriver, you've got nothing to lose". [}] ]'>

Except that you do have a lot to lose and not a lot to gain, at least if you're like me ie not a hardware wizard - if I opened my Duo 230 I would just make things worse by breaking more of it, not being able to get it back together etc!

I just got a Powerbook 150 that was DOA and managed to get it working just by fiddling with the cable connectors inside. It needs an LCD screen and a battery, but everything else seems to work. I probably would have sold it on as a parts only machine and never knew it was so easy to fix if I hadn't opened it up and tried. I'm now waiting for another DOA Powerbook with the parts I need to come along to have a working machine with a few spare parts and they are common and cheap on ebay.

 

[Bunsen]

That's how I got started on laptops too - an "as is" dead 1400 that came back to life as soon as I connected the keyboard and trackpad ribbons, put in a disk and connected a power supply. I booted it off a SCSI CDROM for first test.

 

[TylerEss]

If you go slowly and don't use force, it's really hard to break *anything* so don't worry about opening up that Duo!

 

[Kallikak]

The original post in this thread referred to an eBay auction for a 512K with a dead display. The seller told me it had a 400K drive in it, so I decided to bid, and got it for $1. (I also got a working 400K external for $3 from the same seller.) Anyway I just plugged it in - nice beep, but no display as reported. The fix? All I had to do was turn up the brightness! [] ]'>

p.s. it came with one of the original keyboards too - no numeric keypad.

 

[equill]

... a 512K with a dead display ... so I decided to bid, and got it for $1 ... The fix? All I had to do was turn up the brightness! ...

Do you mind if we make a wax model of you, and stick pins into it?

de

 

[iMac600]

Haha, it was brightness? Wow!

Good to see you managed to get it Kallikak. I chose not to after certain "recent events" came up.