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Dove Marathon 030 for Mac II - Does not boot, and needs repair?

Juror22

Well-known member
This summer I have been checking in on all my Mac II family that I have gathered together over the years and put an effort into ensuring that each one of them is cleaned, serviced, setup and working correctly e.g boots and shuts down correctly, has sound, floppy functionality, etc.

The last time I looked at this, I put together some notes on items to check out and after I had gone through that list and taken it down to the bare board, washed it, re-capped it, and fixed specific, suspect areas of corrosion, I had started the process of re-installing the chips and discovered what appeared to be a broken pin on the underside of the Marathon 030 card.

Since some pins can be redundant (I've, read - although maybe not so much on older chips) or perhaps not needed for the upgrade (and purposely removed?) I'm not sure whether this prevented the Mac II from booting earlier, or its just a corroded via I still need to spot. I've gathered what I believe is valid information and I would appreciate anyone's thoughts on how to proceed with checking out and possibly repairing the pin issue. Here's what I have:
(picture of the Marathon card, 020 pinout with the missing pin marked and the function it performs...)
dove.jpgpins.jpg
diagram.jpginterrupts.jpg

Here is a picture of another person's Marathon card for sale and at first I thought it had same pin 'missing' in the photo (2nd row from the top, 6th pin from the Left) but now I am convinced that the pin is there and just slightly bent, so that it is in the same line as those in the first row.

DSCN7590.JPGDSCN7589.JPG

I've seen a couple of options for attempting repairs to the pins (basically soldering a pin extension to the cut-off end of the pin or physically jamming a short pin into the socket that makes contact with the cut-off end of the pin) - either of which might work. I'm leaning toward the solder method for long-term stability and worst case, maybe I will look for an 020 and convert it back, since it looks like the functionality of that pin is required, but If there are any alternative suggestions or anyone with experience that would have tips to provide, please let me know.
 

Iesca

Well-known member
I have previously looked up several units, as mine also was missing the same pin, and this seems to be by design.

That being said, mine also did not boot with it installed, even after verifying that the correct software was installed. Ultimately, I bought a 68020 and an MMU and called it a day, but I do wish I could get my own Marathon 030 working as well... I tried removing what appeared to be the ROM chip to dump it with my EPROM reader, but it is not actually an EPROM so there was nothing I could do with it, so I just stuck it back (with a fancy new socket, of course).
 

Juror22

Well-known member
I have previously looked up several units, as mine also was missing the same pin, and this seems to be by design.
So it really is missing in that picture - I knew it! :)
Seriously, thank you for confirming what I suspected. Now the search is on for an 020 (probably not too hard) and an MMU probably really hard...

Let me know if you ever do make any progress with it, and I will do the same.
 

Iesca

Well-known member
You're very welcome! Yes, the '020 shouldn't be too hard to fine, but I think I must have gotten one of the last 68851's available, because they seem to be unobtanium now. :(

I paid a little over US$40 after shipping and tax at the time, February 2022. Good luck...
 
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Iesca

Well-known member
As documentary evidence, some photos of my unit, including a closeup of the suspect "missing" pin:

IMG_20240903_224818.jpgIMG_20240903_224850.jpgIMG_20240903_224952.jpg
 

Bolle

Well-known member
Pretty sure you need IIx/IIcx/SE30 ROMs for those things to work. The original non-FDHD Mac II ROMs don’t know what to do with a 030 CPU and will fail very early in the boot process.
 

Iesca

Well-known member
Mine has the IIx ROM and a SWIM chip installed, and has a SuperDrive as well. It came with all of that and the accelerator (all within a IIfx case, of all things).
 

Iesca

Well-known member
And for fun, the relevant ICs installed in my Mac II:

Floppy Controller (VLSI 344S0062-A, "SWIM")
IMG_20240904_145119.jpg

FPU (16MHz M68882)
IMG_20240904_145146.jpg

CPU (16MHz M68020)
IMG_20240904_145157.jpg

MMU (16MHz M68851)
IMG_20240904_145208.jpg

ROMs (AMI 342-0642-B, VLSI 342-0640-C, AMI 342-0641-B, AMI 342-0639-B)
IMG_20240904_145351.jpg
 

Juror22

Well-known member
Pretty sure you need IIx/IIcx/SE30 ROMs for those things to work. The original non-FDHD Mac II ROMs don’t know what to do with a 030 CPU and will fail very early in the boot process.
Yes, do make sure your ROMs know what an 030 is. They're not fully backwards compatible with the 020.
Mine came without those things (correct ROMS for an 030) installed when I bought it, but I have the ones from my working IIx that I can put in temporarily to see if they allow it to start.
You're very welcome! Yes, the '020 shouldn't be too hard to fine, but I think I must have gotten one of the last 68851's available, because they seem to be unobtanium now. :(

I paid a little over US$40 after shipping and tax at the time, February 2022. Good luck...
This is what I've heard (challenge accepted!) - and thanks for posting the pictures, including those of the card itself.
 
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