Good news and bad news for SE--HELP!!

[Apostrophe]

Hi,

Recently I've had one of my SE's display an error code identifying an illegal action. It also displays the number 1000, but I'm not sure how to find out what chip that refers to.

Anyway, yesterday a replacement Miniscribe HDD that I ordered arrived. I installed it into the SE, turned it on...and I get the ever-so-lovely error code. But, despite that being the bad news, the hard drive made its hard drive noises!!! So despite the HDD not being able to do anything about the error code, it makes its noises upon boot-up, whereas the previous HDD just flashed randomly without making noises at all.

So I have two more parts in that SE to either fix or replace: the floppy drive and the logic board. And I have a couple of questions for each.

The Floppy Drive

The floppy drive seems jammed, when previously it worked just fine. I think it has something to do with my putting it in wrong, and I tripped some sort of mechanism...whatever. At any rate, it's jammed and needs replacing. The problem is, the model number I recorded was the one engraved on top rather the one printed on the bottom. The number I recorded was 805-5050 A. It hasn't turned up any online references. My question is, can I go on eBay and get any 800k drive, or do I need to go back into the SE and record the exact model number?

The Logic Board

It is a suggestion from some members of this forum that dust may have gotten on one of the chips, causing it to malfunction. The logic board, too, worked fine when I first got this SE. But the SE started exhibiting the Sad Mac after I had opened it. Further strengthening the 'dust theory.' Also, the perfectly working internal HDD that I installed did nothing to solve the problem, meaning that it's another part that's problematic, in this case the logic board. Furthermore, the logic board was dusty upon close inspection. So all these clues point to the dust on the logic board.

And I have a couple of questions:

1) What type of canned air would you recommend to safely blow the dust off of the SE's logic board?

2) The error code reads the following:

00000003

00001000

where the 3 indicates an illegal action and the 1000 identifies the chip in question. How can I tell which chip the '1000' refers to?

Thanks for any help on this matter,

-Apostrophe

 

[equill]

Unless the dust in your SE is electrically conductive (unlikely), its principal effects are going to be in inhibiting cooling and in shortcircuiting traces/pins when wetted (which should be seldom). Dust is extremely unlikely to produce SadMac codes relating to software hiatus or to physical breakdown of RAM.

A reference to your original post would have been handy, because much of the discussion there is still pertinent. Mac error codes can be instructive, but they can also be the first explanation that a Mac puts forward to explain its ingratitude about being revived. It is not far enough into the boot sequence to have a System loading, and it is in the awkward position of having to diagnose its breakdown while it is yet barely sentient, or even still comatose. In short, it puts out the first porky that comes to 'mind'.

Ignore the FDD for the moment, but disconnect it from the MLB to avoid untoward effects. Use the Centris to format and install your desired System onto the HDD intended for the SE in an external enclosure. Depending on the System chosen you may be able to choose a System 'for any Macintosh' or for a 68000 Mac, but don't choose 'for this Mac' because that will be the Centris. Make the insides of the SE spotless, reseat anything that can be reseated after inspecting and cleaning the connectors, and see whether you can boot from the known-good HDD with a fresh installation of a System. (Simply spinning up is not proof of a drive's goodness.) If the System is 68000-compatible, you should not get a software error. If you get the complaint about the RAM again, there may be some substance in it, and you can respond accordingly.

Inspection of the MLB will reveal only gross faults. Many faults in traces can be inaccessible to inspection, but usually result only from extreme abuse of the MLB or attack by capacitor goo, which is itself not hard to see. Systematic test and procedure will get you a working SE, given no catastrophic defect such as chip failure, but you need to be prepared for the slog towards destination.

Canned air is canned air. It should contain only air (or nitrogen) and a harmless propellant. Its principal virtues are that it is clean and carries no chip-killing static charge (as a vacuum-cleaner on 'blow' rather than 'suck' would do).

de

 

[Apostrophe]

Thanks for your response equill--

I decided to take apart both my working SE and my non-working one and switch their HDDs so that I could hopefully pinpoint the problem in the malfunctioning one.

Here it is:

Here are the SE's, when I remove their cases. The NON-WORKING SE is on the LEFT; the WORKING SE is on the RIGHT. They will remain in this order throughout:




http://www.flickr.com/photos/32704977@N07/3154721123/




Here are the HDDs of each SE lying in front of their respective machine:




Note that one hard drive is KNOWN TO WORK and the other is UNTESTED. The UNTESTED one is the one I ordered from eBay.

Here is the WORKING hard drive from the WORKING SE inside the NON-WORKING SE.




I also took apart and dusted off the logic board and RAM of the NON-WORKING SE using cue-tips:







Here I'm putting the SE's back together:







Here is the NON-WORKING SE turned on with the WORKING hard drive inside it. It still displays the error code, thus indicating the logic board as being the problem:




Here is the WORKING SE turned on with the UNTESTED hard drive inside it. The SE displays the question mark icon:




http://www.flickr.com/photos/32704977@N07/3154725209/

Here is the install screen for my System 6.0.8 floppy disk. Note that the Install and Switch Disk options are gray. The SE doesn't recognize the UNTESTED hard drive:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/32704977@N07/3154725755/

http://www.flickr.com/photos/32704977@N07/3155562598/

Here is the System Tools icon on the desktop of the WORKING SE with the UNTESTED hard drive inside it. Despite the lack of a HDD icon, I don't think that says much...

http://www.flickr.com/photos/32704977@N07/3154726213/

However, that SE will eject the System floppy disk, but asks for that disk when I try another action:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/32704977@N07/3155564058/

So from what I can deduce:

The logic board of the NON-WORKING SE has a problem.

The UNTESTED HDD cannot be recognized by the WORKING SE.

Does that sound right?

I'll let the charge in those SE's dissipate overnight so that I can safely work on them tomorrow. If, once I re-exchange the hard disks, the SE's revert to their original behavior before the switch, should I take up issues with the seller of the UNTESTED hard disk for not working when advertised as working?

Equill, is what I did similar to what you had in mind, or is the Centris necessary as the 'middle man'?

Help!!! :?: :?: :?:

-Apostrophe

 

[Scott Baret]

About the floppy drive: check the Sony label on the drive. If it's black you've got an 800K drive. Blue labels identify high density drives (sometimes called SuperDrives or FDHD drives). The number you are reading, if I recall, is the number of the bracket part and not the drive itself.

If you need a new 800K drive PM me; I have a few I could offer.

Now, as for the hard drive: Try running Apple HD SC Setup to see if the drive is recognizable (provided the drive is an Apple-branded one). It should be on your System Tools disk. If the drive is non-Apple you'll need a utility like Silverlining to format it. Also, don't forget to check your connections between the drive and logic board inside the Mac. If you have an LC or other easy-to-access Mac sitting around you might want to test the drive inside of it just to verify that it is working.

The error code: A "3" as the eight number in the top row signifies that the problem is located in RAM bank B. Try swapping your SIMMs with known working ones (if the SIMMs in the working SE are identical try swapping them).

Your code isn't an "illegal instruction" because there is no "F" in the code. If there is an "F" it is always software-related, which an illegal instruction would be (the non-F codes are hardware-related, which is your SE's problem).

 

[Apostrophe]

Hi,

Thanks to Scott Baret and equill, who have suggested that the RAM is to blame, I switched the working SE's RAM into the non-working one, and...you can see for yourself in this video:

So now what I have to do is a) switch the HDDs back into their original SE's, B) order RAM for the SE whose RAM I've stolen, c) get a replacement FDD for the originally non-working SE (which now works after my HDD and RAM swap), and d) try and format the HDD that I ordered from eBay. I'm still waiting for the seller to get back to me on the HDD's machine of origin and its formatting...

I'm in such a good mood! Seeing a computer work after an error code is always something that makes me happy!

By the way, and I'll post this in the Trading Post as well, does anyone know where I can get 4 1MB SIMMS for an SE for a very low amount of money? (Preferably between 0 and 20 dollars)

Thanks,

-Apostrophe