Hello, new here - two SE/30s, big mess, no video

[memcdowell1s]

Hello all! I'm not entirely new to the compact Mac world, but it's been a looooong time.

I recently won an auction with two SE/30s described as one not powering on, and one booting, but no other info. Unfortunately, they were shipped to me with no packing whatsoever and disaster ensued. Both cases had damage, especially the bezels which were crumbled to bits. Upon cracking them open, I found they were jostled so hard that the video neck boards were dislodged on both, as well as the logic board power connector on one.

After reseating all connectors and the neck boards, I attempted to power them on. One seems to have hard drive activity as if it's booting, but no startup chime and no video at all. I can see the neck of the CRT faintly glowing in the dark, so I think it's on but the screen is black. The other one just has a fan and floppy seek, but no video or chime either. I swapped logic boards between the two (which appear sparkling clean by the way, no battery leaking or otherwise) with the same results on both machines.

What should I pursue next? Thank you for any guidance!

 

[GRudolf94]

Hello, and welcome!

*sigh*. Fleabay? Anyway, shame. Onwards.

The analog board has a fair amount of heavy components. You'd do well to check how 5V is doing on both machines - easily accessible via the ADB or floppy ports. Also, inspecting for cracked solder joints. Hard disk activity, as in random seek noises? Do they start only after a while, or immediately after drive speed stabilizes?

 

[memcdowell1s]

Hello, and welcome!

*sigh*. Fleabay? Anyway, shame. Onwards.

The analog board has a fair amount of heavy components. You'd do well to check how 5V is doing on both machines - easily accessible via the ADB or floppy ports. Also, inspecting for cracked solder joints. Hard disk activity, as in random seek noises? Do they start only after a while, or immediately after drive speed stabilizes?

Worse than Fleabay, I’d be getting my money back if it was there.
Regardless, I’ll check voltages next. Hard drive noises sound like actual booting… they start after being powered on for a while, not immediately. Hard drive indicator lights up as well.

 

[Callan]

I know this is obvious, but check your brightness too. If the pot on the front doesn't show your screen getting brighter you need to adjust the pot on the analog board until you see some raster on the screen. That way you can see if the computer is doing something. Bad caps will prevent you from getting a boot chime.

 

[JC8080]

On the upside, if you ended up with two working, or at least non-bombed logic boards, it's still a win. Not the one you were looking for, but a win.