Help me ID a SuperMac card

[trag]

So you reckon that EEPROM isn't part of the card's stock config?

Indubitably!

Hey, now wait a second. The declaration ROM must live somewhere, and that's usually where it was on those old cards, on an EPROM. I don't see anything else on the card that could be storing the card's firmware.

BTW, you should cover the window of the EPROM with a sticker or something. It's unlikely, inside a computer case, but too much exposure to UV will erase the contents of that chip and you only need to lose one bit, if it's the wrong bit...

 

[Trash80toHP_Mini]

Ayup, Standard DeclROM on EPROM replaced by EEPROM = OVERLY Expensive to be a Production Part = Hacked DeclROM suspicions.

Apply compressed air, maybe even remove controller PCB & wash . . . YUCK!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 8-o

DO NOT mess around with anything DIRECTLY attached to the platters/heads enclosure. The nut probably retains the axle on which the heads operate and those cooling vanes have sucked a friggin' crapload of dust in between the Controller PCB and Mechanism Casing!

 

[protocol7]

I'll cover over that EEPROM. I don't think it saw too much UV light but I'll make sure it doesn't see any more.

I took off the drive's PCB and cleaned off all that dust. I didn't try opening up the top of the drive. As the Classic II's hard disk didn't get me any further I don't think there's any point looking at this drive any further for a while.

 

[Trash80toHP_Mini]

Do a clean install of the OS (which one?) onto the Classic II HDD "For ANY Macintosh" and try it again!

I've always tried to keep a couple of OS FAM Installs on HDDs for external use, but I've been playing with PCI Macs so long that I've lost track . . .

IIsi/SE/30 PDS/NuBus Playtime has been a fresh breath of air! :approve:

 

[protocol7]

If at all possible I don't want to open up the Classic II again. I've already got my LC III and 7500 in pieces trying to troubleshoot this.

I can't remember if I installed 6.0.8L on it for all Macs or only the Classic II, but in either situation it should have at least given me the flashing disk icon. So far I can't get it to go beyond this grey screen.

 

[CelGen]

I never trust drives that have suffered stictation to last much longer. Usually I also find they will fail being initialized too and end up pulling a 160mb drive out of the pile of junk LC475's.

 

[protocol7]

I beat it up a little and dropped it onto the floor but it still won't talk. Maybe the motor is burned out.

The only reason I'm still interested in this drive is because it's the ONLY one that when attached to the SCSI bus (without the power cable connected) will give me the SuperMac logo on-screen.

The other SCSI disks I've tried won't do this. So perhaps their active termination isn't working all that well.

 

[protocol7]

After further testing I reckon the other drives are getting further. It was hard to tell whether the logo or the grey screen came first because the screen took a long time to kick in. But with it stuck at a grey screen I hit the reset switch on the side of the case and that got me a "faster" reboot, allowing me to see the logo flash up before the screen went grey.

 

[protocol7]

I picked up a USB programmer some time back to fix a bad BIOS flash and had it in the back of my mind to read in the EEPROM from this SuperMac card at some stage.

Well, I've just popped off the chip and read it out to the attached file. I can't make much sense out of the dump, but maybe someone more knowledgable can tell me if it looks OK or if it's damaged in some way?

Also, here's a picture of what was underneath it.