IIci Restoration Project

[System7]

Well, I have decided that it is not impossible to fix the IIci. It is clear to me however, that it will need to be recapped, as the sound is gone. Luckily, there is no electrolyte damage.

The last time it was working, System 7 booted in 1 bit color, then crashed shortly thereafter.

I will post back later seeing if I can get it to boot at all!

Update:

I just noticed again that the Power Supply has some rust on it.....Not good. It was like that when I got it. The PCB looks ok however. Another daunting issue is that the CPU has bent pins. Yuck. Yet, I got it to boot! Amazing! It still needs tons of work to be fully functioning! If anyone could assist me with what I would need to replace the caps, I would appreciate it.

 

[System7]

My disk images of 7.1 Pro are really bad, they dump the 7.1 Pro files into the system folder, doesnt have a finder, and is just plain broken.

 

[joshc]

You need a temperature-controlled soldering station, you can get a cheap one or spend more and get a Weller. You will need to replace all the small round metal caps.

This website has lots of information on how to solder on surface mount components:

http://www.curiousinventor.com/guides/Surface_Mount_Soldering

 

[System7]

That doesnt look bad at all! I can solder non surface mount components already, but my soldering iron is from the 70s, and thus has very large tip. Now I need to figure out what caps I need. Should I also recap the Power Supply while I am at it? It seems to be fine.

 

[trag]

That doesnt look bad at all! I can solder non surface mount components already, but my soldering iron is from the 70s, and thus has very large tip. Now I need to figure out what caps I need. Should I also recap the Power Supply while I am at it? It seems to be fine.

If you're just replacing surface mount caps, and if you're reasonably careful, you can do it with two <$10 each soldering pencils from Radio Shack. They sell a grounded 15 watt pencil for $8.99 the last time I checked.

Apply one pencil to each side of the cap and wait until it lifts easily so that you don't exert any force on the underlying pads. This is the method popularized on Marc Schrier's Clock Chipping Home Page all those years ago, when boosting your IIsi from 20 MHz to 27 MHz was all the rage.

That's how I remove my old caps and resistors.

To solder in new caps, clean both pads with desoldering braid/wick. Tin one pad. Carefull position the cap, hold it down with a screwdriver or similar tool. Heat the tinned pad until the cap sinks flush onto the pad. Remove heat while continuing to hold the cap down. Let the solder harden. Now solder the other side.

 

[Bunsen]

A friend made up a small home-made jig to help hold down SMT parts when soldering. It was nothing more than a short bit of wood with a nail through it, bolted to a short post and a stand so that it could swivel up and down. He blunted the nail with a file after nailing it through the cross beam. You sit the board under the jig and lower the nail down to hold the SMT part in place. It's like an extra hand.

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