Lisa needs some CPR

[just.in.time]

Trying to bring an old Lisa back to life.

Widget hard drive shows advanced signs of corrosion. Everything else looks okay over all, especially the motherboard, cpu, IO, and two RAM cards.

I opened up the power supply, vacuumed it clean. Looks okay, no excessive cap bulging.

I don't have a keyboard, but I'm pretty sure I can use my Plus's mouse.

When I attempt to power on with widget hard drive data and power cables unplugged I get the main light on for ~1 second, along with a hissing sound from the power supply area, then what sounds like a pop from the speaker and everything goes out. Same results with widget drive power and data attached.

I'm guessing I need to check PSU voltages. In another thread someone mentioned removing the side panel near the PSU to do that. How do you remove that panel? Do we have a decent pinout for where to put the multimeter leads?

 

[bibilit]

The side panel is fastened with four screws on each corner from the inside/out, the top panel should probably be removed first (two hiden screws from the boards well)

two mice were used, the first one won't fit without some hacking to your Plus unit.

Keyboard missing will give you error code IIRC.

 

[just.in.time]

Thank you bibilit! I'll give that a go later today.

My unit is a Lisa 2/10 (macintosh XL) variant.

If I can get it to the point of an error code I would be happy.

 

[fri0701]

If you've got a 2/10, your Plus mouse should work without any modification of the connector.

Here's a site with all the Lisa schematics, including the PSU: http://lisa.sunder.net/cgi-bin/bookview2.cgi?zoom=0?image=0?book=6

The Lisa PSU has a small hole on the side that leads to a potentiometer for varying the output voltage. Be careful if you play with this!

I'd suggest unplugging the Widget entirely until you can verify the power supply is working, since adding a load like a drive might influence your measurements and results. At least the 2/10 never had the infamous batteries that kill so many Lisas.

The normal Lisa boot cycle goes as follows:

Power button is pressed, and power switch light goes on. A faint whining noise may come from the power supply.

~3 seconds later, a "click" is heard

~15-20 seconds later, two "clicks" are heard in short succession

If there is no keyboard connected, you will hear beeps in the pattern: 2 high, 1 low. A keyboard with a question mark will appear on the screen.

If there is no boot media, or it cannot be booted from, you will hear beeps in the pattern: 3 high. An "no boot" error code will appear on the screen.

If the Lisa encounters any problems during its self-test power up, it will display an icon and an error code (if it's able to get that far, that is). The icons and error codes can be interpreted using this (page 19): ftp://ftp.apple.asimov.net/pub/apple_II/documentation/applelisa/Lisa_Do-It-Yourself_Guide.pdf

Feel free to PM me if you have any specific questions - always happy to help resurrect a Lisa. Good luck!

- fri0701

 

[just.in.time]

Hi fri0701. Thank you for all the advice and resources.

It looks like my current target then is the keyboard error. I should be able to take a swing at it over the next week or so.

Also, yes I was very happy to see that I escaped the leaking RTC batteries that certain models shipped with

 

[fri0701]

It's important to note that although the Lisa will complain about not having a keyboard, it is not required, and the system will still boot. You'll hear any error beeps / see any error codes about 3 seconds after the Lisa notifies you there's no keyboard attached.

- fri0701