Mac II and IIcx questions

[pathw]

New member here with a few questions ...

I pulled out some old equipment out of the attic in preparation for the local ecycling drive, then found this place. It has inspired me to try to find a new home for the equipment (at least as parts). If not, I'll take it to the recyclers next year.

In any case I have a Macintosh II and a Macintosh IIcx, both with issues.

1) The II is completely nonresponsive. It worked last time I tried it (many years ago), so I am assuming that the problem is the batteries. It also missing a HD. Rest of the specs: 8MB memory, Macintosh II video card.

2) The IIcx appears to work. The HD in the system was nonfunctional, but I was able to use the HD from the Macintosh II to start it up and poke around. In the process, this HD also failed, so I can't continue. The floppy drive is not working, by the way. Specs: 8 MB memory, Machintosh II video card, Farallon Ethermac card.

Questions:

1) Looking at the forums, the standard advice appears to be to replace the Mac II batteries with battery holders, then use standard batteries from now on. Is this a standard part I'd find at Radio Shack, for example? Having never soldered anything, is this something I'd likely be successful at?

2) I have a number of old SCSI HDs that work, with various versions of the OS on them (7.5.5, 8.1). None of these are recognized by the IIcx (flashing icon indicating no OS found). If I hadn't been successful with the old Mac II HD, I'd have guessed that the IIcx couldn't read any HD. Is this simply a matter of "blessing" an old enough version of the OS on the other HDs, or does it need a particular kind of SCSI HD?

My one working system from the attic is a Centris 610 (upgraded to a Power Macintosh C610 with a 40MHz PowerPC 601) with 52MB memory. I also have a couple of working AppleColor High Resolution monitors, an Apple Portrait monitor (B&W), an Apple Multisync monitor, keyboards, ...

but I'll save this list for the Trading Post forum. There used to be a kindergarten teacher in town who collected old computers for his classroom, to run games on etc. He has since retired. Any other suggestions on how to identify new homes for these systems (assuming that I can resurrect the II and the IIcx)?

Thanks.

 

[equill]

A useful first port of call for base specifications of and quick knockdowns about Macs is EveryMac.

I have no first-hand knowledge of the Mac II, but you can be assured that one of the two batteries is indeed vital for startup. A battery holder would be a grouse thing to get hold of, but it is likely now to have to come from another Mac II. Posting an SOS in various places may net you some response.

The IIcx is not as accomplished as its sibling the IIci, but no slouch for all that, and also able to use up to 128MB of RAM with Mode32 installed (some Bank A RAM is used for video). With a suitable NuBus video card and a 13W3 terminated video cable (13W3 at both ends with a Workstation Portrait card) it will drive the Portrait Monitor very well in 16-256 greys (the latter with a Radius Pro card).

With a suitable adapter* it can use DayStar PowerCache accelerator cards. (Mine has a 33MHz replacing the on-board 16MHz, but 50MHz cards exist.)

There is at least one recent discussion, here, about IIcx startup. Trawling for the Mac II will also get you one about its batteries.

de

* As I should have said explicitly, given that the 68030 is socketted (rather than soldered-in), which is a much less less-commonly found configuration.

 

[bigD]

If you're looking for a good home for your IIcx, you're more than welcome to send one my way. I grew up with the IIcx, and I'm looking for one to replace my poor dead one. I have a soft spot for the IIcx - especially the ones with the socketed, gold badged processors. It just looks awesome to me - something those smug IIci owners don't get to enjoy.

Of course I'll pay shipping plus whatever you think is fair for the computer and your time.

 

[Unknown_K]

The IIcx has no built in video, it is a smaller 3 slot version of the big 6 slot IIx.

You need working batteries to boot a II, you can desolder the old ones and solder in new ones found on ebay for $5 each plus shipping (should last a few years). The upgrade circuit board with removable batteries is probably very hard to find now, and will cost more then it is worth if you did find it.

For the Mac II or IIx to use a daystar upgrade you need to find a very rare and expensive adapter that plugs into the CPU/FPU socket on the motherboards, a IIci is MUCH cheaper and easier to put a daystar into (no adpater required).

Mac II and IIcx are 68030 CPUs that will only run up to OS 7.6.1, 8.1 with a hack. With only 8MB of RAM I recommend making 7.01 install floppies (found on Apples site for free), or finding a set of OS 7.1 somewhere.

Do you have any picture of the condition of the units?

 

[pathw]

Thanks for the feedback. I put some photos of the II and IIcx on http://home.comcast.net/~worleyph/index.html . This is the first time I've used my "free" web space, and I was in hurry, so it is quick and dirty. My apologies for not reducing the size of the photos before uploading. If you want close-ups of anything, please ask and I'll add it to the page.

bigD, if you are serious, the IIcx is yours (assuming that the price of my trouble and shipping are not over your limit). I'll get you an estimate sometime within the next week. Do you have a hard drive with System 6 already installed, or a working floppy that you can drop in? I prefer to send it as is, so that means no hard drive. If you already have a dead IIcx, I assume that you do not need cables, keyboard, mouse ...? I have these as well, but would like to keep this transaction as simple as possible.

Note the one thing that I would be interested in trading for is a Duo minidock. We have a Duo230c. The Duo Dock II died and I wasn't interested in fixing it. We rarely used it anyway. So ... bigD, if you have a minidock, I'll swap you for it. If not, the IIcx is still yours.

I guess that I'll see if I can resurrect the Mac II - wish me luck, unless someone wants it as is. (It will be more expensive to mail, I imagine.) The IIcx and the C610 were purchases from salvage sales at a local company. I am the original (and sole ) owner of the Mac II, so have more of an attachment to it. However, if I can get it going again, I'll still be looking for a new home for it at some point. If it is a lost cause, are Mac II parts worth advertising? I'm not looking to make any money - just curious if this is worth my time. Also, are cables, keyboards, mice, etc. worth advertising?

Thanks.

P.S. - I did not upload photos of the C610 yet. My limit is 24MB,

and the II and IIcx photos put me near the limit. When people are done looking, I'll remove these and upload the C610 photos.

 

[bigD]

pathw - unfortunately I don't have a minidock to trade, otherwise I'd be more than happy to swap with you. I have a hard drive so all I really need is the IIcx itself. Take your time with regards to getting me a price. There's no rush at all. Whatever you think is fair will be fine with me. I'm in 92782.

Thanks!

 

[equill]

For parting out, the choice IIcx parts are, potentially:

the PSU if it works, albeit that it is an Astec rather than a Delta

the speaker assembly

the hard drive carrier, screws, SCSI and HDD power cables, and LED assembly

the logic board,

which in no way discounts the appeal of the complete, even if not-working, whole.

de

 

[bigD]

Acccck!!! The IIcx is God's Mac! You can't part it out!

equill man, that's it. You've lost all your IIcx privileges. Your IIcx shall be shipped to me at your earliest convenience. Thank you.

 

[equill]

Pay for both transfers, and ship me your best IIci in return for my IIcx/33MHz/32MB/1GB, with Workstation Portrait card and Portrait Display, and Asanté MacCon2 NIC, and you will nearly have yourself a deal ...

The extra is your left leg and thigh, roasted medium-rare and garni with rare Arabian spices. Yum. (I hope.)

de

 

[bigD]

Heh! You mean you want my IIci to be loaded with a Portrait Card and Display, or that the IIcx you send me will have one?

My IIci is 50MHz/20MB/1GB.

However I'd imagine shipping will hurt more than the removal of my left leg!

 

[equill]

The quoted spec. is that of my IIcx as it is (and would have been sent). Any upgrades to the working IIci in exchange would have been appreciated. My existing three IIci Macs are all 50MHz/68MB or better, but only one is blest with a Portrait Display. Pity about the freight costs (and lack of USPS sea-mail since a little while ago). I was looking forward to that leg ...

de

 

[bigD]

You should keep your IIcx stock. I take no moral issue with slutting up a IIci with a PowerCache, but a IIcx - warts and all - is perfect just the way it is!

 

[Unknown_K]

I like my IIcx, its a nice OS 6 machine.

Not sure what a dead Mac II is worth on ebay, looks kind of yellowed but intact. I just looked for the PRAMs on ebay but didn't fine the ones with the axial leads (they are usualy there).

If you liked the II then fix it up, I love big box Mac IIs (have a IIfx and a II upgraded to a IIfx).

 

[equill]

You should keep your IIcx stock. I take no moral issue with slutting up a IIci with a PowerCache, but a IIcx - warts and all - is perfect just the way it is!

Chacun à son goût. I have no qualms about upgrading any Mac, as far as it will be pushed short of, eg, the hacking needed for a Takky mod. of a Colour Classic. So would many other people have done, and so they did, when older Macs were appliances rather than icons.

de

 

[pathw]

...
Not sure what a dead Mac II is worth on ebay, looks kind of yellowed but intact. ...

I took the picture without flash - everything looks yellowed in the picture . There is some discoloration on the top where the monitor did not sit, but the case is in great shape otherwise.

In any case, I am not planning on ebay-ing this system. If I can get it going, I'll advertise it as a working system either in these forums or locally. If not, I'll ask for advice (again) about what parts are worth removing before I ecycle it. Again, thanks for all of the information.

 

[bigD]

pathw - good luck with it! I really like the original Mac II.

 

[Unknown_K]

...
Not sure what a dead Mac II is worth on ebay, looks kind of yellowed but intact. ...

I took the picture without flash - everything looks yellowed in the picture . There is some discoloration on the top where the monitor did not sit, but the case is in great shape otherwise.

In any case, I am not planning on ebay-ing this system. If I can get it going, I'll advertise it as a working system either in these forums or locally. If not, I'll ask for advice (again) about what parts are worth removing before I ecycle it. Again, thanks for all of the information.

Let me know if you want to get rid of it, I am in Ohio so shipping would not be too bad.

Just make sure when you put the new batteries in you get the + and - correct, it matters.

 

[pathw]

Replying to a 6 year old thread may not be the optimal strategy, but this was my thread . I finally got around to replacing the batteries in my Mac II (life's been busy this past 6 years). It fired up, but then I got an error message:

0000000F

0000000C

which apparently translates to "Unable to properly access the IWM chip."

So, this is replaceable, in that this is where the SWIM upgrade would go? I don't care about upgrading - just wanted to see if I could get the thing to work. In any case, any advice? Does this mean that the IWM is toast, or could something else be going on?

Thanks.

 

[volvo242gt]

Chip is socketed, so yeah, it can be swapped out. It's the chip with the last four digits being "0053".

I think James1095 has my old Mac II board. He might be willing to part it out. When I did get it powered up by jumpering three AA batteries to the pins on the dead PRAM battery (yes, smoke was produced from the battery), it did go to the floppy disk icon with the "?". Didn't get any farther since the Rodime 40MB drive was toast. I currently have a IIfx board in the original II case. Works great. That might be another option for you. Either that, or the IIx. I think there's a IIx board on evilBay at the moment. Will need new batteries soldered on, or to have the later-style battery holders installed. Yes, it's an early IIx board.

-J