firebottle
Active member
I pulled out my old IIfx to turn it on for the first time in a year or two.
Didn't power up. Figured one or both of the batteries went bad. Opened it up and sure enough one of the batteries was at minus (!) 0.15 volts. Replaced it with newer battery (3.6 volts). Fortunately the dead battery hadn't leaked.
The other battery is still fine at 3.6 volts.
Plugged it back in and it powered up after about a minute. Had hard disk issues that I solved with a Norton Disk Doctor boot floppy.
Then I noticed something strange... the time is frozen. In the Mac OS 7.6 Date & Time control panel, the seconds do not increment. I could set the time with the control panel or even Network Time, but the time never proceeds foward.
Then I tried to shut down. It says "It is safe to turn off your Macintosh". And I'm thinking... what??? ... this is a IIfx, it should shut off itself. I can't power the thing off with the power switch! Have to pull the plug.
I thought maybe something with the System files became hosed. So i re-installed a fresh Mac OS 7.6.
Still the same problem. Then I did a command-option-P-R. No luck, same issues. Inspecting the motherboard, I noticed there are a few of those tiny metal-can caps (electrolytic?) on the board that everyone is replacing on SE/30's, etc.
One cap, C24, is right near the "RTC" chip. When I used flashlight up close, it looks like there's a stain of some sort near the cap, doesn't look like dust. Let's just say no other area of the motherboard surface looks like this.
I recall scrubbing down a malfunctioning Quadra 840AV board 5 or 6 years ago with a toothbrush (and some liquid... maybe water... can't remember)... and it's worked fine ever since (without replacing a single cap).
I have replacement motherboards, but wouldn't mind figuring out what's going on since everything else works fine.
What do y'all think? Bad cap(s)? Bad chip? Bad board?
Didn't power up. Figured one or both of the batteries went bad. Opened it up and sure enough one of the batteries was at minus (!) 0.15 volts. Replaced it with newer battery (3.6 volts). Fortunately the dead battery hadn't leaked.
The other battery is still fine at 3.6 volts.
Plugged it back in and it powered up after about a minute. Had hard disk issues that I solved with a Norton Disk Doctor boot floppy.
Then I noticed something strange... the time is frozen. In the Mac OS 7.6 Date & Time control panel, the seconds do not increment. I could set the time with the control panel or even Network Time, but the time never proceeds foward.
Then I tried to shut down. It says "It is safe to turn off your Macintosh". And I'm thinking... what??? ... this is a IIfx, it should shut off itself. I can't power the thing off with the power switch! Have to pull the plug.
I thought maybe something with the System files became hosed. So i re-installed a fresh Mac OS 7.6.
Still the same problem. Then I did a command-option-P-R. No luck, same issues. Inspecting the motherboard, I noticed there are a few of those tiny metal-can caps (electrolytic?) on the board that everyone is replacing on SE/30's, etc.
One cap, C24, is right near the "RTC" chip. When I used flashlight up close, it looks like there's a stain of some sort near the cap, doesn't look like dust. Let's just say no other area of the motherboard surface looks like this.
I recall scrubbing down a malfunctioning Quadra 840AV board 5 or 6 years ago with a toothbrush (and some liquid... maybe water... can't remember)... and it's worked fine ever since (without replacing a single cap).
I have replacement motherboards, but wouldn't mind figuring out what's going on since everything else works fine.
What do y'all think? Bad cap(s)? Bad chip? Bad board?
