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Mac IIfx turns on but no chime

Pitou

Active member
Hello,

I have a Mac IIfx that I just recapped. I now turns on, but I get no chime/sound at all.

I tested the ROM SIMM and RAM simms in another Mac and it's fine.

Any ideas/pointers?

Thank you.

Pitou!

 

Pitou

Active member
Yes the speaker was connected. I am lucky enough to have another logic board. I replaced many logic chips and still no luck. I'm thinking the main 68030 CPU might be blown. It happened before on another Mac II. I played around with the scope, but it's a bit hard without the schematics.

I'll hunt for a new CPU.

Do you know if I should at least get the startup chime *without* the 68882 co-processor?

Also, to get it, I must have at least for banks of RAM filled. Is that right?

Thank you.

Pitou!

 

CelGen

Well-known member
Minimum of one bank of ram filled but no idea bout the missing processor.

Verify you don't have leak damage somewhere.

 

Pitou

Active member
I replaced the CPU but still the same. I'm about to try a new 68882 FPU.

My guess is that the fx needs both the CPU and FPU in order to boot what's in the ROM SIMM.

Will let you know.

Pitou!

 

zuctronic

Well-known member
Ah, in my case it turned out to be the ROM. I tried a ROM-inator II from BMWOW and it's working now.

So now the question is: Is it possible to repair the bad ROM? How do I go about troubleshooting it? I don't see any replacement Mac IIfx ROMs available anywhere but I'm interested in restoring OEM parts as much as possible..

 

techknight

Well-known member
if the ROM is bad, then it COULD be suffering from bit-rot if it started life as a PROM so it works exactly like EPROM but with no window. So you burn it and its done. 

if its mask-ROM its likely something different like failing buffer circuits etc internal to the IC. 

 
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zuctronic

Well-known member
I took a closer look at the Apple ROM SIMM and noticed the contacts were looking pretty dull. I wiped them down real good with some IPA and now it's working fine!

P.S. - A/UX doesn't boot with ROM-inator II

 
Last edited by a moderator:

Pitou

Active member
I'm now getting the startup chime.

However after a couple of seconds, I get another sound/chime.

I tried the RAM simms in another MAC and they are good.

Can you tell me what it could be related to?

Thank you.

Pitou!

 
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