Mac SE/30 restoration (and mild mod plans)

[AndyMc1280]

Hi Folks

Currently custodian of My Brother's 1989 SE/30. It is a rather specced up old beastie:

SE Back Case - Upstairs flooded him out a few years ago, original lost/damaged. He "got a few SE's from work for parts" to rebuild. Signatures!
IIfx Rom
128mb Ram
MicroMac DiiMO 030 accelerator for the SE/30 50Mhz 030/68882 FPU
Connor 250MB Apple SCSI drive
3 Port ethernet card and breakout board (Brother says he had it running an external Colour display but dont see extra hardware)
Status: Working. Boots 7.5.5 from the HD, or it did before HDD removed, now it gives system disk ? prompt, which is expected.

Battery removed (Dated May '89 ) no evidence of leakage but looked like it was about to start.
Caps a bit gooey as you can see from the board pic (UE 8 and 9)

Floppy drive not accepting discs - couldnt push a disk in. Could be lubrication or we squeezed something reinserting drive cage....

Plans:

MacBatt CR2032 in a box on a lead
Complete Recap - Mobo PSU and Logic Board, possibly expansion card as well. If ones started the others might be well on the way.
Changing of fan for something newer and quieter
Purple ROM install - doesnt change functionality but adds a bit.
Blue SCSI V2 with Pico wifi - will image the Drive with this then install internally.

And whatever else can be thought of

 

[zigzagjoe]

Nice find! The diimo may need recapping, but the ethernet card probably doesn't. You might want to back up the hard drive while it still works, too - SCSI drives are dropping like flies these days.

Couple comments: don't swap the fan with the intent to make it quieter. You've got some additional hardware in there that needs effective cooling, and putting in a Noctua or similar will make an already hot system run hotter still.

Don't put the bluescsi or zuluscsi internally if you want to use the wifi functionality. The Pi Picos these use are fairly weak both in signal strength and sensitivity, and the insides of the case are EMI shielded. You will likely have poor to no reception.

 

[cheesestraws]

Purple ROM install - doesnt change functionality but adds a bit.

What ROM image are you going to put on that? I would tend personally to avoid using a ROM for a different model unless you have a particular need to - it can cause subtle and deeply irritating compatibility issues.

 

[Snial]

Hi !
Another Archimedes User! What models do you have then (there are quite a few of us here with RiscOS machines, I have an A3020, @Phipli has an A3010...)

Complete Recap - Mobo PSU and Logic Board, possibly expansion card as well. If ones started the others might be well on the way.

Just curious here. When it comes to recapping, how long does it take for you, or for someone doing it the first time? Including:

• A list of the caps needed.
• Time taken to order them and to arrive (a day or so).
• Caps/hour Rate for through hole caps (remove+replace).
• Caps/hour rate for SMTs? (ditto).

-cheers from Julz

 

[AndyMc1280]

Nice find! The diimo may need recapping, but the ethernet card probably doesn't. You might want to back up the hard drive while it still works, too - SCSI drives are dropping like flies these days.

Couple comments: don't swap the fan with the intent to make it quieter. You've got some additional hardware in there that needs effective cooling, and putting in a Noctua or similar will make an already hot system run hotter still.

Don't put the bluescsi or zuluscsi internally if you want to use the wifi functionality. The Pi Picos these use are fairly weak both in signal strength and sensitivity, and the insides of the case are EMI shielded. You will likely have poor to no reception.

Thanks, My Brother got it new - lived in the USA mid/late 80's. Worked for NASA too.

Point taken RE fan, BUT there's noctuas that move more air than stock at the same loudness or slightly less. OR they can be run faster.

Being able to connect via molex is another "bonus". silly soldering wired connections to a molex header... really apple ?

Somebody brainier than me did a side by side noctua vs stock.

From my attached screengrab (converting the noctua 0.391 cfm vs 0.36cfm for stock.) yep fans have come a long way in 35 years. I have noctuas in other very heavily expanded retro machines and they do the job far better than stock)

I already have the Bluescsi V2 - so can connect it to the hard drive and it will Image for me. Initiator mode. I'll do it whilst watching tv . The Bluescsi wifi is a bonus, not really necessary with the network card but will suck and see.

 

[AndyMc1280]

What ROM image are you going to put on that? I would tend personally to avoid using a ROM for a different model unless you have a particular need to - it can cause subtle and deeply irritating compatibility issues.

well the machine has been running a Liberated IIfx ROM for 25 years. Doesn't have the original chip anyway. Brother upgraded for 32bit Clean and 128mb.

Swapping that for Purple ROM SIMM
Does exactly the same BUT ADDS:
PRE-PROGRAMMED CONTENT:

• Modified IIsi ROM with driver.
• 32-bit clean ROM allows use of System 7.6+ and over 8MB of RAM.
• RAM test disabled for fast boot time.
• Bootable system 7.0.1 disk image (minimal system install for any mac) for diskless booting option. Press "R" after chime.

The Ram Test disable and prebuilt Bootable 7.01 are useful.

 

[AndyMc1280]

Hi !

Another Archimedes User! What models do you have then (there are quite a few of us here with RiscOS machines, I have an A3020, @Phipli has an A3010...)

Just curious here. When it comes to recapping, how long does it take for you, or for someone doing it the first time? Including:

• A list of the caps needed.
• Time taken to order them and to arrive (a day or so).
• Caps/hour Rate for through hole caps (remove+replace).
• Caps/hour rate for SMTs? (ditto).

-cheers from Julz

Hi there

Acorns ? lots - in sig

As for the recap, Ive no idea. I'm farming it out because I'm not brave / skilled enough, I have Cerebral Palsy AND yeah, it is too much for me. Apparently there is a Mac guy in Ireland. Will contact him and see what he offers. Tempted to go for the "Full restore Minus retrobrighting". Which supposedly is 200 euro total including shipping, prices may vary depending on work needing done so don't quote me.

 

[cheesestraws]

well the machine has been running a Liberated IIfx ROM for 25 years. Doesn't have the original chip anyway. Brother upgraded for 32bit Clean and 128mb.

Oh, well, fair enough then . Should have known you'd thought about it

 

[AndyMc1280]

Oh, well, fair enough then . Should have known you'd thought about it

Yeah but you're right to mention, I hope it goes smoothly, but at least it can be put back to iifx if it misbehaves.

 

[cheesestraws]

Point taken RE fan, BUT there's noctuas that move more air than stock at the same loudness or slightly less. OR they can be run faster.

What they don't do is develop enough *pressure*. It's not all about the quantity of air. @Phipli is probably the expert here, much more so than me...

 

[Kouzui]

Swapping that for Purple ROM SIMM

Have this one and love it. Good upgrade choice.

 

[Snial]

Hi there

Acorns ? lots - in sig

'in sig' is a term I'm not familiar with, but given the emoji, I'm sure it's great !

 

[AndyMc1280]

What they don't do is develop enough *pressure*. It's not all about the quantity of air. @Phipli is probably the expert here, much more so than me...

Again I'm probably stinky BUT -
Stock is 21.6 Pascals
Noctua 21.3 Pascals

I can't see 0.3 pascals being a big deal. I also cant see a 35 year old fan producing 100% performance.....

Not trying to be obtuse here but I do my homework The Hard drive isn't going back in. Also having them on molex means a second can be added if necessary.

'in sig' is a term I'm not familiar with, but given the emoji, I'm sure it's great !

In signature ?? Same as you. sorry my bad, didn't have them up earlier.

 

[AndyMc1280]

Bong

Purple Rom and MacBatt installed and working. Just about done all I can before a recap. Will now be looking into getting that done. Don''t really want to fiddle too much more as caps are on the verge hehe.

Quite pleased for this evenings work....

 

[obsolete]

Nice work. Better get MODE32 or a new ROM so you can use all that RAM!

The recap should really be a high priority. Cap leakage wreaks such havoc on these boards.

 

[AndyMc1280]

Nice work. Better get MODE32 or a new ROM so you can use all that RAM!

The recap should really be a high priority. Cap leakage wreaks such havoc on these boards.

The Purple Rom I installed has a patched system 7.01 installed so it does away with the need for Mode 32 etc.

Purple ROM SIMM
Does exactly the same BUT ADDS:
PRE-PROGRAMMED CONTENT:

• Modified IIsi ROM with driver.
• 32-bit clean ROM allows use of System 7.6+ and over 8MB of RAM.
• RAM test disabled for fast boot time.
• Bootable system 7.0.1 disk image (minimal system install for any mac) for diskless booting option. Press "R" after chime.

The Ram Test disable and prebuilt Bootable 7.01 are useful.

Not playing with it too much now, shall be making contacts about the recap and get it packed away asap.

 

[obsolete]

Hmm, in that screenshot, it doesn't seem to be working. Maybe you just need to go into the control panel and switch from 24-bit to 32-bit mode?

 

[AndyMc1280]

Hmm, in that screenshot, it doesn't seem to be working. Maybe you just need to go into the control panel and switch from 24-bit to 32-bit mode?

True. It seems to be a very very basic 7.01 install. Booting from ROM ie no control panel items. I have a programmer on the way so it can always be changed if necessary. The point being, the machine can boot for diagnostic purposes. I don't have to send it away with my brothers hard drive installed (still has personal data on it). Yet to install BlueSCSI which I will do before it leaves here.

 

[AndyMc1280]

Bluescsi installed and booting 8.1. Its not staying like that, I'll put it back inside. Just doing it like this for a day or so. Want to get driver's off my brother's disc image (DIIMO).

Have removed network card temporarily.

Have set clock and it works and keeps time . Is there any way to get the date beyond 2018 ?

 

[Snial]

Have set clock and it works and keeps time . Is there any way to get the date beyond 2018 ?

There's the utility SetDate:

Classic MacOS Software

I found it via this thread:

Y2K2020 Date Problem System 7

Hi folks, after a long time I've started my Classic II and I was totally surprised that I cannot set a date behind 31.12.2019. There must be a trick to circumvent it, isn't it??????

68kmla.org

I think I tried it on my PowerBook 1400 under Mac OS 8.1, but it didn't seem to work, but it'd be interesting to find out if it works for you.