Mac SE FDHD crashes when formatting a floppy

[danny.gonzalez.0861@gmai]

My MAC SE FDHD with a DB25 BlueSCSI (No internal HDD) has always crashed at random times. Sometimes after closing an application but not always.

Well I found a way to make it crash every single time, no if ands or buts. If I try and Initialize a floppy it will format the floppy to the point where it is getting ready to verify the image and that is where I get a crash every single time. I tried OS 6.0.8 and 7.1, both exhibit the same issue. Here is the first error it shows:

From there if I move the mouse to click restart, it starts to throw FPU and other random errors and the SE will not restart unless I use the reset button on the side.

I am using an SD from work that is a WD Purple, intended for IP cameras and are more tolerant to R/W. I have a cheapo Chinese 8GB card and it exhibits the same issue.

Multiple floppies were tried and all do the exact same thing. What am I missing here? If I format the floppy in my IIci and put data on it the floppy drive reads the data just fine and I can even play games directly from the drive. Admittedly I have not cleaned the drive thoroughly but before I take it apart again I wanted to see if you guys had experienced a similar issue and while she is apart, I can kill two birds with one stone.

As always you all are amazing and I want to thank you before hand for any help you may be able to provide.

 

[LaPorta]

First, did it work just fine prior to using the Blue SCSI?

Second, if so, is it possible you somehow jostled something else around inside? Sometimes you can get things like that when there is intermittent RAM pad contact and the like: perhaps a stick was disturbed while you were in the machine.

Last thought: was this a batter-bombed/rescued machine? Could still be some crud under a chip or something causing weird shorts (I’ve had that happen before).

 

[danny.gonzalez.0861@gmai]

First, did it work just fine prior to using the Blue SCSI?

Second, if so, is it possible you somehow jostled something else around inside? Sometimes you can get things like that when there is intermittent RAM pad contact and the like: perhaps a stick was disturbed while you were in the machine.

Last thought: was this a batter-bombed/rescued machine? Could still be some crud under a chip or something causing weird shorts (I’ve had that happen before).

Hello LaPorta,

This machine came with a dead HDD so I have only used it with the DB25 BlueSCSI. I guess I can take the internal BlueSCSI from my IIci and try it that way. I will try this tonight

It came with 2.5MB of RAM but after upgrading my IIci's RAM I transferred the working x4 1MB modules to the SE FDHD, before transferring the internal BlueSCSI from my IIci I will thoroughly clean the SIMM sockets, this was a super dusty machine but not battery bombed thank goodness. (Can you spot the dead bug?)

Here are the photos from when I opened her up for the first time:


The board has since been cleaned of the dust but maybe a second IPA cleaning is in order. Specifically a targeted one in the SIMM area.

This is a start, I appreciate the information and will keep you posted on if this helped.

Happy Friday LaPorta!

 

[LaPorta]

If you manually cleaned out those RAM slots, make sure you didn’t bend a pin any sort of way, too.

In addition, do you have photos of the SIMMs? Some don’t play too well in the SE.

 

[danny.gonzalez.0861@gmai]

If you manually cleaned out those RAM slots, make sure you didn’t bend a pin any sort of way, too.

In addition, do you have photos of the SIMMs? Some don’t play too well in the SE.

Hello again LaPorta,

I will check the pins but I used a soft bristle bush when I cleaned it so I would be surprised if any damage was done. I hope I didn't mess anything up.

I do indeed have a photo of the SIMM's used: (Note I only used the 1MB modules, the 256k's are currently in an anti-static bag)

Let me know if you think this is my issue.

Thanks again!

 

[LaPorta]

Those two-chip varieties can sometimes cause issues. Someone more knowledgeable in this area than I should be able to pipe up soon.

 

[danny.gonzalez.0861@gmai]

Those two-chip varieties can sometimes cause issues. Someone more knowledgeable in this area than I should be able to pipe up soon.

Hello LaPorta,

Well, you can add this issue to the two chip memory modules issues you mentioned.

I started off my cleaning the board again and checked the pins on the SIMM sockets. All looked great.

I reinstalled the 1MB SIMMs and tried the floppy format again. Same exact issue, it would crash when verifying image.

I then tried to swap to the internal BlueSCSI, no improvement at all. It would crash at the exact same spot.

Decided to reinstall the original 2.5MB modules (x2 1MB SIMMs with 8 chips and x2 256KB SIMMs with 8 chips) reinstalled the jumper and tired to format the floppy again.

Success was the result. Guess I am going to order 8 chip modules to try with them but you were correct, it seems to have been the 2 chip modules

Thanks for the help!! As usual you saved the day and made a Happy Mac love another day.