Macintosh IIsi Magic chime sound. What does it mean?

[9166188]

@zezba9000 No, I haven't tried ATX PSU because I think my IIsi PSU is in good shape after partial recap.  It can be turned on with the power button at the back (before recap, it powered on whenever the power cord was plugged in).  So, I suspect the culprit is still with the motherboard somewhere, likely broken trace somewhere suggested by friends of this forum.  

Your video shows the green power light is ON with this ATX PSU.   I presume your IIsi is booting fine now(?), but I do not hear any chime (normal or error).   So, is it working by swapping to an ATX PSU?   If so, I might give this path a try to rule out mine is due to any PSU issue.

 

[techknight]

That symptom seems alot more like a failure to initialize an on-board peripheral/hardware IC. 

it hung up way too long waiting for something to initialize, and since it didnt ACK, it failed with the sad chimes. 

the SCSI, SWIM, and SCC either one could do this. it really depends on the ROM. the VIA could do this as well, although I would have a tendency to rule that one out as the sound IC is still functional, however I cant recall if the ASC goes through the VIA at any point, but I know all the interrupts do. and a hung interrupt can do this as well. 

Final thoughts would be look at traces near where bad caps used to be. any of them or nearby vias can be rotten, breaking contact to any one of those ICs causing this symptom. 

 

[bluestreak]

So maccaps.com guy "Charles Phillips" is not responding to any of my emails and its been 3 weeks.

I sent him my PSU 3 weeks ago. Messaged once after two weeks to see what an ETA might be... he didn't respond a week after. Also emailed him yesterday and still no answer.

Is this guy still alive or am I being scammed? Iv'e spent 100$ to get that PSU fixed.

Going to try and send him an email over a VPN on a different email acting as someone else to see if its just me hes not responding too.

If so am going to confront him about it... this is just not cool. Not in a rush just need a response.

I've had the same problem. Has had my 2 boards and 2 disk drives since January and has been promising me he will finish them every week. Now he doesn't answer his emails. I know he moved his office recently. I am about to make a Mail Fraud compalint to USPS.

Did you get in touch with him?

bluestreak

 

[zezba9000]

I've had the same problem. Has had my 2 boards and 2 disk drives since January and has been promising me he will finish them every week. Now he doesn't answer his emails. I know he moved his office recently. I am about to make a Mail Fraud compalint to USPS.

Did you get in touch with him?

bluestreak

No still no reply from any email. This pisses me off, those Mac II/SI PSUs are impossible to find. I just want him to send it back so I can do it myself. (I spent over 100$ for this recap)

I was thinking of filing a fraud report as well.

Could you PM me his new office location if its known?

 

[zezba9000]

So I've decided to try and use a normal ATX PSU using one of these adapters (24 Pin to 10 Pin Power Supply ATX PSU Adapter Cable): https://www.amazon.com/Asicminer-Power-Supply-Adapter-Cable/dp/B07C5P5H2L

I might need to swap some wires, not sure until I get it but seems like a logical test.

If I can get it to turn on using a normal ATX PSU I can at least confirm a PSU vs motherboard issue and make better choices from there.

 

[VoraciousGorak]

So maccaps.com guy "Charles Phillips" is not responding to any of my emails and its been 3 weeks.

I sent him my PSU 3 weeks ago. Messaged once after two weeks to see what an ETA might be... he didn't respond a week after. Also emailed him yesterday and still no answer.

Is this guy still alive or am I being scammed? Iv'e spent 100$ to get that PSU fixed.

Going to try and send him an email over a VPN on a different email acting as someone else to see if its just me hes not responding too.

If so am going to confront him about it... this is just not cool. Not in a rush just need a response.

Charles has two motherboards of mine, a Macintosh Classic and a Performa 550. He's stopped responding to my emails as well. He's had them since April.

I'm worried about the guy a little bit, since he told me he was going through some sort of personal issues, but my patience is about done. If you get a response from him, let me know.

 

[zezba9000]

Charles has two motherboards of mine, a Macintosh Classic and a Performa 550. He's stopped responding to my emails as well. He's had them since April.

I'm worried about the guy a little bit, since he told me he was going through some sort of personal issues, but my patience is about done. If you get a response from him, let me know.

I'll post back here if I get any response from him.

 

[zezba9000]

@zezba9000 No, I haven't tried ATX PSU because I think my IIsi PSU is in good shape after partial recap.  It can be turned on with the power button at the back (before recap, it powered on whenever the power cord was plugged in).  So, I suspect the culprit is still with the motherboard somewhere, likely broken trace somewhere suggested by friends of this forum.  

Your video shows the green power light is ON with this ATX PSU.   I presume your IIsi is booting fine now(?), but I do not hear any chime (normal or error).   So, is it working by swapping to an ATX PSU?   If so, I might give this path a try to rule out mine is due to any PSU issue.

So I converted an ATX PSU to work with the 10-pin Mac PSU type. The computer powers on but has the same issue.

At least I know its not the PSU that causes this issue.

I might post back with good instructions on how to convert an ATX PSU to work with Mac II(SI/CI).

Its pretty easy if you have the right stuff. (Much less work if you get a part off Amazon or Ebay).

 

[zezba9000]

@9166188 Did your motherboard have a ROM SIMM? Mine does which I read was rare. Wondering if yours is the same?

If so wondering if the versions with ROM SIMMs have this issue.

 

[ZevSenesca]

Hello,

I have run into the same issue. Sent my IIsi motherboard in late June with leaky caps (has been in a box in the basement for 25 years!) 

Charles acknowledged the receipt of my stuff via email. I then paid him in FULL shortly thereafter for the recap...he kept saying “hopfully ill get to it”. Now he doesnt even respond to my emails. Phillips has my stuff AND my money. Ive been reasonable, but 3 months is a bit much...AND I paid in full?$@&

The guy had good reviews online so it didn't even strike me as odd...but now it seems he is taking advantage of honest people who were looking for a unique service...any of you guys have any updates? Any help is appreciated...sorry to hear I am not the only one dealing with Charles Phillips and his poor business practices.

 

[tanaquil]

I am really sorry to hear all these maccaps stories. He used to be prompt and professional (did a board for me two years ago). Evidently that isn’t the case any more. Hope you all get redress and he gets his s&$@ together. 

 

[elemenoh]

I sent him 6 boards in April and he slowly stopped communicating. The last I heard from him was on July 23rd saying he would ship back that week but never did. I've emailed and called multiple times since then.

In a reply in May he shared some trouble about his personal life which was not expected or solicited by me. So maybe he's having some personal crisis.

He did work for me in the past without issue. I hope he's okay. If he is, then I'm just pissed about having my stuff kept so long. It's totally blocked my project.

For what it's worth, I checked obituaries in Oak Park, MI but didn't get results when searching his name.

There's a reddit thread about this issue here and a post at the Vintage Computer Federation forums here.

If anyone hears from him, please post an update!

 

[ZevSenesca]

As elemenoh points out, more and more people have been dealing with this issue than I expected...Sounds like Charles also shared some personal issues with him. Whereas I would imagine anyone on this thread hopes the guy is OK...fact remains that he has continued accepting items for repair as well as gladly accepting (in my case) full payment. Even crazier, someone had communication with him as early as three weeks ago. This proves beyond any doubt that he is clearly ignoring current clients while still accepting goods and payment from new clients.

Previously some on the thread have mentioned legal action. Although this seems a bit extreme I cant disagree that it may be our only option at some point. This is clearly a case of theft and at worst, wire & mail fraud.

At the end of the day, Charles has stopped communicating and it sounds like many peoples patients is running thin (...or completely out).

Im open to any group action...hopefully Charles makes this right...but I have been hoping since June...

 

[zezba9000]

As elemenoh points out, more and more people have been dealing with this issue than I expected...Sounds like Charles also shared some personal issues with him. Whereas I would imagine anyone on this thread hopes the guy is OK...fact remains that he has continued accepting items for repair as well as gladly accepting (in my case) full payment. Even crazier, someone had communication with him as early as three weeks ago. This proves beyond any doubt that he is clearly ignoring current clients while still accepting goods and payment from new clients.

Previously some on the thread have mentioned legal action. Although this seems a bit extreme I cant disagree that it may be our only option at some point. This is clearly a case of theft and at worst, wire & mail fraud.

At the end of the day, Charles has stopped communicating and it sounds like many peoples patients is running thin (...or completely out).

Im open to any group action...hopefully Charles makes this right...but I have been hoping since June...

I'm also open to some type of group action (I just want my stuff back or him to respond or update his site to explain delays). Whats the best way to deal with this. Give him a group warning that we will be reporting fraud to his local authorities or what? What is the normal or best way to deal with fraud of this kind? Because he has had so many peoples stuff without replaying ... this is borderline theft at this point.

I'm sure we all have our email chains with him backed up for evidence of fraud.

 

[Dog Cow]

Must be something embarrassing that he doesn't want to tell us about. He's embarrassed to talk to anyone now because the work that he promised to do isn't getting done. Threatening legal action probably won't be helpful.

 

[ArmorAlley]

Must be something embarrassing that he doesn't want to tell us about. He's embarrassed to talk to anyone now because the work that he promised to do isn't getting done. Threatening legal action probably won't be helpful.

Hopefully the boards haven't been destroyed in a fire or so. In my experience, people don't mind waiting, as long as they have an idea how long they have to wait for.

It's basic expectation management.

If he is flooded with boards and is unable to fix them for whatever reason, then he must inform all concerned about this. Behaving in an anti-social way is unprofessional and he is running a business.

Now, I, too, have had many good experiences with him but this was several years' ago. He responded punctually then and the boards he sent me back were fixed/re-capped. I do wish him the best and hope that he will respond to all soon.

 

[Dog Cow]

If he is flooded with boards and is unable to fix them for whatever reason, then he must inform all concerned about this.

If he was flooded with boards, he would say so. There's nothing embarrassing about that. Somebody already said he had some personal problems. It's not related to his business of fixing boards.

 

[EvilCapitalist]

I had used Charles for a number of boards of mine that needed recaps going back a few years, some of which looked to be beyond saving and he managed to bring them back to life, but after the last go round I decided I'd look elsewhere in the future.  The last time I sent him some boards it took 6 months (October 2017 - March 2018) for me to get them back.  In the emails I got from him he said he didn't start working on the boards until December and didn't actually finish looking them all over until February.  He had mentioned some personal issues early on in the email chain even back at that point (and this is coming up on a year ago) and that he had also gotten a lot more "bad jobs" in recently.  I didn't push because everything I'd gotten from him in the past had been excellent work.  6 months to do 5 boards somewhat soured me I must say, and I'm a reasonably patient fellow.

I sent one board to AllMacs on eBay (my IIci) and was very pleased with the work they did, not to mention I had a new looking, fully recapped board back to me in under 3 weeks. 

I certainly hope all you guys get your boards back soon.  I know how frustrating it is to have unfinished projects on which you can't move forward.

 

[ZevSenesca]

If he was flooded with boards, he would say so. There's nothing embarrassing about that. Somebody already said he had some personal problems. It's not related to his business of fixing boards.

Interestingly enough, Dog Cow has submitted 2 replys defending Charles Phillips...

However, he hasn't claimed to be a former or even current customer of MacCaps, but yet he comes to Charle’s defense...seemingly in a relatively blind way.

Dog Cow...you say “if he was flooded with boards, he would say so.” To me, only a person that knew Charles personally would be able to make such an exact statement. How do you know what the heck this guy would or wouldn't do? Maybe Dog Cow is Charles coming to his own defense?

Ok Dog Cow - in addition to your defense of Charles Phillips...

If legal action is to drastic...

If the guy is running a business but has personal issues...

If the guy had your belongings and payment for services rendered. THEN completely stopped communicating with you for months and wont return emails or phone calls...how would you proceed to resolve this issue?

 

[9166188]

@9166188 Did your motherboard have a ROM SIMM? Mine does which I read was rare. Wondering if yours is the same?

If so wondering if the versions with ROM SIMMs have this issue.

Mine is the version w/ built-in ROM.  I had also tried putting a IIfx ROM SIMM in -- didn't help.   

It's great that you rule out the PSU issue.  Have you tried tracing wires?  I had hunted for broken traces in multiple attempts but could not find anything trivial to fix the death of chime sound.