Macintosh Portable sad mac

[TrueNorthStrong]

I'm really hoping this isn't a recap issue (although it probably is)

I had my Macintosh portable working about 4 weeks ago. I checked it once again today, and found that she just won't turn on. 

Error code is as follows-

03001300
00001FFA
Which, it seems, corresponds to an "interrupt level 4" error (from my basic research).

Can anyone point me in the right direction? 9v battery is relatively fresh (about 5 weeks), main battery is rebuilt, mainboard has NOT been recapped. Everything else was functional at the time.

I've tried using the dev switches on the side, and booting without the ram card installed. 

Thanks

 

[techknight]

there has been many many threads on the portable. 

But in a nutshell you need: 

1. a good battery. it isnt trusted to run well, or at all without one. 

2. it needs a FULL clean up and recap. this is REQUIRED as well. All portables are leaking, and 60% of them have damaged the motherboards where trace repairs are needed. 

3. the 1.5A adapter needs recapped by now as well. 

From your post, it appears the battery has been rebuilt. So you qualify as #1 checked. 

but you still need 2 and 3. 

 

[TrueNorthStrong]

That's too bad, because I currently don't have the space or the tools to make the necessary fixes. 

Truth is I was hoping to sell this (it doesn't serve as much other than a conversation piece right now).

How much do you think it would be worth as-is? And if I have the service done? I know a local guy who can do the fixes but I don't know if it's worth it for me to have it done. 

 

[uniserver]

you could send the mb to me and i can re-cap it for you.

does that 40mb conner in there spin up?

you will get much more for it on ebay if its working and re-capped.

 

[techknight]

The mac portable, oddly enough, bring decent money on ebay in working condition. And not too bad non-working. 

 

[unity]

Does the error come up right away or does it seem to access the drive then fail? If its when it accessed the drive, try booting from a floppy? Today I finally got a Portable working, sorta. I had some funky startup errors that almost seemed random. Turns out it was the floppy. I switched to a disk tools floppy for 7.5 and it reboots faithfully now.

 

[uniserver]

If it doesn't work after a recap it will go to techknight. He is the Mac portables master .

 

[aplmak]

He sure is Uni!!!!

 

[TrueNorthStrong]

Would be interested in that, but how much is the service? 

The drive does spin up, but the error pops up right on boot. 

 

[djacobso]

Hi,

I have a macintosh portable (early moidel with no backlit screen).

The hard disk spins when it tries to boot but the screen is black with sad mac and error codes:

On bootup it give the error code

03001300

00001FFA

I have a new working battery with the same specs as the original, and the original power adapter.

Please advise. I want to sell this so Im wondering if it is worth fixing the main board

I have the original case, strap and handbook

Thank you

 

[uniserver]

it may work again just from from a re-cap… With these things its like 50/50 but its hard to say, if it doesn't work after a re-cap then it will have to go to techknight, he's $50 an hour.   you can PM me if your interested in a price for re-capping the portable.

 

[djacobso]

Techknight,

You arethe resident guru about the Macintosh portable, so is there a way I can reach you directly to find out what to do about my mac portable?  I am new to this forum.  Thank you.

- djacobso

 

[techknight]

All it needs is a simple recap. Chances are, it could be fine!

 

[unity]

Just send the board to technight with a big wad of $$$.

 

[alexGS]

All it needs is a simple recap. Chances are, it could be fine!

Hello techknight, djacobso, and TrueNorthSouth,

Can I ask, please - did you happen to end up dealing with either of the two Portables mentioned in this thread?

I’m confronted with the same error. Already replaced all capacitors, currently using it as a parts donor for trying to fix another Portable, but even with Hybrid, MOSFETs, Power Manager, and VIA swapped into the other - the Sad Mac error meanwhile remains unchanged. On a whim, I replaced the SWIM… no change.

I’d love to know what this error means! Pops up either straightaway or after the initial diagonal-lines display. Perhaps a clue - pressing the Reset button powers off the Portable, as though Interrupt was being held down as well. But I’ve checked the interrupt button, C15, and the line to the Power Manager - seems to be operating correctly, not stuck.

Cheers

 

[SuperSVGA]

But I’ve checked the interrupt button, C15, and the line to the Power Manager - seems to be operating correctly, not stuck.

The NMI button should be going to the SCC, not the Power Manager, make sure you're not checking the reset button.

Are you able to check the NMI line with a scope or logic probe to make sure it's always high unless pressed?

 

[alexGS]

The NMI button should be going to the SCC, not the Power Manager, make sure you're not checking the reset button.

Are you able to check the NMI line with a scope or logic probe to make sure it's always high unless pressed?

Ah yes, I was wrong - I was testing the reset, confused by the Apple schematic thank you for that!

I found the NMI line at pin 37 of ‘Misc GLU’ - I couldn’t find it at SCC? Seems to be changing when pressed but I don’t think it’s properly ‘high’. I checked with my multimeter and it’s hovering around 2.6V - it goes to 0V when pressed and back up to 4.6V when released, but then settles back to 2.6V. I wonder if this could be the problem! I’d better check the relevant pull-up resistor R155.

EDIT: oh, that’s exciting. It’s about 30Kohm instead of 10Kohm… it’s also affected by the capacitor (have to short that first before measuring - my first attempt reported a negative resistance, which is always an interesting idea)

 

[alexGS]

Of course, it’s not as simple as just putting in a 10k resistor - that seemed to make the problem even worse, i.e. only 0.3V ‘pulled up’ dropping to 0V with NMI pressed.

My gut feeling is that a corroded via right in the middle of the ‘S2’ marking, near the switches/previously-leaked capacitors, has eliminated the +5V supply to the pull-up resistors. I’m trying to measure it to prove what’s going on, seems no continuity through the via but it’s difficult because the resistors are live; I think they back-feed from the adjacent reset button. I’ll probably just prove what else is supposed to be common with the always-on +5V (e.g. pin 11 of the Hybrid) and run a wire to it. It’s really hard to see where that via is supposed to be connected.

No-one said it would be easy but perhaps this failure mode is the same as the others had. The failed resistor is silly (though not the first time I’ve seen a SMD resistor magically triple its resistance) but the corroded via seems far more likely to happen on more than one example where the same C15, C24 capacitors leak.

 

[SuperSVGA]

I found the NMI line at pin 37 of ‘Misc GLU’ - I couldn’t find it at SCC?

You're right, I was reading the schematic too quickly and just read the "SCC" part

That is an odd resistance you're getting, even if I charge the capacitor up on mine I still get 10kΩ, sounds almost like you have current leaking somewhere. Easiest thing might be to try removing the button, since it almost sounds like it's getting stuck closed somehow.

 

[alexGS]

That is an odd resistance you're getting, even if I charge the capacitor up on mine I still get 10kΩ, sounds almost like you have current leaking somewhere. Easiest thing might be to try removing the button, since it almost sounds like it's getting stuck closed somehow.

I’ve removed the button and the resistor - the resistor by itself was 30kOhm a really dumb failure, but I had something similar in a Powerbook 100 where a 100k resistor turned into a 322k. This never happens in general low-power electronics so I expect it’s a one-off, a red herring to give me false hope when I found it.

The button tests fine but the correct 10k pull-up resistor doesn’t work yet, I need to provide it with a proper 5V (see edits above). I think failure of the pull-up voltage seems a plausible cause of the same error on several Portables but I’ll be able to confirm tomorrow.

Thank you for encouraging me to check this NMI line - 2.6-2.8V is very sickly compared to 5.2V on the other Portable I have here that has a completely different, resetting-when-powering-the-disk-drive fault. At least, I think it’s different - that will be a topic for another thread - what if it was a similar problem on the reset line! lol