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Macintosh SE black screen

CharlieFrown

Well-known member
Hi, my recently bought Macintosh SE arrived in package safely. However when I tried to power it on, all I got was black screen.
When I tried to tap on the side, it gave me a startup sound, but no video (already tried brightness nob).
Before shipping it was confirmed working, the seller showed me some photos. Maybe something went wrong during transportation?

What would be the usual suspect? Checking CRT neckboard and glass part if it's intact? Anything else?
 

mikes-macs

Well-known member
Turn up the brightness using the brightness knob. It’s the only knob in the front of it.

Ooops ,sorry you already did that.
 

just.in.time

Well-known member
If brightness knob isn’t issue, I’d say carefully open it up and make sure everything is still connected where it should be.

I know the Plus has a habit of cracked solder joints on the analog board that can be reflowed. Not sure if SE is known to have those as well. But if so, perhaps that may need investigation.
 

Phipli

Well-known member
Yeah, check that all cables are properly seated, then if that doesn't work, reflow solder on the connectors on the analogue board.

But... take care and make sure you understand what you're doing. The analogue board and CRT work with and can hold high voltages for a fair time after the SE is powered off. Don't poke at it unless you are comfortable working with mains and higher voltage systems safely.
 

MegaImg

Well-known member
Adjust the internal brightness on the Analog board. Is to high, move the outside brightness to max, and adjust the internal on the analog board.
 

CharlieFrown

Well-known member
Ok here's update:

I did reflow the solder on analog board and no success. It doesnt give me a boot sound anymore. I can only hear internal fan and HDD spinning.
What should I do next? Which one is more likely to require a recap - power supply or analog board?
 

Phipli

Well-known member
Ok here's update:

I did reflow the solder on analog board and no success. It doesnt give me a boot sound anymore. I can only hear internal fan and HDD spinning.
What should I do next? Which one is more likely to require a recap - power supply or analog board?
If it chimed before you resoldered and doesn't now, the first thing to do is check what you touched.
* Really silly question - did you plug the sound back in?
* Inspect your soldering - share a photo
* Check all cables are seated correctly
* Reflow the solder on all of the molex connectors that go to the analogue board again, plus the solder pads on the flyback transformer. I know you've already done this, but your initial symptoms are straight up, good old fashioned "stupid dry solder joints"
* Possibly reflow the of the power molex that goes into the logic board too.

The powersupplies are pretty solid on those - given it chimed until you did some work on it, it is more likely to be due to disturbing it than the PSU failing by coincidence. Although it isn't impossible.

When you're reflowing the solder, use some "no clean" flux. It will make sure you get clean, healthy connections and you wont have to force so much heat into the connection to get it. Make sure your iron is nice and hot - there is a fair amount of mass in these connections - I'd suggest 400*C (NOTE THE UNITS IF YOU'RE AMERICAN), but do not hold the iron on the connection for more than about 4 seconds maximum. If you can't fully melt the joint in that time, try pre-heating the board with a hair dryer (not a hot air gun, unless you have one designed for soldering and can set the temperature to about 100*C).

Is this any help? Sorry if this is all basics to you, I never know how much experience people have.

Where in the world are you based? I ask because your profile doesn't say and, well, if you're 5 minutes down the road I'd have a look at it for you.

(As long as you aren't excessively inspired by your profile picture)
 

CharlieFrown

Well-known member
update #2: temporarily I replaced the SE power supply with SE/30 PSU and now it works. So now it's power supply recap time.
Any safety tips on replacing these Hi Voltage capacitors with warning labels?
 

Phipli

Well-known member
update #2: temporarily I replaced the SE power supply with SE/30 PSU and now it works. So now it's power supply recap time.
Any safety tips on replacing these Hi Voltage capacitors with warning labels?
There are multiple PSU models. Most are Sony - is yours a Sony unit?
 

Phipli

Well-known member
List of capacitors for the Sony PSUs here. You'll want low ESR parts for the output stage (left hand side). I... Should have a list of parts from mouser somewhere. I'll try to find it.

 

CharlieFrown

Well-known member
another update: my SE booted right off the bat after replacing ASTEC psu with Sony unit. Now I have to recap that Astec psu.
 

s_pupp

Well-known member
Now I have to recap that Astec psu.
Consider reading through this thread: https://68kmla.org/bb/index.php?threads/modern-psu-for-the-se-30.30945/page-4#post-331575

The Seasonic PSU listed appears to have been discontinued, but is available new on eBay for a very reasonable cost (in US). The main complication is that the harness needs to be re-pinned to work with the SE/30. The second complication is that most of those selling on eBay are actually not shipping with the harness, and the harness is not available separately; you have to make your own from scratch. The thread is long, but all the information needed is in there. I'm in the process of doing this project myself.
 
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