My SE Restoration(Pic Heavy)

[harryk]

Hello everybody, I've been a longtime lurker of these forums as I dream about collecting vintage macs but I've finally made an account now that I actually have one

So last Friday when I'm walking back to the dorms I see a compact sitting out on the curb in the snow and rain. I briskly picked it up and carried back to campus with me. Upon first inspection its an SE Superdrive with no serial number sticker. The case is pretty badly scuffed up and was bending out of the left side.

Knowing that it almost certainly wouldn't boot, I didn't even attempt to turn it on before I had the back cover off and begin disassembling the components. Things inside are incredibly dirty but it seems that everything is intact.

Analog board and power supply don't look too bad, and look theres the serial number so here's the breakdown

Manufactured in: SG => SingaporeYear of production: 1990

Week of production: 21

Production number: R0M => 28921

Modell ID: 01CC => unknown Mac

Your unknown Mac was the 28921th Mac manufactured during the 21th week of 1990 in Singapore.

CRT is out and is in great physical shape, though it may still have other issues. Note that is just tape on the front and it's already been removed.

Hard drive(left) and floppy out(right). Hard drive is 20mb and looks like it might be ok, still looks to be sealed. However the floppy is almost certainly toast on account of the rust.

Now for the logic board, the underside doesn't look too bad with some evidence of mold in places

But the top side is a completely different story. Good thing is some previous owner removed the PRAM battery, but also took out whatever chip goes in the socket. If anyone knows which chip this is let me know, as I have yet to find a good diagram yet. The ports are fairly rusty and will likely need to be replaced if I can salvage this board.

So my plan is to fully restore this SE to complete functioning condition, although I am learning as I go so please let me know which things I should be checking for leaks/functionality. I've already done some preliminary cleaning of the case/chassis and CRT, though I will be going back in more detail to really make things look nice. My next step will be to start cleaning the individual components, such as the logic board. I was thinking of carefully going over the board with a vacuum to remove as much dirt as I can, then give distilled water and alcohol baths. How does this sound?

 

[uniserver]

yes, I think its great that you rescued that Mac.

maybe that floppy drive will still work, run a disk in and out of it… if the drive mechanics are sticky or jamming oil it.

i've personally never seen that much filth on a mainboard like that.

but that is ok take it to the kitchen sink spray it down with windex get the hot water rolling and used the sprayer and get all that

filth off there

I think you have a fun project on your hands there.

blow the hd off with a compressor.

Its ok the previous owner didn't appreciate it. I am sure once its working you will.

 

[uniserver]

i just noticed the board is missing the VLSI Chip there.

i wonder how the board worked with out that … maybe they had a accelerator installed?

i see the filth is all in the socket so it had to of been running, w/o out that chip in its socket.

 

[uniserver]

maybe it was a headless server?

yeah i bet that is it. pulled the VLSI to kill the video.

never mind i dunno. i forget all of what that VLSI chip does.

http://www.hardwaresecrets.com/printpage/Inside-the-Macintosh-SE/1724

Two new custom-made chips were added to the Macintosh SE, replacing the six PAL (Programmable Array Logic) chips available in previous Macintosh models. These chips were called BBU (Bob Bailey Unit, a big chip manufactured by VLSI) and GLU (General Logic Unit)

 

[mactjaap]

Hi harryk,

Welcome on the Forum! What a great first post. I really hope you get the SE working!!

I also fixed some not working machines, but this beats them all.

Never seen a Macintosh in worst state like this.....

The SE is also one of my favorites. I has the possibilty of an expantion board. On my two SE's I have network cards, so I can connect them to Internet.

 

[harryk]

Thanks guys

I probably won't get around to working on it again til Friday, but for now here's a list of what I know I need to get

-Keyboard

-Mouse

-Speaker

-PRAM Battery

-The VLSI "Bob Bailey Unit" chip

-Some floppy disks

Any good sources for these parts besides ebay?

 

[CC_333]

Hi,

Where are you located? I might have what you need.

Please send me a Private Message for more information.

c

 

[uniserver]

I still don't get how that could have ran with out the vlsi chip, something don't add up.

 

[mactjaap]

To test if system is working you don't need any of these. Only thing I'm not sure of is the VLSI chip. But maybe the headless theorie is correct.

If the system boots the floppy drive will react.Same as the harddrive. You won't see anything on your screen but it will react....

So I would clean up the motherboard and parts and test. I ounce cleaned a PowerBook motherboard in a dish washer. No problems with it after drying.

 

[harryk]

Hopefully the hard drive is still functional and it can answer some questions about this computer's past. Though wouldn't it be kinda odd to use an SE as a headless unit, since the monitor is built in?

 

[techknight]

yeah I was sitting here wondering about that the whole time. I sm assuming it was parted out because the vlsi died or something. that VLSI chip is the address decoder for the entire bus the system won't run without it

 

[uniserver]

yes, but the VLSI socket is just as filthy as the rest of the board.

so it looks like it must have been some how running with out it installed….

 

[MinerAl]

Make sure you wear a mask/respirator when you blow that thing out

http://www.cdc.gov/hantavirus/pdf/HPS_Brochure.pdf

I'm thinking the filth may have happened after the SE's useful life. Looks like it sat in a wet barn for a while.

 

[techknight]

I still don't get how that could have ran with out the vlsi chip, something don't add up.

You do have a point. However it may have been pulled before it was stored in a harsh environment? Hell i dunno. Plug it in! LOL

 

[uniserver]

i agree you should blast everything off with the air compressor.

put it back together as-is ... and plug it in and turn it on... see what she does...

 

[harryk]

Little Update:

Spent some time this weekend to clean the logic board and hard drive. Vacuum/compressed air did next to nothing for the logic board so I quickly moved on to washing with water and a toothbrush, followed by a good soaking in a distilled water+alcohol mix, and lastly a pure alcohol rinse and brush. It cleaned up very well, though there is still some dirt around the ports where I couldn't fit the brush, but that can be cleaned better when I will likely have to replace the ports. Disassembled the hard drive assembly to clean the board and chassis as well. Though the drive itself will squeak when the spindle is rotated, I'm guessing this is not a good sign but I have yet to open the actual drive yet and I'm not sure if I should (or at least not til after its tested).

Power supply is in the process of being cleaned. I'll see if I can get the floppy and analog board cleaned this week so next weekend can be the first test run. I've also got some parts coming courtesy of CC_333. If there are no surprises coming, it might be running within a week or two.

 

[uniserver]

lookin good.

 

[CC_333]

Excellent job!

I hope my parts will be useful!

c

 

[markyb86]

Wow, that cleaned up VERY nicely!