Reverse Engineering the Macintosh SE PCB & Custom Chips for 1:1 reproduction

[quorten]

Nice!

What did your plan for the PSU issues turn out to be?  Did you end up fixing your existing PSU, get a replacement one, or some other magic didn't require changes there?

Also, did you hear a reasonably sane startup chime?

 

[quorten]

Judging by the troubleshooting info around here at 68kMLA, that's definitely a logic board issue!  Tongue-in-cheek, check the address multiplexers, check the ROM, try with different RAM or different amounts of RAM, etc.

 

[Kai Robinson]

Turns out that the PSU was fine - it was indeed a short circuit thanks to that split I/O power issue. No startup chime either. 

 

[quorten]

Cool, really glad to know that TechKnight was right.  I was also thinking similar based off of anecdotal evidence about what happened after I jammed a floppy disk into a Macintosh SE upside down and backwards over 20 years ago, but I thought it would sound too silly to try to mention that and say something similar could prevent the PSU from starting up.

 

[Kai Robinson]

....And the 68k has no power. OH CHRIST THAT'S LITERALLY THE FIRST THING I SHOULD HAVE CHECKED!!! OK, MORE BODGE WIRES

 

[Kai Robinson]

Second batch of prototypes have now been put up for order - hopefully they split the rear i/o power plane properly. 

 

[CircuitBored]

Second batch of prototypes have now been put up for order - hopefully they split the rear i/o power plane properly. 

I literally just logged in to let you know I'd found a few faults in your design and here you are two steps ahead of me!

I've not even got a donor SE on my bench yet so no rush...

p.s. I'd love to see some red PCBs some day. I love red PCBs and Apple prototypes all have red boards IIRC.

 

[Kai Robinson]

Did you find any other faults, or just the ones i've noticed already?

 

[cheesestraws]

jammed a floppy disk into a Macintosh SE upside down and backwards over 20 years ago

I feel less alone for having read this sentence.

CANCEL YOUR BUILDS, DESOLDER. I'll send out another batch of boards

I'm still waiting for my 68pf capacitors to arrive, for some reason I do not understand, soooooo

 

[Kai Robinson]

Yeah sorry about that lads - i'll send out the replacement boards - in the meantime - feel free to turn your existing one into a piece of wall art

 

[Kai Robinson]

BTW am i allowed to post my paypal address here for donations? I feel cheeky even mentioning it

 

[rplacd]

I don't know, but we'd love to find a way to support ya! 

 

[quorten]

Considering the point that all moderator decisions are final, I'd probably defer to an admin/moderator to fully answer the question (as it seems you're also assuming), but looks like there were no admins/moderators who were eager to add themselves as followers directly to this thread.  You could @-mention or PM Cory5412 and see what he thinks.  But, from my read of the rules, it doesn't seem like there's any restriction against this, just "don't be a spambot to generate ads revenue."

 

[Trash80toHP_Mini]

I'd keep that kinda stuff to PM.

 

[Kai Robinson]

In which case, i'll leave any donations to PM's then - about to pull the trigger on the second batch of boards. 

 

[Kai Robinson]

10 days til next batch

 

[techknight]

Oh the joys of PCB design. 

I dont know exactly what CAD package your using, but I always run DRC and ERC checks before I render out gerber files. it will tell you right away (as long as you have a valid annotated schematic and or netlist) if there are trace issues, or overlaps, shorts, etc. 

 

[Kai Robinson]

Sprint has a basic DRC function - it came in handy for moving a few traces out of the way - some were drawn a little too close, although JLCPCB's tolerances are pretty good for even small stuff. Nothing is now unconnected - i thought rather than mess with more bodge wires, the first prototype has done it's job and shown me that there is light at the end of the tunnel - hell, when doing the A500++ boards, theres a reason the production boards are v2.1

 

[techknight]

yea the power planes could be shorted together at multiple Vias. only way to know is run a ton of current across the two planes and figure out which vias get hot. Drill them out. but thats the "not so fun but fun" solution. haha. 

Biggest mistake I ever made was designing one of my boards and I accidently crossed the 5V and 3.3V VCC planes in the middle layer of the board. and didnt catch it. Whoops. 

by the time I realized my mistake and why CPUs had such a short life time, it was too late obviously. So I got myself familiar with the Dremel and dug into the inner plane of the PCB and broke the short. 

 

[Kai Robinson]

Ideally for that to work, i'd need a FLIR camera - fingers crossed i won't need it this time. Using the pin test function in Sprint i've verified that everything that should be on ground, goes to it, everything that goes to vcc goes to it without a short to ground.