SE/30 Build Project - Jailbars and crashes

[LCGuy]

So...my SE/30 board came yesterday. Its awesome, and everything. Its been recapped too, which may/may not be a bonus. And I've almost got it running an OS. Almost. Which is even more awesome. But...I have a problem. Two problems:

- The machine has jailbars, as you can see in the image below:



- Its not stable enough to boot an OS. Sometimes it'll give me a random pattern and death chimes. Sometimes it will give me a Sad Mac and death chimes (code 0000000F 00000033, every single time), and sometimes it'll crash on boot, either with a flashing dialog box, or a bus error. I've tried switching around RAM, and I've tried different RAM. No such luck.

Your thoughts?

 

[uniserver]

This is why I always wash and test the boards before I send them back, after a re/cap.

/viewtopic.php?f=7&t=20904

we started calling them gangster stripes, but oh well.

Could you post a decent resolution image with proper flash or lighting of the Logic Board?

I am assuming that because they didn't test it… they probably didn't do a professional immersion / wash a scrub with baking soda and a tooth brush.

that electrolyte gets into everything. The se/30 is especially fickle to it.

You or someone is going to have to hit the se/30 schematics with a VOM and run some wires to fix the video for sure.

The general stability might just be solved by a LB Wash.

 

[nvdeynde]

Looks like we have another one with video issues. As far the instability of the machine and the random crashes/freezes: this can be caused by a poor recap job or by faulty ram.

I've seen Macs crashing with bus errors, bombing, freezing,... due to faulty ram. I had a similar issue with my Mac IIFx a while ago, however the video issue isn't due to faulty ram. I would try replacing the Ram Simms, only use Bank A for testing with 4x known good one's and see how the machine behaves.

 

[LCGuy]

Thanks guys. I'll get a pic of the logic board tomorrow - it'll be dark by the time I get home, and my living room (where that photo was taken) has crappy lighting for photos.

Another issue I neglected to mention - sometimes the ADB won't work. For the record, the capacitors are "Quino"...never heard of them before - I'm guessing they might be a no-name brand? They're electrolytics. Capacitor C7 actually fell off the night I got the board...I managed to reattach that with my dreadful soldering skills, however one of the pins has come detached. The Mac still boots though. :?:

What makes this really difficult is that my Quadra 700 and my LCIIs are all at my parents' place back in Queensland, as are all my other 30 pin SIMMs...so its not as if I really have a way to test any of the RAM that I have, or use real, known good RAM.

I've never done a professional wash of a logic board before...whats the best way to do it?

 

[nvdeynde]

Another issue I neglected to mention - sometimes the ADB won't work. For the record, the capacitors are "Quino"...never heard of them before - I'm guessing they might be a no-name brand? They're electrolytics. Capacitor C7 actually fell off the night I got the board...I managed to reattach that with my dreadful soldering skills, however one of the pins has come detached. The Mac still boots though

No-name brand capacitors are no good. Using electrolyte or tantalum one's for recapping is a personal choice, however when they fall off there's no doubt that the job is not well done.

I suggest you immediately stop using the board and send it to someone to recap properly ( like Uniserver ) before you damage it beyond repair.

The problem with the ADB port can be related to the capacitors as it needs the +5v line or the ADB socket can have loose contacts.

 

[JDW]

...sometimes the ADB won't work.

Although the reason most likely resides on your logic board, I would just like to add that I had the same random kind of ADB trouble with my SE/30 in the past. I spent hours in vain diagnosing my logic board. In the end, I said to myself, what else could it be? I then thought about it an realized that whenever a problem occurred it was with my keyboard. I opened up my IIgs keyboard and sure enough there were a couple stupid electrolytics in there that had leaked. I snipped them off, cleaned the board, then replaced them with tantalums, and so far I've had zero ADB troubles.

What this means is that you folks may also need to consider cap replacement in your peripherals too. Don't exclusively think about the logic board!