SE/30 Bus/Address Errors

[turbo]

Hey everyone, long time viewer, first time caller

I've been the proud owner of this SE/30 for 10 years or so, most of which it has sat on display.  I pulled it down this past weekend hoping to play with it, but I've had a weird (but reproducible) issue.  Whenever I use a web browser (MacWeb or iCab), the system either hangs completely (mouse freezes), or I get a bus error or address error bomb.  Other software such as Fetch, StuffIt, a few games, etc. work fine.  I thought this might be indicative of bad RAM everything else seems to be working OK.  I noticed that the time kept resetting on boot, so I pulled the logic board to test the PRAM battery and it was dead, though somehow I doubt this is the issue.

However, upon closer inspection, I think the capacitors may be leaking.  The board itself is covered in dust, except for areas around the caps, where the board is shiny.  I'm also concerned about the area around UE8, where it looks much darker.  I've attached a few pics.  Is that what I'm seeing in the picture, and if so, is that the probable culprit?  I thought it might have been the ethernet card, but it looks fine to me.

 

[Elfen]

The caps are leaking. Time for a bath! Then a recap.

Ammonia w/ distilled water, acetone splash and alcohol rub down (with a q-tip!)

 

[bibilit]

Yes, do it as soon as possible.

 

[turbo]

Thanks!  I'll probably use a recapping service since every time I've tried to solder it's resulted in smokey electronics and a burnt ego. 

Is it worth it/necessary to recap the power supply or analog boards?  I don't see any issue on the analog board but I haven't removed anything other than the logic board, either.

 

[bibilit]

Is it worth it/necessary to recap the power supply or analog boards?

Probably not for the moment, except if you have any known issue, The Classic and Classic II are prone for Analog Board failures (capacitors) but the SE and SE/30 are more reliable in this area.

 

[turbo]

Thanks again for the help everyone! I packed up the logic board and I am sending it off to Uniserver tomorrow to get recapped.

I wound up taking out the analog board and removing the cover on the PSU -- everything looks good there so hopefully this will fix the strange issues.  Is that analog board supposed to be so ridiculously hard to remove?  It probably took me 10 minutes to get it lifted out of the case.

I pulled out the SuperDrive and it is caked with dust inside and out.  I'll probably take it apart, clean, and lubricate it later this week.

Is there supposed to be an LED in the front of the case?  I've got a plastic diffuser there, but no LED (and no connection for one, either). 

 

[SE30_Neal]

My se/30 has an led plugging to the hdd and slots in to the chassis nit sure about the classic though

 

[turbo]

Do you have (or mind taking) a picture of where the LED is slotted to the chassis?

 

[SE30_Neal]

Sorry turbo i didnt read it right, you have an se/30 so yes defo led to hdd, ive just taken mine out as the led wasnt working, ill take some pictures later when home from work so you can see when it goes

 

[TimHD]

No LED for floppy drives (other than some external drive.models) that I recall. Frankly you can hear any classic Mac floppy drive, so why have an LED!

I replaced my non-working led (hdd) on my SE/30 after I installed a SCSI to SD card HDD and my hdd went totally silent.

eBay has some of these for sale if yours is broken/dead/missing.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Macintosh-SE-Hard-Disk-Drive-Activity-LED-Vintage-Apple-Mac-HDD-Indicator-Light-/131691922931?hash=item1ea97345f3

 

[turbo]

Where does the HDD LED connect?  My drive doesn't have a place to plug it in and I didn't see one on the logic board (though I just sent it in so I can't check).

 

[Elfen]

It usually plugs into the hard drive itself. Towards the front there should be a set of two jumper-like pins where it plugs into.

 

[TimHD]

Should be on the front side of the drive, on the PCB, furtherest away from the SCSI/power connectors. For example, see the image of the Quantum SCSI HDD in the following site which disassembles a 80SC HD. 

http://appletothecore.me/files/80sc_external_hard_drive.php

Look for the image that sits above the following text:

"The front of the 80SC has a piece of plastic along the trim that is obviously designed to reflect drive activity from an LED on the inside. The 80SC as well as my 80 MB drive have no such LED. I’d have to connect an LED to the 2 pin plug on the drive."

The LED connecter is in the bottom right hand corner of the HDD image (see white 2 pin plug receiver).

NB: I have heard of some drives where the LED connects to 2 of the "jumpers" that sit next to the SCSI ID Select/Parity etc jumpers up near the power/SCSI interface cables. Check HDD jumper charts/manuals for the pins which power the LED as you don't want to do something incorrect down there!

 

[SE30_Neal]

Hi Turbo,

Pictures below shows where the hdd light sits on hdd/floppy cradle, the small white plugs into the hdd to the eight of the scsi cable

 

[turbo]

Should be on the front side of the drive, on the PCB, furtherest away from the SCSI/power connectors. For example, see the image of the Quantum SCSI HDD in the following site which disassembles a 80SC HD. 

http://appletothecore.me/files/80sc_external_hard_drive.php

Ah-ha! I found the LED pins on the bottom of the drive.  For whatever reason, removing the drive from the caddy never occurred to me

Hi Turbo,

Pictures below shows where the hdd light sits on hdd/floppy cradle, the small white plugs into the hdd to the eight of the scsi cable

This is another story.  My caddy doesn't have the spot for the LED to mount!  Were there models that shipped with a different one?

 

[Elfen]

That looks like a caddy from another machine entirely. I seen hard drives on the SE & SE\30 mounted circuit board up for ease of access of SCSI ID pins and other pins on the drive and the mounting hardware had holes for 1 drive, yours has mounting holes for 2 drives.

On some SE's and SE\30s have a clip in the plastic molding for a rectangular LED. Not all of them have it, so you need to look at your case to see if you can push  an LED into the hole.

 

[turbo]

That looks like a caddy from another machine entirely.

That doesn't really surprise me.  If I recall, I installed the drive in this when I first got it and I can't remember if that caddy was in there or not.  My plastic molding won't hold the LED, it's basically flush with the case.

I was looking to see if I could find a replacement that does have the LED holster in it.  I came across this one: http://www.ebay.com/itm/Macintosh-SE-Or-SE-30-Hard-Drive-Caddy-Holder-Bracket-Tray-Apple-/331731663952?hash=item4d3cbf7c50:g:zbMAAOSwnH1WbQmm

But this one doesn't look like the one in SE30_Neal's pictures, either.  In fact, this eBay one looks like it's missing the tabs to hold it in place. 

 

[TimHD]

Not sure about SE30_Neal's one, but that eBay one looks just like the ones on both of my SE/30s, i.e. just the 4 holes for the screws (the latter 2 slightly elongated to allow some variance in drive mountings). Maybe later versions of the HDD bracket had more screw holes for other drives as Apple diversified suppliers. The only critical thing seems to be that the mounting bracket has a protruding vertical bar just to the side of where the LED is mounted - this mates up with the front of the SE/30 case and places the LED just near where the plastic 'LED' is on the front of the case (just clear plastic).

The eBay one again looks like both my SE/30 ones and SE30_Neal's has that same shape at the front (Neal's actually looks newer aluminium or an aftermarket alternative!).

 

[CC_333]

I have a few spare SE and SE/30 HDD caddies that people can have.

If anyone is interested, PM me an offer. If it helps, I can try shipping internationally if need be.

c