SE/30 won't boot, grey screen.

[TheNixer]

I'm wondering if I'm out of luck on this SE/30. It's a liberation that I knew didn't work but I thought I'd try my luck anyway. The great SE/30 repair reference (http://www.biwa.ne.jp/~shamada/fullmac/repairEng.html#SimasiMac) points to the "network filter" but says it's hard to find a replacement chip. Has anyone had luck repairing an SE/30 that boots to the grey screen (bright rasters but no start up bong or pointer)? Also, if phreakout happens to read this I'm getting some things together to send your way - I'm waiting on a PM back from trag on some caps.

 

[phreakout]

TheNixer,

It sounds like you have a problem with the network filter (RP2) on the SE/30 logic board. So you are correct. Referring this info to the website you linked in your last post, it should be troubleshooting #9. You'll need to have the Bourns network filter replaced.

There are 2 ways to fix this. Either replace with the exact matching part or, if you can't get it, build one using the schematic provided in that website. Either route you take will involve a bit of soldering to fix it.

If you're not comfortable with using a soldering iron, send me a private message and we'll talk further. I will await for your response.

73s de Phreakout. :rambo:

 

[TheNixer]

PM sent!

 

[TheNixer]

I'm quoting JDW from an older post he had on AppleFritter:

"I have also read about replacing the bourns chip (RP2), but I don't have one handy and I honestly do not see the logic behind that either. Looking at the schematic of that area, you can see that bourns chip is simply filtering the signals from the leftmost serial port and passing them through to another chip on the board. But if nothing is plugged into that particular serial port, the bourns chip is not used (from what I see) and therefore I cannot see how replacing the bourns chip would cure SimasiMac."

I don't have a SimasiMac but if the bourns chip is simply filtering signals I'm not sure how that would keep the Mac from booting. Either way, I just sent you another PM. And as always - thanks for the help!

 

[phreakout]

Can you double check whether you get a mouse arrow in the top left-hand corner of the screen or if you even get a startup tone when you turn it on? Another culprit could be that the Mac had froze up a while back and the results are still stuck in PRAM or its own logic. I've had this happen before. I'd try pulling the battery for about 10 minutes and then place it back in. Turn it on and see if it will fix itself. If not, then I'm wondering if it could also be a problem with the SCSI chip UI12? I say this since the symptoms for both parts (Bourns network filter and the SCSI chip) are almost the same.

Try it and repost back with your observation.

73s de Phreakout. :rambo:

 

[TheNixer]

Your advice was spot on! I removed the battery and actually booted without it once and then put the battery back in and booted again. It booted fine both times. This one has a nice bright strong screen and 64mb of RAM! Sweet.

http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4012/4226717295_a774b6faf1_b.jpg

BTW - thanks for every bit of help you've provided. I'm on vacation this week and don't normally have time to address my small collection of compact Mac's. I'm trying to accomplish quite a bit before the work load hits me again.