Troubleshooting a IIcx with Rominator

[celluloid]

Hi everyone,

I'd done a bunch of searching on this and other forums, so my apologies if this has been resolved elsewhere.

Long story short, I recapped a IIcx (using components listed from recapamac) that had no chime and was doing the fast power click. My soldering skills are not great, but everything was cleaned and is soldered in tightly. The board was not really all that dirty save for some dust and the leaky old caps. PRAM battery slot is corroded on the contacts but i dont see any leakage around the area.

About 1 second after plugging it in, it switched on and gave me the long death chimes. Which was a victory, since before I was getting no sound at all.
Tried re-seating memory, one of the slot clips did break so I am keeping that as a primary culprit.

After some searching I found the Rominator II, ordered it, and installed. I heard the rominator chime, followed by the fast death chimes.
I swapped out the RAM simms with some other spares, and got just the boot chime, no death chimes. I only am using the four slots in bank A.

But now there is no video. The video card did work last I tested it in a IIsi, and the nubus slot seems to work, i tried a different card and it lit up.
I also do not have keyboard response and can't do a soft reset. I can do it through the reset button, however. The caps lock etc. lights come on when the machine switches on.

I can post pictures if that would help, but I am feeling at this point it's most likely the RAM slot?
I tried applying pressure on the simm to make it contact, but nothing there either.

Also not ruling out my sloppy soldering job. Any specific points I should look at with these issues?

Of course all help is appreciated. Thank you!

 

[falecore]

I have found that the IIcx (like the SE/30) can be really picky about RAM. I would populate both banks of ram with matching working 1MB SIMMS and see if that works. If you plan to run system 7.5, you need to patch the system. Also, Rominator does not support Daystar or Turbo 040 accelerators, just FYI.

 

[celluloid]

I have found that the IIcx (like the SE/30) can be really picky about RAM. I would populate both banks of ram with matching working 1MB SIMMS and see if that works. If you plan to run system 7.5, you need to patch the system. Also, Rominator does not support Daystar or Turbo 040 accelerators, just FYI.

Thanks for the tip!
I pulled some ram out of my Mac Plus and tried it, but got the death chimes after the startup chime.
However I pulled those out, and tried to run it with just the ram in bank B, and suddenly it came to life.
Booted right off the floppy, and video works.
Strange as everything I read said to have ram in at least bank A... maybe that is not the case.

Given this development, perhaps it's the bank A slots that are no good?
The ram I tested them in from the Mac Plus all work on that machine.
Oh well. I'll play around with it a bit and see if i can get ram in bank A working. Ill hunt for some sticks on ebay as well, I don't have any more spares.

 

[Arbee]

The original ROM code that detects RAM on the IIx/IIcx/SE30 is pretty fragile and absolutely requires RAM in bank A or the machine won't boot at all. The later code on the ROMinator is probably much less picky.

 

[mg.man]

The ram I tested them in from the Mac Plus all work on that machine

What's the speed on that Plus RAM? It may not be fast enough for the IIcx.

tried to run it with just the ram in bank B, and suddenly it came to life.

So, swap that RAM into Bank A and see what happens. If it boots, you know it's the RAM, if not, you narrowed down where to dig deeper.

 

[falecore]

Thanks for the tip!
I pulled some ram out of my Mac Plus and tried it, but got the death chimes after the startup chime.
However I pulled those out, and tried to run it with just the ram in bank B, and suddenly it came to life.
Booted right off the floppy, and video works.
Strange as everything I read said to have ram in at least bank A... maybe that is not the case.

Given this development, perhaps it's the bank A slots that are no good?
The ram I tested them in from the Mac Plus all work on that machine.
Oh well. I'll play around with it a bit and see if i can get ram in bank A working. Ill hunt for some sticks on ebay as well, I don't have any more spares.

DM me your address and I will send you 4 matching 1MB simms.

 

[falecore]

Also, I dont know what condition your case is in, but I have a couple spare IIcx's in my office doing nothing. Let me know if youre interested.

 

[celluloid]

DM me your address and I will send you 4 matching 1MB simms.

Thank you! I'll send a DM in a moment.
Apologies for the very late response, was travelling for work and my notifications went to my junk folder.


Well once it booted everything seemed OK, ran some programs and the video card works nicely.

The issue now is, it will not shut down and stay off. When i plug in the power cable, it powers up on its own.
When I select 'shut down' it will power the machine off for maybe half a second then power on again.

I had shelved the project to work on another machine I just got, ill pull it back out this weekend and check.
I found some other posts about this similar issue with the on/off circuitry, so ill check those traces the best I can and report back.
Thanks for the help.

 

[falecore]

I had the same issue (repeat power cycling) with a IIcx, I recapped logic board and replaced original PSU with a 7100 PSU. Problem went away. Had another with death chimes, put in a Rominator and it worked. They are fickle beasts!

 

[celluloid]

Ah great, I will try that. I have a 7100 in storage I can pull from. Thanks!
I'll also check ebay for any psu's...sometimes one will pop up and that's easier than recapping. (Until that one fails)

They are fickle yes haha - but still great practice for future projects.
Eventually would like to get an original II/IIx or IIfx, once I have room in storage again

Next project will probably be recapping a IIsi PSU. It's giving the awful smell.