Dead 512k Hyperdrive - still worth it?

[BadGoldEagle]

Hey

Was a little bit disappointed because I didn't get the Classic II I wanted but I found something a little spicier.

It's a Hyperdrive 512k. It's on ebay right now but it's far too expensive so no one will bid on it. I thought I would make an offer once the auction ends but I'm wondering if it's any good...

The Mac is in France, but has a US power supply. And the seller tells me that the Analog board is toasted (he probably plugged it directly to his wall: at 220Volts!) 

The Hyperdrive uses that Analog board to get power and since it's a little fragile I guess that the daughterboard fried as well. There are chances the LB is dead as well...

What do you think are the chances for it to work? How much would you pay for something like this. It looks like a death trap.

 

[Gorgonops]

Somewhere between zero and you-can-pay-me-to-haul-it-off dollars?

 

[BadGoldEagle]

It's currently at 299€... Way too much. Going to make an offer at 100, may be too low...

We'll see !

 

[unity]

100 would still be too much in my books for that. If its all dead, you have very little in usable parts.

 

[BadGoldEagle]

Even if the LB and the analog board are both dead, the keyboard and mouse should be okay even if they were connected when it happened. Right?

 

[unity]

Not necessarily. It really comes down to the analog board fuse and if it held up. The problem is with it being an old system. When new, the fuse alone probably was fine. With the older components, anything that made it past the fuse before it blew might have been enough to damage it.

I know of at least one case where the fuse was not enough in a situation like this. If you are lucky, the fuse did its job and all is well. Still, its a gamble and only you can decide if its worth it.

 

[Elfen]

Usually when you plug in a 110V into a 220V source, you blow out the Main Power Transformer at the bottom of the board and its surrounding circuitry. This act of suicide saves the logic board and CRT.

I would test the CRT on another working Mac and if it works, chances are the logic board survived and all you need is a new analog board.

If the price is right, you are getting a dead Mac that needs a Analog board. That's not too bad.

 

[BadGoldEagle]

I did some ressearch on the hyperdrive but was not able to determine where the daughterboard ( the one next to the floppy drive) gets its power from. If that's from the usual connector that gives power to the logic board it "should" be okay if the fuse protected it... Could someone with an hyperdrive confirm?

I will ask tonight if he accepts to sell it to me for 100€ if no one bids on the computer by the end of the week...

 

[BadGoldEagle]

I changed my mind. I won't ask now if he accepts to sell it to me. I'll ask to come and see it if it doesn't sell. And I'll bring my Mac Plus to do the testing.

So, if I understand correctly, if the CRT works, then the logic board is fine, right? But what about the Hyperdrive ? (the main reason why I'm interested in this, otherwise I would prefer a 128k)

I really need the help from someone who owns one. I know James Wages and snuci have one. I need to know where the power is coming from.

There's another problem too, because if it works with my Plus, he will say that it's not broken and he will try to charge me the 399 euros he wants from it... I wouldn't pay that kind of money for this machine. I'm not THAT interested and if I did I would be broke for years to come LOL.

PS: Most people don't have a T15 to take the rear case out. The hyperdrive could be missing from this machine... I'll ask him anyway if he does have one.

 

[Paralel]

Remember, its not just a standard T15, its a very long neck T15. Not too hard to come by though.

 

[Elfen]

I did some ressearch on the hyperdrive but was not able to determine where the daughterboard ( the one next to the floppy drive) gets its power from. If that's from the usual connector that gives power to the logic board it "should" be okay if the fuse protected it... Could someone with an hyperdrive confirm?

Wait... Is the Hyper Drive internal or external? And like you ask, where is it getting its power from?

I changed my mind. I won't ask now if he accepts to sell it to me. I'll ask to come and see it if it doesn't sell. And I'll bring my Mac Plus to do the testing.

So, if I understand correctly, if the CRT works, then the logic board is fine, right? But what about the Hyperdrive ? (the main reason why I'm interested in this, otherwise I would prefer a 128k)

I really need the help from someone who owns one. I know James Wages and snuci have one. I need to know where the power is coming from.

There's another problem too, because if it works with my Plus, he will say that it's not broken and he will try to charge me the 399 euros he wants from it... I wouldn't pay that kind of money for this machine. I'm not THAT interested and if I did I would be broke for years to come LOL.

Don't take the Plus, like you said he would raise the price if he sees the drive is working.

If 220V went into a 110V board - the primary side of the PSU of the analog board would blow out first. Anything on the secondary side would only "feel" a spike that would fade immediately. That spike could kill a logic board and the CRT if it lasts long enough, I'm thinking a couple of seconds. The CRT's Electron Gun is a very thin filament that will burn out like a lightbulb if a power surge spike hits it. If that filament survived then chances are the logic board survived too.

 

[Paralel]

Hyperdrives are always internal, as far as I'm aware

 

[BadGoldEagle]

Yes it's internal. The hyperdrive fx20 is the external one, it's scsi as well.

This one is the standard hyperdrive 20. And what I meant was: how is the daughterboard conneted to the analog board? Is it connected on the same "plug" than the logic board? If it is, it is probably fine if the logic board was preserved.

 

[SE30_Neal]

Ive never seen one of these before, looks awesone with perspex side and back

 

[Elfen]

Yeah, I thought so. It's the FX-20 and FX-40 that I remember and they were external.

They were like this one (taken from ebay).

 

[BadGoldEagle]

Sadly not all Hyperdrives had those perplex windows. Only the demonstration units had them. 

This one looks like a standard 512k but with a few stickers on the front and back. It says "Hyperdrive 20" under the apple logo and has a couple of health and safety notices on the back of the unit. What's inside is a marvellous piece of engineering.

GCC were the only ones to add an internal drive to those early macs.

I think it's magnificent.

https://www.flickr.com/photos/66071596@N00/albums/72157633872677859

At first I found some pictures from James Wages of the HD itself. But today I stumbled across this link (above). 

This is a Hyperdrive 10 but I guess they were pretty similar. Plus the seller agreed to take the back case off so I'll have more pictures of the Mac and its Hyperdrive.

I traced back were the Hyperdrive gets its power from.

1/ Power comes from the two wires directly soldered to the Analog board. 

2/ The two wires then go through an EMI filter 

                  -> I'm not a wizard but isn't that a fuse connected to the EMI filter? 

3/ Power comes out of the EMI filter using two wires (black and white) and go to the Hyperdrive "Analog Board" (you can see them on the right side of the Hyperdrive AB.

4/ Power is split between the HD, fan and daughterboard. 

                  -> The one (red & white) with the ferrite bead is the fan I believe. The two black and red wires are going to the daughterboard. Finally the three red, black and white are for the HD. NB: the other connector (multicolour wires) on the last picture is the standard plug for the Logic board.

5/ That's it.

SO THE HYPERDRIVE DOESN'T USE THE SAME OUTLET AS THE LOGIC BOARD.



I think it is connected to the power switch (I didn't find a schematic) and probably bypasses the built in fuse.

What's interesting though is that it seems there's an additional fuse connected to the EMI filter.



Can someone confirm that it is indeed a fuse? I know it's a dumb question. 

But it's very important !

 

[Elfen]

What's interesting though is that it seems there's an additional fuse connected to the EMI filter.

Fuse.png

Can someone confirm that it is indeed a fuse? I know it's a dumb question. 

But it's very important !

That looks like it is a Thyrisistor (?spelling). Basically it is shunt in case of runaway voltage surge and then shorts out or cuts the connection to protect electronics. Most Power Surge protectors have them. It is not a filter.

It is probably put there to protect the Mac and the Hard drive inside.

 

[BadGoldEagle]

So this component probably saved the hyperdrive hd, daughterboard and the hyperdrive analog board.

It must have blown on that 512k. Do you know if it's easily replacable? Some parts have bece increasingly difficult to find after all these years...

Anyway, if I can get this one for 100€ it would be quite a deal I think.

 

[BadGoldEagle]

Hang on.

Are you sure it's not a ceramic capacitor? 

I found this on the web just now: it's got the same specs (this one is a 500V not a 1kV though)

So it's not acting as a fuse?