Help a nooby mac owner with an Lc II

[sardine]

Hi,

done a quick search and couldn't see my exact issue

I was pointed here by a member from Amibay.

 
I'm new to older macs and thought I would try one, 
its an Apple Macintosh LCII (M1700)
Motorola 68030 CPU @ 16MHz.
12 MB of RAM, 4MB onboard + 2x 4MB 30-pin SIMM's (maximum limit).
80MB 50-pin SCSI hard drive.
 

this model http://www.everymac.com/systems/apple/mac_lc/specs/mac_lc_ii.html
 
I purchased this PNP adaptor.
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/MAC-PNP-ADAPTER-DB15M-HD15F-8-DIP-SWITCH-/140898218605
 
 
 
I turn on, then "chime" to grey screen, a few secs later I hear hard disk booting mac os, if i insert i floppy disk it reads it and the eject button on keyboard ejects the disk, so the mac appears to be working and actually at its desktop apart from the fact im looking at a blank grey screen.
 
 
Ive tried ctrl alt P R to reset pram (no battery in there anyway).
 
 
ive tried every combination of the dip switches on the pnp adaptor, all give a grey screen except 1 setting if I set to PNP mode then its,
chime, grey screen, hdd starts to load and i get black and white vertical lines down the screen that alternate as I move the mouse. (I was told this is because the OS on the mac is too old to support that mode)
 
 
Ive tried 3 LCD monitors and 1 really old 14" VGA crt monitor and all give the same result. do I have a monitor config issue or is there a fault with the mac ?
 
 
in every boot up it chimes and the system is loading (I can hear the hard disk loading the os) and I can insert and eject a floppy ok.
 
 
any help would be greatfull
 
cheers
 
 
kev <Noob mac owner

 

[Elfen]

Looking over the instructions for the adapter, it seems pretty like it could work with the right combination. the problem is that there no definitions to the pins. For the LC (any LC and most Mac II series) you need to have V-Sync, H-Sync and Composite on Gree turned on; that instruction page does not say what switches say what.

Second - what kind of monitor are you using? There are many LCD and a few CRT monitors that will not work with an older Mac. So what monitor are you using? From there we should be able to figure it out.

 

[uniserver]

with the LC 1 and LC 2, i have seen no video caused by bad caps.   and i haven't met a LC1 to LC2 that has good caps these days, unless someone has already re-capped it.  also with the Mac to via adaptor lock the  mode to 512x384 not vga,  and then try it...   Especially with the Iici and IIsi.

 

[sardine]

Thanks for the replies.

the LCII I'm told (who I bought it from and trusted seller) booted the Mac ok to a desktop before shipping.

every time i alter the PNP dips the frequency does alter, mostly the monitor says 640x480@60 sometimes @67, on the crt (no osd as its very old)the picture just moves around as the dips change.

so im getting a stable grey screen (not a black or blank screen), not rolling but as if the whole screen is just grey without any icons for desktop.

lcd monitors,

samsung 24" tv (works with my mist / pentium 1 pc via vga)

Logik 32" tv (very old no hdmi) all modes just a grey screen

IEZO 15" lcd all modes grey screen

Escom 14" VGA crt monitor all modes grey square of varying shape dependant on the sip settings.

when the PNP adaptor is set to PNP mode i get a grey bordered black screen with vertical white lines with a small amount of random pixels that alter as I move the mouse or press the mouse button, the mac seems to still have successfully booted to a desktop just cant see it.  every other setting on the dips is a grey screen.

thanks

 

[beachycove]

Try flicking the power switch off and on rapidly. So, you boot, to any stage of the process actually, and then rapidly turn off and on again.

The pizza box LC machines typically require a good pram battery to power up the monitor, for some reason, but this off/on trick is a workaround. Your grey screen may just be an anomaly that comes from use of later hardware; genuine Apple screens will just stay black under these conditions.

Worth a shot!

 

[olePigeon]

Also, by default, the LC can't dynamically change resolutions.  You need to turn the computer off, set the dip switches, then turn it back on.  Hopefully it'll sync to one of those.

 

[uniserver]

if you feel like taking a high resolution picture of the mainboard,  and posting it... i can tell you first hand of the caps are causing you issue.

 

[sardine]

quick question , even though i was told it booted ok, every picture I see online has a vram simm installed.

the slot in mine is empty, does this mean 256k on board and another 256k would upgrade to 512k or is it at 0kb and the vram simm is missing ??

if it does indeed have 256k onboard do I add another 256k to upgrade to 512k and give better resolution ?/

thanks.

will take a photo later when the kids are not running around.

 

[olePigeon]

Correct, it has 256k onboard, and you can add an additional 256k for 512k total.  Without the VRAM SIMM, you'll have the options of 512x384 with 8-bit color or 640x480 with 4-bit color. 

I would try shutting the computer down, setting your adapter to 640x480, then turn the computer on and immediately hold down  apple-option-p-r  , then continue holding it down until the computer reboots 3 or 4 times (or if you see a screen come up.)  That might get it to boot at 640x480 in B&W mode.

 

[uniserver]

if you do not have a VRAM SIMM installed in the LC1 or LC2... you will not get any video.

as there is no VRAM on the mainboard.... however with the LCIII they do install vram onboard.

-- how nice...  that is why i like the LC3, you can rob everything from it and its still a fully usable machine.  vram+4megs ram onboard.. etc.

 

[MJ313]

Yeah you need some vram in there...

and caps.caps.caps

 

[sardine]

ok what do you think.. looks like a sticky type goo on the pcb, is this capacitor failure ?

   

 
So I have 0 VRAM ??? how in the heck did the seller boot it ??

 

[tanaquil]

Have you gotten in touch with the seller to see if they removed anything from the computer before shipping it? They may have a no-return/warranty policy, but it doesn't hurt to follow up with them and see if there is anything they are willing to do to help.

 

[olePigeon]

Oh, wait.  Yeah.  Shoot.  No onboard VRAM.  It came with 256k pre-installed, but you could install a 512k VRAM.

 

[sardine]

Have you gotten in touch with the seller to see if they removed anything from the computer before shipping it? They may have a no-return/warranty policy, but it doesn't hurt to follow up with them and see if there is anything they are willing to do to help.

its a private sale from a respected seller, i think hes just made a mistake and probably forgot he took the vram out and heard it chime and boot the hdd and packaged it up, ive messaged him.

 

[sardine]

Seller is going to send me a Vram simm,, a mistake as i thought,

if I like this mac (my 1st 68k) would you all recommend getting a quadra ?? a lot of the games I want to try say 040 like A10 tank etc.

 

[olePigeon]

Quadra 700 would be a good machine.

 

[uniserver]

wow that is some nasty cap goo that has leaked all over your pcb there...  pretty gross,   you will need a cap job on that bad boy asap.

 

[tanaquil]

I would love a Quadra 700, but they are really hard to find for a reasonable price on ebay. Maybe your area is better for Craigslist than mine is.

There should be other more reasonably priced Quadras, though.