Help with Apple Macintosh II NuBus Video Card (Toby)

[michaelweare]

Hi all, just received a Macintosh II Video Card (Toby) from eBay (Canada) - I'm in Australia.

I want to put this into a IIcx, however was trying to test in my working IIci first. I cannot get anything out of the card at all using either an original Apple Color Display or VGA monitor connected through a working adapter. I can confirm that both monitors work when connected to the internal video, and also another Radius NuBus video card in the same slot.

If I boot normally on the internal video using System 7.5.3 I can only see the internal video listed, and not the NuBus card in the Monitors Control Panel.

The card was sold as working. I also note that the large chip in the middle top (marked U4B TFB Controller) gets very hot after a couple of minutes - too hot to touch. I am not sure if this is normal.

Appreciate any comments or help before I followup with the seller.

Thanks

Michael

 

[Trash80toHP_Mini]

I've never touched that Chip in operation, but I can't think it should be too hot to touch!  First thing I'd do is pull the socketed expansion memory chips if those are installed and test again.

https://lowendmac.com/1987/macintosh-ii-video-card/

What's the spec on that monitor? Those cards are very picky about monitor support.

https://everymac.com/monitors/apple/classic_monitors/

 

[aeberbach]

HI Michael - I have 3 cards including one that matches your picture exactly. Happy to mail them up from Melbourne if you want to try out one that is supposed to work. I don't have a NuBus Mac right now...

 

[michaelweare]

I've never touched that Chip in operation, but I can't think it should be too hot to touch!  First thing I'd do is pull the socketed expansion memory chips if those are installed and test again.

https://lowendmac.com/1987/macintosh-ii-video-card/

I'll give that a go and report back.

What's the spec on that monitor? Those cards are very picky about monitor support.

https://everymac.com/monitors/apple/classic_monitors/

It's an original Apple 14" monitor and specs are: 640x480 (31.5 kHz Horiz. Scan, 59.94 Hz Vert. Scan) from LowEndMac.

This is it here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apple_Macintosh_Color_Display

It works fine with everything else I've thrown at it that's old. I'm certain the specs should support the Toby card.

Thanks for your reply Trash80toHP_Mini

 

[michaelweare]

HI Michael - I have 3 cards including one that matches your picture exactly. Happy to mail them up from Melbourne if you want to try out one that is supposed to work. I don't have a NuBus Mac right now...

Thanks for the offer aeberbach. Really appreciate your generosity, and will let you know if I need some more help. I do have a few things to test and compare with, so right now I'm fairly certain it is the card itself.

Cheers

Michael

 

[Trash80toHP_Mini]

It works fine with everything else I've thrown at it that's old. I'm certain the specs should support the Toby card.

That checks out fine, it's not or shouldn't be a frequency problem, but TOBY doesn't play nicely with anything much newer outside of very capable high end multisyncs.

https://www.vintageapple.org/gamba2/vid-mon-matrix.html

Does the card show up in the slot reports of TattleTech, etc?

 

[michaelweare]

Does the card show up in the slot reports of TattleTech, etc?

To be honest, I need to dig up some more RAM for this box as I only have 4 and 7.5.3 is a bit of a memory hog, so I haven't got enough RAM to run TattleTech. I'll try to get that resolved or move to System 6.

I removed all of the additional RAM and tested with the same result.

I'll keep testing.

 

[michaelweare]

Hi, just thought I'd give some updates and close this out.

I determined that the TFB socketed chip (the big square one at the top of the board) had three (3) bent pins, two of which were shorting, as well as in the incorrect orientation, which was definitely why that poor old chip was getting very hot. I fixed that all and the system is in better shape. The monitors control panel and TattleTech can see the card and recoginise it as a Toby.

I also reseated every socketed chip on the board as well.

However there is still no output.

The seller has been kind enough to give me a refund, so looks like this might be the end of the road for this one.

Thanks for all of the help.